Tectonic history of the submerged Maghrebian Chain from the Southern Tyrrhenian Sea to the Pelagian Foreland

A description is given here of the structure and tectonic evolution of the submerged NW-SE trending Alpine belt extending from the Sardinia Channel across the Sicily Straits to the Pelagian Sea. This mainly results from re-interpretation of the existing seismic network. In the Sicily Straits the crust comprises an allocthonous belt composed of Tertiary flysch-type thrust slices stacked in an imbricate wedge. The wedge is composed of Mesozoic basin and platform carbonates thrusts derived by deformation of the old Sicilian continental margin. Lower Miocene to Lower Pleistocene foredeep deposits (terrigenous and clastic carbonates) filled progressively onlapping foreland basins during regional…