Fluid escape structures in the Graham Bank region (Sicily Channel, Central Mediterranean) revealing volcanic and neotectonic activity

In the Sicily Channel, (Central Mediterranean), two geodynamic processes overlap each other, the Maghrebides- Apennines accretionary prism and the Sicily Channel rift. Moreover, the northwestern sector (Banks sector) is characterised by an irregular seafloor morphology linked to the recent volcanic and tectonic activity.In order to discriminate the role exerted by both the processes in the morphostructural setting of the area we used a dataset of both high and very high resolution single-channel and multi-channel profiles, acquired in the frame of the RITMARE project respectively with CHIRP and sparker, and airgun sources, and high resolution (5 m cell) morpho-bathymetric data. The data all…

Geology of Monte Gallo (Palermo Mts, NW Sicily)

The promontory of Monte Gallo (Palermo, NW Sicily) is a spectacular site where Upper Triassic-Eocene carbonate platform rocks and Quaternary continental to marine deposits are well exposed. A Mesozoic-Paleogene rock succession allows the potential visitor to easily detect the features and the evolution of the Panormide carbonate platform, a shallow-water paleogeographic domain of the Southern Tethyan margin. Quaternary deposits, as well many landforms, enable the visitor to directly identify the interplay between climate changes, tectonics and fluctuations of marine level that occurred during the Quaternary Period. A detailed geological map (1:15,000 mapping scale) is presented, accompanied…

SIRIPRO PROJECT: DEEP CRUSTAL SETTING IN THE NORTHERN SICILY CONTINENTAL MARGIN AND ITS ADJACENT ONSHORE

Foreland Basin System Evolution along the Sicilian Fold and Thrust Belt

Foreland Basin System tettono-sedimentary evolution along the Sicilian Fold and Thrust Belt

Introduction to the Geology of Sicily

This introductive section regards a synthetic description of the regional geological setting of the Sicily island. The main stratigraphy and regional distribution of the Sicilian rock units and the paleogeography and paleo-tectonics of the Permo-Mesozoic carbonates is included. Furthermore, an overview on the stratigraphic classification principles is provided to facilitate the reader in understanding the terminology used in the main body of text.

Paleoclimate and extensional tectonics of short-lived lacustrine environments. Lower Cretaceous of the Panormide Southern Tethyan carbonate platform (NW Sicily)

Abstract Subaerial erosion and continental sedimentation interbedded with shallow-water carbonates are unequivocal stratigraphic records to evaluate paleoenvironmental and paleoclimate evolution of emerged landmass. Stratigraphic analysis of the Cretaceous Monte Gallo section of the Mesozoic Panormide carbonate platform, in the northern side of the Palermo Mountains (NW Sicily) records a peculiar continental-derived clays that interrupted the shallow-water carbonate sedimentation. These clays rest, with lenticular geometries, above the tectonically-enhanced subaerial erosional unconformity of the Barremian-Lower Aptian Requienid limestones and are covered by the Upper Cretaceous Rudistid li…

Stratigraphy in the study area

Multidisciplinary approach for outcropping and subsurface Permian-Cenozoic deepwater carbonates (Central Sicily): outcome for paleogeography of the Southern Tethyan continental margin

An integrated stratigraphic study of the outcropping and buried Permian-Cenozoic deep-water carbonate successions have been performed. These successions form some of the tectonic units, mostly buried beneath the Late Neogene sedimentary cover, in the fold and thrust belt of Central Sicily. Three main successions, pertaining to the well known Lercara, Imerese and Sicanian domains, have been reconstructed on the basis of a detailed facies analysis, seismostratigraphic interpretation, biostratigraphy (mostly based on palynological data) and comparison between outcropping and subsurface deep-water sediments. The main results reveal a continuous sedimentation of the deep-water Southern Tethyan S…

THE CHAIN ALONG THE PALERMO-SCIACCA BRIDGE (CENTRAL-WESTERN BRIDGE)

Stop 12: Portella Colla. The debated structural setting

Quaternary marine and continental unconformity-bounded stratigraphic units of the NW Sicily coastal belt

In the coastal sector of NW Sicily, the regional correlation of relevant unconformities recognised within the Quaternary sedimentary successions allowed the mapping of seven unconformity-bounded stratigraphic units (UBSUs). The regional unconformities are marine or subaerial erosional surfaces, as well as non-depositional surfaces, locally marked by paleosoils. The erosional surfaces were produced from marine abrasion, surface water overland/concentrated flow, river erosion, karst solution, mass movement, or wind erosion. The main lithofacies of the Quaternary UBSUs consist of: (a) marine and coastal bioclastic calcarenites, (b) aeolian sandstones, (c) river deposits, (d) colluvial deposits…

Permian-Cenozoic deep-water carbonate rocks of the Southern Tethyan Domain. The case of Central Sicily

We present an integrated stratigraphy of the outcropping and buried Permian-Cenozoic deep-water carbonate successions, forming some of the tectonic units mostly buried beneath the Late Neogene sedimentary cover in the fold and thrust belt of Central Sicily. Three main successions, pertaining to the well known Lercara, Imerese and Sicanian domains, have been reconstructed on the basis of a detailed facies analysis, seismostratigraphic interpretation, bio -stratigraphy (mostly based on palynological data) and comparison between outcropping and subsurface deep-water sediments. The main results reveal a continuous sedimentation of the deep-water Southern Tethyan Sicilian succession since the Pe…

Integrating facies and structural analyses with subsidence history in a Jurassic-Cretaceous intraplatform basin: Outcome for paleogeography of the Panormide Southern Tethyan margin (NW Sicily, Italy)

Abstract We illustrate the tectono-sedimentary evolution of a Jurassic–Cretaceous intraplatform basin in a fold and thrust belt present setting (Cala Rossa basin). Detailed stratigraphy and facies analysis of Upper Triassic–Eocene successions outcropping in the Palermo Mts (NW Sicily), integrated with structural analysis, restoration and basin analysis, led to recognize and describe into the intraplatform basin the proximal and distal depositional areas respect to the bordered carbonate platform sectors. Carbonate platform was characterized by a rimmed reef growing with progradational trends towards the basin, as suggested by the several reworked shallow-water materials interlayered into th…

Field and seismic reflection information in Sicily and surrounding areas: constraints for the deep seismic (SIRIPRO) investigation.

Field mapping in Western Sicily in the frame of the CARG Project

Evidence of active fluid seepage (AFS) in the southern region of the central Mediterranean Sea

Abstract Active fluid seepage (AFS) at the seafloor is a global phenomenon associated with seafloor morphologies in different geodynamic contexts. Advanced geophysical techniques have allowed geoscientists to characterise pockmarks, mounds and flares associated with AFS. We present a range of new marine geological data acquired in the southern region of the central Mediterranean Sea (northern Sicily continental margin, northwestern Sicily Channel and offshore of the Maltese Islands), which allow us to identify AFSs. AFSs are spatially distributed as clusters, aligned or isolated at different depths, ranging from few decametres offshore of the Maltese Islands; up to 400 m offshore of norther…

Unità a limiti inconformi utilizzate per la cartografia dei depositi quaternari nei fogli CARG della Sicilia nord-occidentale

Sono riportati i risultati di uno studio sui depositi quaternari del settore settentrionale siciliano compreso tra Trapani e Cefalù. Dettagliati rilevamenti di campagna e analisi stratigrafiche condotti in questa area nell’ambito del Progetto CARG hanno consentito di definire diverse unità a limiti inconformi, del rango di sintema e subsintema, che costituiscono la sintesi regionale degli affioramenti quaternari della Sicilia nord-occidentale. Sono state riconosciute e studiate numerose successioni di terreni di ambiente da continentale a marino costituite da: depositi fluviali, paralici e marini (conglomerati monogenici o poligenici, areniti e/o peliti sciolte o variamente cementate), accu…

Extensive field mapping in Sicily in the frame of the CARG Project

Rilievi geologici finalizzati alla compilazione di carte geologiche in Sicilia nord-occidentale (Progetto CARG) Vengono descritti i risultati del rilevamento di numerosi fogli geologici a scala 1:50.000 ubicati nella Sicilia settentrionale (dalle Isole Egadi fino ai Monti delle Madonie), eseguito nel quadro del Progetto CARG. I rilievi sul terreno sono stati integrati con i dati di sottosuolo provenienti da profili sismici a riflessione e perforazioni profonde. I risultati ottenuti offrono un quadro a scala regionale dell’assetto stratigrafico-strutturale di uno dei settori più complessi della Catena Siciliano-Maghrebide. Sono state ricostruite le successioni stratigrafiche dei paleodomini …

A facies distribution model controlled by a tectonically inherited sea bottom topography in the carbonate rimmed shelf of the Upper Tithonian–Valanginian Southern Tethyan continental margin (NW Sicily, Italy)

The Upper Tithonian–Valanginian shallow-water carbonates outcropping in the Palermo Mts (NW Sicily) consist of several facies associations reflecting different depositional environments of a carbonate rimmed shelf, pertaining to the Southern Tethyan continental margin. The reconstructed depositional model, based on the sedimentological features, cyclic facies arrangement and biota distribution, shows that a wide protected lagoon, dominated by algae, molluscs and scattered patch reefs, was bordered landward by a tidal flat, where stromatolitic algal mats were cyclically subaerial exposed, and seaward by a marine sand belt and reef complex. Oolitic packstone-grainstone lithofacies, cyclically…

Mesozoic tectonics and volcanism of Tethyan rifted continental margins in western Sicily

Abstract The paleotectonic and volcanic features of the Jurassic–Cretaceous carbonate successions, outcropping in central-western Sicily, allow us to restore the tectono-sedimentary evolution of a sector of the African continental margin. These successions consist of shallow-to-deep-water Mesozoic deposits that have formed in the carbonate platform-to- pelagic plateau depositional setting of the so-called Trapanese paleogeographic domain. Fieldwork, including structural analyses, has indicated the occurrence of lateral facies changes, resedimented materials, volcanic products (pillow lavas and tuffitic deposits), unconformity surfaces and paleofaults of different trends and age. These data,…

Neo-Tethys (or Palaeotethys arm?)Permian-Mesozoic carbonates in the Pelagian continental margin (Central Mediterranean)

Sequence stratigraphy of a mesozoic carbonate platform-to-basin system in Western sicily

Abstract Sequence stratigraphic studies of the Triassic through Paleogene carbonate successions of platform, slope and basin in western Sicily (Palermo and Termini Imerese Mountains) have identified a sedimentary cyclicity mostly caused by relative oscillations of sea level. The stratigraphic successions of the Imerese and Panormide palaeogeographic domains of the southern Tethyan continental margin were studied with physical-stratigraphy and facies analysis to reconstruct the sedimentary evolution of this platform-to-basin system. The Imerese Basin is characterized by a carbonate and siliceous-calcareous succession, 1200–1400m thick, Late Triassic to Eocene in age. The strata display a typ…

Carbonate Platform/Basin system during the Mesozoic: stratigraphic evolution, erosional surfaces and sequence stratigraphy framework

Mountain building in NW Sicily from the superimposition of subsequent thrusting and folding events during Neogene: structural setting and tectonic evolution of the Kumeta and Pizzuta ridges

We present a 1:25.000 scale geological map of the Kumeta-Pizzuta ridge in north-western Sicily (Italy), achieved by integrating stratigraphic, structural and geophysical data. In this area, the tectonic edifice results from the piling-up of deep-water-, carbonate platform- and pelagic platform-derived tectonic units (Imerese and Sicilide, Panormide and Trapanese domains, respectively) resulting from deformations of the former southern Tethyan continental margin. The structural setting shows interference of tectonic events, different types of structural styles and different scales of deformational patterns. Early overthrust of the Imerese on the Trapanese units (since the late Serravallian) …

Some considerations on the results of the crustal SIRIPRO profile in central Sicily

Preliminary results of a crustal seismic profile across Sicily (Italy)

Subsurface geometries in central sicily FTB as a premise for hydrocarbon exploration

The study concerns a sector of the Maghrebian Sicilian Fold and Thrust Belt (FTB), located in central Sicily between the southern edge of the Madonie Mts. and the Caltanissetta trough. Interpretation of recently acquired seismic profiles, constrained by joint detailed stratigraphy and field investigation, revealed the structure of the study area as formed by a thick pile of deep water carbonate (Imerese and Sicanian) thrusts lying on carbonate platform imbricates. In the forward migration of the FTB, two main tectonic events were envisaged; shallow and deep seated thrusts occurred during the Miocene-early Pleistocene time interval that deformed the former sedimentary cover of the continenta…

Geological results of the crustal SIRIPRO transect in central Sicily

Litostratigrafia della Sicilia

Foglio 607 Corleone

Geology of the Kumeta-Pizzuta ridges (NW Sicily)

We present a 1:25.000 scale geological map of the Kumeta-Pizzuta ridge in north western Sicily (Italy), which was achieved by integrating stratigraphic, structural and geophysical data. In this area the tectonic edifice results from the piling-up of deep water-, carbonate platform- and pelagic platformderived tectonic units (Imerese and Sicilide, Panormide and Trapanese domains respectively) originated by deformations of former southern Tethyan continental margin. The structural setting shows interference of subsequent tectonic events, different type of structural styles, and different-scale deformational patterns. Early overthrust of the Imerese on the Trapanese units (since late Serravall…

The tectono-sedimentary evolution of the syntectonic basins growing on the Sicilian fold and thrust belt

Facies and geometry of an Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous carbonate rimmed-shelf system from Northwestern Sicily

Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous carbonate shallow-water successions, several hundreds of meters thick, outcropping in the Palermo Mountains (NW Sicily, Italy), are analyzed in their sedimentological features for environmental reconstructions. In the Palermo Mts., the northernmost thrust system of the western Sicily fold and thrust belt, tectonic bodies, consisting of Upper Triassic-to-Eocene shallow-water carbonates (Panormide carbonate platform), outcrop. Detailed facies and microfacies analyses, stratigraphic measurements and physical stratigraphy studies of the Tithonian-Neocomian carbonates point out the occurrence of several lithofacies, from tidal flat to reef environments. Due to the…

THE STRUCTURE OF WESTERNMOST SICILY

Surface geometries in central Sicily FTB in the frame of the Siripro crustal profile

The Graham Bank (Sicily Channel, central Mediterranean Sea). Seafloor signatures of volcanic and tectonic controls

Abstract Graham Bank is a dominant physiographic element of the NW Sicily Channel (central Mediterranean Sea), affected in the last 100 years by numerous well-documented volcanic eruptions. We present the first results of a geomorphological study where the Graham Bank region in the depth interval 7–350 m was mapped for the first time with multi-beam echosounder and high-resolution seismic and multi-channel seismic reflection profiles. We describe in high resolution the detailed geomorphological features of Graham Bank, and how the superficial expression of different process and dynamics occurring in the sub-seafloor evidence volcanic and tectonic controls on seafloor morphology across a rel…

Mesozoic tectonics and volcanism from Tethyan rifted continental margins in western Sicily

Tectonic and volcanic features from the Jurassic-Cretaceous carbonate successions of Rocca Busambra, Balatelle Mount and Vicari-Roccapalumba (central-western Sicily), are here described. These areas represent the easternmost outcrops of the Trapanese domain in Sicily. The Trapanese succession consists of shallow to deep-water Meso-Cenozoic deposits formed in a carbonate platform to pelagic plateau depositional setting. Detailed field work and structural analysis detected indicate the occurrence of paleofaults with different orientation, unconformity surfaces, lateral facies changes, resedimented materials and volcanic products (pillow lavas and tuffitic deposits). These data combined with f…

STOP 2-Mesozoic and Cenozoic carbonates of the Imerese basin along the Rocca di Sclafani Bagni outcrop

Valle del Colomba. Panoramica sui rapporti tettonici tra le unità Sicane nei Monti di Palazzo Adriano

The SI.RI.PRO. Project: field stratigraphical-structural data from the N-S central Sicily transect

Ciminna, First Stop - 27 Thursday

A description of the stratigraphic setting and tectonic evolution of the Late Neogene Ciminna basin (Northern Sicily)

Mesozoic tectono-sedimentary evolution of Rocca Busambra in western Sicily

The Rocca Busambra ridge in western Sicily is a shallow to pelagic Meso-Cenozoic carbonate structural unit of the Sicilian fold and thrust belt with a variety of tectono-sedimentary features. Palaeofaults, unconformities (buttress unconformity, onlap, downlap), a network of neptunian dykes with several infilling generations, several large hiatuses, different facies and lateral facies changes, and erosional submarine and subaerial surfaces are observed. Detailed fieldwork and structural analyses have indicated the occurrence of fault planes with different orientations. These data, combined with facies studies and physical-stratigraphy analyses, allow for the distinction of different depositi…

The relationships between soft-sediment deformation structures and synsedimentary extensional tectonics in Upper Triassic deep-water carbonate succession (Southern Tethyan rifted continental margin — Central Sicily)

Abstract We describe soft-sediment deformation structures into the Upper Triassic cherty limestone outcropping in the Pizzo Lupo section (Central Sicily, Italy), pertaining to the deep-water palaeodomain of the Southern Tethyan margin. In the study section, mainly consisting of thin-bedded mudstone/marl alternations with bedded chert intercalations, some lithofacies have been separated on the basis of the abundance of the calcium carbonate/clay content and the overall textural features. The deformational structures, displaying different deformational styles as folded and faulted beds, disturbed layers, clastic dikes, and slumps occur mainly in the deformed horizons that involve marl-dominat…

Unità a limiti inconformi dei depositi quaternari utilizzate per la cartografia nei fogli CARG della Sicilia nord occidentale

Lithostratigraphy of Sicily

This book offers as comprehensive an overview as possible of the lithostratigraphy of the Italian region of Sicily, taking into account the multiplicity of formational and terminological variability developed over more than a century of studies and publications. It presents stratigraphic terminology, the geological lexicon and the main stratigraphic subdivisions that are not familiar to Sicilian geologists. The new stratigraphic methods and the use of formations as mapping units have prompted the acquisition of new lithostratigraphic data, and a review of the previous units and their comparison with the new collected data, enabling the definition of a number of new lithostratigraphic units.…

Tectonics, climate and deposition/erosion cycles during the Quaternary in Western Sicily

Continental to marine Quaternary deposits outcrop in thin and patchily exposed successions in Western Sicily, overlying a previously deformed substrate, known as the Neogene-Early Quaternary chain. These deposits are grouped in sedimentary units bounded by unconformity surfaces. The detected unconformities, often of regional extent, allows us to define seven main synthems: a) Marsala synthem is a Lower Pleistocene 2-80 m-thick body of marine/coastal calcarenites; b) Piana di Partinico synthem is made up of 1-5 m thick marine/continental clastics located on several marine terraces related to sea level highstand phases of Middle Pleistocene (Oxygen Isotope Stages – OISs - 17-7); c) Polisano s…

Fogli 609-596, Termini Imerese-Capo Plaia

Il Servizio Geologico Nazionale ha unificato i Fogli 609 "Termini Imerese" e 596 "Capo Plaia" in un unico Foglio denominato 609/596 "Termini Imerese-Capo Plaia" allo scopo di uniformare i rilievi e raccoglierne la descrizione in un unico volume delle Note Illustrative. Il Foglio 609/596 "Termini Imerese-Capo Plaia" della Carta Geologica d’Italia in scala 1:50.000 è stato realizzato nell’ambito del Progetto CARG con i fondi della Legge 67/88 - Legge 226/99 con una convenzione tra Servizio Geologico Nazionale ora ISPRA) e Regione Siciliana. Le aree ricadono interamente nella Provincia di Palermo, comprendono la fascia marina del Golfo di Termini Imerese fino al promontorio di Capo Plaia, la r…

The Sicilian collisional boundary. An unconventional carbonate foreland and fold and thrust belt.

Seismogenic rotational slumps and translational glides in pelagic deep-water carbonates. Upper Tithonian-Berriasian of Southern Tethyan margin (W Sicily, Italy)

Abstract Soft-sediment deformation structures (SSDSs), which reflect sediment mobilization processes, are helpful to identify punctual events of paleoenvironmental stresses. In the upper Tithonian-Berriasian calpionellid pelagic limestone of the Lattimusa Fm. outcropping in the Barracu section (W Sicily), paleoenvironmental restoration reveals the occurrence of a deep-water flat basin, characterised by undeformed planar bedding, laterally passing to a gentle slope where the deformed horizons alternate with undeformed beds. Here, two types of gravity slides have been differentiated on the basis of different kinds of SSDSs, brittle deformation, involved lithofacies, geometry and morphology. T…

Natural Laboratories for Field Observation About Genesis and Landscape Effects of Palaeo-Earthquakes: a Proposal for the Rocca Busambra and Monte Barracù Geosites (West Sicily)

Earthquakes are phenomena that are still being learned by the scientific community, and poorly known, especially as regards the prevention, by the population. Having a more complete knowledge is a basic step in understanding the vastness and intensity of the destructive phenomenon that involves a great amount of people. The recent earthquakes occurred in Central Italy (L’Aquila and Amatrice earthquakes) are examples that demonstrate the importance of having knowledge about these phenomena to contrast their destructive effects. We present a geological field trip to recognise causes and landscape effects of palaeo-earthquakes recorded in the Mesozoic rock successions outcropping in Sicily. Th…

ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF THE MESSINIAN BASINS DEVELOPED ON TOP OF THE SICILIAN FOLD AND THRUST BELT

During the Messinian the inherited paleo-topography conditioned the depositional environments of the Mediterranean region, already strongly influenced by the effects of the salinity crisis, mainly in the central region, where seabed at that time is expected to be very uneven and shallower than Western and Eastern Mediterranean. Indeed in this area as from 15 Ma the Sicilian Fold and Thrust Belt (SFTB) was originating, characterized by a multi-stage evolution: two main shortening events generated and developed at different structural levels (shallow- and deep-seated thrusts in thin-skinned thrust-model) and at different time intervals, involving mainly the Meso-Cenozoic carbonate units of th…

Extensive backthrusting features in the northern Sicily continental margin highlight a late collisional stage of the Sicilian Fold and Thrust Belt

Backthrusting, nappe refolding, and normal faulting frequently characterize late collisional stage of an orogen. Shortening driven by backthrusting is widely reported in the Alpine orogen, and it has been proposed to be responsible for the increase of subsidence. Moreover delamination and backthrusting has been considered as related to subcritical condition of a Coulomb-type accretional wedge (Torres Carbonell et al., 2011). The Sicilian Fold and Thrust Belt (SFTB) was characterized by a three-stage evolution during the last 15 My: two main shortening events generated and developed at different structural levels (shallow- and deep-seated thrusts in thinskinned thrust-model) and different ti…

Sea Crop and Land seismic profiles data as a premise to a deep crustal investigation in Sicily.

Deep controls on foreland basin system evolution along the Sicilian fold and thrust belt

Abstract Neogene-Quaternary wedge-top-basins arose during the Sicilian fold and thrust belt (FTB) build-up. The infilling sedimentary successions are: i) middle-upper Miocene silicoclastics succession, accommodated on top of the accreted Sicilide and Numidian flysch nappes; ii) upper Miocene-lower Pliocene deepening-upwards sediments unconformably overlying the inner Meso-Cenozoic deep-water, Imerese and Sicanian thrust units; iii) Upper Pliocene-Quaternary coastal-open shelf deposits unconformably covering (in the outer sector of the FTB) a tectonic stack (Gela thrust system). These successions are characterized by a basal unconformity on the deformed substrate believed to be the depositio…

Basin analysis in the Southern Tethyan margin: Facies sequences, stratal pattern and subsidence history highlight extension-to-inversion processes in the Cretaceous Panormide carbonate platform (NW Sicily)

Abstract In the Mediterranean, the South-Tethys paleomargin experienced polyphased tectonic episodes and paleoenvironmental perturbations during Mesozoic time. The Cretaceous shallow-water carbonate successions of the Panormide platform, outcropping in the northern edge of the Palermo Mountains (NW Sicily), were studied by integrating facies and stratal pattern with backstripping analysis to recognize the tectonics vs. carbonate sedimentation interaction. The features of the Requienid limestone, including geometric configuration, facies sequence, lithological changes and significance of the top-unconformity, highlight that at the end of the Lower Cretaceous the carbonate platform was tecton…

Results of the Carg Project mapping in the northwestern Sicily chain

Deep controls on Foreland Basin System evolution along the Sicily Thrust Belt

The palinspastic restoration of the Sicilian crustal geological cross section (Catalano et al., 2013) points out two subsequent main thrust (MT1 and MT2) active during the Neogene tectonic evolution as well as the decrease of slip and shortening rate estimated for MT2 with respect to MT1 early main thrust. During orogenic building, syn-tectonic deposits are accumulated inside wedge-top-basin that grow on top of thrust sheets. Sedimentary and stratigraphic features of wedge-top basin change trough time following fold and thrust belt evolution. Neogene-Quaternary syn- tectonic successions (terrigenous, evaporitic, hemipelagic and shallow water deposits) extensively crop-out, in more or less w…

Triangle zone and passive-roof duplexes in central-western Sicily? new insight from seismic interpretation

A Jurassic-Cretaceous intraplatform basin in the Panormide Southern Tethyan margin (NW Sicily, Italy), reaveled by integrating facies and structural analyses with subsidence history

We illustrate the tectono-sedimentary evolution of a Jurassic-Cretaceous intraplatform basin in a fold and thrust belt present setting (Cala Rossa basin). Detailed stratigraphy and facies analysis of Upper Triassic-Eocene successions outcropping in the Palermo Mts (NW Sicily), integrated with structural analysis, restoration and basin analysis, led to recognize and describe into the intraplatform basin the proximal and distal depositional areas respect to the bordered carbonate platform sectors. Carbonate platform was characterized by a rimmed reef growing with progradational trends towards the basin, as suggested by the several reworked shallow-water materials interlayered into the deep-wa…

EXTENSIVE FIELD MAPPING IN SICILY (CARG PROJECT) IN THE FRAME OF THE CRUSTAL SEISMIC REFLECTION ACQUISITION (SI.RI.PRO PROJECT).

The buried Fold and Thrust Belt in Sicily: perspectives for future exploration.

The study region is a part of the Sicilian-Maghrebian Fold and Thrust Belt (FTB), a segment of the Alpine collisional belt, recently described as a result of both post-collisional convergence between Africa and Europe and roll-back of the subduction hinge of the Ionian lithosphere. The region (extending in central Sicily from the Madonie Mountains. to the eastern corner of the Iblean-Pelagian foreland through the impressive NE-SW trending Tertiary clastic and evaporitic range of the Caltanissetta trough) is located in an area where the main thrust system disappears beneath a wedge of deformed Neogene deposits. Earlier studies have neglected the importance of the potential target for hydroca…

Synsedimentary-tectonic, soft-sediment deformation and volcanism in the rifted Tethyan margin from the Upper Triassic–Middle Jurassic deep-water carbonates in Central Sicily

Abstract The Pizzo Lupo section (Sicanian Mts, central Sicily) is an Upper Triassic–Lower Jurassic condensed deep-water succession, where the relationships among synsedimentary tectonic, soft-sediment deformations, volcanism and lithological changes reflect the evolution of a rift-basin. The morphostructural setting of the studied basin appears as a gently dipping slope where a fault-delimited area (graben to halfgraben) was developed. The instability of the sea floor, related to the seismic shocks, was the cause of the gravity-driven deformational sedimentary structures (slumping, breccia channelized bodies). The partly stratified basaltic rocks, with disorganized and chaotic stratificatio…

Carta Geologica d'Italia alla scala 1:50.000 e note illustrative del foglio 594-585 PARTINICO-MONDELLO.

The 594-585 ”Partinico-Mondello” Map Sheet 1:50.000 includes marine and land areas of the topographic map sheet “Partinico” and “Mondello”. The map sheet “Partinico-Mondello” (Palermo Province) covers a part of the Sicily Fold and Thrust Belt (FTB) which has developed along the plate boundary between Africa and Europe in the central Mediterranean. The Sicily FTB links the African Maghrebides to the Calabrian arc and the Southern Apennines. The fTB and its submerged western and northern exten- sions are partly located between the Sardinia block and the Pelagian-Ionian sec- tor, and partly beneath the central southern Tyrrhenian Sea. In this sector of the Mediterranean area, the main compress…

Foglio 593, Castellammare del Golfo

Il Foglio 593 “Castellammare del Golfo” della Carta Geologica d’Italia in scala 1:50.000 è stato realizzato nell’ambito del Progetto CARG con i fondi della Legge 305/89, con una convenzione tra Servizio Geologico Nazionale (ora ISPRA) e la Regione Siciliana. Il Foglio “Castellammare del Golfo” ricopre un settore dell’ estremità nordoccidentale della Sicilia e comprende le aree marine del Golfo del Cofano, della Baia di San Vito e della porzione centro-occidentale del Golfo di Castellammare, e quelle emerse costituite dalla dorsale dei Monti di Capo San Vito, dall’ampio settore collinare di Monte Luziano e Monte Bosco, dal massiccio di Monte Inici e dai pianori della Piana di Castellammare, …

Sicilian Lithostratigraphic Units

This chapter includes the description of the Sicilian lithostratigraphic units (Fig. 2.1). They are grouped in a generally chronological order and the complete list of the worksheets is shown in the Table of contents. In each chronologic group the worksheets of the described formations are organized in alphabetic order. The Permo-Triassic units are the oldest deposits outcropping in Sicily that originated during the early stages of the Southern Tethyan continental rifting. The Meso-Cenozoic carbonate units represent the sedimentary sequences of the various stratigraphic successions differentiated in the field along the Sicilian outcrops. The deposits of the Sicilide Complex (Tethyan units) …

Carta geologica d'italia alla scala 1:50.000 e note illustrative del foglio 595_Palermo

The Map Sheet 1:50.000 595 ”Palermo” includes marine and land areas of the topographic map sheet “Palermo”. The map sheet “Palermo” (Palermo Province) covers a part of the Sicily Fold and Thrust Belt (FTB) which has developed along the plate boundary between Africa and Europe in the Central Mediterranean. The Sicily FTB links the African Maghrebide to the Calabrian arc and Southern Apennines. The FTB and its submerged western and northern extensions are part- ly located between the Sardinia block and the Pelagian-Ionian sector, and partly beneath the central southern Tyrrhenian Sea. In this sector of the Mediterranean area, the main compressional move- ments, after the Paleogene Alpine orog…

Geological Map of the Rocca Busambra-Corleone region (western Sicily, Italy): explanatory notes

The geology of the Rocca Busambra-Corleone region, in centralwestern Sicily, is relevant to the understanding of the central sector of the Maghrebian-Sicilian fold-and-thrust belt. In the investigated area Mesozoic shallow- and deep-water carbo - nate deposits pertaining respectively to the Trapanese and the Sica - nian successions, and a thick Oligo-Miocene numidian flysch body, crop out. Minor outcrops of Cretaceous-Palaeogene Sicilide complex and syn-orogenic deposits of the Late Serravallian-Early Messinian Castellana Sicula and Terravecchia formations are also present. A structural analysis reveals complex tectonic relationships between the Trapanese carbonate platform tectonic unit (t…

ASPETTI GEOLOGICI, GEOMORFOLOGICI E ANTROPOLOGICI DE LA MONTAGNOLA (SAN GIOVANNI GEMINI, AGRIGENTO): PROPOSTA DI UN GEOSITO

Sicily's Foreland Fold/thrust Belt and Slab Roll-back: The SI.RI.PRO. Seismic Crustal Transect.

Subsurface geometries in Central Sicily FTB in the frame of the frame of the SIRIPRO crustal profile

I depositi quaternari nei fogli CARG della Sicilia nord occidentale: implicazioni climatiche, ambientali e tettoniche

Quaternary deposits within the National Geologic Maps of Northwestern Sicily: climatic, environmental and tectonic implications. In Northwestern Sicily, Quaternary continental, coastal and marine deposits outcrop. The occurrence of deposits enclosing lower and upper unconformity surfaces allowed to define several unconformity-bounded stratigraphic units (synthems). These units have been mapped in the several National Geologic Maps prepared in the frame of the CARG Project. Stratigraphic features of the Quaternary deposits and their relationship with marine/fluvial terraces, other landforms and tectonic structures suggest the presence of small and isolated sedimentary areas placed on structu…

Il controllo della sismica a riflessione nella elaborazione dei Fogli Geologici del Progetto CARG nella Sicilia Occidentale Seismic reflection constraints in the frame of the CARG Project in Western Sicily

In the frame of the CARG Project, the interpretation of several seismic reflection profiles has provided new important constraints aimed at clarify the deep structural setting of the Central-Western Sicily and the related offshore fold and thrust belt. It has already been envisaged as a tectonic pile mainly made up of deep water Meso-Cenozoic carbonate units overriding a thick stack of Meso-Cenozoic carbonate platform units, detached from their crystalline basement. The data collected, constrained by wells logs, field and stratigraphic data, have improved the knowledge of a complex sector outcropping in the Corleone and Caccamo geologic sheets area. Seismic interpretation displayed the rela…

Seismically-induced soft-sediment deformation structures in Upper Triassic deepwater carbonates (Central Sicily)

We describe soft-sediment deformation structures into the Upper Triassic cherty limestone outcropping in the Pizzo Lupo section (Central Sicily, Italy), pertaining to the deep-water palaeodomain of the Southern Tethyan margin. In the study section, mainly consisting of thin-bedded mudstone/marl alternations with bedded chert intercalations, some lithofacies have been separated on the basis of the abundance of the calcium carbonate/clay content and the overall textural features. The deformational structures, displaying different deformational styles as folded and faulted beds, disturbed layers, clastic dikes, and slumps occur mainly in the deformed horizons that involve marl-dominated lithof…

WALKING ALONG A CRUSTAL PROFILE ACROSS THE SICILY FOLD AND THRUST BELT

SIRIPRO PROJECT: FIELD AND STRATIGRAPHICAL-STRUCTURAL DATA FROM N-S CENTRAL SICILY TRANSECT

PANORAMICA SUI RAPPORTI TETTONICI TRA LE UNITA' SICANE NEI MONTI DI PALAZZO ADRIANO

Geology of Monte Gallo (Palermo Mts, NW Sicily)

ABSTRACTThe promontory of Monte Gallo (Palermo, NW Sicily) is a spectacular site where Upper Triassic-Eocene carbonate platform rocks and Quaternary continental to marine deposits are well exposed. A Mesozoic-Paleogene rock succession allows the potential visitor to easily detect the features and the evolution of the Panormide carbonate platform, a shallow-water paleogeographic domain of the Southern Tethyan margin. Quaternary deposits, as well many landforms, enable the visitor to directly identify the interplay between climate changes, tectonics and fluctuations of marine level that occurred during the Quaternary Period. A detailed geological map (1:15,000 mapping scale) is presented, acc…

Note illustrative della Carta Geologica d’Italia alla scala 1:50.000 del Foglio 608 “Caccamo”. Progetto CARG. Con carta geologica 1:50.000 allegata

Carta Geologica d’Italia alla scala 1:50.000 del Foglio 608 “Caccamo”. Progetto CARG.

Foglio 594 Partinico