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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Influence of the Plio-Pleistocene tectonics on the evolution of the Purgatorio polje (north-western Sicily)

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The evolution of large landforms such as polje are related in most cases to geological events affecting a specific areal context and/or to climatic events which, in combination with the tectonics, affect the karst base level, in a more or less pronounced manner depending on the proximity of limestone karst mountains to the coastline. The genesis of these aforementioned forms depends primarily on structural and lithological factors, their evolution is instead controlled by tectonic and climaticeustatic factors in the reliefs close to the coast. In the inland, due to the distance from the coast, the effects of the latter factors on the karstification process could be less, or very bland, in respect to the predominant tectonic movements. In this context, the Purgatorio polje, in the north-west of Sicily, activated in the Middle Pleistocene and regressed to a relict form at the end of the Upper Pleistocene–Holocene, can be seen as a result of the tectonic events that have lifted, and still lift,the Monti di Capo San Vito in differential blocks, with a consequent lowering of the erosion base level.