Paleomagnetic evidence for counter-clockwise rotations in the Southern Apennines fold-and-thrust belt during the late pliocene and middle Pleistocene

Abstract The Gorgoglione Formation represents the infill of a thrust-top basin, which records the tectonic evolution of the southern Apennines (Italy) since Upper Miocene times. The Upper Miocene basin was divided into two main sub-basins, showing both about NNW-SSW elongation. During ongoing contractional deformation, the Gorgoglione basin was incorporated into the allochthonous units of the Apennine fold-and-thrust belt, as outlined by the emplacement of thrust sheets of internal provenance (Sicilide Unit) and by the development of two main generations of tight to open folds. In this work, the modalities of deformation associated to the incorporation of the Gorgoglione Formation into the fold-and-thrust belt has been documented by means of mineralogical and structural analyses. Mineralogical data show that, in the northeastern sub-basin of the Gorgoglione Formation, the illite content and the order of illite/smectite mixed layer increase near the contact with the overlaying Sicilide Unit. These data are hence used to estimate the relative tectonic load produced by thrusting of the aforementioned tectonic unit. Structural data are consistent with tight, NNW-trending, meso-scale folds particularly frequent in the upper pelitic/arenaceous portion of the Gorgoglione Formation. Within these folded pelitic levels, a well-developed axial-plane foliation, and an ordered I/S (R1 and R3) with higher illite content, is documented. Instead, other folds developed far away from the Sicilide klippen show an incipient axial-plane foliation and a random I/S (R0) with lower illite amount is found in pelites. The data suggest that the eastern sub-basin of the Gorgoglione Formation underwent variable tectonic load, increasing from E to W, as well as deformation produced by thrusting of Sicilide sheet. The mineralogical data also indicate that illitization process is favoured for the high availability of potassium due to the dissolution of k-feldspar. High potassium availability affects the samples subjected to the highest diagenetic degree, characterized by kaolinite illitization process.

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Tectonic burial and exhumation in a foreland fold and thrust belt: the Monte Alpi case history (Southern Apennines, Italy)

Geodinamica Acta ◽

10.1080/09853111.2002.10510750 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 15 (3) ◽

pp. 159-177 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Sveva Corrado ◽

Chiara Invernizzi ◽

Stefano Mazzoli

Keyword(s):

Case History ◽

Thrust Belt ◽

Southern Apennines ◽

Fold And Thrust Belt

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The upper Messinian-lowermost Pliocene out-of-sequence event in the southern Apennines (Italy): a study about the kinematics of the major thrust faults

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-5266 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Sabatino Ciarcia ◽

Ernesto Paolo Prinzi ◽

Francesco D’Assisi Tramparulo ◽

Stefano Vitale

Keyword(s):

Middle Pleistocene ◽

Southern Apennines ◽

Campania Region ◽

The North ◽

Regional Deformation ◽

Kinematic Evolution ◽

Fold And Thrust Belt ◽

Tectonic Transport ◽

Thrust System ◽

Tectonic Windows

The southern Apennines are a fold-and-thrust belt formed since the lower Miocene until the middle Pleistocene (e.g., Vitale and Ciarcia, 2013). Although a wide literature exists about the geology of this orogenic chain, few are the studies about the kinematics of the major thrusts. With this in mind, this work is aimed to investigate the out-of-sequence regional thrust system exposed in the Campania region. This system is characterized by a frontal ramp exposed along the N-NE side of the platform carbonate ridge forming the regional mountain backbone. The main structure is also exposed as a flat thrust in the Campagna and Giffoni tectonic windows located in the internal sector of the chain. We analyzed several outcrops; in some of them, we observed the Mesozoic carbonates superposed onto the upper Miocene wedge-top basin deposits of the Castelvetere Group. The kinematic analysis of major and minor structures suggests the occurrence of two thrust fault sets: (i) the oldest indicates an eastward tectonic vergence, whereas (ii) the youngest, and more developed, toward the north. In the external zones, the N-S shortening was synchronous with the deposition of the upper Messinian-lowermost Pliocene Altavilla Fm. The origin of this out-of-sequence regional deformation is still matter of debate (e.g., Vitale et al., 2017). In our opinion it was the shallow expression of a deep-seated thrusting episode within the buried Apulian slab. It was dominated by thrust ramps (thick-skinned tectonics) mainly verging to East, and by the N-verging structures associated to lateral ramps.ReferencesVitale Stefano and Ciarcia Sabatino (2013) - Tectono-stratigraphic and kinematic evolution of the southern Apennines/Calabria-Peloritani Terrane system (Italy). Tectonophysics, 583, 164&#8211;182.Vitale Stefano, Tramparulo Francesco d'Assisi, Ciarcia Sabatino, Amore F. Ornella, Prinzi Ernesto Paolo and Laiena Fabio (2017) - The northward tectonic transport in the southern Apennines: examples from the Capri Island and western Sorrento Peninsula (Italy). International Journal of Earth Sciences&#160;(Geologische&#160;Rundschau), 106, 97&#8211;113.

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