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

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

<p>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.</p><p><strong>References</strong></p><p>Vitale Stefano and Ciarcia Sabatino (2013) - Tectono-stratigraphic and kinematic evolution of the southern Apennines/Calabria-Peloritani Terrane system (Italy). Tectonophysics, 583, 164–182.</p><p>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 (Geologische Rundschau), 106, 97–113.</p>

The Late Miocene-Early Pliocene out-of-sequence thrusting event: new insights into the tectonic evolution of the southern Apennines (Italy)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vitale Stefano ◽  
Prinzi Ernesto Paolo ◽  
Francesco D'Assisi Tramparulo ◽  
Sabatino Ciarcia
Keyword(s):  
Late Miocene ◽  
Hanging Wall ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Normal Faults ◽  
Southern Apennines ◽  
Campania Region ◽  
Early Pliocene ◽  
Upper Miocene ◽  
Thrust System ◽  
Tectonic Windows

<p>We present a structural study on late Miocene-early Pliocene out-of-sequence thrusts affecting the southern Apennine chain. The analyzed structures are exposed in the Campania region (southern Italy). Here, leading thrusts bound the N-NE side of the carbonate ridges that form the regional mountain backbone. In several outcrops, the Mesozoic carbonates are superposed onto the unconformable wedge-top basin deposits of the upper Miocene Castelvetere Group, providing constraints to the age of the activity of this thrusting event. We further analyzed the tectonic windows of Giffoni and Campagna, located on the rear of the leading thrust. We reconstructed the orogenic evolution of this part of the orogen. The first was related to the in-sequence thrusting with minor thrusts and folds, widespread both in the footwall and in the hanging wall. A subsequent extension has formed normal faults crosscutting the early thrusts and folds. All structures were subsequently affected by two shortening stages, which also deformed the upper Miocene wedge top basin deposits of the Castelvetere Group. We interpreted these late structures as related to an out-of-sequence thrust system defined by a main frontal E-verging thrust and lateral ramps characterized by N and S vergences. Associated with these thrusting events, LANFs were formed in the hanging wall of the major thrusts. Such out-of-sequence thrusts are observed in the whole southern Apennines and record a thrusting event that occurred in the late Messinian-early Pliocene. We related this tectonic episode to the positive inversion of inherited normal faults located in the Paleozoic basement. These envelopments thrust upward crosscut the allochthonous wedge, including, in the western zone of the chain, the upper Miocene wedge-top basin deposits. Finally, we suggest that the two tectonic windows are the result of the formation of an E-W trending regional antiform, associated with a late S-verging back-thrust, that has been eroded and crosscut by Early Pleistocene normal faults.</p>

Thrust tectonics on Brøggerhalvøya and their relationship to the Tertiary West Spitsbergen Fold-and-Thrust Belt

2002 ◽  
Vol 139 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. SAALMANN ◽  
F. THIEDIG
Keyword(s):  
Middle Eocene ◽  
Kinematic Model ◽  
Thrust Belt ◽  
Fold Belt ◽  
Kinematic Evolution ◽  
Fold And Thrust Belt ◽  
Thrust Tectonics ◽  
Tectonic Transport ◽  
Thrust Sheets ◽  
West Spitsbergen

The Tertiary fold-and-thrust belt on Brøggerhalvøya is characterized by a NE-vergent pile of nine thrust sheets. The sole thrust of the pile is located in Precambrian phyllites and climbs up-section to the northeast. Four lower thrust sheets consisting predominantly of Upper Palaeozoic sediments are overlain by two thrust sheets in the central part of the stack which contain a kilometre-scale syncline and anticline. The fold is cut by juxtaposed thrusts giving rise to the formation of three structurally higher basement-dominated thrust sheets. A multiple-stage kinematic model is proposed including (1) in-sequence foreland-propagating formation of the lower thrust sheets in response to N–S subhorizontal bedding-parallel movements, (2) a change in tectonic transport to ENE and out-of-sequence thrusting and formation of the kilometre-scale fold-structure followed by (3) truncation of the kilometre-scale fold and stacking of the highest basement-dominated thrust sheets by hind-ward-propagating out-of-sequence thrusting. The strain of the thrust sheets is predominantly compressive with the exception of the structurally highest thrust sheets, reflecting a temporal change to a more transpressive regime. Thrusting was followed by (4) N–S extension and (5) W–E extension. Comparison of the structural geometry and kinematic evolution of Brøggerhalvøya with the data reported for the fold belt further south allows us to assume a coeval evolution with the fold belt. A latest Paleocene/Early Eocene age for the main phase of thrusting is suggested for the West Spitsbergen Fold-and-Thrust Belt; the main phases therefore pre-date the separation of Svalbard and Greenland due to right-lateral movements along the Hornsund Fault Zone. The fold belt's temporal evolution followed by the formation of the Forlandsundet Graben can be linked with the plate-kinematic framework in the span between latest Paleocene and Middle Eocene times.

scholarly journals Late Miocene-Early Pliocene Out-of-Sequence Thrusting in the Southern Apennines (Italy)

Geosciences ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Vitale ◽  
Ernesto Paolo Prinzi ◽  
Francesco D’Assisi Tramparulo ◽  
Claudio De Paola ◽  
Rosa Di Maio ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Late Miocene ◽  
Hanging Wall ◽  
Normal Faults ◽  
Campania Region ◽  
Early Pliocene ◽  
Upper Miocene ◽  
The North ◽  
Thrust System ◽  
Platform Carbonates ◽  
North And South

We present a structural study on late Miocene-early Pliocene out-of-sequence thrusts affecting the southern Apennine orogenic belt. The analyzed structures are exposed in the Campania region (southern Italy). Here, thrusts bound the N-NE side of the carbonate ridges that form the regional mountain backbone. In several outcrops, the Mesozoic carbonates are superposed onto the unconformable wedge-top basin deposits of the upper Miocene Castelvetere Group, providing constraints to the age of the activity of this thrusting event. Moreover, a 4-km-long N-S oriented electrical resistivity tomography profile, carried out along the Caserta mountains, sheds light on the structure of this thrust system in an area where it is not exposed. Further information was carried out from a tunnel excavation that allowed us to study some secondary fault splays. The kinematic analysis of out-of-sequence major and minor structures hosted both in the hanging wall (Apennine Platform carbonates) and footwall (Castelvetere Group deposits and Lagonegro-Molise Basin units) indicates the occurrence of two superposed shortening directions, about E-W and N-S, respectively. We associated these compressive structures to an out-of-sequence thrusting event defined by frontal thrusts verging to the east and lateral ramp thrusts verging to the north and south. We related the out-of-sequence thrusting episode to the positive inversion of inherited normal faults located in the Paleozoic basement. These envelopments thrust upward to crosscut the allochthonous wedge, including, in the western zone of the chain, the upper Miocene wedge-top basin deposits.

scholarly journals Structural and Stratigraphic Setting of Campagna and Giffoni Tectonic Windows: New Insights on the Orogenic Evolution of the Southern Apennines (Italy)

Geosciences ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 405
Author(s):  
Stefano Vitale ◽  
Ernesto Paolo Prinzi ◽  
Maria Monda ◽  
Francesco D’Assisi Tramparulo ◽  
Sabatino Ciarcia
Keyword(s):  
Hanging Wall ◽  
Thrust Fault ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Normal Faults ◽  
Southern Apennines ◽  
Crustal Shortening ◽  
Upper Miocene ◽  
Deformation Structures ◽  
Thrust System ◽  
Tectonic Windows

We present a structural study on the tectonic windows of Giffoni and Campagna, located in the western sector of the southern Apennines (Italy). We analyzed thrusts, folds, and related minor deformation structures. Here, a major in-sequence E-verging thrust fault juxtaposes Meso-Cenozoic successions of the Apennine Platform (Picentini Mts unit) and the Lagonegro-Molise Basin (Frigento unit). However, out-of-sequence thrusts duplicated the tectonic pile with the interposition of the upper Miocene wedge-top basin deposits of the Castelvetere Group. We reconstructed the orogenic evolution of these two tectonic windows, including five deformation phases. The first (D1) was related to the in-sequence thrusting with minor thrusts and folds, widespread both in the footwall and the hanging wall. A subsequent extension (D2) has formed normal faults crosscutting the D1 thrusts and folds. All structures were subsequently affected by two shortening stages (D3 and D4), which also deformed the upper Miocene wedge top basin deposits of the Castelvetere Group. We interpreted the D3–D4 structures as related to an out-of-sequence thrust system defined by a main frontal E-verging thrust and lateral ramps characterized by N and S vergences. Low-angle normal faults were formed in the hanging wall of the major thrusts. Out-of-sequence thrusts are observed in the whole southern Apennines, recording a crustal shortening event that occurred in the late Messinian–early Pliocene. Finally, we suggest that the two tectonic windows are the result of the formation of an E–W trending regional antiform, associated with a late S-verging back-thrust, that has been eroded and crosscut by normal faults (D5) in the Early Pleistocene.

Subsurface stratigraphy and basin-fill architecture of the late Paleozoic eastern Taos trough, northern New Mexico, U.S.A.

2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 149-176
Author(s):  
Nur Uddin Md Khaled Chowdhury ◽  
Dustin E. Sweet
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Sediment Accumulation ◽  
Late Paleozoic ◽  
North Central ◽  
The North ◽  
Basement Rocks ◽  
Basin Geometry ◽  
Deformation Event ◽  
Thrust System ◽  
Basin Fill

The greater Taos trough located in north-central New Mexico represents one of numerous late Paleozoic basins that formed during the Ancestral Rocky Mountains deformation event. The late Paleozoic stratigraphy and basin geometry of the eastern portion of the greater Taos trough, also called the Rainsville trough, is little known because the strata are all in the subsurface. Numerous wells drilled through the late Paleozoic strata provide a scope for investigating subsurface stratigraphy and basin-fill architecture of the Rainsville trough. Lithologic data obtained predominantly from petrophysical well logs combined with available biostratigraphic data from the greater Taos trough allows construction of a chronostratigraphic framework of the basin fill. Isopach- and structure-maps indicate that the sediment depocenter was just east of the El Oro-Rincon uplift and a westerly thickening wedge-shaped basin-fill geometry existed during the Pennsylvanian. These relationships imply that the thrust system on the east side of the Precambrian-cored El Oro-Rincon uplift was active during the Pennsylvanian and segmented the greater Taos trough into the eastern Rainsville trough and the western Taos trough. During the Permian, sediment depocenter(s) shifted more southerly and easterly and strata onlap Precambrian basement rocks of the Sierra Grande uplift to the east and Cimarron arch to the north of the Rainsville trough. Permian strata appear to demonstrate minimal influence by faults that were active during the Pennsylvanian and sediment accumulation occurred both in the basinal area as well as on previous positive-relief highlands. A general Permian decrease in eustatic sea level and cessation of local-fault-controlled subsidence indicates that regional subsidence must have affected the region in the early Permian.

scholarly journals Variations in mid-latitude North Atlantic surface water properties during the mid-Brunhes (MIS 9–14) and their implications for the thermohaline circulation

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 531-552 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. H. L. Voelker ◽  
T. Rodrigues ◽  
K. Billups ◽  
D. Oppo ◽  
J. McManus ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Current System ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Boundary Current ◽  
Upwelling System ◽  
The North ◽  
Eastern Boundary ◽  
Stable Conditions ◽  
Hydrographic Conditions

Abstract. Stable isotope and ice-rafted debris records from three core sites in the mid-latitude North Atlantic (IODP Site U1313, MD01-2446, MD03-2699) are combined with records of ODP Sites 1056/1058 and 980 to reconstruct hydrographic conditions during the middle Pleistocene spanning Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 9–14 (300–540 ka). Core MD03-2699 is the first high-resolution mid-Brunhes record from the North Atlantic's eastern boundary upwelling system covering the complete MIS 11c interval and MIS 13. The array of sites reflect western and eastern basin boundary current as well as north to south transect sampling of subpolar and transitional water masses and allow the reconstruction of transport pathways in the upper limb of the North Atlantic's circulation. Hydrographic conditions in the surface and deep ocean during peak interglacial MIS 9 and 11 were similar among all the sites with relative stable conditions and confirm prolonged warmth during MIS 11c also for the mid-latitudes. Sea surface temperature (SST) reconstructions further reveal that in the mid-latitude North Atlantic MIS 11c is associated with two plateaus, the younger one of which is slightly warmer. Enhanced subsurface northward heat transport in the eastern boundary current system, especially during early MIS 11c, is denoted by the presence of tropical planktic foraminifer species and raises the question how strongly it impacted the Portuguese upwelling system. Deep water ventilation at the onset of MIS 11c significantly preceded surface water ventilation. Although MIS 13 was generally colder and more variable than the younger interglacials the surface water circulation scheme was the same. The greatest differences between the sites existed during the glacial inceptions and glacials. Then a north – south trending hydrographic front separated the nearshore and offshore waters off Portugal. While offshore waters originated from the North Atlantic Current as indicated by the similarities between the records of IODP Site U1313, ODP Site 980 and MD01-2446, nearshore waters as recorded in core MD03-2699 derived from the Azores Current and thus the subtropical gyre. Except for MIS 12, Azores Current influence seems to be related to eastern boundary system dynamics and not to changes in the Atlantic overturning circulation.

scholarly journals Pleistocene horses (genus Equus) in the central Balkans

2003 ◽  
pp. 55-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Forsten ◽  
Vesna Dimitrijevic
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Mountainous Area ◽  
Migration Routes ◽  
Northern Greece ◽  
The North ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Morava River ◽  
River Valleys

A review of the fossil horses of the genus Equus from the central Balkans, a mountainous area comprising Serbia and Montenegro, is presented in this paper. The time period covered by the finds is from the late Early to and including the Late Pleistocene, but the record is not complete: the dated finds are Late Pleistocene in age, while Early and Middle Pleistocene are poorly represented. The horses found resemble those from neighbouring countries from the same time period, probably showing the importance of river valleys as migration routes. The Morava River valley runs in a roughly south-to-north direction, connecting, via the Danube and Tisa River valleys the Hungarian Pannonian Plain in the north with northern Greece in the south, via the Vardar River valley in Macedonia. In Pleistocene, large mammals, including horses, probably used this route for dispersal.

scholarly journals Long-term geomorphological evolution of the axial zone of the Campania-Lucania Apennine, southern Italy: a review

2017 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcello Schiattarella ◽  
Salvatore Ivo Giano ◽  
Dario Gioia
Keyword(s):  
Southern Italy ◽  
Morphological Evolution ◽  
Structural Data ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Southern Apennines ◽  
Axial Zone ◽  
Entire Study ◽  
Erosion Rates ◽  
Uplift Rates ◽  
Land Surfaces

Abstract Uplift and erosion rates have been calculated for a large sector of the Campania-Lucania Apennine and Calabrian arc, Italy, using both geomorphological observations (elevations, ages and arrangement of depositional and erosional land surfaces and other morphotectonic markers) and stratigraphical and structural data (sea-level related facies, base levels, fault kinematics, and fault offset estimations). The values of the Quaternary uplift rates of the southern Apennines vary from 0.2 mm/yr to about 1.2–1.3 mm/yr. The erosion rates from key-areas of the southern Apennines, obtained from both quantitative geomorphic analysis and missing volumes calculations, has been estimated at 0.2 mm/yr since the Middle Pleistocene. Since the Late Pleistocene erosion and uplift rates match well, the axial-zone landscape could have reached a flux steady state during that time, although it is more probable that the entire study area may be a transient landscape. Tectonic denudation phenomena — leading to the exhumation of the Mesozoic core of the chain — followed by an impressive regional planation started in the Late Pliocene have to be taken into account for a coherent explanation of the morphological evolution of southern Italy.

Morphological evolution of the murine rodent Paraethomys in response to climatic variations (Mio-Pleistocene of North Africa)

Paleobiology ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 369-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina Renaud ◽  
Mouloud Benammi ◽  
Jean-Jacques Jaeger
Keyword(s):  
North Africa ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Morphological Evolution ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Metabolic Adaptation ◽  
Subsequent Increase ◽  
Evolutionary Patterns ◽  
The North ◽  
Murine Rodent ◽  
Evolutionary Response

The North African murine rodent Paraethomys evolved as an anagenetic lineage from the late Miocene until its extinction in the late—middle Pleistocene. A Fourier analysis of the outlines of the first upper and lower molars of this rodent was used to quantify the evolutionary patterns of this lineage and to compare evolutionary patterns to the climatic record. Morphological evolution and long-term environmental variations are strongly correlated. A change in molar shape, which may be related to the development of a more grass-eating diet, corresponds to the global cooling beginning around 3 Ma and the subsequent increase in aridity in North Africa. Concurrently, size increased, which may be related to increased masticatory efficiency or to metabolic adaptation to the cooler environmental conditions according to Bergmann's rule. This adaptive response to changing environmental conditions corresponds to an acceleration of evolutionary rates in the lineage. The modalities of the evolutionary response in size and shape are probably controlled by intrinsic factors such as different genetic determinisms for both characters.

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