Relationships between Lithospheric Flexure, Thrust Tectonics and Stratigraphic Sequences in Foreland Setting: the Southern Apennines Foreland Basin System, Italy

The geology of the epicentral area of the 1980 earthquake (Irpinia-Lucania, Italy) is described with new stratigraphic, petrographic and structural data. Subsurface geological data have been collected during the studies for the excavation works of the Pavoncelli bis hydraulic tunnel, developing between Caposele and Conza della Campania in an area that was highly damaged during 1980 earthquake. Our approach includes geological, stratigraphic, structural studies, and petrological analyses of rock samples collected along the tunnel profile and in outcropping sections. Stratigraphic studies and detailed geological and structural mapping were carried out in about 200 km2 wide area. The main units cropping out have been studied and correlated in order to document the effects of tectonic changes during the orogenic evolution on the foreland basin systems and the sandstone detrital modes in this sector of the southern Apennines. The multi-disciplinary and updated datasets have allowed getting new insights on the tectono-stratigraphic evolution and stratigraphic architecture of the southern Apennines foreland basin system and on the structural and stratigraphic relations of Apennines tectonic units and timing of their kinematic evolution. They also allowed to better understand the relationships between internal and external basin units within the Apennine thrust belt and its tectonic evolution.

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

BSGF - Earth Sciences Bulletin ◽

10.2113/gssgfbull.186.4-5.273 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 186 (4-5) ◽

pp. 273-290 ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

Maurizio Gasparo Morticelli ◽

Vera Valenti ◽

Raimondo Catalano ◽

Attilio Sulli ◽

Mauro Agate ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Foreland Basin ◽

Thrust Belt ◽

Main Thrust ◽

Early Pliocene ◽

System Evolution ◽

Upper Miocene ◽

Fold And Thrust Belt ◽

Thrust Tectonics ◽

Basin System ◽

Late Tortonian

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 depositional interface common both to the coeval wedge-top and foredeep basins. The tectono-sedimentary evolution of the syn-tectonic basins was controlled by the progressive deepening of the structural levels, which were active during the growing of the FTB. The palinspastic restoration of a crustal geological transect in central Sicily points to: i) the occurrence of two subsequent, basal main thrusts (MT1 and MT2) active during the Neogene-middle Pleistocene tectonic evolution, as well as ii) a decrease in slip- and shortening-rate, estimated for the later MT2 as compared to earlier MT1 basal main thrust. The foreland-basin system evolution recorded during these two steps suggests: – the regional lithofacies distribution, during late Tortonian-early Pliocene, accounted for a wide depozone including the Iblean plateau and its offshore;– a crucial change was recorded by the late Pliocene-Pleistocene wedge-top depozone, when the deeper basal main thrust (MT2) involved and thickened (in the inner sector of the FTB) the crystalline basement (thin- to thick-skinned thrust tectonics); this change influenced the depozones, progressively narrowing up to the present-day setting. As regards this general evolutionary framework, thin-skinned and thick-skinned thrust tectonics can be recognized in the Sicilian FTB evolution. The late Tortonian-early Pliocene, thin-skinned thrust tectonics include two main tectonic events, a “shallow-seated” Event 1 and a “deep-seated” Event 2, with the Pliocene-Pleistocene thick-skinned thrust tectonics representing a third tectonic event (Event 3).

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PALEODRAINAGE OF THE LOWER CRETACEOUS MCMURRAY FORMATION, EASTERN MARGINS OF THE ALBERTA FORELAND BASIN SYSTEM

10.1130/abs/2016am-287296 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Deserae L. Jennings ◽

◽

Mike Blum

Keyword(s):

Lower Cretaceous ◽

Foreland Basin ◽

Mcmurray Formation ◽

Basin System

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TRACKING ANDEAN ARC MAGMATISM AND CRUSTAL SHORTENING DURING A SHIFT TO FLAT-SLAB SUBDUCTION USING DETRITAL ZIRCON GEOCHRONOLOGY FROM THE RETROARC FORELAND BASIN SYSTEM OF WESTERN ARGENTINA (30.5°S)

10.1130/abs/2017am-307333 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Tomas N. Capaldi ◽

◽

Brian K. Horton ◽

N. Ryan McKenzie ◽

Patricia A. Alvarado

Keyword(s):

Detrital Zircon ◽

Foreland Basin ◽

Arc Magmatism ◽

Zircon Geochronology ◽

Flat Slab ◽

Detrital Zircon Geochronology ◽

Crustal Shortening ◽

Flat Slab Subduction ◽

Basin System

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The Numidian Sand Event in the Burdigalian Foreland Basin System of the Rif (Morocco) in a source-to-sink perspective

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-15312 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Anas Abbassi ◽

Paola Cipollari ◽

Maria Giuditta Fellin ◽

Mohamed Najib Zaghloul ◽

Marcel Guillong ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Detrital Zircon ◽

Large Population ◽

Foreland Basin ◽

Source Area ◽

Western Mediterranean ◽

Early Miocene ◽

Calcareous Nannofossils ◽

External Zone ◽

Field Evidence ◽

Basin System

During the Tertiary evolution of the Western Mediterranean subduction system, the orogenic accretion at the Maghrebian margin let the stacking of three main tectonic zones of the Rif fold-and-thrust belt: 1) the Internal Zone; 2) the &#8220;Maghrebian Flysch&#8221; Nappes; and 3) the&#160; External Zone. In this context, a migrating foreland basin system developed between the Maghrebian orogenic belt and the adjacent African Craton.&#160;A comprehensive reconstruction of the foreland basin system of the Rif Chain for each phase of its accretional history is still missing. In this work, by integrating field observations with quantitative biostratigraphic data from calcareous nannofossils assemblages, sandstone composition, and detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology from selected stratigraphic successions, we reconstruct the foreland basin system that in the early Miocene developed in front of the growing Rif orogen. The analyzed successions are representative of (1) the &#8220;Beliounis Facies&#8221;, made of quartz-arenites and litharenites (Numidian-like &#8220;mixed succession&#8221;), from the Predorsalian Unit; (2) the &#8220;M&#233;rinides Facies&#8221;, made of a Numidian-like &#8220;mixed succession&#8221;, from the &#8220;Maghrebian Flysch Basin&#8221;; and (3) the classical &#8220;Numidian Facies&#8221;, exclusively made of quartzarenites, from the Intrarifian Tanger Unit.The petrographic analyses and the detrital zircon U-Pb ages show the provenance of the quartzarenites of the &#8220;Numidian Facies&#8221; from the African Craton, whereas the sublitharenites and feldspathic litharenites, of both the &#8220;M&#233;rinides Facies&#8221; and &#8220;Beliounis Facies&#8221;, show provenance from a cratonic area and the growing and unroofing Rif Chain, respectively.&#160;The Alpine signature of the detrital grains sedimented into the foredeep deposits of the early Miocene orogenic system of the Rif Chain is from the feldspathic litharenites of both the M&#233;rinides Facies and the Beni Ider Flysch. Both show Mesozoic and Cenozoic U-Pb zircon populations, with a large population of zircons centered at ca. 32 Ma. The U and Th concentration, the Th/U ratio, and the REE pattern of this population of zircons suggest a possible source area from Oligocene doleritic rock intrusions, similar to the magmatic dyke swarms (diorite) cropping out in the Malaga region ( SE Spain).The biostratigraphic analyses pinpoint the same age for the arrival of the quartz grains in the Numidian, M&#233;rinides, and Beliounis deposits, indicating about 1 Myr for their sedimentation (ca. 20-19 Ma, early Burdigalian). Together with field evidence, the biostratigraphic results point to an autochthonous deposition of the Numidian Sandstones on top of the Tanger Unit, allowing to delineate the early Burdigalian foreland basin system of the Rif Chain. The foreland depozone involved the Tanger Unit and received the &#8220;Numidian Facies&#8221; deposits&#160;; the foredeep depozone hosted about 2000 m of the &#8220;M&#233;rinides Facies&#8221; and the Beni Ider Flysch, and developed on the so-called &#8220;Flysch Basin Domain&#8221;; and, finally, the wedge-top depozone, characterized by the &#8220;Beliounis Facies&#8221;, developed on top of the Predorsalian Unit.The Numidian Sandstones and the Numidian-like deposits analyzed in Morocco show the same age of similar deposits from Algeria, Tunisia, and Sicily, suggesting a comparable early Burdigalian tectono-sedimentary evolution along the southern branch of the Western Mediterranean subduction-related orogen.

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