The study area is located in the northern portion of the Calabrian Arc, a fault-bounded terrain sited between Southern Apennine and Sicily (a “wedge” of Europe into Adria promontory). The migration of the Calabrian Arc was contemporaneous to the spreading of the Tyrrhenian back-arc basin, which started between Langhian and Tortonian times (MATTEI et al., 2002). This process generated by a passive subduction of the Ionian lithosphere along a steeply inclined Benioff Plane (MALINVERNO & RYAN, 1986) led to a segmentation of the arc, with consequent differential movements of blocks along strike-slip faults (DEWEY et al., 1989; KNOTT & TURCO, 1991; VAN DIJK & SCHEEPERS, 1995). In current literature there are two models that attempt to explain the origin of the CB. The former consist in NW–SE oriented left-lateral strikeslip faults exerted a major control on the tectonic evolution of northern-central Calabria, from Middle Miocene to Lower Pleistocene times. Such faults, arranged in an en-échelon geometry and dissecting the pre-existing Late Oligocene–Early Miocene orogenic belt. The latter predicts that the basin Crati is related to the extension of the Tyrrhenian Sea, with a NSoriented normal faults that are present along the coastal range on western side of Crati valley. Stratigraphic and structural data are a supplement to a new interpretative model of CB which is being built using Field data and seismic reflection profiles of various resolutions (V.I.D.E.P.I. database), calibrated by deep well logs, have been used to unpick the tectonic evolution of CB. Regional lineaments are recognized through a GIS analysis using a DTM 30m, geological maps 1:25000 of Calabria Region and orthophotos. Three regional alignments are enhanced by morphstructures located in Crati area and the main of this is oriented N-S. These regional lineaments are known in their outcrop features but the timing of activity and their kinematics are still debated. The CB is filled by Upper Miocene to Holocene clastic marine and fluvial deposits. Although the main depocentre is located in the northernmost sector of the basin (Sibari Plain), the thickness of the deposits increases from the Coastal Range (COLELLA, 1988). Basin fill consists of two main depositional sequencesbounded by a regional angular unconformity. The first sequence, Late Miocene to Early Pliocene in age (bounded by discontinuities and depositional hiatuses) is characterized in the structural highs by a Messinian unconformity, while the second one, spanning from the Middle-Late Pliocene to the Pleistocene. In this work we present the stratigraphic and sedimentological data collected in a field trip carried out for analyze new sections in Crati Basin (CB). Stratigraphic analyses allow to say that sections studied in Firmo – Terranova da Sibari and Cassano allo Ionio area provide new biostratigraphic data for the study area due to the presence of markers of the early Pleistocene (Calabrian). The sections analyzed can be attributed to a depositional environment of Fan-Delta (distal facies), in particular morphology characterized by a slightly steeper slope and an organization similar to the modelshelf type of ETHRIDGE & WESCOTT (1984) and modified by MASSARI & COLELLA (1988) and COLELLA (1988). Our stratigraphic and structural data can be related to a NS extensional tectonic framework wich involved during the Pliocene time Crati Basin, Sibari Plain, Corigliano basin, Paola basin and probably the whole of Northern Calabria.

Stratigraphic and tectonic evolution of Crati basin: extension along strike of northern part of Calabrian Arc.

PIERANTONI, Pietro Paolo;MACCHIAVELLI, CHIARA;TURCO, Eugenio
2012-01-01

Abstract

The study area is located in the northern portion of the Calabrian Arc, a fault-bounded terrain sited between Southern Apennine and Sicily (a “wedge” of Europe into Adria promontory). The migration of the Calabrian Arc was contemporaneous to the spreading of the Tyrrhenian back-arc basin, which started between Langhian and Tortonian times (MATTEI et al., 2002). This process generated by a passive subduction of the Ionian lithosphere along a steeply inclined Benioff Plane (MALINVERNO & RYAN, 1986) led to a segmentation of the arc, with consequent differential movements of blocks along strike-slip faults (DEWEY et al., 1989; KNOTT & TURCO, 1991; VAN DIJK & SCHEEPERS, 1995). In current literature there are two models that attempt to explain the origin of the CB. The former consist in NW–SE oriented left-lateral strikeslip faults exerted a major control on the tectonic evolution of northern-central Calabria, from Middle Miocene to Lower Pleistocene times. Such faults, arranged in an en-échelon geometry and dissecting the pre-existing Late Oligocene–Early Miocene orogenic belt. The latter predicts that the basin Crati is related to the extension of the Tyrrhenian Sea, with a NSoriented normal faults that are present along the coastal range on western side of Crati valley. Stratigraphic and structural data are a supplement to a new interpretative model of CB which is being built using Field data and seismic reflection profiles of various resolutions (V.I.D.E.P.I. database), calibrated by deep well logs, have been used to unpick the tectonic evolution of CB. Regional lineaments are recognized through a GIS analysis using a DTM 30m, geological maps 1:25000 of Calabria Region and orthophotos. Three regional alignments are enhanced by morphstructures located in Crati area and the main of this is oriented N-S. These regional lineaments are known in their outcrop features but the timing of activity and their kinematics are still debated. The CB is filled by Upper Miocene to Holocene clastic marine and fluvial deposits. Although the main depocentre is located in the northernmost sector of the basin (Sibari Plain), the thickness of the deposits increases from the Coastal Range (COLELLA, 1988). Basin fill consists of two main depositional sequencesbounded by a regional angular unconformity. The first sequence, Late Miocene to Early Pliocene in age (bounded by discontinuities and depositional hiatuses) is characterized in the structural highs by a Messinian unconformity, while the second one, spanning from the Middle-Late Pliocene to the Pleistocene. In this work we present the stratigraphic and sedimentological data collected in a field trip carried out for analyze new sections in Crati Basin (CB). Stratigraphic analyses allow to say that sections studied in Firmo – Terranova da Sibari and Cassano allo Ionio area provide new biostratigraphic data for the study area due to the presence of markers of the early Pleistocene (Calabrian). The sections analyzed can be attributed to a depositional environment of Fan-Delta (distal facies), in particular morphology characterized by a slightly steeper slope and an organization similar to the modelshelf type of ETHRIDGE & WESCOTT (1984) and modified by MASSARI & COLELLA (1988) and COLELLA (1988). Our stratigraphic and structural data can be related to a NS extensional tectonic framework wich involved during the Pliocene time Crati Basin, Sibari Plain, Corigliano basin, Paola basin and probably the whole of Northern Calabria.
2012
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11581/364014
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