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We present an example of interaction between magmatism and tectonics at shallow crustal levels. In the Late Miocene the metamorphic units of the eastern Elba Island (northern Apennines) were intruded at very shallow crustal levels by a large pluton (> 60 km 2 ) with the development of an hectometre-sized contact aureole defined by growth of low-pressure/high-temperature mineral assemblages (P max < 0.2 GPa, T max ~ 650 °C). Structural data show that the contact aureole is associated with a km-sized antiform of the foliation and by several metre- to decametre-thick high-strain domains consisting of strongly foliated rocks containing synkinematic HT/LP mineral assemblages and ductile shear zones of variable thickness. These shear zones are characterized by a mylonitic foliation variably overprinted by cataclasis. Quartz microfabrics indicate that the dynamic crystallization processes progressively changed from grain boundary migration, associated with the thermal peak of contact metamorphism, to subgrain rotation and bulging recrystallization, the latter mostly associated with the cataclastic overprint. These transitions of recrystallization mechanisms in quartz are related to a progressive decrease of temperature during deformation. Deformation accompanied the development and cooling of the contact aureole, which recorded the switch from high temperature ductile to low temperature brittle conditions. The geometry of the studied deformation structures is consistent with the constraints of the regional tectonic evolution and its local interaction with the localized and transient thermal anomaly related to the coeval emplacement of igneous rocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work illustrates the evolution the Lower Jurassic shallow-water carbonates known as the Calcare Massiccio Formation in the Central Apennines (Italy). The Calcare Massiccio is characterized by lateral and vertical variability in the facies associations, related to an articulated physiography of the Triassic to Lower Jurassic carbonate platform and to its tectonic evolution. This work documents the depositional environment changes during the platform evolution. Quantitative analysis on samples collected from three stratigraphic sections were performed through the Calcare Massiccio succession allowed up to the overlying Pliensbachian pelagites. Two type of carbonate sedimentation have been recognized: in the peritidal and shallow subtidal environments (Calcare Massiccio A) the carbonate production is dominated by microbial activity, while the carbonate sedimentation in a deeper environment of middle to outer ramp (Calcare Massiccio B), is dominated by a bioclastic sedimentation. The evolution from the Calcare Massiccio A to the B can be interpreted as the product of increase of accommodation that in turn produced a backstepping of carbonate facies belt, the photic microbial dominated peritidal facies developed on the persistent Latium-Abruzzi Platform while the bioclastic carbonate production factory settled on the structural highs resulting from the dismembering of the platform by syn-sedimentary tectonic. The bioclastic carbonate factory was not efficient in filling the available accommodation space produced by Sinemurian extensional tectonic. This inefficiency was amplified by the restricted area available for this factory in the small structural highs. These conditions were sufficient to predispose the platform to the drowning without invoke change in the trophic resource or change in the palaeoceanography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We provide new field data from geologic mapping and bedrock structural geology along the western side of the Matese Mts in central Italy, a region of high seismicity, strain rates among the highest of the entire Apennines (4–5 mm/yr GPS-determined extension), and poorly constrained active faults. The existing knowledge on the Aquae Iuliae normal fault (AIF) was implemented with geometric and kinematic data that better constrain its total length (16.5 km), the minimum long-term throw rate (0.3–0.4 mm/yr, post-late glacial maximum, LGM), and the segmentation. For the first time, we provide evidence of post-350 ka and possibly late Quaternary activity of the Ailano – Piedimonte Matese normal fault (APMF). The APMF is 18 km long. It is composed of a main 11 km-long segment striking NW–SE and progressively bending to the E–W in its southern part, and a 7 km-long segment striking E–W to ENE-WSW with very poor evidence of recent activity. The available data suggest a possible post-LGM throw rate of the main segment of ≳0.15 mm/yr. There is no evidence of active linkage in the step-over zone between the AIF and APMF (Prata Sannita step-over). An original tectonic model is proposed by comparing structural and geodetic data. The AIF and APMF belong to two major, nearly parallel fault systems. One system runs at the core of the Matese Mts and is formed by the AIF and the faults of the Gallo-Letino-Matese Lake system. The other system runs along the western side of the Matese Mts and is formed by the APMF, linked to the SE with the Piedimonte Matese – Gioia Sannitica fault. The finite extension of the APMF might be transferred to the NW towards the San Pietro Infine fault. The nearly 2–3 mm/yr GPS-determined extension rate is probably partitioned between the two systems, with a ratio that is difficult to establish due to poor GPS coverage. The proposed model, though incomplete (several faults/transfer zones need further investigations), aids in the seismotectonic interpretation of poorly-known earthquakes (e.g., 346/355 AD earthquake on the Ailano – Piedimonte Matese – Gioia Sannitica fault system), and stimulates and further orients seismotectonic investigations aimed at constraining the segmentation pattern and seismogenic potential of the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent earthquake sequences of 2012 (northern Italy) and 2013 (Marche offshore) provided new, fundamental constraints to the active tectonic setting of the outer northern Apennines. In contrast to the Po Plain area, where the 2012 northern Italy earthquakes confirmed active frontal thrusting, the new focal mechanisms obtained in this study for the 2013 Marche offshore earthquakes indicate that only minor thrust fault reactivation occurs in the Adriatic domain, even for a theoretically favourably oriented maximum horizontal compression. Recent seismicity in this domain appears to be mainly controlled by transcurrent crustal faults dissecting the Apennine thrust belt. The along-strike stress field variation from the Po Plain to the Adriatic area has been quantitatively investigated by applying the multiple inverse method (MIM) to the analysis of the entire seismicity recorded from January 1976 to August 2014, from the top 12 km of the crust (fault plane solutions from 127 earthquakes with M W ≥ 4), allowing us to obtain a comprehensive picture of the state of stress over the outer zone of the fold and thrust belt. The present-day stress field has been defined for 39 cells of 1.5° × 1.5° surface area and 12 km depth. The obtained stress field maps point out that, although the entire outer northern Apennines belt is characterized by a sub-horizontal maximum compressive axis ( σ 1 ), the minimum compression ( σ 3 ) is sub-vertical only in the Po Plain area, becoming sub-horizontal in the Adriatic sector, thus confirming that the latter region is dominated by an active tectonic regime of strike-slip type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with original stratigraphic, petrographic and structural data concerning the evolution of the southern Apennines chain (Italy). The main Langhian to Pliocene deposits cropping out in the northern sector of the southern Apennines foreland basin system (Sannio-Irpinia area) have been studied and correlated in order to document the effects of tectonic changes on the evolution of sandstone detrital modes and stratigraphic architecture. The studied sandstone units can be grouped in five key intervals: a) Numidian Flysch, mostly formed by Langhian mature quartzarenitic deposits and conformable Serravallian post-Numidian successions, formed by arkosic and calciclastic arenaceous-pelitic beds (foreland depozones); b) Langhian to Tortonian San Giorgio Fm., mostly composed of quartzofeldspatic sandstones (foredeep depozone); c) Tortonian to Early Messinian, quartz-feldspatic and partly sedimentary-carbonatoclastic petrofacies, thrust-top successions (Vallone Ponticello, Villanova del Battista and San Bartolomeo fms.); d) Late Messinian quartzolithic to quartzofeldspatic sandstones (Torrente Fiumarella, Anzano Molasse and Tufo-Altavilla unit), which can be referred to infilled thrust-top basins; e) unconformity-bounded Pliocene quartzofeldspatic sandstone strata (wedge-top depozones), characterized by synsedimentary tectonic activity. Detrital modes of the Serravallian through Middle Pliocene sandstones of the southern Apennines foreland basin system testify clear provenance relations from the accreted terranes forming the southern Apennine thrust-belt. The studied clastics show almost the same blended (quartz-feldspatic) composition; this condition could be related to the tectonic transport over thrust ramp of source rocks, as suggested by the tectonic evolutionary model. This study, dealing with sedimentary provenance analysis and tectonostratigraphic evolution, provides an example of the close relations between clastic compositions and foreland basin system development in southern Apennines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Relationships between latest quaternary brittle structures and seismicity in a sector of the inner Northern Apennines. [•] Role of active faults for hydrothermal fluids migration in the upper crust, thermal springs location and CO2 discharging. [•] Geodynamics implication for the inner Northern Apennines. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We develop a new high-resolution stratigraphic age model to unravel the contributions of tectonic and climatic processes on early to late Pleistocene synorogenic growth strata. We capitalize on excellent, continuous exposures along the flank of the Po foreland in northern Italy to elucidate hydrologic, geomorphic, and sedimentologic processes that are regularly attributed to, but rarely proven to be caused by, glacial-interglacial climatic changes and unsteady rock uplift. We perform our analysis on the Enza section, a succession of marine and terrestrial strata exposed along the Enza River, between Parma and Reggio Emilia, northern Italy. Bedding in the Enza section displays synorogenic growth strata geometry, with bedding dips that range from 2° to 55°, that becomes progressively shallower upsection. We develop an age model that incorporates biostratigraphy, magnetostratigraphy, rock-magnetic cyclostratigraphy, cosmogenic radionuclide burial dating, and optically stimulated luminescence dating and shows that the Enza section spans the interval between 0.04 and 1.65 Ma. Furthermore, the age model pins the time of deposition for several lithostratigraphic units of regional signifi cance and shows that sediment accumulation was unsteady, ranging from 14-31 cm/k.y. in the marine part of the section to 5-362 cm/k.y. in the overlying littoral and terrestrial part of the section. Unsteady deposition is most pronounced in the terrestrial deposits where thick fl uvial gravel packages accumulated in short (~10-15 k.y.) time periods that coincide with Quaternary glacial intervals. There is direct evidence for a dominant tectonic control in the older, marine part of the section. Here, sediment accumulation rates on the limb of the fold growing along this portion of the Northern Apennine mountain front show that between 1.07 and 1.65 Ma, repetitive progradation of neritic sand units directly followed pulses of rapid, punctuated uplift. In contrast, the cyclic terrestrial facies variations in the Enza section reveal that once the section became emergent at ca. 1 Ma and uplift slowed, climate was the dominant control on sediment production and deposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A short intra-Messinian continental period has been recognised in some North Italian gypsum areas, mostly under the form of palaeokarst deposits. This emersion appears to have occurred only locally, and is explained as caused by the intra-Messinian tectonic phase and a major sea level lowering. Evidences of this palaeokarst are mostly small, although at some places the palaeontological content of its fillings is of great importance. The discovery near Zola Predosa (Bologna) of a new intra-Messinian extensive karst system and of its infilling sheds new light on the importance of this karst episode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study provides new data on the deformation and metamorphic evolution of the Jurassic to Upper Oligocene Frido Unit, an Ocean Continent Transition (OCT) Unit belonging to the Ligurian Accretionary Complex (LAC), by means of the integration of structural analysis, petrological investigations and a revision of the stratigraphical setting. The Frido Unit, representing the main metamorphic component of the Lower–Middle Miocene LAC in southern Italy, is characterized by a multistage tectonic evolution including: (i) two progressive deformation phases involving the development, under relatively high-pressure metamorphic conditions, of an early cleavage associated with isoclinal folds within the framework of a dominant SE-ward tectonic transport; (ii) a third deformation stage involving the growth of lower-pressure Na-amphibole along extensional shear surfaces (therefore probably marking the onset of tectonic exhumation); and (iii) two very low-temperature deformation phases characterized by the development of kink folds and associated thrusts, probably related to the late tectonic emplacement of the accretionary wedge onto the outer sectors of the Apennine domain (with a prevailing tectonic transport first toward the NE and then toward the NW). In order to clarify the metamorphic evolution of the Frido Unit, petrologic analyses were focused on its metasedimentary pelitic succession. Here, mineral parageneses including carpholite (well-documented for the first time in this study) and potassic white mica yielded peak pressure of ~1.2–1.4GPa and temperature around 350°C, thus indicating a high pressure/very low temperature metamorphism and a P–T–t path characterized by a rapid exhumation without any greenschist-facies overprint. In comparison with similar units cropping out in northern Calabria, Tuscany and Corsica, the Frido Unit experienced one of the coldest burial-exhumation histories. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This study examines the use of specific mud volcano features (i.e., elongated calderas, aligned vents and elongated volcanoes) as potential indicators of tectonic stress orientation. The stress indicator principles, widely recognised for magmatic systems, have been discussed and applied to mud volcano settings such as in the Northern Apennines and the Azerbaijan Greater Caucasus, as well as in other instances where the analysis was fully based on a remote sensing study. The results of these applications are promising, the obtained maximum horizontal stress (S H) directions generally showing a good correlation with those determined in the upper crust by classical methods (i.e., earthquake focal mechanism solutions, well bore breakouts). Therefore, stress information from mud volcanoes could be used as a proxy for stress orientation (1) where stress data is lacking, (2) where settings are inaccessible (i.e., underwater or the surface of planets), or simply (3) as supplementary stress indicators. This study also pays special attention to structural elements that may control fluid expulsion at various length scales, and pathways that should have spawned the mud volcanoes and controlled their paroxysmal events and eruptions. Different types of sub-planar brittle elements have been found to focus fluid flow rising up-through fold cores, where the vertical zonation of stresses may take part in this process by creating distinctive feeder fracture/fault sets. On a regional scale, mud volcanoes in active fold-and-thrust belts may occur over wider areas, such as the prolific mud volcanism in Azerbaijan, or may cluster along discrete structures like the steep Pede-Apennine thrust in the Northern Apennines, where the generation of overpressures is expected to establish a positive feedback loop allowing for fault movement and mud volcanism. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We examine the structural characteristics and the tectonic evolution of some key areas along the thrust front of the Lucania sector of the Southern Apennines, which also represents the southwestern boundary of the Adria Plate. The results of our study have allowed the identification of a complex tectonic history manifested by the presence of structural elements compatible with different stress fields. Particularly, during the Pleistocene the area experienced a transition from a compressional setting, characterised by NE-ENE shortening, to a post-Middle Pleistocene strike-slip/extensional phase controlled by NE-ENE-directed lateral extension associated with a horizontal NW-NNW-trending σ 1 axis. Roughly coaxial transitional stress fields apparently accompanied the progression between these two main regimes. This major change in tectonic setting can be framed into the fragmentation processes of the Adriatic Plate. We propose that the Mid-Adriatic Ridge, a WNW-ESE-trending belt of inverted Mesozoic grabens underwater the Adriatic Sea, has increasingly accommodated the NNW-directed Africa-Adria convergence giving the way to the Africa shortening to propagate into the Lucania Apennines. Furthermore, the comparison with GPS data suggests the existence of an important deep-seated tectonic boundary beneath the Apennines. This element is expected to focus seismicity and may represent an important discontinuity fragmenting Adria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition between the central and southern Apennines (Italy) is marked, among other regional features, by a dramatic shift (from SW-dipping to NE-dipping) of the vergence of the large (more than 25 km long) seismogenic normal faults, responsible for M>6 pre-historical and historical earthquakes. Also, in the exact area where such accommodation occurs, in 2005 a low magnitude (M<3) seismic sequence took place along a short stretch of a long-lived transverse structure running across this transition zone. We believe this sequence sheds light on the geometry and the role of the interaction between these seismogenic domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tectonic erosion of the overriding plate by the downgoing slab is believed to occur at half the Earth’s subduction zones. In situ investigation of the geological processes at active erosive margins is extremely difficult owing to the deep marine environment and the net loss of forearc crust to deeper levels in the subduction zone. Until now, a fossil erosive subduction channel—the shear zone marking the plate boundary—has not been recognized in the field, so that seismic observations have provided the only information on plate boundary processes at erosive margins. Here we show that a fossil erosive margin is preserved in the Northern Apennines of Italy. It formed during the Tertiary transition from oceanic subduction to continental collision, and was preserved by the late deactivation and fossilization of the plate boundary. The outcropping erosive subduction channel is ∼500 m thick. It is representative of the first 5 km of depth, with its deeper portions reaching ∼150 °C. The fossil zone records several surprises. Two décollements were simultaneously active at the top and base of the subduction channel. Both deeper basal erosion and near-surface frontal erosion occurred. At shallow depths extension was a key deformation component within this erosive convergent plate boundary, and slip occurred without an observable fluid pressure cycle. At depths greater than about 3 km a fluid cycle is clearly shown by the development of veins and the alternation of fast (co-seismic) and slow (inter-seismic) slip. In the deepest portions of the outcropping subduction channel, extension is finally overprinted by compressional structures. In modern subduction zones the onset of seismic activity is believed to occur at ∼150 °C, but in the fossil channel the onset occurred at cooler palaeo-temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Matera Horst (“Murgia materana”) is included in the Apulian plateau, basically formed by Mesozoic shallow-water carbonates. The zone is located in a present-day temperate belt and form a flat-topped morphostructural large element inside the foreland area of the southern Apennines. This horst is bordered by high-angle faults and surrounded by downthrown blocks covered by Plio-Quaternary marine and alluvial sediments. The structural high experienced several morphological cycles from Miocene to Quaternary. In particular, three evolutionary stages can be recognized at least. The first stage is currently represented by relics of a flat erosional landscape at the top of the relieves. The second one is testified by gentle slopes with wide glacis at the foothills, locally covered by coarse waste deposits. During the third stage a series of marine terraces formed and a drainage system developed creating both bland valleys and well-defined channels and gorges. The latter streams deeply carve the Cretaceous limestone of the Matera Horst for they represent the morphological response to the tectonic uplift of the area and clearly post-date the former features. Since the fluvial net took place on Pleistocene covers, later widely eroded, it is possible to conclude that the major part of the Matera Horst drainage system represents a good example of superimposition. However, low order streams and segments of major rivers appear to be structurally controlled, as suggested by comparison with the fracture system. Further, also open synclines and gently steeped flexures may locally exert a driving control on minor streams. These apparently conflicting genetic hypotheses can be explained by the role of exhumation of inherited structures of the bedrock in add to a constant interplay between tectonics, erosion and drainage evolution during Quaternary times. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]