Search

The Triassic pelagic carbonates of the Lagonegro Units from the southern Apennines fold and thrust belt host discordant bodies of dolostone. These rocks show textural features typical of zebra or saddle dolomites. In this contribution, the results of field observations, petrography and geochemical analyzes performed on samples from three different outcrops are presented. Field data indicate that the peculiar zebra-type rock and brecciated fabrics were controlled by regular bedding of the micritic, pelagic limestones. The dolomitization resulted in the replacement of the host limestones and subsequent void-filling precipitation of dolomite in a dilatational stress field. Homogenization temperatures (Th) are in the range 80-120°C, with a clear mode of 95 ÷ 10°C. When corrected for maximum pressure, they indicate an upper limit for dolomite formation around 110-115°C. Melting temperatures of ice (Tmi) point to salinities in the range 2-6 wt% NaCl eq, with a mean of 4.2%. δ13C values overlap those of the Upper Triassic seawater, whereas the δ18O values are significantly depleted compared to the coeval seawater. 87Sr/86Sr values are higher with respect to Upper Triassic seawater, and partially overlap Middle-Upper Miocene values. The performed analyzes indicate a dolomitization process driven by warm fluids (110-115°C) with a salinity close to that of seawater and O-isotope ratios comprised between seawater and formation waters. It is suggested that the dolomitization was accomplished by formation waters squeezed out or from surrounding lithologies or from the underlying mélange units. Integration with available thermal data on the collisional history of the belt suggests that the fluid-flow took place after maximum burial, in the early stages of exhumation, in the assumption of a fluid in thermal equilibrium with the host rocks. According to literature data, the dolomitization event was quite widespread. It can be argued that it was part of a major fluid-flux associated with fold and thrust belt development, which possibly affected the Apulian Platform carbonates located in the foreland. The latter, now buried below the nappe stack, hosts some of the major oil fields of continental Europe. Les carbonates pélagiques triassiques de l’Unité de Lagonegro, dans l’Apennin méridional hébergent des corps dolomitiques discordants. Ces dolomies montrent les structures typiques connues comme “zébra” ou dolomite “à selle”. Dans cette note, on présente les résultats d’observations de terrains et pétrographiques et les données géochimiques obtenues sur trois affleurements. Les données de terrain indiquent que les structures de type “zébra” et bréchifiées sont contrôlées par la stratification très régulière des calcaires micritiques. La dolomitisation a comporté le remplacement du calcaire et de la précipitation de dolomite cristalline dans les vides sous un champ de contraintes extensionnelles. Les températures d’homogénéisation sont comprises entre 80 et 120 °C, avec un mode à (95 ± 10) °C. Après une correction de pression, elles indiquent une température maximale de formation de la dolomie d’environ 110-115 °C. Les températures de fusion de la glace indiquent une salinité comprise entre 2 et 6 wt% NaCl eq, avec une moyenne de 4.2 %. Les valeurs de δ13C sont comparables à celles de l’eau de mer triassique, tandis que les valeurs de δ18O sont fortement appauvries. Les valeurs du rapport 87Sr/86Sr sont au contraire plus élevées que celles estimées pour l’eau de mer triassique, mais comparables à celles du Miocène Moyen-Supérieur. Ces résultats indiquent une dolomitisation accomplie par des fluides relativement chauds avec une salinité voisine de celle de la mer et une composition isotopique comprise entre celle de l’eau de mer et celle de saumures de bassin. On propose que cette dolomitisation a été achevée par les eaux expulsées par les formations qui entourent les carbonates pélagiques triassiques ou celles du mélange sous-jacent. L’intégration des données sur l’histoire thermique et de la déformation indique, si l’on assume un équilibre thermique avec les roches encaissantes, que ce phénomène ait eu lieu après le pic d’enfouissement pendant les premiers stades de l’exhumation. Enfin, puisque les dolomies sont assez répandues dans la région, il est bien possible qu’une importante circulation de fluides ait intéressé l’entier fold- and thrust-belt pendant la déformation, y compris les unités de la Plate-forme Apulienne, qui héberge des importants réservoirs d’hydrocarbures.

This paper investigates the applicability of organic and inorganic thermal parameters in a range of thermal conditions, from diagenesis to epizone, and in HP LT settings within the framework of continental subduction and exhumation in the southern Apennines, where independent thermobarometric constraints are available. Two juxtaposed tectonic units, the HP--LT Lungro--Verbicaro Unit (in the hanging wall) and the non-metamorphic Pollino--Ciagola Unit (in the footwall) have been analysed. For the Lungro--Verbicaro Unit, clay mineral thermal parameters and vitrinite reflectance underestimate metamorphic conditions (constrained by petrology), suggesting that, in relatively HP units, these indicators are 'retarded' and strongly depend on P--Tevolution through time. On the other hand, the K-white mica b cell dimension provides a robust estimate of peak pressure. Fluid inclusion textures indicate a fast isothermal decompression during exhumation. Two-phase inclusions from early stage syntectonic veins were trapped after isothermal exhumation at a pressure of 0.3 GPa. For the Pollino--Ciagola Unit, the correlation of analysed parameters effectively unravels the thermal evolution, with maximum palaeotemperatures of c. 150[degrees]C. Apatite fission tracks provide details of the final stages of exhumation, indicating that both units were coherently exhumed in the Late Miocene, following the tectonic emplacement of the Lungro--Verbicaro Unit on top of the Pollino--Ciagola Unit. Supplementary material: X-ray diffraction data (whole-rock composition, quantitative analysis of the doi: 10.1144/0016-76492009-137.

In the southern Apennines fold-and-thrust belt, thermal indicators record exhumation of sedimentary units from depths locally in excess of 5 km. The thrust belt is made of allochthonous sedimentary units that overlie a 6-8-km-thick, carbonate footwall succession. The latter, continuous with the foreland Apulian Platform, is deformed by reverse faults involving the underlying basement. Therefore, a switch from thin-skinned to thick-skinned thrusting occurred as the Apulian Platform carbonates--and the underlying thick continental lithosphere--were deformed during the latest shortening stages. Apatite fission track data, showing cooling ages ranging between 9.2 [+ or -] 1.0 and 1.5 [+ or -] 0.8 Ma, indicate that exhumation marks these late tectonic stages, probably initiating with the buttressing of the allochthonous wedge against the western margin of the Apulian Platform. Pliocene-Pleistocene foreland advancing of the allochthonous units exceeds the total amount of slip that, based on cross-section balancing and restoration, could be transferred to the base of the allochthon from the underlying thick-skinned structures. This suggests that emplacement of the allochthon above the western portion of the Apulian Platform carbonates was followed by gravitational readjustments within the allochthonous wedge, coeval--and partly associated with--thick-skinned shortening at depth. The related denudation processes are interpreted to have played a primary role in tectonic exhumation. Keywords: low-temperature thermochronology, thin-skinned thrusting, thick-skinned thrusting, gravitational instability, extensional faulting.

In northern Calabria (Italy), the metasedimentary succession of the Lungro-Verbicaro tectonic unit preserves mineral assemblages suggesting underthrusting to depths in excess of 40 km. Internal deformation of these rocks occurred continuously during the following decompression. Index mineral composition associated with progressively younger tectonic fabrics indicates that a substantial part of the structural evolution took place within the blueschist-facies P-T field. Despite their tectonic and metamorphic history, the rocks of the Lungro-Verbicaro Unit preserve significant sedimentary and palaeontological features allowing correlations with successions included in adjacent thrust sheets and the reconstruction of the Mesozoic continental margin architecture. The subduction exhumation cycle recorded by the Lungro-Verbicaro Unit is entirely of Miocene age. This portion of the Apulia continental palaeomargin was involved in convergence-related deformation not earlier than the Aquitanian. The integration of our results with available constraints on the tectonic evolution of the Apennine-Calabrian Arc system suggests that subduction and most of the subsequent exhumation of the Lungro-Verbicaro Unit occurred, up to Langhian time, at maximum vertical rates in excess of 15 mm [a.sup.-1]. The exhumation process was then completed, at much slower rates (

Abstract: The Apennine Pollino-Ciagola limestone unit in northern Calabria is characterized by subgreenschist, heterogeneous ductile strain localized along narrow deformation zones at several stratigraphic levels. Paleogene conglomerates and Jurassic calcareous [...]

The alternative relationships thai can exist between a mountain from and the adjacent foreland basin have been recognized liar many years. However, seismic reflection data from such areas are commonly of poor quality and therefore structural models may contain large uncertainties. In view of scientific and commercial interest in mountain belts, we have reviewed the methods for discriminating between alternative interpretations using a case study from the Montagna dei Fiori in the central Apennines, Italy. In this area Mesozoic and Tertiary carbonate sediments arc juxtaposed with a foredeep basin containing up to 7 km of Messinian and Plio-Pleistocene siliciclastic sediments. A new structural model liar this area demonstrates how the structures in this area form a kinematically closed system in which displacement is transferred from the thrust belt to blind structures beneath the present-day foreland. Growth strata show that Pliocene shortening was initially rapid (15 mm [a.sup.-1] followed by slower rates during the final stages of deformation. Variations in structural elevation indicate a component of basement involvement during thrusting, and this is further supported by magnetic modelling. The results illustrate the interaction of thin- and thick-skinned structures in the central Apennines, and the methods for discriminating between alternative structural models.