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Il lavoro riporta un'analisi delle anomlaie gravimtertiche dell'area Nord-Est d'Italia sulla base di dati di nuova acquisizione per la definizione di un modello strutturale dell'area

In this study, we investigate the thermo-mechanical controls on the formation of the Ross Sea basin (Antarctica) and the uplift of the adjacent Transantarctic Mountains (TAM) rift shoulder, which started in the Late Cretaceous and continued until the present time. Quantitative forward modelling has been performed along three 700 to 800 km long East-West offshore profiles, extended inland to the front of the TAM. The modelling is constrained by an extensive database of multichannel seismic (MCS), refraction seismic, Ocean Bottom Seismographs (OBS), and gravity data. MCS data is tied to well stratigraphy from DSDP leg 28, CIROS-1 and MSTSS-1. Quantitative estimates of uplift of the TAM are provided by previous work on apatite fission track analysis. We incorporate the finite strength of the lithosphere in basin formation models using the concept of the level of necking. Lateral variations of necking level and associated bulk theological properties (with necking levels ranging from 15 km in the northernmost, to 20 km in the central and 23 km to the southernmost profiles) are required to explain the observed crustal geometries. High values of effective elastic thickness (more than 30 km) and pre-rift lithospheric thicknesses (220-230 km), indicating a cold lithosphere in a pre-rift cratonic setting, are consistent with elevation of the rift shoulder. The western parts of the profiles appear to have unusually high stretching values without the development of oceanic crust. Inferred average values of stretching factors vary from 2.3 to 2.8, equivalent with extension in the Ross Sea of 115% to 140%. The modelling result for the uplift of the TAM predicts a late Cretaceous tectonic uplift of about 1.5 to 2.0 km, and a Cenozoic uplift of about 1.3 km restricted to southern Victoria Land. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V.

The more significant geological and geophysical data available for northeastern Italy, between lake Garda and the Italian border with Yugoslavia, and between the Italian border with Austria and the river Po are analyzed and compared. From the geological point of view, a structural model showing sectors with different pre-Quaternary evolution, and a neotectonic model showing the tectonic evolution in the Middle Pleistocene-Holocene period, has been developed. The direction of the tectonic features is coherent with the present known stress field. The seismicity is concentrated in upper crustal levels (5-15 km) in Friuli but hypocentre depths of 25 km were recognized in the Garda area; it is due to the ongoing shortening between the Europe and Adria plates. A seismotectonic model is presented with four major structural units; these units are then further subdivided into ten homogeneous seismogenetic zones. -from Authors

We present a general bathymetric map of Lago Fagnano, the largest ice-free lake of the Southern Hemisphere, located in the central part of the Tierra del Fuego Island. The map has been obtained compiling all the available bathymetric soundings and depth-converted high-resolution seismic profiles, collected in the course of several geophysical campaigns. The lake occupies a 110-km long, E-W trending tectonic depression within the southernmost tip of the Andean Cordillera, where the South America-Scotia plate boundary traverses the Tierra del Fuego Island. The map allows us to identify the main morpho-bathymetric features of Lago Fagnano. The lake floor is divided into two principal sectors of different water depths, separated by a main shoal located in the central part of the lake. Maximum water depth (206 m) is found in the eastern part, whereas water depths in the western half do not exceed 165 m. In this paper, we describe the geometry and the general morphological characteristics of the basin, which was generated by a combination of distinct tectonic processes, and later superposed by Late Quaternary glacial and glacio-lacustrine dynamic events. Fil: Zanolla, C.. Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale; Italia Fil: Lodolo, E.. Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale ; Italia Fil: Lippai, Horacio Francisco. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Geología. Instituto de Geofísica "Daniel Valencio"; Argentina Fil: Tassone, Alejandro Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Geología. Instituto de Geofísica "Daniel Valencio"; Argentina Fil: Menichetti, M.. Università di Urbino; Italia Fil: Baradello, L.. Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale; Italia Fil: Grossi, H. L.. Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale; Italia Fil: Hormaechea, Jose Luis. Estación Astronomica de Río Grande; Argentina

The deep seismic profile T ransalp crosses, from north to south, Germany, Austria and Italy. The gravity measurements for each country were made by national agencies with different reference systems and data reduction methods. Within the frame of the T ransalp -project a comprehensive database of the Eastern Alps was compiled covering an area of 3.5° by 4° in longitude and latitude (275 by 445 km), respectively. To increase the data coverage in the south Alpine area two gravity surveys were carried out, resulting in 469 areally distributed new stations, of which 215 have been measured with the intent to improve the geoid in the area of the planned Brenner Basistunnel (BBT). The resulting gravity database is the best in terms of resolution and data quality presently available for the Eastern Alps. Here the free air, Bouguer and isostatic gravity fields are critically discussed. The spatial density of existing gravity stations in the three countries is discussed. On the Italian side of the Alps the spatial density is rather sparse compared to the Austrian side. The Bouguer-gravity field varies between − 190 * 10− 5 m/s2 and + 25 * 10− 5 m/s2, with the minimum located along the Alpine high topographic chain, but with a small offset (a few tens of km) to the greatest topographic elevation, showing that the Airy-type local isostatic equilibrium does not fully apply here. The maximum of the Bouguer anomaly has an elongated shape of 100 by 50 km located between the towns of Verona and Vicenza and covers the Venetian Tertiary Volcanic Province (VTVP), a feature not directly related to the plate collision in the Eastern Alps. The gravity high is only partly explainable by high-density magmatic rocks and requires also a deeper source, like a shallowing of the Moho. The isostatic residual anomalies (Airy model) are in the range ± 50 * 10− 5 m/s2, with the greatest positive anomaly corresponding to the location of the VTVP, indicating here under-compensation of masses. At last a discussion of a 2D density model based on reflection seismic data and receiver functions is made.

Sicily is a thick orogenic wedge formed by (1) the foreland (African) and its Sicilian orogen and (2) the thick-skinned, Calabrian–Peloritani wedge. The crust under central Sicily, from the Tyrrhenian margin to the coastline of the Sicily Channel, has been investigated by the multidisciplinary (SI.RI.PRO.) research project. The project dealt with the nature and thickness of the crust and depth and geometry of the Moho, which is essential in formulating subduction models and improving the knowledge of African and Tyrrhenian–European lithospheres. The results resolve features such as (1) the main orogenic wedge, (2) the very steep, NW–SE-trending regional monocline suggesting inflection of the foreland crust, (3) the deep Caltanissetta synform imaged, for the first time, to about 25 km, and (4) the top of the crystalline basement and the inferred crust–mantle boundary. The SI.RI.PRO. transect confirmed that the NNW-dipping, autochthonous Iblean platform of SE Sicily and its basement extends all the way into central Sicily. Further NW, towards the NNW end of the transect, a large uplift involves the Iblean platform and its underlying basement. The associated gravity anomaly is interpreted as the southern wedge edge of the Tyrrhenian mantle that splits the subducting Iblean–Pelagian (African) continental slab from an overlying synformal stack of allochthonous thrust sheets. Supplementary materials: Additional data are available at www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18594.

Se presenta un modelo bidimensional de gravedad para determinar la estructura en profundidad del sistema de fallas lateral-izquierda de Motagua-Polochic, que son parte del límite de las placas América del Norte y del Caribe. Estos elementos tectónicos, sismicamente activos, atraviesan oeste-este la región de Guatemala y se sobreponen a una línea de sutura donde afloran cuerpos ophiolíticos. En las principales zonas de desplazamiento de las fallas se han desarrollado cuencas de pull-apart y regiones de restricción (push-up). El análisis estructural de algunas de estas fallas, situadas a lo largo del valle Izabal y del valle Motagua, en combinación con los datos obtenidos del satélite, ha permitido determinar la cinemática y el patrón de estos sistemas. La geometría y la estructura superficial del límite de las placas han sido determinadas a partir de datos geológicos y perfiles sísmicos resultantes de estudios efectuados a lo largo de una línea de 60 km de longitud al este del Lago Izabal, perpendicular al límite de placas y que interesa el valle Motagua. El Lago Izabal es la mayor cuenca de pull-apart que se ha formado a lo largo del sistema cizallante de Polochic. Los datos obtenidos con el modelo de gravedad confirman las principales características del mapa de anomalías de Bouguer de la zona y explica la mayor parte de las anomalías de amplia longitud de onda, así como aquellas de tipo local asociadas a los cuerpos geológicos de la corteza superficial y sub-superficial. La determinación de la geometría, la profundidad de las cuencas sedimentarias asociadas al sistema cizallante, así como la profundidad de los cuerpos ophiolíticos de la zona de sutura, son los principales resultados derivados de la implementación del estudio geológico y geofísico.

Early geophysical studies hypothesized a continental rift structure beneath the Wilkes Subglacial Basin. Recent models favour a flexural origin for the basin linked to Transantarctic Mountains uplift and to East Antarctic Craton lithospheric rigidity. Flexural modelling predicts crustal thickening beneath the basin. Gravity modelling along the International Trans-Antarctic Scientific Expedition traverse (1998/99), however, reveals crustal thinning beneath the basin. At 75°S the crust thins from 37 km beneath the Transantarctic Mountains to 31 ± 2 km beneath the Wilkes Basin. The western flank of the basin features a sharp magnetic break. This signature may arise from a fault separating highly magnetic Precambrian craton crust from weakly magnetic Neoproterozoic(?) crust. Much later crustal extension may have focussed along the craton margin. The eastern flank of the Wilkes Basin exhibits a prominent aeromagnetic signature. Potential field modelling predicts 1-4 km thick sedimentary infill within the Wilkes extended terrane, interpreted mainly as Beacon Supergroup intruded by Jurassic Ferrar tholeiites. The adjacent Adventure Subglacial Trench is a narrow rift basin with 25±5 km thick crust and a 10±4 km sedimentary infill. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.