The Puglia uplift (SE Italy): an anomaly in the foreland of the Apenninic subduction due to buckling of a thick continental lithosphere

The Apenninic foreland displays two exclusive structural signatures, relative to the Puglia region and the Central Adriatic sea, that are indicative of the Apenninic subduction resulting from thick continental lithosphere buckling. The subduction hinge rollback starts in the middle Pleistocene period. Mesozoic rifting induces distortions in the Adriatic plate and varying thicknesses in the lithosphere and continental crust, thus accounting for the distinct dip of subduction and lower elevation in the southern Apennines than in the central-northern Apennines.