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 −1 . The exhumation process was then completed, at much slower rates (<2 mm a −1 ) in Late Miocene time, as indicated by both apatite fission-track data and stratigraphic information.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

The Parasicilide succession is a key element of the southern Apennine orogen, being originally located in the distal portion of the Apulian palaeomargin, at the Neotethys ocean‐continent transition. The succession, presently included in the upper nappe complex of the thrust belt, has been described elsewhere as a `broken formation'. However, detailed investigations carried out in the Sele Valley point out that there the Parasicilide Unit is characterized by a coherent stratigraphy. Therefore, in the study area, these rocks form a coherent sheet of distal continental margin/oceanic sedimentary cover material included within the peri‐Tyrrhenian mountain belt. Stratigraphic and structural constraints obtained from both pre‐and syn‐orogenic deposits – the latter including both foredeep and thrust‐top basin sediments – suggest that the pre‐orogenic part of the Parasicilide succession subsided into the Apennine foredeep in the first part of the Burdigalian. The studied rocks were then involved in thrusting prior to late Burdigalian/early Langhian times.