Abstract. An integrated study of onshore and offshore geology of the Ross Sea region (

No abstract

The analyses of about 800 km of Chirp sub-bottom pro¢lers and 600 km 2 of Multibeam data acquired during the 2005 and 2007 surveys of the R/V OGS Explora, and their correlation with one new, and several public, multichannel seismic pro¢les, allow us to propose a relation between the distribution of gas seepages, fracture systems and deep salt features present in the Central Adriatic Sea. Gas seepage is evident from pockmarks on the seabed and in the shallow sub-bottom, where acoustic chimneys and bright spots have been highlighted and analyzed.The Mid-Adriatic Depression (MAD) is a distinct morphological feature in the Central Adriatic Sea elongated in a NE^SW direction.The area is a¡ected by salt doming of Triassic evaporites which cause the two main alignments of the Mid-Adriatic Ridge as far as the Palagruza High and the Jabuka Ridge.These salt tectonics have existed since, at least, Paleogene times and are still active: they characterize sectors with less resistance to deformation produced by successive regional compressive regimes that have a¡ected the area di¡erently during the di¡erent geodynamic phases. Gas-seep features are distributed preferentially above and along the fracture systems produced above and around the salt mounds.

The Ross Sea region of the East Antarctic plate provides evidence for intraplate tectonic activity in\ud 13 Cenozoic times. Still unresolved are the cause, timing and kinematics of this intraplate tectonism. By\ud 14 integrating and discussing the different (kinematic and temporal) signals of Cenozoic tectonism, intraplate\ud 15 dextral shearing is recognized as the main tectonic regime controlling the structural architecture of the Ross\ud 16 Sea region from the Mid-Eocene (c. 40–50 Ma) onward. We speculate that propagation and persistence of this\ud 17 tectonic regime through time constitutes a feasible seismogenetic framework to explain past and current\ud 18 tectonism in the Ross Sea region

No abstract