Middle Miocene–Early Pliocene wedge-top basins of NW Sicily (Italy): constraints for the tectonic evolution of a ‘non-conventional’ thrust belt, affected by transpression

Gugliotta, Calogero; Morticelli, Maurizio Gasparo; Avellone, Giuseppe; Agate, Mauro; Barchi, Massimiliano R.; Albanese, Cinzia; Valenti, Vera; Catalano, Raimondo

doi:10.1144/jgs2013-009

Cited by 19 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…of the Trapanese succession. Both the Sicanian and Trapanese units are unconformably covered by upper Miocene clastic and terrigenous sediments filling syn‐tectonic wedge‐top basins (Gugliotta et al, ).…”

Section: The Maghrebian Chain Of Western Sicily: Sedimentary Charactementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The exposed sediments, and likely the buried units as well, are completely detached from the crystalline basement (Catalano, Valenti, et al, , and references therein). Upper Miocene to middle Pleistocene wedge‐top successions (clastics, pelagites, and evaporites) unconformably seal the underlying tectonic stack (Gugliotta et al, ).…”

Section: The Maghrebian Chain Of Western Sicily: Sedimentary Charactementioning

confidence: 99%

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Understanding Paleomagnetic Rotations in Sicily: Thrust Versus Strike‐Slip Tectonics

et al. 2018

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The paleomagnetic investigation of the western Sicily Maghrebian belt has revealed since the 1970s that large clockwise rotations up to 140° with respect to the Hyblean‐African foreland occurred synchronous with Tertiary shortening of the chain. The observation that rotations decrease stepwise from internal to external tectono‐stratigraphic units led in the 1990s to a widely accepted model postulating that rotational thrust‐sheet emplaced during forward orogenic propagation. More recently, other authors suggested that clockwise rotations from Sicily are conversely the result of late orogenic dextral strike‐slip tectonics. Here we report on a paleomagnetic investigation of 30 Jurassic‐Eocene sedimentary sites sampled mainly across the WNW‐ESE Mt. Kumeta and Rocca Busambra ridges (Trapanese Unit), both bounded to the north by high‐angle reverse faults with dextral strike‐slip components. We find rotations of 110°–120° at faults of northern ridge margins, which decrease to 80°–90° at ~200 m to the south and rise again moving further south. Thus, an excess rotation of 20°–40° due to dextral‐strike‐slip shear is annulled to the regional rotational background of the Trapanese Unit at only 200 m from fault traces, translating to paleomagnetically calculated strike‐slip offsets not exceeding 600 m. Further north, seven sites sampled in the Imerese Unit, tectonically stacked above the Trapanese Unit, yield a ~130° rotation. Thus, our data confirm that CW rotations in Sicily are predominantly related to thrust‐sheet emplacement. Strike‐slip tectonics has very limited relevance and gives local rotations that fade out at only 200 m from fault planes.

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Section: The Maghrebian Chain Of Western Sicily: Sedimentary Charactementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Maghrebian Chain Of Western Sicily: Sedimentary Charactementioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding Paleomagnetic Rotations in Sicily: Thrust Versus Strike‐Slip Tectonics

et al. 2018

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“…The Sicilian FTB is formed by Meso-Cenozoic deepwater carbonate and siliciclastic units, overriding a more than 10 km thick carbonate platform thrust wedge, detached from the crystalline basement (Catalano, Valenti, et al, 2013) and covered by upper Miocene to middle Pleistocene clastics, pelagites and evaporites, which unconformably seal the whole underlying tectonic stack, filling thrust-top basins (Butler & Grasso, 1993;Gasparo Morticelli et al, 2015;Gugliotta et al, 2014;.…”

Section: Geological Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the study area, where the structural relationships between Imerese and Trapanese tectonic units can be observed, two main subsequent tectonic events have been recognized: -shallow-seated thrusting (tectonic Event 1) involved the Sicilide and Imerese rock units producing imbricate-fan and duplex geometry since Serravallian time (Catalano et al, 2000;Nigro & Renda, 2001); -during the latest Miocene -Early Pliocene the development of deep-seated thrusts detached and deformed the buried carbonate platform rocks (deep seated, tectonic Event 2), forming axial culminations and ramp structures (Avellone, Gennaro, Gugliotta, Barchi, & Agate, 2011;Gugliotta et al, 2014;Gugliotta & Gasparo Morticelli, 2012). The wedging at depth of the carbonate platform substrate implied re-embrication and shortening into the overlying deep-water carbonate thrust pile (Avellone, Barchi, Catalano, Gasparo Morticelli, & Sulli, 2010;Bello, Franchino, & Merlini, 2000;Catalano et al, 2000).…”

Section: Geological Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mountain building in NW Sicily from the superimposition of subsequent thrusting and folding events during Neogene: structural setting and tectonic evolution of the Kumeta and Pizzuta ridges

et al. 2017

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We present a 1:25.000 scale geological map of the Kumeta-Pizzuta ridge in north-western Sicily (Italy), achieved by integrating stratigraphic, structural and geophysical data. In this area, the tectonic edifice results from the piling-up of deep-water-, carbonate platform-and pelagic platform-derived tectonic units (Imerese and Sicilide, Panormide and Trapanese domains, respectively) resulting from deformations of the former southern Tethyan continental margin. The structural setting shows interference of tectonic events, different types of structural styles and different scales of deformational patterns. Early overthrust of the Imerese on the Trapanese units (since the late Serravallian) was followed by wedging at depth of the Trapanese units (after the Tortonian). The wedging implied re-embrication and shortening into the overlying Imerese tectonic units and so produced the main folding and compressive to transpressive structures along the Kumeta-Pizzuta Ridge. Seismic reflection profiles integrated with field data reveal that the main E-W-trending anticlines have been offset by high-angle reverse faults flattening at depth until they connect with low-angle, regionally widespread, decollement surfaces with a northward tectonic transport. This setting supports backthrusting along transpressional faults in the study area, ruling out that the Kumeta ridge is a positive flower structure related to a near-vertical deep, crustal, shear zone as formerly suggested. ARTICLE HISTORY

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Deformed archaeological remains at Lilybaeum in Western Sicily (southern Italy): possible ground signatures of a missed large earthquake

Barreca,

Pepe,

Sulli

et al. 2024

Nat Hazards

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Archaeoseismic analysis performed in Western Sicily points to deformed archeological remains at Lilybaeum, a Punic coastal city founded in 397 B.C. at the Island’s westernmost edge. Starting from the direct observation of deformed ruins, an interdisciplinary work strategy, which included field-structural analysis, drone-shot high-resolution aerial photogrammetry, and geophysical prospecting, was employed to investigate whether the identified deformations may represent the ground effects of a previously unknown large earthquake in the area. Among the unearthed remains, some mosaics and a stone-paved monumental avenue show evidence of tectonic deformation, being fractured, folded, and uplifted. The trend of folding and fracturing is consistent with the NNW–SSE oriented tectonic max stress axis to which Western Sicily is currently subjected. Displacement along a fracture deforming the Decumanus Maximus together with the finding of a domino-type directional collapse, enable us to interpret the observed deformation as the ground signature of a coseismic slip. The seismic rupture occurred along a previously unmapped deformation front that fits well within the seismotectonic context of Western Sicily. Measured offset, geophysical prospecting, and age-constraints all suggest the possibility that a highly-energetic earthquake nucleated in the area following a coseismic rupture along a NE–SW trending back-verging reverse fault towards the end of the fourth century CE. Since seismic catalogs do not provide evidence of such a large earthquake, this event might represent a missed entry in the historical seismic record. This finding provides constraints to redefine the seismic hazard of Western Sicily, a region where recurrence-time intervals for large earthquakes are still unknown.

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Middle Miocene–Early Pliocene wedge-top basins of NW Sicily (Italy): constraints for the tectonic evolution of a ‘non-conventional’ thrust belt, affected by transpression

Cited by 19 publications

References 51 publications

Understanding Paleomagnetic Rotations in Sicily: Thrust Versus Strike‐Slip Tectonics

Understanding Paleomagnetic Rotations in Sicily: Thrust Versus Strike‐Slip Tectonics

Mountain building in NW Sicily from the superimposition of subsequent thrusting and folding events during Neogene: structural setting and tectonic evolution of the Kumeta and Pizzuta ridges

Deformed archaeological remains at Lilybaeum in Western Sicily (southern Italy): possible ground signatures of a missed large earthquake

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