Tectonosomes and olistostromes in the argille scagliose of the Northern Apennines, Italy

Late Oligocene–early Miocene olistostromes (sedimentary mélanges) as tectono-stratigraphic constraints to the geodynamic evolution of the exhumed Ligurian accretionary complex (Northern Apennines, NW Italy)

“…1). Those olistostromes, part of which was described in previous published papers focused on mélange forming processes (see Codegone et al 2012b, and, are here correlated and compared to others well-known examples (e.g., Pini 1993Pini , 1999Remitti et al 2011) cropping out to the SE of the studied sector (i.e., southern part of the Northern Apennines between Reggio Emilia and Bologna; Fig. 1A).…”

“…1A, 1D and 2), which, in turn, overthrust the deformed Adria continental margin causing the Apenninic prowedge (sensu Koons 1994) to develop. During the progressive incorporation into the accretionary wedge, a consistent part of the External Ligurian Units (i.e., Lower-to Upper Cretaceous "Basal Complex") was strongly deformed by tectonic processes forming broken formations and tectonic mélanges (e.g., Pini 1999;Bettelli and Vannucchi, 2003;Cerrina Feroni et al 2004;Festa et al 2010bMarroni et al 2010;Remitti et al 2011;Codegone et al 2012b;. Since middle-late Eocene, different episutural and wedge-top basins (i.e., Tertiary Piedmont Basin and Epiligurian Units, respectively) unconformably covered the Ligurian accretionary complex (Fig.…”

“…2), including olistostromes, occur at different stratigraphic levels, within the episutural/wedge-top basin succession (e.g., Bettelli et al 1989aBettelli et al , 1989bCastellarin and Pini, 1999;Mutti et al 1995;Martelli et al 1998;Pini, 1999;Panini et al 2002bPanini et al , 2013Papani et al 2002;Pini et al 2004;Festa et al 2010aFesta et al , 2010bFesta 2011;Remitti et al 2011;Ogata et al 2012a;. Particularly, the occurrence of olistostromes in the late Oligocene -early Miocene time interval (i.e., Val Tiepido -Canossa argillaceous breccias of Panini et al 2002b; Canossa Olistostrome of Fazzini and Tacoli 1963, Papani 1963, Bettelli et al 1987; Val Tiepido-Canossa sedimentary mélange of , Bettelli et al 1989a, 1989b; see also Castellarin and Pini, 1987;Pini, 1999;Balatri et al 2002;Benini et al 2002;Bettelli et al 2002;Papani et al 2002;Gasperi et al 2005aGasperi et al , 2005bMartelli et al 2009;Remitti et al 2011) show a significant regional scale distribution (about more than 300 km long by 10-15 km wide) in almost all the outer part of the present-day Northern Apennines (Fig. 1A).…”

Effects of mass waste events on thrust wedges: Analogue experiments and application to the Makran accretionary wedge

“…Fossil equivalents can be studied in outcrop in the Apennines [Pini, 1999;Bonini, 2006;Lucente and Pini, 2008], the Andes [Callot et al, 2008], and Makran [McCall and Kidd, 1982;Burg et al, 2008]. The Makran accretionary wedge (Figure 1) offers exceptionally clear exposures where the size, the stratigraphy, the morphology and the primary structures of the wedge can be studied without conjecture.…”

Reply to comment by V. Picotti and F. J. Pazzaglia on “Shale diapirism in the Quaternary tectonic evolution of the Northern Apennine, Bologna, Italy”

“…The paradigm of rigid tectonism that is still pervading the geologic literature of the Apennine left them no alternative but to call them ''mud volcanoes'' or ''pseudodiapirs'' [Pini, 1999].…”