The Plio-Pleistocene evolution of the Crotone Basin (southern Italy): Interplay between sedimentation, tectonics and eustasy in the frame of Calabrian Arc migration

Onshore to offshore correlation of regional unconformities in the Plio-Pleistocene sedimentary successions of the Calabrian Arc (central Mediterranean)

“…The study of the stratigraphic architecture of basin fills to understand their evolution and the parameters controlling sedimentation is crucial for precise reconstructions of accommodation development and consumption through time, as largely demonstrated by studies in a variety of tectonic contexts (e.g., Miall, 1997;Catuneanu et al, 2000;Hampson et al, 2001;Zecchin et al, 2004a;Jackson et al, 2005;Zecchin et al, 2012;Csato et al, 2013;Massari and Prosser, 2013;Zecchin et al, 2013a,b). A further step of this approach consists in studying the geodynamic evolution of the lithospheric blocks that host sedimentary basins, the fills of which typically record the signature of large-scale tectonic drivers (Cloetingh, 1988;Einsele, 2000;Leeder, 2011).…”

“…A further step of this approach consists in studying the geodynamic evolution of the lithospheric blocks that host sedimentary basins, the fills of which typically record the signature of large-scale tectonic drivers (Cloetingh, 1988;Einsele, 2000;Leeder, 2011). Understanding the origin and timing of the unconformities found in basin fills is fundamental to achieve these objectives, as they document major breaks in sedimentation that may be linked to deformation phases associated with basin reorganizations, depocenter modifications and changes in sediment transport pathways (Catuneanu et al, 1998;Zecchin et al, 2012Zecchin et al, , 2013a. The superposition of eustatic changes of different ranks on base-level changes linked to tectonics can be discriminated through accurate sequence-stratigraphic analysis and a multidisciplinary approach (Miall, 1997;Catuneanu, 2006;Catuneanu and Zecchin, 2013;Zecchin and Catuneanu, 2013).…”

“…In a previous study, Zecchin et al (2012) reviewed the PlioPleistocene fill of the Crotone Basin, a partly uplifted forearc basin located on the Ionian margin of the Calabrian Arc (Fig. 2), and showed its stratigraphy to contain unconformities that interrupt phases of subsidence corresponding to the main phases of forward migration of the Calabrian accretionary system contemporaneous with extensional episodes in the Tyrrhenian backarc area.…”

Seismotectonics and landslides of the Crati Graben (Calabrian Arc, Southern Italy)

“…Further, sedimentation proceeds eastwards, causing a diachronous transgression, propagating the progressive onlap on the western Sila Massif slope. The deposits are constituted of conglomerates, sandstones and mixed arenites mostly belonging to deltaic and coastal deposits (Carobene & Damiani, 1985;Colella, 1988;Colella, De Boer, & Nio, 1987;Fabbricatore et al, 2014) and compare to the same coeval successions of other basins bordering the eastern and southern margins of the Sila Massif Longhitano, Chiarella, & Muto, 2014;Muto et al, 2015;Zecchin et al, 2012Zecchin et al, , 2013aZecchin et al, , 2013bZecchin et al, , 2015. Starting from Middle Pleistocene, northern Calabria experienced a marked uplift (Tortorici, 1981;Westaway, 1993) that caused the deformation of the Lower Pleistocene deposits and the accumulation of a 40 m thick succession of fluvial conglomerate well exposed in the western margin of the Crati Basin; a comparable stratigraphic succession is found on the eastern side of the Sila Massif Robustelli et al, 2009 Spina, & Critelli, 2003;Robustelli, Muto, Scarciglia, Spina, & Critelli, 2005) and of the eastern Sila margin (Carobene, 2003;Ferranti, Santoro …”

“…The Crati basin represents a longitudinal basin with respect to the Calabrian Arc, confined by the Pollino (Bousquet, 1971) and the Falconara-Carpanzano faults (Tansi et al, 2007;Van Dijk et al, 2000). Superimposition of extensional faults on strike-slip and contractional Neogene structures, in the Paola and Crati Basins, have been documented (Argnani & Trincardi, 1990;Milia, Turco, Pierantoni, & Schettino, 2009;Muto et al, 2015;Pepe, Sulli, Bertotti, & Cella, 2010;Spina, Tondi, & Mazzoli, 2011;Van Dijk et al, 2000;Vespasiano et al, 2014) as results of relationships between slab retreat and accretionary processes in the eastern Calabrian margin and extensional processes in the western margin Critelli & Le Pera, 1995;Doglioni, 1991;Kastens et al, 1988;Muto, Spina, Tripodi, Critelli, & Roda, 2014;Zecchin et al, 2012;. The early-mid Pleistocene extensional tectonic phase experienced the Crati Basin infill and the uplift of the Coastal Range to the west and the Sila Massif to the east.…”