The role of drainage systems and intermontane basins in the Quaternary landscape of the Central Apennines chain (Italy)

Abstract

The Central Apennines chain (Central Italy) is an asymmetric NW-SE thrust belt, NE verging, that has developed since the Neogene. The present landscape is made up of alternating calcareous ridges, valleys on pelitic arenaceous bedrock, as well as wide intermontane basins filled by Quaternary continental deposits. The chain is characterised at high elevation by glacial and isolated patches of dissected karst relict landscapes elevations, and by slope landforms, alluvial fans and fluvial landforms within valleys and intermontane basins; in the latter ancient lacustrine deposits are preserved. Intermontane basins, valley and drainage systems, and relict landscapes are affected by active geodynamic processes resulting in regional uplift, extensional faulting and local subsidence, and by Quaternary climate fluctuations. In this work, the main intermontane basins have been correlated along a SW-NE transect, comparing sedimentary sequences and morphotectonic features, the evidence of local tectonics and uplift pulses, and the main features of the drainage systems, in order to outline the drainage changes occurred during the Quaternary in the Central Apennines chain.Along a SW-NE swath profile, min, mean and max topography elevations, the basins' min elevation, the elevation of the main karst landforms, and the Pleistocene uplift have been compared. These correlations and comparisons allowed us to provide a further contribution to the understanding of the Quaternary evolution of the drainage systems and the landscape of the Central Apennines chain.

Drainage integration and sediment dispersal in active continental rifts: A numerical modelling study of the central Italian Apennines

“…While lakes were widespread during the Early-Middle Pleistocene in this area, most of them disappeared in the course of the Middle-Late Pleistocene as tectonic basins became progressively fluvially connected (e.g. D' Agostino et al, 2001;Piacentini & Miccadei, 2014). Understanding the mechanisms that control drainage integration is clearly important for interpreting the stratigraphic record preserved in such extensional settings.…”

“…Based mainly on these sediments, it has been concluded that many large lakes coexisted during the Lower-Middle Pleistocene suggesting that endorheic drainage was prevalent at that time (D'Agostino et al, 2001;Piacentini & Miccadei, 2014). In other words, a temporal transition is inferred to have occurred from internal to external drainage leading to the integration of previous isolated basins with the regional river network (Bartolini et al, 2003;D'Agostino et al, 2001;Piacentini & Miccadei, 2014). In other words, a temporal transition is inferred to have occurred from internal to external drainage leading to the integration of previous isolated basins with the regional river network (Bartolini et al, 2003;D'Agostino et al, 2001;Piacentini & Miccadei, 2014).…”

“…Connell, Hawley, & Love, 2005;D'Agostino, Jackson, Dramis, & Funiciello, 2001;Dickinson, 2015;Duffy, Brocklehurst, Gawthorpe, Leeder, & Finch, 2015;Menges, 2008;Smith, 2013). D' Agostino et al, 2001;Piacentini & Miccadei, 2014). Cavinato & DeCelles, 1999;Connell et al, 2005;D'Agostino et al, 2001;Miccadei, Piacentini, & Barberi, 2002).…”

New insights into the onset and evolution of the central Apennine extensional intermontane basins based on the tectonically active L’Aquila Basin (central Italy)

“…2 Ma, probably due to slab detachment under the central Apennines (Faccenna et al, 2014). The second phase of mantle upwelling could be responsible for the strong tectonic uplift (~260 m) that occurred in central Italy close to the Gelasian-Calabrian transition (Cosentino et al, 2009), which possibly induced the early Pleistocene reorganization of the central Apennine drainage systems (Fubelli et al, 2014;Piacentini and Miccadei, 2014).…”

Castel di Sangro-Scontrone field camp – structural and applied geomorphology

“…The fluvial deposits are arranged in at least four orders of terraces, while the slope deposits belong to two different generations. Their age ranges from the Lower-Middle Pleistocene to the Holocene (Capelli, Miccadei, & Raffi, 1997;Piacentini & Miccade, 2014).…”