Propagation of a lithospheric tear fault (STEP) through the western boundary of the Calabrian accretionary wedge offshore eastern Sicily (Southern Italy)

Gallais, Flora; Graindorge, David; Gutscher, Marc-André; Klaeschen, Dirk

doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2012.12.026

Cited by 77 publications

(92 citation statements)

References 68 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Refraction data of Dellong et al () also image a sharp ocean‐continent transition and the tabular architecture of the Ionian crust. Our section runs south of the Alfeo‐Etna fault system (Figures and ; Polonia et al, ) commonly interpreted as a STEP fault (Cernobori et al, ; Hirn et al, ; Argnani et al, ; see review in Gallais et al, ) and consequently does not show it. Polonia et al () suggested an alternative location for the STEP fault farther east, at the location of the Ionian fault system (Figures and ).…”

Section: Deep Structure Of the Ionian Basin And Of Its Margins: Regiomentioning

confidence: 87%

Geology of the Ionian Basin and Margins: A Key to the East Mediterranean Geodynamics

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We revisit the nature, structure, and evolution of the Ionian Basin and its surrounding passive margins (Apulia, Eastern Sicily/Malta, and Cyrenaica margins). Relying on geological observations (wells, dredges, and dives) and seismic calibrations from the surrounding platforms and escarpments, we present age correlations for the deepest sedimentary sequences of the Ionian Basin. Two‐ship deep refraction seismic data combined with reprocessed reflection seismic data enable us to identify, characterize, and map these thick sedimentary sequences and to present a consistent seismic stratigraphy across the basin. At a larger scale, we present new geological transects illustrating the tectonostratigraphic relationships between the Ionian Basin and its surrounding rifted margins. On this basis, we suggest that a Late Triassic‐Early Jurassic rifting preceded the late Early Jurassic to Middle Jurassic formation of the Ionian Basin. The combination of geophysical and geological arguments suggests that the entire deep basin is floored with oceanic crust of normal thickness, but with high seismic velocity in the upper part. Upscaling our results in the framework of the eastern Mediterranean, we propose that the Ionian Basin represents the remnant of a short‐lived oceanic basin resulting from the interaction between two propagating oceans: the Central Atlantic and the Neo‐Tethys.

show abstract

Section: Deep Structure Of the Ionian Basin And Of Its Margins: Regiomentioning

confidence: 87%

Geology of the Ionian Basin and Margins: A Key to the East Mediterranean Geodynamics

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In the WL, across strike margin segmentation is more diffuse, and develops along a set of NNW-SSE trending fault systems (Hirn et al, 1997;Bianca et al, 1999 ;Nicolich et al, 2000;Chamot-Rooke et al, 2005;Argnani and Bonazzi, 2005;Del Ben et al, 2008;Rosenbaum et al, 2008;Polonia et al, 2011Polonia et al, , 2012Gallais et al, 2013). The main fault strand is represented by an active transtensive structure running from the Alfeo seamount to the offshore of the Mt.…”

Section: -Segmentation Of the Subduction Complex In The Ionian Seamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At the Sicilian side, the passive margin is oriented parallel to the trace of the Taormina line, i.e., the Gallais et al, 2013) it is unclear whether it already existed before the Early-Middle Pliocene. We do not include it as a pre-existing feature in the models but, as we will see in the results below, this is inconsequential for the STEP propagation direction.…”

Section: Accepted M Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Ionian and Alfeo–Etna fault zones: New segments of an evolving plate boundary in the central Mediterranean Sea?

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…This leads to uncertainty in defining the geodynamic setting. Open questions include the significance of the extension lying on a narrow zone near the Nebrodi Mountains, in a larger compressive domain characterizing central and western Sicily [e.g., Lavecchia et al , ; Billi et al , ; De Guidi et al , ], or again, the precise identification in northeastern Sicily of a faults‐wrenching system, which should be the shallow expression in the upper plate of a major lithospheric structure, accompanying the rollback of the Ionian slab along its edge [see, e.g., Polonia et al , ; Neri et al , ; Gallais et al , , and references therein]. Indeed, when subduction rollback occurs, lithospheric‐scale tear faults can develop between the adjacent portions of the subducting plate, accommodating different rates of slab rollback or decoupling the subducting lithosphere from the nonsubducting one.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seismotectonics of northeastern Sicily and southern Calabria (Italy): New constraints on the tectonic structures featuring in a crucial sector for the central Mediterranean geodynamics

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding on the tectonic structures featuring in a crucial sector of central Mediterranean area, including the Aeolian Islands, southern Calabria, and northeastern Sicily, where the convergence between Eurasian and African Plates has given rise to a complicated collisional/subduction complex. A high‐quality data set of about 3000 earthquakes has been exploited for local earthquake tomography and focal mechanisms computation together with available source mechanisms from published catalogues. The results depict new details of a network of faults which enables the concurrent existence of adjacent compressional and extensional domains. In particular, tomographic images, seismic events distribution, and focal mechanisms pinpoint the geometry and activity of a lithospheric‐scale tear faults system which, with a NW‐SE trend through Sicily and the Tyrrhenian and Ionian Seas, represents the southern edge of the Ionian subduction trench zone. At crustal depth, this tearing is well highlighted by a rotation of the maximum horizontal stress, moving across the area from west toward east. In addition, the shallow normal fault regime, characterizing the southern Calabria and northeastern Sicily mainland, south of the NW‐SE lineament, changes in the deeper part of the crust. Indeed, a NE‐SW earthquake distribution, gently dipping NW, and inverse fault solutions indicate a still active contractional deformation in eastern Sicily, caused by the Africa‐Eurasia convergence and well framed with the current compressive regime along the southern Tyrrhenian zone and at the front of the Sicilian Chain‐Foreland.

show abstract

Propagation of a lithospheric tear fault (STEP) through the western boundary of the Calabrian accretionary wedge offshore eastern Sicily (Southern Italy)

Abstract: . Propagation of a lithospheric tear fault (STEP) through the western boundary of the Calabrian accretionary wedge offshore eastern Sicily (Southern Italy). Tectonophysics, Elsevier, 2013, 602, pp.141-152. 10.1016/j.tecto.2012

Cited by 77 publications

References 68 publications

Geology of the Ionian Basin and Margins: A Key to the East Mediterranean Geodynamics

Geology of the Ionian Basin and Margins: A Key to the East Mediterranean Geodynamics

The Ionian and Alfeo–Etna fault zones: New segments of an evolving plate boundary in the central Mediterranean Sea?

Seismotectonics of northeastern Sicily and southern Calabria (Italy): New constraints on the tectonic structures featuring in a crucial sector for the central Mediterranean geodynamics

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About