Tectonics and sedimentation of the Lower and Middle Pleistocene mixed siliciclastic/bioclastic sedimentary successions of the Ionian Peloritani Mts (NE Sicily, Southern Italy): the onset of opening of the Messina Strait

Abstract

Biostratigraphic analyses carried out on siliciclastic/bioclastic deposits discontinuously cropping out along the Ionian flank of NE Sicily, indicate that they form two sedimentary events of Early and Middle Pleistocene, respec tively. Vertical facies successions, showing transgressive trends, suggest that sedimentation occurred within semi-enclosed marine embayments, where sublittoral coastal wedges developed on steep ramp-type shelves. Sediments accumulated in shoreface to offshore transitions along steep bottom profiles. This depositional scenario was strongly conditioned by the tectonic activity of the rift zone linking Western Calabria and Eastern Sicily. The effects of glacio-eustatism were also recognized. According to our reconstruction, the study area was controlled by a transfer fault system which affected the coastal margin producing major episodes of uplift and subsidence. Block-faulting was responsible for significant cannibalization and recycling of older deposits during the Middle Pleistocene. Such a tectonic setting can be considered the precursor scenario for the formation of the Messina Strait between Calabria and Sicily. This narrow, linear basin influences the hydrodynamic setting of sublittoral deposits along the Ionian coast of Sicily, giving rise to strong flood/ebb tidal currents. The uppermost part of the Middle Pleistocene succession recognized in the study area is indeed dominated by tide-influenced associations of sedimentary structures which most likely record the first stage of the opening of this ‘seaway’ of the central Mediterranean Sea.

Deformed cross-stratified deposits in the Early Pleistocene tidally-dominated Catanzaro strait-fill succession, Calabrian Arc (Southern Italy): Triggering mechanisms and environmental significance

“…1B). Along these straits, tidal currents were amplified (Mercier et al, 1987;Di Stefano and Longhitano, 2009;Longhitano et al, 2012), generating the accumulation of siliciclastic tidalites characterized by large-scale (N1 m thick) cross-stratifications and a wide range of facies heterogeneities (Longhitano et al, 2014). During the lower Pleistocene, the Catanzaro Strait was tectonically active experiencing a change from left-lateral to right-lateral kinematics as the result of the rotation of field strength (Brutto et al, 2015).…”

A Mixed Bioclastic-Siliciclastic Flood-Tidal Delta in a Micro Tidal Setting: Depositional Architectures and Hierarchical Internal Organization (Pliocene, Southern Apennine, Italy)

“…9) help to identify a complex depositional system, which is unusual for the Plio-Pleistocene successions of the Mediterranean area. Several other Pliocene to Pleistocene mixed successions have been described in other sectors of Southern Italy (Colella and Vitale 1998;Tropeano and Sabato 2000;Pomar and Tropeano 2001;Pedley and Grasso 2002;Zecchin et al 2004;Massari and Chiocci 2006;Tropeano et al 2006;Di Stefano et al 2007;Mateu-Vicens et al 2008;Di Stefano and Longhitano 2009), but compared with the Torre Saracena section, none shows similar stratigraphic characteristics.…”

“…Tide-influenced conditions are also demonstrated by deposits from the late Quaternary Castrovillari embayment (Longhitano and Nemec 2005), the Monte Torre-Siderno paleostrait (Colella and D'Alessandro 1988), the Catanzaro and Messina straits (Di Stefano and Longhitano 2009) and the Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto embayment ).…”

“…However, studies have documented how, in particular micro tidal settings such as local straits or coastal semiconfined gulfs or embayments, when marine currents become hydrodynamically amplified as they are forced to flow through narrow passageways, the signal of tidal cycles of different duration can be recorded in the sediments (e.g., Colella and D'Alessandro 1988;Colella 1995;Longhitano and Nemec 2005;Di Stefano and Longhitano 2009). …”

“…These factories produced significant bioclastic debris within different shallow-water environments, and this debris represents an important component of Apennine Pliocene-Quaternary successions made up of mixed lithological constituents (Massari and Chiocci 2006;Chiarella and Longhitano 2008;Di Stefano and Longhitano 2009). …”