Tectono-stratigraphic evolution of the Southern Campania Margin: a key area for the evolution of the Tyrrhenian-Apennine system

Abstract

The Southern Campania Margin (SCM) represents a key area of the Central Mediterranean because it records all the rifting stages of the Tyrrhenian Sea. The interpretation of a seismic dataset calibrated with deep wells and outcrops, using seismic stratigraphy and structural geology methods in a dedicated Geographic Information System (GIS) environment, the seismic depth conversion, the generation of 2-D and 3-D models led to the reconstruction of a polyphased tectono-stratigraphic evolution of the SCM. During the early stage of Tyrrhenian opening a terrigenous transtensional Basin (Langhian-Tortonian Cilento Basin) formed on the Liguride accretionary prism adjacent to the Calabria crystalline terrane. In the SCM the Liguride thrust sheets tectonically overly the Apennine Platform units and both these nappes have been dismembered by Quaternary faults. Three rifting stages, not homogeneously distributed, affected the region since the Lower Pleistocene. They are associated to the deposition of a thick Quaternary succession (A, B and C units). During these Pleistocene stages there was an abrupt change of the extension direction (from NE-SW to NW-SE) accompanying a change of the nappe transport direction of the Southern Apennines. The construction of balanced sections using dedicated software, permitted us to recognize the true geometry of the faults and compute the amount of Quaternary extension of the SCM that results comparable to those calculated for other sectors of the Tyrrhenian margin and further extensional regions worldwide.

Comment on Loreto et al., 2021: “Extensional tectonics during the Tyrrhenian back‐arc basin formation and a new morpho‐tectonic map”

“…We certainly agree that the Plio‐Quaternary thickness map of Loreto et al is not reliable in the pery‐Tyrrhenian margins, due to the low density of seismic data, but also we point out that the bathymetric map fails to reveal the presence of any fault in the shelf area, where many basins are overfilled by sediments. Nevertheless, maps of PQ thickness, or maps from which this thickness can be derived, on the eastern Tyrrhenian margin (Latium, Campania, Calabria and Sicily) have been published in several uncited studies (Iannace et al, 2013, 2018; Milia et al, 2013, 2018, 2021; Milia, Iannace, et al, 2017; Milia & Torrente, 2015a; Milia, Torrente, & Tesauro, 2017). These studies display the result of the interpretation of high‐density seismic data calibrated by borehole stratigraphies and released thickness maps reaching a resolution of hundreds of thousands of years.…”

Extensional Messinian basins in the Central Mediterranean (Calabria, Italy): new stratigraphic and tectonic insights

“…On the northern sector of the eastern Tyrrhenian margin (Tuscany, Elba) rift and supradetachment basins are controlled by NW-SE faults (Pascucci et al 1999;Dini et al, 2002;Liotta et al, 2015). Along the Campania margin are present rift basin (Cosentino et al, 2006) and low-angle normal faults linked to a Messinian extension trending NE-SW (Schiattarella et al, 2006;Iannace et al, 2018). In northern Calabria the Squillace, Crotone and Sibari basins are controlled by E-W normal faults.…”