Plio-quaternary tectonic evolution and structure of the Catania foredeep, the northern Hyblean Plateau and the Ionian shelf (SE Sicily)

被引:77
作者
Torelli, L
Grasso, M
Mazzoldi, G
Peis, D
机构
[1] Univ Catania, Ist Geol & Geofis, I-95129 Catania, Italy
[2] Univ Parma, Dipartimento Sci Terra, I-43100 Parma, Italy
[3] CNW Italiana SpA, I-00196 Rome, Italy
关键词
Catania foredeep; Hyblean Plateau; Ionian shelf; Sicily; seismic analysis; foreland basin;
D O I
10.1016/S0040-1951(98)00185-1
中图分类号
P3 [地球物理学]; P59 [地球化学];
学科分类号
0708 ; 070902 ;
摘要
Available multi- and single-channel seismic reflection profiles, calibrated by onshore borehole data, have been used for defining the structural styles in the shelf and slope of the Ionian Sea between Catania and Augusta (SE Sicily). The geological and geophysical data suggest that this area represents a segment of the foredeep-foreland system which collapsed after Late Pliocene times. The foundering was controlled by normal faults trending NE-SW, which flank the southern margin of the Catania foredeep. Onland, in outcrop, these faults appear largely to be post-dated by Lower Pleistocene sediments, nearshore carbonates passing laterally into basinal clays, which lie unconformably upon older substrata. Offshore, close to the southern edge of the foredeep, seismic lines allow recognition of two distinct units: a syn-rift wedge (Upper Pliocene submarine tholeiites and sediments), and a post-rift sequence which can be correlated with Lower Pleistocene carbonates, sands and clays recognisable on land, both in outcrop and by borehole data. The true frontal part of the thrust belt, as detected by the seismic lines, occupies the inner part of the area investigated and is buried by Upper Pliocene and Lower Pleistocene sediments. However, the compressive deformation seems to propagate toward the south-southeast by means of growing detachment levels developing at depth within Pleistocene marine clays, for a length of about 10 km, ahead of the present-day thrust front. Offshore, the faults trending NE-SW are dissected towards the east by faults trending NNW-SSE, subparallel to the Malta Escarpment, which flank the edge of the submerged Messina Rise. These faults, originating in a steep scarp which drops eastwards to the deep Ionian basin, have triggered submarine slides and affected the present-day seafloor sediments. As shown by seismic lines and as stressed by the modern seismicity of the area, some of the faults alone the Malta Escarpment could be still active. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
引用
收藏
页码:209 / 221
页数:13
相关论文
共 34 条
[1]  
ADAM J, 1995, Z DTSCH GEOL GES, V146, P1
[2]  
Amato A., 1995, ANN GEOPHYS, V38, P255, DOI DOI 10.4401/AG-4122
[3]  
[Anonymous], MEM SOC GEOL ITAL
[4]  
Ben-Avraham Z., 1990, Ann. Tectonicae, V4, P131
[5]   CRUSTAL STRUCTURE VARIATIONS AND TRANSCURRENT FAULTING AT THE EASTERN AND WESTERN MARGINS OF THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN [J].
BENAVRAHAM, Z ;
GRASSO, M .
TECTONOPHYSICS, 1991, 196 (3-4) :269-277
[6]  
BENAVRAHAM Z, 1995, TECTONOPHYSICS, V243, P57
[7]  
BENAVRAHAM Z, 1992, GEOLOGY, V20, P1143
[8]  
BOSCHI E, 1995, CATALOGO FORTI TERRE, V1
[9]  
Bousquet J.C., 1987, MEM SOC GEOL ITAL, V38, P483
[10]   ORIGIN AND DEFORMATION OF THE NEOGENE RECENT MAGHREBIAN FOREDEEP AT THE GELA NAPPE, SE SICILY [J].
BUTLER, RWH ;
GRASSO, M ;
LAMANNA, F .
JOURNAL OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 1992, 149 :547-556