{"title":"Quaternary marine terraces and fault activity in the northern mainland sectors of the Messina Strait (southern Italy)","authors":"C. Monaco, G. Barreca, A. Stefano","doi":"10.3301/IJG.2016.10","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3301/IJG.2016.10","url":null,"abstract":"The Strait of Messina area has been affected by strong uplift, which caused the development of spectacular sequences of Pleistocene coastal marine terraces. A new detailed mapping of the terraced surfaces has been carried out on both sides of the northern sector of the Strait. In the Calabrian side, a complete sequence of ten fluvial-coastal terraces has been recognized at elevations ranging from 40 to 520 m a.s.l. and dated from 60 to 330 ka. The series is partly displaced by normal faults bordering the structural high of Campo Piale and the estimated uplift rates change in time and space in response to the fault activity. They range from 1.5 mm/yr for the period 330-200 ka, on the Campo Piale high, to 0.8 mm/yr for the period 125-60 ka, on the hanging wall of the Scilla Fault that borders the Campo Piale high to the north. The constant elevation of the I order terrace suggests an uniform uplift rate of 1.4 mm/yr along the Villa San Giovanni coastal area and the termination of the western sector of the Scilla Fault, even though the offshore activity of segments belonging to the same system is not excluded. In the Sicilian side, six orders of terraces have been recognized on the Capo Peloro promontory. Their inner edges range in elevation from 30 m to 170 m a.s.l., the age attribution varies from 60 to 240 ka. The series is tilted of ~10-15° southward due to the activity of the Mortelle Fault, bounding the promontory to north. The elevation of inner edges suggests that the uplift process, characterized by rate of 0.8 mm/yr, has undergone an acceleration during the late Pleistocene, probably related to activity of offshore structures.","PeriodicalId":55341,"journal":{"name":"Bollettino Della Societa Geologica Italiana","volume":"105 1","pages":"337-346"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85896365","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
F. Cultrera, G. Barreca, L. Ferranti, C. Monaco, F. Pepe, S. Passaro, G. Barberi, V. Bruno, P. Burrato, M. Mattia, C. Musumeci, L. Scarfì
{"title":"Structural architecture and active deformation pattern in the northern sector of the Aeolian-Tindari-Letojanni fault system (SE Tyrrhenian Sea-NE Sicily) from integrated analysis of field, marine geophysical, seismological and geodetic data","authors":"F. Cultrera, G. Barreca, L. Ferranti, C. Monaco, F. Pepe, S. Passaro, G. Barberi, V. Bruno, P. Burrato, M. Mattia, C. Musumeci, L. Scarfì","doi":"10.3301/IJG.2016.17","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3301/IJG.2016.17","url":null,"abstract":"Framed in the current geodynamics of the central Mediterranean, the Aeolian-Tindari-Letojanni fault system is part of a wider NW-SE oriented right-lateral wrench zone which accommodates diverging motion between regional-scale blocks located at the southern edge of the Calabrian Arc. In order to investigate the structural architecture and the active deformation pattern of the northern sector of this tectonic feature, structural observations on-land, high and very-high resolution seismic reflection profiles, swath bathymetry and seismological and geodetic data were merged from the Lipari-Vulcano volcanic complex (central sector of the Aeolian Islands) to the Peloritani Mountains across the Gulf of Patti. Our interpretation shows that the active deformation pattern of the study area is currently expressed by NW-SE trending, right-transtensional en-echelon fault segments whose overlapping gives rise to releasing stepover and pull-apart structures. This structural architecture has favored magma and fluid ascent and the shaping of the Lipari-Vulcano volcanic complex. Similarly, the Gulf of Patti is interpreted as an extensional relay zone between two overlapping, right-lateral NW-SE trending master faults. The structural configuration we reconstruct is also supported by seismological and geodetic data which are consistent with kinematics of the mapped faults. Notably, most of the low-magnitude instrumental seismicity occurs within the relay zones, whilst the largest historical earthquakes (1786, Mw=6.2; 1978, Mw=6.1) are located along the major fault segments.","PeriodicalId":55341,"journal":{"name":"Bollettino Della Societa Geologica Italiana","volume":"548 1","pages":"399-417"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77202092","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"1876-1881: Domenico Lovisato and the geology of Calabria (southern Italy)","authors":"S. Fabbi, Fabiana Console, M. Pantaloni","doi":"10.3301/IJG.2017.10","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3301/IJG.2017.10","url":null,"abstract":"Celebrating the centennial of Domenico Lovisato's death (1842- 1916), this paper highlights the role played by this eminent Italian geologist as a pioneer for the geological knowledge of Calabria region (Southern Italy), a geologically complex area which became the subject of a long-lasting and still continuing debate.Lovisato spent only few years in Calabria (1876-1878) teaching as high school professor of mathematics; this period marked a turning point for his scientific growth representing a switch for his career from avocational to full-time geologist. This experience granted him the involvement in the academic career, with the enrollment in the niversity of Sassari and Cagliari as Professor of Mineralogy and Geology (from 1878 until his death, in 1916). Lovisato must be acknowledged as the author of the first 1:50,000 geological map of the Calabria region. As such, he should be mentioned for his ethic approach towards environment, anticipating the catastrophic effect of natural phenomena and the modern concepts of geoethic.","PeriodicalId":55341,"journal":{"name":"Bollettino Della Societa Geologica Italiana","volume":"29 1","pages":"471-484"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75842765","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the northern Apulian carbonate platform (southern Italy)","authors":"A. Petrullo, F. Agosta, G. Prosser, E. Rizzo","doi":"10.3301/IJG.2017.08","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3301/IJG.2017.08","url":null,"abstract":"A 3D geological modeling of a large portion of the Apulian Platform buried underneath the Bradano Trough, southern Italy, is carried out by integrating 2D seismic reflection profiles, well log data, and published top Apula isobaths. The results of this work highlight the presence of five sets of high-angle, km-long faults, which displace the topmost units of the Apulian Platform. Both timing and kinematics of faulting are investigated by considering age, distribution, and thickness of the Cenozoic sedimentary terranes topping the Mesozoic Apulian carbonates.The study area is characterized by a major fault scarp made up of NW-SE and NNW-SSE fault segments. This structural feature shows a Messinian-Early Pliocene transtensional kinematics, which might have occurred on pre-existing structural heterogeneities. On the contrary, on the basis of their abutting and crosscutting relationships with respect to the aforementioned fault zone, a Pliocene-Quaternary age is inferred for the N-S and NE-SW trending extensional faults, and an Early Pliocene age for the extensional NNE-SSW trending faults. These results are discussed in light of the complex tectonic evolution of the Central Mediterranean area, and may contribute to better assess the structural evolution of the fault network that dissects the northernmost portion of the Apulian Plate, at the boundary with the Adria Plate.","PeriodicalId":55341,"journal":{"name":"Bollettino Della Societa Geologica Italiana","volume":"1141 1","pages":"296-311"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79796257","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Discussion on «Geological map of the partially dolomitized Jurassic succession exposed in the central sector of the Montagna dei Fiori Anticline, Central Apennines, Italy» by","authors":"M. Santantonio, S. Fabbi, S. Bigi","doi":"10.3301/IJG.2017.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3301/IJG.2017.04","url":null,"abstract":"In their paper on the Montagna dei Fiori area, [Storti et alii (2017][1]) present a new geological map and discuss the dolomitization pattern and the Jurassic extensional architecture of this sector of the Central Apennines. They conclude that their “field evidence does not support the gravity-","PeriodicalId":55341,"journal":{"name":"Bollettino Della Societa Geologica Italiana","volume":"267 1","pages":"312-316"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77163212","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
M. Meccariello, L. Ferranti, G. Barreca, M. Palano
{"title":"New insights on the tectonics of the Lampedusa Plateau from the integration of offshore, on-land and space geodetic data","authors":"M. Meccariello, L. Ferranti, G. Barreca, M. Palano","doi":"10.3301/IJG.2017.02","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3301/IJG.2017.02","url":null,"abstract":"Joint analysis of multichannel seismic reflection profiles calibrated with well-logs across the northern part of the Lampedusa Plateau (central sector of the Pelagian Block, Sicily Channel), of structural data collected on Lampedusa island, and of GNSS geodetic velocities of sites on the islands and on the northern shore of the Channel, suggests that this part of the plateau forms an anticlinorium (Lampedusa Plateau Anticlinorium, LPA). The LPA developed during Paleogene to Early Miocene intraplate contraction followed by Miocene to current strike-slip deformation. It is formed by WNW-ESE striking highs and lows, which have an ~20 km average wavelength and culminate at the Lampione-Lampedusa High. These broad folds are bounded by high-angle faults with a reverse component of displacement, which cut Eocene to Lower Pliocene strata offshore, and Late Miocene strata on Lampedusa. Extensional faults, that have a bathymetric expression and are responsible for marked stratal tilting due to their listric geometry, are only found to the NE of the island and are associated to the rifting that affected the central part of the Sicily Channel in the Pliocene-Quaternary. Seismic reflection profiles show that normal fault activity peaked during the middle part of the Pliocene and strongly diminished afterward. Appraisal of recent plate motion reconstructions and of published and new structural data offshore and on-land suggest that the main growth phase of the LPA occurred during (Late Cretaceous?) Paleocene-Early Miocene ~N-S convergence between Nubia and Eurasia and associated intraplate shortening. Starting from Early Miocene, likely in response to a CCW rotation of the plate convergence direction, strike-slip deformation occurred with a ~NW-SE shortening axis and ~NE-SW extension axis. During this time span the previous contractional structures were locally reactivated in transpression. The two different strain regimes, extensional and transpressional that established since Miocene NE and W to NW of Lampedusa, respectively, still persist today as documented by geodetic velocities.","PeriodicalId":55341,"journal":{"name":"Bollettino Della Societa Geologica Italiana","volume":"48 1","pages":"206-219"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84668033","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
G. Aiello, D. Insinga, M. Iorio, A. Meo, M. Senatore
{"title":"On the occurrence of the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff tephra in the Northern Phlegraean Fields offshore(Eastern Tyrrhenian margin; Italy)","authors":"G. Aiello, D. Insinga, M. Iorio, A. Meo, M. Senatore","doi":"10.3301/IJG.2017.06","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3301/IJG.2017.06","url":null,"abstract":"A main volcanic marker has been identified for the first time on the continental shelf of the northern Phlegraean Fields in the Gulf of Gaeta (Campania region, eastern Tyrrhenian margin, Italy) by means of Subbottom Chirp profile grid and stratigraphic analysis of a core collected on the slope. In the seismic sections, the core bottom corresponds to the top of a continuous and parallel reflector (V) interbedded within the transgressive deposits of the Late Quaternary-Holocene depositional sequence. The Transgressive System Tract deposits are particularly thick compared to the majority of the transgressive deposits of other shelf settings. This might be due to the input of pyroclastic and volcaniclastic deposits related to the intense eruptive activity of the Campania Plain during the Late Pleistocene-Holocene time span. Undulations and pockmarks are the main morphological features of the sea floor and they might be linked to gas uprising, widely detected in the study area. The V reflector is located on the shelf from northeast to southwest at different depths, ranging from 10 ms (about 8 m) to 30 ms (about 25 m) below sea floor and it can be mapped down to the continental slope. The tephrostratigraphic analysis of this continuous reflector allowed to correlate it with the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff deposits emplaced at Phlegraean Fields at ca. 15 ka.","PeriodicalId":55341,"journal":{"name":"Bollettino Della Societa Geologica Italiana","volume":"69 1","pages":"263-274"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89417157","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Mineralogical, petrographic and chemical analysis of geomaterials used in the mortars of Roman Nora theatre (south Sardinia, Italy)","authors":"S. Columbu, A. Garau","doi":"10.3301/IJG.2017.05","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3301/IJG.2017.05","url":null,"abstract":"The composition and the origin of raw materials used in the ancient mortars and concrete of the Nora theatre (first century AD) have been analysed to define their provenance and construction technologies of the Roman period.The use of geomaterials in the binder / aggregate mixtures of the mortars vary according to their function in the different sectors (i.e., structure-wall, tribunalia vaults, wall of external niches, foundation of cavea tiers, stage inner wall) but also according to different construction phases of the theatre or the work-steps. The mortars with structural function are mainly hydraulic (e.g., concrete of vaults, jointing and foundation mortars of cavea ashlars), while the lime mortars were used mainly for plasters, and rarely as bedding mortars. As recommended by Vitruvius, in the hydraulic mortars were mainly used volcanic rocks, as coarse and fine pozzolanic aggregate (pulvis puteolanus), and quartz-feldspar sands (present as crystal-clasts with an almost constant ratio of about 2:1, respectively). The cocciopesto is anomalously rare or absent. In the mortars local dacitic volcanic rock were also used, especially in the concrete as caementia.The grey-black volcanic rocks are glasses with characteristics more near to obsidian and less to natural pozzolan normally used in the Roman period. To identify the provenance of these glasses, a geochemical comparison between the samples taken from the theatre mortars and the volcanic outcrops of some probable Sardinian source areas is made by XRF and SEM-EDS / WDS analysis.To verify the quality of the pozzolan (by its chemical reaction with the binder), the edges and inside of volcanic glasses were analysed with an SEM-EDS microprobe, while the compositional characteristics and the hydraulic degree of the binder was analysed with XRPD and TG/DSC methods, respectively.The use of this kind of pozzolanic glass, without local origins, is a novelty because it has never been found in the mortars of the archaeological site of Nora. Given the wide use of Sardinian obsidian in the Neolithic or Calcolithic periods for production of tools and instruments, some considerations about its use, origin and trade are made.","PeriodicalId":55341,"journal":{"name":"Bollettino Della Societa Geologica Italiana","volume":"18 1","pages":"238-262"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74472866","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy: a tool for understanding the stratigraphic evolution of the Mt. Modino Unit (Northern Apennines, Italy)","authors":"Alessandra Marchi, R. Catanzariti, L. Pandolfi","doi":"10.3301/IJG.2016.13","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3301/IJG.2016.13","url":null,"abstract":"The Mt. Modino Unit succession (Northern Apennines) is mainly composed of turbiditic sediments deposited during the collisional and post-collisional stages of the Northern Apennines fold-and-thrust belt. Within this succession we have studied a thick interval of shales with arenitic beds, marls and arenites, of the Fiumalbo Shale, the Marmoreto Marl and the Mt. Modino Sandstone formations. Calcareous nannofossil assemblages of the eight investigated stratigraphic sections contain middle-late Eocene to Oligocene-early Miocene biozones. Zones CNE12 to MNN1 have been identified through quantitative analyses of a set of 200 samples, and the precise ages of the Fiumalbo Shale, the Marmoreto Marl and the Mt. Modino Sandstone were identified as well.The biostratigraphic analyses enable stratigraphic correlations between the investigated sections which were used to propose a stratigraphic architecture of the Mt. Modino Unit succession.Physical and biostratigraphic data available for the Mt. Modino Unit succession suggest a subsiding wedge-top basin fed since the Rupelian by both Apennine and Alpine sources. After the late Oligocene shortening phase, the Mt. Modino Basin occupied the inner part of the foredeep basin, sharing the same turbiditic deposits with the Macigno formation.","PeriodicalId":55341,"journal":{"name":"Bollettino Della Societa Geologica Italiana","volume":"3 1","pages":"171-185"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87248525","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Evaluation of the sources of nitrogen compounds and their influence on the biological communities in the hyporheic zone of the Sagittario River, Italy: an isotopic and biological approach","authors":"M. Caschetto, D. Galassi, M. Petitta, R. Aravena","doi":"10.3301/IJG.2016.07","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3301/IJG.2016.07","url":null,"abstract":"In groundwater-dependent ecosystems (GDEs) a significant contribution of nitrogen contamination of the surface waters arises from groundwater input by shallow and deep flow systems. In general, nitrogen surface-groundwater exchanges and processes at the hyporheic scale are difficult to monitor. In order to have a better understanding about these interactions, it is proposed to use stable isotopes (15N-NO3-, 18O-NO3-, 15N-NH4+) as environmental tracers to identify the sources and fate of the nitrogen compounds in groundwater in the Sagittario River basin, central Italy. The detrimental effect of the groundwater ammonium on the meiofaunal organisms is also evaluated in the hyporheic zone, where N-NH4+ concentrations reach a maximum value of 0.6 mg L-1. The main source of the nitrogen contamination originates from agricultural and urban activities at the catchment scale. The nitrogen compounds reach the gaining stretches of the hyporheic zone along the streambed as nitrate associated to a shallow flow system and ammonium related to a deep flow system. δ15N data demonstrate that sewage and fertilizers including manure are the main sources of NO3- and NH4+, the latter being the major pollutant in the study area. δ18O-NO3- data are consistent with the nitrification of ammonium to nitrate, along with the contribution from inorganic fertilizers. Furthermore, δ15N-NO3- and δ18O-NO3- data reveal that denitrification does not play any role on nitrate attenuation in the shallow aquifer and near the discharge areas to the river. The meiofaunal communities, represented by the Crustacea Copepoda selected as the target group, were shown to be sensitive to the high concentration of ammonium found at several hyporheic sites. The statistical analyses indicated a significant reduction of species abundance in the sites polluted by N-NH4+ concentrations > 0.0653 mg L-1.","PeriodicalId":55341,"journal":{"name":"Bollettino Della Societa Geologica Italiana","volume":"28 1","pages":"145-156"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74821758","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}