quantitative analysis of insar digital elevation models for identification of areas with different tectonic activities in southern italy this work presents the results of a quantitative analysis of an interferometric sar insar digital elevation model dem obtained by the shuttle radar topography mission srtm the analysis aims to identify additional parameters to recognize areas in southern italy with different tectonic activities and behaviours the axial zone of the campania lucania apennine and the sila massif in calabria italy characterized by quite different evolutionary histories have been chosen as test areas sufficiently wide to validate observations on a sub regional scale at least geomorphological information on the shape of palaeosurfaces has been used to estimate uplift and or erosion amounts and rates palaeosurfaces are identified on the dem as regions with an altitude higher than 1000 m a s l and sub planar land surfaces dipping less than 6 information about the shape of palaeosurfaces during the first stage of uplift and before the tectonic induced block fragmentation has been extracted a fragmentation index has been computed for these erosional surfaces the first stage of this landscape evolution has been studied in terms of the geometric characteristics of fragmented blocks the last erosional stage has been recognized in terms of both geometric characteristics and fragmentation index of the sub horizontal land surfaces altitude and age of the palaeosurfaces referred to ancient base levels of the erosion have been used to estimate the erosional rate copyright 2008 john wiley and sons ltd

tectonic history of the lagonegro domain and southern apennine thrust belt evolution abstract the tectonic history of the lagonegro domain in southern italy is an intriguing topic for the mesozoic mediterranean paleogeography and is important for reconstructions of the tethys previous interpretations postulate the paleogeographic position of a deep lagonegro molise sicilide basinal domain between the external apulia carbonate platform to the east and the internal apenninic carbonate platform i e the alburno cervati maddalena mountains to the west a second and separate deep basin more to the west was the home of the liguride units which cover extensive areas of the southern apennines following an extensive review of previously published concepts and on the base of the structural interpretation of the southern apennines thrust belt using additional subsurface data and extensive field mapping the authors now suggest that all deep basinal units of the southern apennines i e the ligurides the lagonegro units and the molise sicilide units derive from internal areas located to the west with respect to a coeval wide carbonate platform slope shallow basin complex which in its pre middle miocene reconstruction extended from apulia well beyond the present day tyrrhenian coast of southern italy the basinal units were first assembled as an accretionary wedge and overthrusted during the late miocene over the carbonate platform slope shallow basin complex the liguride lagonegro molise sicilide accretionary wedge was later cut by an envelopment thrust which overthrust the previously underlying platform complex over the previously emplaced complex accretionary wedge our hypothesis in part revives an old concept proposed by selli 1962 and requires further testing and research we conclude that paleogeographic reconstructions of the southern apennines and the mediterranean tethys are still in a state of flux

historical damage pattern and differential seismic effects in a town with ground cavities a case study from southern italy abstract this paper presents the results of a study focused on the analysis of differential seismic effects on a town characterized by the presence of ground cavities the event analysed is the 1930 irpinia earthquake io x mcs me 6 7 whereas the site investigated is rionero in vulture basilicata southern italy this town is built as several historical centres over the world on man made ground cavities going back to the past centuries due to the high quality of available historical information regarding the 1930 seismic event the analysed town represents an important case study both to improve the reconstruction methodology of the damage scenario and to test the role that ground cavities play on seismic damage in a site with high seismicity to this purpose we examined about 1400 unpublished technical reports the information drawn from written sources was integrated with in situ surveys furthermore we made a comparison with seismic effects which were recorded in some italian localities having ground cavities the results of this research can provide useful information for microzonation analysis and decision making for localities where seismic territorial and anthropic features are similar to rionero in vulture the paper is divided into four parts the first one analyses the geological features of the region and the town the second part describes the historical seismicity of the site the third part deals with the methodological approach in order to reconstruct the building damage finally the fourth part is focused on the analysis of the damage pattern with appraisals of the causes of differential effects

distal orogenic effects on peripheral bulge sedimentation middle and upper ordovician of the nashville dome abstract a major switch in depositional style in the ordovician carbonates of the nashville dome corresponds closely with the onset of the late middle ordovician taconic orogeny this time marks a shift from tropical type to temperate type carbonates the initiation of widespread major phosphate deposition the introduction of large amounts of terrigenous silt and clay the occurrence of widespread seismically induced soft sediment deformation and a change from a low energy flat topped carbonate shelf to a high energy doubly dipping carbonate ramp soft sediment deformation and the introduction of siliciclastics are direct effects of the taconic orogeny the switch from tropical type to temperate type carbonates the initiation of phosphate deposition and the switch in carbonate ramp are lar ely oceanographic effects triggered by the orogeny in particular phosphate deposition and the switch to temperate type limestones appears to have been driven by upwelling along the eastern side of the nashville dome within the newly deepened taconic foreland basin a fourfold decrease in the rate of relative sea level rise occurred on the nashville dome nearly 3 m y following the onset of thrusting and foreland basin initiation subsidence rates were constant before and after this decrease and no evidence of a change in subsidence rates is seen to coincide with the onset of thrusting the slowing of subsidence may reflect viscoelastic uplift of the nashville dome but the abrupt change from one constant subsidence rate to another is not predicted by existing foreland basin models

obliquity dominated glacio eustatic sea level change in the early oligocene evidence from the shallow marine siliciclastic rupelian stratotype boom formation belgium our results prove that glacio eustatic sea level oscillations in the early oligocene were dominantly obliquity controlled with additional influence of the 100 and 405 kyr eccentricity cycles this was derived from spectral analysis of resistivity records from an extended downhole section of the boom clay succession in belgium that reveals a prevailing obliquity control on the laterally persistent metre scale alternations of shallow marine silt and claystones in the rupelian historical stratotype succession these direct measurements of sea level variations in a shallow marine setting corroborate that variations with similar frequencies in benthonic oxygen isotope records from the open ocean indeed reflect at least partly ice volume change a very tentative astronomical tuning has been established for the boom clay succession which awaits future confirmation with the addition of more accurate age calibration points

source parameter scaling and the cascadia paleoseismic record several approaches to interpreting the cascadia paleoseismic record are used to derive relationships between fault area slip and moment and to compare the results with the scaling relationships determined by somerville et al 2015 for recent subduction zone events in two models ca12a and ca12b taken from goldfinger et al 2012 paleoevents are classified into five characteristic areas ca with the slip during each event estimated based on the time between the event and either the following or the previous event in model ca14 taken from scholz 2014 slip on four characteristic segments is determined from the plate tectonic convergence rate assuming a constant stress drop in model cl introduced in this article the fault length for paleoevents is defined by the along strike length over which the observations have been correlated width and slip are interpolated from model ca14 ca12a and ca12b show large scatter compared with the global compilation because of large variations in slip for a given area models ca14 and cl reproduce the relationship derived for asperities defined as patches in finite fault models with slip 1 5 times the average slip these models can be reconciled with the total area and average slip from somerville et al 2015 by increasing the fault area and decreasing the slip using scaling factors derived from the analysis of recent earthquakes clmod1 or by reducing the slip by a factor of 8 clmod2 clmod1 implies that the paleoearthquake observations are controlled by high slip patches whereas clmod2 implies that much of the plate tectonic convergence is accommodated aseismically a scenario intermediate between clmod1 and clmod2 is considered most likely this study demonstrates the value of using scaling relationships based on modern earthquakes as a tool for evaluating earthquake histories derived from paleoseismic data online material a table summarizing the source parameters for the different models presented in this article to enable figure reproduction figures that summarize the data points used by somerville et al 2015 data points from a new analysis that became available after preparation of the main article ye et al 2016 and results for the turbidite mass model goldfinger et al 2012 for estimating seismic moment

late pleistocene differential uplift inferred from the analysis of fluvial terraces southern apennines italy abstract the stratigraphic architecture and morphological assemblage of the pleistocene fluvial terraces contained in two contiguous fluvial valleys are used to understand the spatial distribution and the timing of the differential uplift that affected two different geological and geomorphological settings of an active orogen the study areas both placed in the eastern sector of the southern apennines of italy are the sant arcangelo sedimentary basin and the valsinni ridge anticline pleistocene uplift rate of 0 7 0 9 mm y 1 and historical earthquakes affecting those areas suggest active tectonics based on the synthem units used to classify the fluvial deposits in the field several strath fill and fill cut terraces have been mapped in the middle valleys of the agri and sinni rivers four middle pleistocene high terraces qes are found in the sant arcangelo basin and cut its infill and three late pleistocene low terraces qt are found at both the agri and sinni valley flanks the agri and sinni rivers cross cut the nw se oriented fold and thrust belt of the southern apennines from w to e producing a transverse drainage as a result ten to hundred metre deep gorges and wide floodplains were created in the middle reach of the river valleys computation of the bedrock incision rates from the qes1 qes4 and sqt1 terraces corresponding to 1 2 0 2 mm y 1 at 400 240 ka and 0 8 0 2 mm y 1 in the last 240 ka together with the terrace profile arrangements in the agri and sinni valleys allow for the documentation of i the differential uplift of the study area and ii the age of terrace abandonment corresponding to the beginning age of the vertical incision in the valley floor sediments to form the qt terraces the differential uplift is subsequently discussed in a space and time sequence evolution of the late pleistocene to assess the complex morphotectonic development that occurred in the eastern threshold of the basin the differential uplift of both the sant arcangelo basin and valsinni ridge would appear to indicate that buried fold and thrust structures that affect the mesozoic cenozoic sedimentary nappes are still active and they also controlled the slab retreat processes in the mediterranean region during the late pleistocene

the western mediterranean extensional basins and the alpine orogen the western mediterranean late oligocene miocene basins alboran valencia and provencal basins are a coherent system of interrelated troughs in all basins normal faults and thermal subsidence migrated toward the east progressively moving to the miocene to pleistocene algerian and tyrrhenian basins all those troughs appear elements of the back arc opening related to the eastward roll back of the w directed apennines maghrebides subduction zone similarly to western pacific back arc settings these late oligocene early miocene basins nucleated both within the betic cordillera e g alboran sea and in its foreland valencia and provencal troughs the n40 70 direction of grabens is oblique to the coexisting n60 80 trending orogen and shows its structural independence from the orogenic roots thus as the extension cross cuts the orogen and developed also well outside the thrust belt front the westernmost basins of the mediterranean had to develop independently from the alps betics orogen therefore the alboran extension considered a classic example of a basin generated by the collapse of an orogen cannot be ascribed to the detachment or annihilation of the lithospheric root in contrast with the eastward migrating extensional basins the betic balearic thrust front was migrating westward producing interference or inversion structures

frontal collapse during thrust propagation in mountain belts a case study in the lucania apennines southern italy in thrust belts low angle tectonic contacts are common and are associated with the stacking of tectonic units and the resulting regional shortening the southern apennines of italy where basin and platform sediments are stacked along low angle regional thrusts caused by the shortening of the adria passive margin are no exception we studied a portion of a north south trending low angle regional thrust that separates apennine platform sediments from lagonegro basin rocks to the east of the thrust klippen composed of platform sediments overlying lagonegro rocks along a low angle tectonic contact are present the klippen were first interpreted as remnants of the regional thrust we performed a detailed structural analysis of the regional thrust and we examined the structural setting of the klippen field evidence and analysis of map patterns revealed that emplacement of low angle foreland propagating thrusts was followed by extensional deformation accommodated by regional east dipping low angle normal faults at the base of the klippen we identified low angle tectonic contacts with an extensional kinematics we conclude that the klippen were the result of movements of platform sediments and lagonegro rocks along low angle normal faults and not thrusts as previously interpreted these faults are cut by more recent high angle normal faults associated with the opening of the agri basin collectively we show that evidence of changes in the tectonostratigraphic architecture fault geometry and kinematics and fabrics in the thrusts can reveal the presence of low angle normal faults the result of an extensional regime we expect that our findings will contribute to the understanding of the deformation history of part of the southern apennines and of other mountain belts the results are also important to understand the transition from compression to extension in the southern apennines and in similar orogenic belts

pre quaternary orogen parallel extension in the southern apennine belt italy abstract the southern apennine fold and thrust belt differs from other parts of the peri tyrrhenian orogen in most of the peri tyrrhenian belt hinterland extension is oriented at a high angle to the orogen axis and appears to be related to rifting and formation of oceanic crust within the tyrrhenian basin the southern apennines share the late stage development of normal faults related to the opening of the tyrrhenian sea but also experienced an episode of extension parallel to the strike of the tectonic belt the orogen parallel extension was apparently formed in response to the increase in length of the deformed belt during arcuation arcuation ostensibly was related to asymmetrical rifting in the hinterland which was greater in the southern tyrrhenian sea than in areas to the north and proportionately greater shortening in the frontal parts of the southern belt as compared to regions in the north during arcuation extension was spatially concentrated within structural domains and was accomplished by displacement on low angle detachment faults cutting through a previously imbricated thrust stack during the miocene pliocene nnw sse extension in the interior of the southern appennine belt formed coveally with ene wsw shortening in the foreland longitudinal extension ceased in the pleistocene when younger high angle normal faults formed in response to the easterly migration of tyrrhenian sea rifting and ne sw extension associated with lithospheric stretching

the liguride complex of southern italy a cretaceous to paleogene accretionary wedge abstract the ophiolite bearing allochthonous flysch liguride complex of the southern apennines italy has traditionally been divided into two tectonic units the metamorphic frido unit and the unmetamorphosed cilento unit the two units have hitherto been considered to derive from two distinct paleogeographic domains however the identification of cilento unit sediments within frido unit successions implies that the sediments of both units were coeval deposits within the same sedimentary basin cilento unit sediments also occur as the sedimentary cover of kilometre scale oceanic slices within the liguride complex indicating deposition on oceanic basement and not continental basement as was previously considered thrust transport directions and sediment provenance indicate that during late jurassic time this ocean basin lay to the east of the calabrian terrain and to the west of apulia calabria and apulia representing the european and african margins of neotethys respectively northwestwards subduction of oceanic crust beneath the calabrian terrain from late cretaceous time onwards produced an accretionary wedge which was later emplaced onto the apulian margin during the burdigalian collision of calabria and apulia the liguride complex represents the obducted remains of this accretionary wedge this interpretation contains three important implications for pre tertiary plate tectonic reconstructions of the western mediterranean region these are 1 1 the calabrian continental terrain formed part of the iberian plate on the north margin of neotethys this may have implications for the former location and continuation of the north pyrenean fault 2 2 the existence of a continuation of the eo alpine belt through calabria and the kabylies is placed in doubt thus requiring only one constant polarity nw dipping subduction direction to explain the structures now seen in these regions 3 3 the existence of a transform fault between the europe vergent structures of corsica and the africa vergent structures of calabria this transform must have been active from at least late cretaceous time in a position now occupied by the tyrrhenian sea

first u pb detrital zircon ages from numidian sandstones in southern apennines italy evidences of african provenance abstract two samples of quartz rich sandstones collected in the numidian flysch of southern apennines italy have been studied to highlight the provenance of detritus using radiometric dating by la icp ms of detrital zircons and to compare the obtained ages with those of the betic and maghrebian chains the provenance of quartzose detritus from european or african plates is still debated in these chains accordingly the ages of the detrital zircons can contribute significantly to discriminate the origin of the quartzose supply the u pb zircon ages n 47 vary from 3047 13 ma mesoarchean to 516 19 ma cambrian the predominance of paleo proteozoic ages 2500 1600 ma and the lack of hercynian and alpine ones suggest a provenance of the numidian supply from north african cratonic areas during the early middle langhian when the numidian successions of southern apennines were deposited in addition a cluster of ages at 773 24 ma and 668 12 ma in one sample and at 664 17 ma in the other sample calculated on zircon domains with magmatic zoning testify to an important contribution from neo proterozoic granitic rocks widely outcropping in the north african craton the age data on detrital zircons from numidian sandstones in southern apennines overlap those found in the numidian sandstones widespread in the betic cordillera and in the maghrebian chain from south spain to sicily this suggests that the entire depositional zone in which numidian flysch deposited was fed from a southerly source represented by the african craton where archean proterozoic and cambrian rocks widely crop out from the atlantic coast to the hoggar and tibesti massifs finally it must be outlined that a meso archean zircon age 3047 ma has been found in the numidian flysch of the southern apennines whereas in the numidian flysch of the maghrebian chain zircons older than paleo proterozoic 1840 ma have not yet been found

geomorphic evidence of quaternary tectonics within an underlap fault zone of southern apennines italy abstract a composite seismic source the irpinia agri valley fault zone located in the axial sector of the fold and thrust belt of southern apennines italy is investigated this composite source is made up of a series of nearly parallel nw striking normal fault segments which caused many historical earthquakes two of these fault segments known as the san gregorio magno and pergola melandro and the fault related mountain fronts form a wedge shaped right stepping underlap fault zone this work is aimed at documenting tectonic geomorphology and geology of this underlap fault zone the goal is to decipher the evidence of surface topographic interaction between two bounding fault segments and their related mountain fronts in particular computation of geomorphic indices such as mountain front sinuosity s mf water divide sinuosity s wd asymmetry factor af drainage basin elongation b s relief ratio r h hypsometry hi normalized steepness k sn and concavity is integrated with geomorphological analysis the geological mapping and structural analysis in order to assess the recent activity of the fault scarp sets recognized within the underlap zone results are consistent with the nw striking faults as those showing the most recent tectonic activity as also suggested by presence of related slope deposits younger than 38 ka the results of this work therefore show how the integration of a multidisciplinary approach that combines geomorphology morphometry and structural analyses may be key to solving tectonic geomorphology issues in a complex fold and thrust belt configuration

structure and kinematics of a landslide in a complex clayey formation of the italian southern apennines abstract this paper describes the geometrical structure and the main kinematic features of an ancient and active landslide which develops in structurally complex formations of the southern apennines italy a scaly clayey formation in the medium and lower part of the slope and a stratified marly calcareous rock formation in the upper part the landslide 3d geometry was reconstructed by using topographic data stratigraphies from continuous coring boreholes and inclinometer data the analysis of the kinematic features was based on the measurement of deep and superficial displacements laboratory tests were carried out to evaluate shear strength parameters it was found that in each investigated transversal section of the landslide channel the displacements can be considered uniform and that the decrease of the displacement rates from upslope to downslope mostly depends on the increase in the areas of transversal sections the soil discharge variations being slight stability analyses confirmed that shear strength close to the residual value is available on the slip surface the large difference between residual strength and peak strength of the landslide material is consistent with the displacement uniformity

the stability of the horizontal to vertical spectral ratio of triggered noise and earthquake recordings the aim of this work is to analyze the stability of the amplification function obtained by the horizontal to vertical spectral ratio hvsr for a sedimentary site with a simple geomorphological situation we have estimated the stability of the hvsr analyzing two years of data composed of 674 triggered noise records man made seismic waves strong enough to reach the threshold set for earthquake detection and 132 earthquakes local regional and teleseismic events the resonance peaks obtained with the two different data sets converge on an average both in frequency and amplitude we examined and rejected the possible presence of periodicity of the fundamental frequency in the time sequences and its relevant amplification obtained by the hvsr of both triggered noises and earthquakes then we performed a correlation analysis between these sequences and other parameters in particular they have been correlated with signal amplitude rainfall and magnitude for earthquakes only a weak negative correlation has been estimated between the rainfall and fundamental frequency and between the fundamental peak9s amplification and magnitude finally we validated the hvsr transfer function with a 1d model using a v s profile obtained with the noise analysis of surface wave technique louie 2001

tectonic role of ophiolite bearing terranes in the development of the southern apennines orogenic belt new data on ophiolite bearing terranes of the liguride complex together with some information on the terranes of the sicilide complex result in a better understanding of the role and tectonic significance of these units in the construction of the southern apennines orogenic belt the liguride complex is composed of two main tectonic units overlain by a thick turbiditic sequence of late oligocene middle miocene age the uppermost one frido unit is a polydeformed and polymetamorphosed sequence composed of two tectonic subunits of shales and calc schists respectively containing blocks of ophiolite garnet gneiss amphibolites and granitoids this unit is thrust over the un metamorphosed terranes calabro lucano flysch unit consisting of a broken formation with blocks of late jurassic ophiolite and their sedimentary cover cretaceous eocene pelagic sediments and late oligocene volcaniclastic deposits the frido unit underwent hp lt metamorphism p 8 10 kb t 400 500 c resulting in glaucophane and lawsonite assemblages in the ophiolitic rocks and aragonite in the meta limestones and calc schists followed by greenschist fades metamorphism p 4 kb t 300 350 c from a structural point of view units of the liguride complex comprise structures developed at different structural levels indicating progressive non coaxial deformation in response to tectonic transport towards the n ne the ophiolite bearing terranes of the liguride complex can be considered as a remnant of an accretionary complex in which the calabro lucano flysch unit represents the toe of the wedge where frontal accretion processes occur and the frido unit is a deeper portion emplacement of the frido unit is explained as being due to formation of a deep duplex structure during the early stage of continental collision processes the polarity of tectonic transport provides new evidence that the liguride complex represents a suture zone between the apulian and the calabrian blocks the age of collision appears to be not older than late oligocene the allochtonous terranes of the liguride and sicilide complexes therefore represent a complete accretionary wedge which records first subduction of the neotethys ocean beneath the calabrian europe continental margin and later continental collision with the african block

stratigraphic and structural relationships between meso cenozoic lagonegro basin and coeval carbonate platforms in southern apennines italy abstract stratigraphic studies and facies analysis integrated with a new geological and structural survey of the meso cenozoic units outcropping in the campania lucania apennines southern italy allowed us to restore the palaeogeographic pattern and the tectonic evolution of the chain during oligo miocene times the southern apennines are a n150 striking and ne verging fold and thrust belt mainly derived from the deformation of the african apulian passive margin four wide belts with different features have been recognized in the chain area from east to west the following units outcrop a successions characterized by basinal to marginal facies ranging in age from cretaceous to miocene tectonically lying on plio pleistocene foredeep deposits b successions characterized by shallow water basinal and shelf margin facies ranging in age from middle triassic to miocene lagonegro units overthrust on the previous ones c triassic to miocene carbonate platform successions apenninic platform units overthrust on the lagonegro units d jurassic cretaceous to miocene deep water successions ophiolite bearing or internal units and associated siliciclastic wedges outcropping along the tyrrhenian belt and the calabria lucania boundary overthrust on the apenninic platform units all these units tectonically lie on the buried apulian platform which is covered at least in the eastern sector of the chain by pliocene to pleistocene foredeep deposits stratigraphic patterns of the cretaceous to lower miocene lagonegro successions are coherent with the platform margin ones calcareous clastics of the lagonegro basin are in fact supplied by an adjacent western platform as inferred by several sedimentological evidences slump and palaeocurrent directions and decreasing grain size towards the depocentre of the basin tectonic relationships among the different units of the chain with particular emphasis on the lagonegro and apenninic platform units of the lucanian segment are shown by means of both regional and detailed geological cross sections the lagonegro units constantly underlie the carbonate units originating from detachment and thrusting of the western platform and overlie the eastern i e apulian platform the lagonegro units show a strong lateral variability of map scale structures dome and basin folds are in fact largely observable in the lucanian apennine further the belt is widely affected by plio quaternary strike slip and extensional faults yet excluding the brittle deformation due to quaternary faulting the complexity of structural styles seems to result from the neogene refolding of more ancient structures produced by oligo miocene intraplate deformation this hypothesis is supported by two independent lines of evidence the first is the recognition of unconformities between the lower miocene numidian sandstone and the underlying lagonegro successions at least in the southwestern sectors the second is that the internal i e western platform remains undeformed until the early miocene both stratigraphic and structural data suggest an external position of the meso cenozoic lagonegro basin with regard to the coeval apenninic platform

the cenozoic fold and thrust belt of eastern sardinia evidences from the integration of field data with numerically balanced geological cross section newly collected structural data in eastern sardinia italy integrated with numerical techniques led to the reconstruction of a 2 d admissible and balanced model revealing the presence of a widespread cenozoic fold and thrust belt the model was achieved with the forc software obtaining a 3 d 2 d time numerical reconstruction of the continuous evolution of the structure through time the mesozoic carbonate units of eastern sardinia and their basement present a fold and thrust tectonic setting with a westward direction of tectonic transport referred to the present day coordinates the tectonic style of the upper levels is thin skinned with flat sectors prevailing over ramps and younger on older thrusts three regional tectonic units are present bounded by two regional thrusts strike slip faults overprint the fold and thrust belt and developed during the sardinia corsica block rotation along the strike of the preexisting fault ramps not affecting the numerical section balancing this fold and thrust belt represents the southward prosecution of the alpine corsica collisional chain and the missing link between the alpine chain and the calabria peloritani block relative ages relate its evolution to the meso alpine event eocene oligocene times prior to the opening of the tyrrhenian sea tortonian results fill a gap of information about the geodynamic evolution of the european margin in central mediterranean between corsica and the calabria peloritani block and imply the presence of remnants of this double verging belt missing in the southern tyrrhenian basin within the southern apennine chain the used methodology proved effective for constraining balanced cross sections also for areas lacking exposures of the large scale structures as the case of eastern sardinia