comparing geological and persistent scatterer interferometry data of the sele river coastal plain southern italy implications for recent subsidence trends abstract many coastlines around the world are subsiding often due to tectonic causes in tectonically active areas the exploitation of natural resources has caused acceleration of subsidence rates in these cases it is difficult to separate the many different components of the subsidence process we try to fill this gap using both remote sensing data and geological evidence in an area located in southern italy sele river plain and characterized by the presence of both human activities and natural processes the coastal sector of the sele plain shows a complex subsidence pattern as testified by persistent scatterer interferometry ps insar data related to a period of about two decades 1992 2010 that we put in correlation with stratigraphical data from both outcrops and boreholes ca 250 the quaternary infill of the coastal sectors of the plain is not laterally isotropic and homogeneous because of the presence of layers of clastic sediments with different degrees of compaction dunal and beach sands back ridge lagoonal and palustrine silty clays palaeosols and thick peaty layers are the main facies of this sedimentary prism the back ridge depressions hosted palustrine and marshy environments and were artificially drained in the last centuries the main output of the ps insar analysis is a map of vertical ground deformation vgd which has been a useful tool to understand the causes of the subsidence process if combined with geological data from field and boreholes in fact the overlay of the sar interferometry vgd map with the geomorphological and stratigraphical features shows that the subsidence is higher in the northern sector of the plain where the quaternary alluvial coastal deposits are thicker because of the structural asymmetry of the graben the maximum subsidence rate however can be observed in the central part of the plain in correspondence of the sele tusciano and picentino river mouths and in the coastal belt this could be related to the thickness of loose sediments 20 m and to the presence of still compacting clay rich sediments in the southernmost sector the rates are the lowest recorded in the plain due to the minor thickness of holocene deposits and to the presence of very thick sedimentary bodies of travertine the understanding of subsidence patterns may represent a basic tool for future studies about the assessment of the coastal inundation hazard and related risk mitigation in the sele river plain such a tool may reinforce the methodological approach to risk assessment in similar morphological settings

the mechanics of the campi flegrei resurgent caldera a model abstract a model of caldera resurgence has been applied to the campi flegrei southern italy to interpret a the processes observed during the recent bradyseismic crises of 1970 1972 and 1982 1984 b ground movements recorded for the past 2000 years and c the volcanic history of the area the two dimensional mechanical model involves an area larger than the caldera itself the crust is considered as a viscous plate overlying a viscous half space geometric dimensions and mechanical parameters are the assumed variables and have been assigned a range of values of 50 100 km for length 5 15 km for thickness and 10 21 to 10 22 pa s for viscosity the process controlling volcanic activity in the neapolitan area is attributed to a tensile stress field causing the opening of the tyrrhenian basin and the rising of the mantle to depths of about 15 25 km beneath campi flegrei while regional tumescence can be related to magmatic upwelling detumescence can be linked to the major eruptions in the area the green tuff of epomeo ischia 55 000 yr b p the campanian ignimbrite 30 35 000 yr b p and the neapolitan yellow tuff 12 000 yr b p together involving more than 100 km 3 dre we propose that regional detumescence is likely to have triggered caldera resurgence indeed the model suggests that detumescence may have generated an axial tectonic stress of about 1000 bar 100 mpa a value which is of the correct order of magnitude for initiating caldera resurgence in the campi flegrei furthermore we show that such a stress decreases the vertical pressure needed for uplift to occur

retrodiction of secular variations in deep sea caco 3 burial during the cenozoic abstract deep sea sediments record changes in oceanic carbonate chemistry and caco 3 sedimentation rate through temporal variations in the total burial of caco 3 and the position of the carbonate snowline i e the ocean depth at which caco 3 free sediments are first recorded this paper links mathematically secular changes in snowline to those in the burial rate through a set of relatively simple equations when the available cenozoic deep sea burial records are employed to predict secular variations in snowline the process fails at some time in the past indicating that these records are not consistent with each other the burial records are more likely the source of this problem as they involve far more uncertainties than the snowline records as a consequence we introduce a method for estimating carbonate burial through the use of a canonical caco 3 depth profile which can respond dynamically to secular changes in carbonate sedimentation and the positions of both the snowline and the carbonate saturation horizon the resulting synthetic caco 3 burial record is consistent with snowline records and indicates that the burial rates offered by davies and worsley 1981 are generally too high with highly questionable maxima at 25 and 47 ma bp our estimates of burial are more consistent with the range advanced by mackenzie and morse 1992 nevertheless our results differ from the latter with respect to timing and magnitude of the variations our approach allows simultaneous calculation of the mean carbonate ion concentration of the deep sea we find that carbonate ion levels fell through the cenozoic and are similar to those calculated by tyrrell and zeebe 2004 using a different model secular variations in caco 3 burial are found to be primarily driven by changes in the ca 2 co 3 2 ion product within the bottom waters with an increase in the sedimentation rate of caco 3 of secondary importance over the cenozoic

crustal thinning in the northern tyrrhenian rift insights from multichannel and wide angle seismic data across the basin extension of the continental lithosphere leads to the formation of rift basins or rifted continental margins if breakup occurs seismic investigations have repeatedly shown that conjugate margins have asymmetric tectonic structures and different amount of extension and crustal thinning here we compare two coincident wide angle and multichannel seismic profiles across the northern tyrrhenian rift system sampling crust that underwent different stages of extension from north to south and from the flanks to the basin center tomographic inversion reveals that the crust has thinned homogeneously from 24 km to 17 km between the corsica margin and the latium margin implying a factor of 1 3 1 5 on the transect 80 km to the south the crust thinned from 24 km beneath sardinia to a maximum of 11 km in the eastern region near the campania margin factor of 2 2 the increased crustal thinning is accompanied by a zone of reduced velocities in the upper crust that expands progressively toward the southeast we interpret that the velocity reduction is related to rock fracturing caused by a higher degree of brittle faulting as observed on multichannel seismic images locally basalt flows are imaged intruding sediment in this zone and heat flow values locally exceed 100 mw m2 velocities within the entire crust range 4 0 6 7 km s which are typical for continental rocks and indicate that significant rift related magmatic underplating may not be present the characteristics of the pre tectonic syn tectonic and post tectonic sedimentary units allow us to infer the spatial and temporal evolution of active rifting in the western part of the southern transect thick postrift sediments were deposited in half grabens that are bounded by large fault blocks fault spacing and block size diminish to the east as crustal thinning increases recent tectonic activity is expressed by faults cutting the seafloor in the east near the mainland of italy the two transects show the evolution from the less extended rift in the north with a fairly symmetric conjugate structure to the asymmetric margins farther south this structural evolution is consistent with w e rift propagation and southward increasing extension rates

the role of continental margins in the final stages of arc formation constraints from teleseismic tomography of the gibraltar and calabrian arc western mediterranean abstract the deep seismicity and lateral distribution of seismic velocity in the central western mediterranean point to the existence under the alboran and tyrrhenian seas of two lithospheric slabs reaching the mantle transition zone gibraltar and calabrian narrow arcs correspond to the slabs similarities in the tectonic and mantle structure of the two areas have been explained by a common subduction and roll back mechanism in which the two arcs are symmetrical end members we present a new 3 d tomographic model at mantle scale for the calabrian arc and compare it with a recently published model for the gibraltar arc by monna et al 2013a the two models calculated with inversion of teleseismic phase arrivals have a scale and parametrization that allow for a direct comparison the inclusion in both inversions of ocean bottom seismometer broadband data improves the resolution of the areas underlying the seafloor networks this additional information is used to resolve the deep structure and constrain the reconstruction of the central western mediterranean geodynamic evolution the gibraltar tomography model suggests that the slab is separated from the atlantic oceanic domain by a portion of african continental margin whereas the calabrian model displays a continuous oceanic slab that is connected via a narrow passage 350 km to the ionian basin oceanic domain starting from the comparison of the two models we propose the following interpretation within the mediterranean geodynamic regime dominated by slab rollback the geometry of the african continental margin located on the lower plate represents a critical control on the evolution of subduction as buoyant continental lithosphere entered the subduction zones slab pull caused tears in the subducted lithosphere this tectonic response which occurred in the final stages of arc evolution and was strongly controlled by the paleogeography of the subducted plates explains the observed differences between the gibraltar and calabrian arcs

fold uplift and synkinematic stratal architectures in a region of active transtensional tectonics and volcanism eastern tyrrhenian sea the detailed stratigraphic analysis of synkinematic stratal architectures permits the calculation of fold uplift rates and the reconstruction of fold kinematics this approach was applied to active folds in the bay of pozzuoli eastern tyrrhenian sea this area features late quaternary volcanism shallow magmatic intrusions and transtensional tectonics seismostratigraphic analysis of synkinematic strata is constrained by a physical correlation to an already established stratigraphic succession in the neighboring campi flegrei and by tephra layers in a gravity core located in pozzuoli bay a stratigraphic resolution in thousands of years was established structural and stratigraphic analyses yield quantitative data on the timing of fold inception kinematics and the amount and rates of uplift the folds extend over 2 km and display a curved axial pattern and wedge shaped packages of synkinematic strata the rate of fold uplift ranges from 1 to 20 mm yr the structures feature limb rotation kinematics and decreasing uplift rates the uplift rates and geometry of the pozzuoli bay folds suggest that they are of tectonic origin and are a product of detachment folding their limited longitudinal extent and arcuate axial trends are compatible with an east trending left transtensional shear zone that was active along the eastern tyrrhenian sea during the late quaternary a relative sea level curve was calculated for an anticline culminating in the city of pozzuoli this relative sea level curve highlights the relationship between the deformation timing and the genesis of related abrupt changes in sedimentary facies and erosional surfaces

collapse and flow of lowstand shelf margin deposits an example from the eastern tyrrhenian sea italy abstract the upper slope of the eastern tyrrhenian sea margin has a complex morphology shaped by quaternary tectonism and by sedimentation phases controlled by changing sea levels sediment slides of widely varying size and shape are common in quaternary deposits of the upper slope particularly where gradients are steep our study of a large sediment failure in lowstand prograded coastal deposits west of cape licosa indicates that the nature of shelf margin deposition is an additional important control on failure the failure zone has a mobilization surface showing in situ deformation in the sediment above it an upper failure surface a head scarp and a zone of ponded sediment debris downslope from the exposed surface of failure the basal mobilization surface is roughly parallel to the seafloor and coincident with a major downlap surface the failed section is less that 20 m thick and local in extent but deformation on the basal mobilization surface extends outside the immediate area of the failure directly downslope of the slide scarp are internally stratified mounds that show no evidence of deformation or movement most of the prograded deposit experienced in situ deformation that evolved into the collapse of part of the sediment pile above the mobilization surface a portion of the mobilized sediment flowed a few kilometers basinward and accumulated at the base of a slope parallel ridge sediment failure occurred on the licosa shelf margin following a major pulse of coastal sedimentation along the lowstand shoreline on many continental margins sea level lowering is thought to be an important cause of failure unconsolidated sediment deposited during previous high stand conditions the licosa slide demonstrates that sea level fall has another equally important but indirect role in sediment failure as sea level falls and reaches its lowstand position streams are at their peak efficiency and a coarsening upward clastic coastal wedge is rapidly emplaced at relatively steep gradients on the shelf margin and these are conditions that inherently favor sediment instability and failure

role of the tectonic facies concept in orogenic analysis and its application to tethys in the eastern mediterranean region abstract the purpose of this paper is to advocate the use of a tectonic facies concept which aids systematic and objective analysis of orogenic belts the tectonic facies concept as discussed here focuses on the recognition of discrete tectonic settings mainly those exposed at high crustal levels in orogenic belts application of the tectonic facies concept can help field geologists to relate plate scale processes to outcrop geology tectonic facies are recognised based on knowledge of the modern oceans and margins and well constrained land settings tectonic facies analogous to sedimentary facies can be identified from integrated sets of field data and related laboratory studies a number of tectonic facies models can be recognised in this way their identification aids interpretation and comparisons of orogenic belts palinspastic reconstructions require additional information particularly age kinematic and palaeomagnetic data in this paper the tectonic facies concept is tested by application to a well documented mainly high level orogenic segment tethys in the eastern mediterranean area and is found to be an effective way both of the describing and interpreting this region other methods of tectonic analysis e g recognition of tectono stratigraphic terranes may also be found useful in certain settings and can be used in conjunction with the tectonic facies concept

the kerguelen isles southern indian ocean new results on deep structure from refraction profiles abstract additional seismic refraction profiles shot across the kerguelen archipelago terres australes et antarctiques francaises known as taaf located in the southern indian ocean substantiate the oceanic type crust of the archipelago and the kerguelen plateau as well the crust mantle boundary is better modelled by a transition than by a discrete interface seismic velocities of 6 60 6 80 km s are in the range of those within oceanic layer 3 velocities of 7 2 7 5 km s observed at long ranges may be interpreted according to at least two distinct hypotheses 1 1 notwithstanding their rather low values they represent upper mantle material and might be assigned to peridotites serpentinised by hydrothermal circulations as reported for various oceanic and continental features 2 2 these velocities are assigned to the lower crust intruded by melt produced by adiabatic decompression of upper mantle material during rifting underplating a small increase in mantle temperature caused by the presence of heat sources i e the southeast indian ridge and the kerguelen mantle plume nearby may have produced huge quantities of melt facilited by the slow movement of the antarctic plate then building up the aseismic kerguelen plateau

sedimentation in the northern apennines corsica tectonic knot northern tyrrhenian sea central mediterranean offshore drilling data from the elba pianosa ridge the northern tyrrhenian sea is located on the collisional zone between the alpine corsica and the northern apennines and is a key area for gaining a better understanding of the complex relationships between these two systems the knowledge of the wide offshore part of this zone located between corsica france and mainland italy is based primarily on the analysis of several seismic profiles tied to the outcropping geology and unpublished preliminary reports of few offshore wells the here presented study of two offshore wells provides a revision of the sedimentology biostratigraphy and petrography of the thick mainly siliciclastic tertiary successions about 3 600 m composing the elba pianosa ridge epr a structural morphological high separating the tuscan shelf to the east from the corsica basin to the west a comparison with similar deposits cropping out in the surrounding onshore areas northern apennines corsica tuscan archipelago piedmont tertiary basin provides additional constraints for refinement of the complex geodynamic and regional setting in which the epr evolved

impacts of tropical north atlantic sst on western north pacific landfalling tropical cyclones abstractthis study examines the impacts of tropical north atlantic tna sea surface temperature anomaly ssta on western north pacific wnp landfalling tropical cyclones tcs the authors find that tna ssta has significant negative correlations with the frequency of tcs making landfall in china vietnam the korean peninsula and japan and the entirety of east asia tna ssta influences the frequency of tc landfalls in these regions by regulating tc genesis location and frequency associated with modulated environmental conditions during cold tna sst years larger low level relative vorticity and weaker vertical wind shear lead to more tc formations over the south china sea scs and western philippine sea wps and larger low level relative vorticity higher midlevel relative humidity and weaker vertical wind shear result in more tc formations over the eastern part of wnp ewnp more tcs forming over different regions are important for more tc landfalls in vietnam mainly forming over the scs and w

on late oligocene to pliocene depocentre migrations and the evolution of the carpathian pannonian system abstract the late oligocene to pliocene evolution of foredeep basins of the eastern alps carpathians fold and thrust belt is marked by pronounced internal to external and lateral depocentre shifts the latter shifts covering a present along arc distance of 1700 km portray accelerating rates of foredeep depocentre migration particularly so in the late early and in the middle miocene from about 7 to about 45 cm yr lateral depocentre migration came to a close at the beginning of the late miocene the subsequent late miocene to pliocene foredeep infill history was characterized by exponentially increasing accumulation rates in the intersection area of the east european ukrainian and moesian platforms successive steps in the evolution of the foredeep basins had pronounced counterparts in the intra carpathian area the beginning of acceleration of foredeep depocentre migration in latest early miocene times was coeval with the inception of intra carpathian extensional tectonics the extremely rapid middle miocene depocentre shift coupled with a change in direction of foredeep depocentre migration corresponded with maximum extension in the intra carpathian area the ensuing end of foredeep depocentre migration around the middle late miocene transition was coeval with the end of extension of the intra carpathian area which in turn was followed by the inception of overall thermal subsidence at about 11 5 ma the timing of and spatial relationships between discrete coeval events in arc and intra arc evolution put unambiguous geological constraints on geodynamic modelling of the evolution of the carpathian pannonian system it is speculated that the geological observations may best be understood in terms of the surficial effects of lateral migration of slab detachment such effects would mirror the dominant role of a concentrating slab pull taken to result in e g a time progressive acceleration of foredeep depocentre migration

3 d architecture and plio quaternary evolution of the paola basin insights into the forearc of the tyrrhenian ionian subduction system

potential field modeling of collapse prone submarine volcanoes in the southern tyrrhenian sea italy 1 hydrothermal alteration may weaken volcanic rocks causing the gravitational instability of portions of active volcanoes with potentially hazardous collapses here we show high resolution multibeam magnetic and gravity surveys of the marsili seamount the largest active volcano of europe located in the southern tyrrhenian back arc basin these surveys reveal zones with exceptionally low densities and with vanishing magnetizations due probably to the comminution of basalts during hyaloclastic submarine eruptions and to their post eruptive hydrothermal alteration the location of these regions correlates with morphological data showing the occurrence of past collapses similar evidence has been obtained from pre existing data at vavilov seamount another older volcanic system in the tyrrhenian back arc basin here a large volume of at least 50 km3 may have collapsed in a single event from its 40 km long western flank given the similarities between these volcanoes a large collapse event may also be expected at marsili

anatomy of late orogenic extension the northern apennines case abstract late orogenic extensional structures overprint the compressional structures of the northern apennines fold and thrust belt the tyrrhenian sea is the result of major continental extension and rifting which started in the thickened zone of the apulian corso sardinian collision it is believed to have commenced as early as in the late oligocene or early miocene in the corsica basin extension post dates the collision by approximately 20 ma the extensional stress field observed in the internal part of the northern apennines co exists with compression in the foreland part of the belt field borehole and refraction and reflection data were used to investigate the geometry of extension and how it affected the compressional abric in the northern apennines analysis of the collected data has revealed a complex geometry for the extension across the belt a geological cross section from the island of elba to the west of the italian peninsula to ancona in the east as well as a geodynamic model for the evolution of the northern apennines is presented and discussed from the early miocene stretching of the collision thickened crust created a n s rift which evolved into the present northern tyrrhenian sea typically two sets of extensional faults a low angle e dipping and a w dipping one are observed across the chain usually the w dipping faults have similar attitudes to those of the older reverse faults reactivating some of the thrusts as normal faults the e dipping normal faults however cut down section through the pre existing thrusts and in the internal part of the belt accommodate most of the displacement associated with extension a change in fault polarity occurs in the tuscan region and major faults dip towards the west a type subduction of the apulian crust under the corso sardinian block occurred after collision leading to the delamination of the apulian lithospheric mantle away from the crust collision induced delamination of the mantle lithosphere away from the zone of collision resulted in mechanical thinning of the lithosphere beneath the orogenic belt this process induced late orogenic crustal stretching in the internal zone of the northern apennines as the convergence between the apulian and corso sardinian blocks continued the extensional and compressional fronts accompanied by the delamination migrated from the hinterland towards the foreland of the orogen

four dimensional tectono stratigraphic evolution of the southeastern peri tyrrhenian basins margin of calabria italy abstract we use seismic reflection profiles of diverse resolutions integrated with high resolution bathymetry and calibrated by deep wells piston cores and field data to derive a structural and stratigraphic interpretation of the southeastern peri tyrrhenian basins the study area is located in the southeastern tyrrhenian sea offshore calabria we document a tectono stratigraphic evolution of the sedimentary basins from the serravallian to the present the basins formation started during the serravallian and the area was successively affected by e w normal faulting and approximately n s transfer faults in the messinian lower pleistocene time range during the lower pleistocene the tectonic depressions completely filled with sediments were affected by folding associated with transcurrent tectonics along a nw trending left lateral fault finally during the middle pleistocene a change in the slip direction produced minor pull apart basins that overprinted the folds the basin analysis revealed the stratigraphic signature of the tectonic events and the uplifting and subsiding areas and the direction from which sediments arrive into the tectonic depression the four dimensional geologic reconstruction of the margin of calabria furnished new constrains for the kinematic evolution of the southeastern peri tyrrhenian basins we suggest that the superposition of different structural styles reflects a variation of the relative velocity between the southern apennine arc and the calabria arc during the formation of the apennine thrust belt

probabilistic clustering of extratropical cyclones using regression mixture models a probabilistic clustering technique is developed for classification of wintertime extratropical cyclone etc tracks over the north atlantic we use a regression mixture model to describe the longitude time and latitude time propagation of the etcs a simple tracking algorithm is applied to 6 hourly mean sea level pressure fields to obtain the tracks from either a general circulation model gcm or a reanalysis data set quadratic curves are found to provide the best description of the data we select a three cluster classification for both data sets based on a mix of objective and subjective criteria the track orientations in each of the clusters are broadly similar for the gcm and reanalyzed data they are characterized by predominantly south to north s n west to east w e and southwest to northeast sw ne tracking cyclones respectively the reanalysis cyclone tracks however are found to be much more tightly clustered geographically than those of the gcm for the reanalysis data a link is found between the occurrence of cyclones belonging to different clusters of trajectory shape and the phase of the north atlantic oscillation nao the positive phase of the nao is associated with the sw ne oriented cluster whose tracks are relatively straight and smooth with cyclones that are typically faster more intense and of longer duration the negative nao phase is associated with more erratic w e tracks with typically weaker and slower moving cyclones the s n cluster is accompanied by a more transient geopotential trough over the western north atlantic no clear associations are found in the case of the gcm composites the gcm is able to capture cyclone tracks of quite realistic orientation as well as subtle associated features of cyclone intensity speed and lifetimes the clustering clearly highlights though the presence of serious systematic errors in the gcm s simulation of etc behavior

geomorphic constraints on uplift history in the aspromonte massif southern italy abstract the landscape morphology of the aspromonte massif southern italy shows hanging low relief surfaces that correlate with uplifted landsurfaces which are preserved all around the massif the drainage network has deeply incised the high standing low relief landscapes seen here as being the remnants of phases of relief smoothing prior to strong uplift that has affected the area since the middle pleistocene gis aided estimation of the rock volumes eroded since the late early pleistocene indicate high variability in denudation rates between the gently rolling landscapes and the river valleys in this framework longitudinal river profiles are examined for 42 river channels to constrain multiple non equilibrium conditions and to reconstruct the long term uplift history of the massif most profiles consist of three four segments separated by knickpoints and suggest a complex incision pattern longitudinal profiles reveal two upper low gradient channel segments a zone of steep channels further down the low relief landsurface margin and a very steep lower channel segment particularly in the western quadrant upper channel segments correspond to the relict landscape rlandscape a high standing landsurface on top of the massif and the hanging landscape hlandscape a landsurface surrounding the rlandscape respectively steeper middle and lower segments are the result of two phase river incision that is linked to changes in regional uplift rates and subordinately to rock strength properties indeed analysis of river longitudinal profiles could indicate initially relatively slow aspromonte uplift during the early pleistocene and then pulses of rapid uplift during the middle late pleistocene multi segment river longitudinal profiles are therefore evidence of the transient landscapes of aspromonte in response to pulsed massif uplift

stratal architecture of western mediterranean margins as the result of the stacking of quaternary lowstand deposits below glacio eustatic fluctuation base level abstract through a comparison of high resolution seismic stratigraphy of seven western mediterranean margins similarities and differences in stratigraphic architecture were highlighted and a hierarchy of controlling factors was established the areas are northwestern alboran ebro and northern catalonia in the spanish margin rho ne in the french margin and tuscany latium and calabria in the italian tyrrhenian margin despite their different tectonic physiographic and depositional setting the seismic facies and growth pattern of the middle late pleistocene deposits are comparable the margins are in fact the result of the stacking of lowstand systems tracts of 4th order depositional sequences bounded by polygenetic unconforniities on the shelf and condensed sections on the upper slope this lowstand nature results from the high frequency 100 ka high amplitude 100 m asymmetry falling 65 of the time and stationariness between 10 and 120 m with respect to the present of the glacio eustatic sea level curve if eustasy directly controls the types of deposits making up the margins tectonism conditions their growth pattern as it is the only factor accounting for similarities and differences in the external geometry stratal pattern and distribution of the middle late pleistocene depositional sequences an evolutionary model for the quaternary growth of young passive continental margins is proposed in this model tectonics determines the degree of preservation of lowstand deposits because it conditions the accommodation space left below the erosional profile produced by each glacio eustatic cycle thus some of the sequence stratigraphy principles widely used to set up the model have been modified and adjusted to take into consideration the peculiar nature of quaternary glacio eustasy

extensional tectonics in the amantea basin calabria italy a comparison between structural and magnetic anisotropy data abstract we report on structural and anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility ams results from the upper miocene sediments of the amantea basin located on the tyrrhenian coast of the calabrian arc southern italy the stratigraphic succession of the basin is organized in three depositional sequences separated by two major angular unconformities detailed geological mapping and structural analysis demonstrate that the stratigraphic evolution of the amantea basin is strongly controlled by a synsedimentary extensional tectonic regime several nne ssw trending normal fault arrays with large scatter in inclination values have been interpreted as due to a domino faulting mechanism consistent with a wnw ese stretching direction ams data have been obtained for 13 sites both in the not constrained in age first depositional sequence 3 sites and in the upper tortonian lower messinian clays from the second depositional sequence 10 sites all the sites show a strong magnetic foliation parallel to the bedding planes and a well defined magnetic lineation subparallel to the local bedding dip directions the magnetic lineations cluster around a wnw ese trend and are parallel to the stretching directions inferred by fault slip analysis and basin architecture these new data then confirm the possibility to use the magnetic lineation to map the strain trajectory in weakly deformed extensional sedimentary basins paleomagnetic data from previous studies show that the whole calabrian block underwent a 15 20 clockwise rotation probably in the pleistocene postdating the extensional tectonic events which controlled the amantea basin geometry therefore we suggest for the amantea basin an original e w oriented stretching direction which may be considered as the older extensional direction characterizing the late miocene evolution of the southern tyrrhenian sea domain

the opening processes in the deep tyrrhenian basins of marsili and vavilov as deduced from magnetic and chronological evidence of their igneous crust abstract shapes and chronology of magnetic anomalies of the mafic crust flooring the marsili and vavilov abyssal plains in the central tyrrhenian sea are discussed in the marsili deep basin the possible 3 phase evolution of a magmatic tectonic process of spreading is considered the early magmatic phase apparently took place at the time of the olduvai magnetic event 1 87 to 1 67 ma b p site 650 of the ocean drilling project leg 107 it appears to consist of spreading manifestations of a low magnetic intensity and a round shape forming the igneous basement around the marsili volcano the late phase was characterized by a spreading process exhibiting a linear configuration and high intensity of the magnetic anomalies organized spreading this phase of the brunhes epoch has given rise to the great marsili volcano emplaced in the basin s central part the intermediate phase shows reversed magnetic polarity and slightly elongated shapes it appears to have developed in late matuyama times from 1 67 to 0 73 ma ago the intensities of the magnetic anomalies in the basin of vavilov are on the whole lower than those present in the magnetic field of the marsili also in the vavilov deep basin the magnetic anomalies associated with the early volcanic manifestations which are of late miocene age about 7 5 ma are characterized by low intensity and a round shape whereas those associated with the effusions on the vavilov volcano whose age ranges from late pliocene to late quaternary from 2 4 to less than 0 12 ma exhibit a high intensity and a linear shape the two bathyal plains have inter arc structural settings from west to east the vavilov bathyal plain is bordered by the orogenic volcanic belt of the island of sardinia and maybe a central tyrrhenian arc the latter and the arc of the eolie which is active in the present time border the marsili plain the ages of the early spreading processes in the bathyal plains respectively from about 10 to 6 ma and from 1 9 to 1 3 ma appear to represent distinctive temporal markers in fact they may be coincident with the periods of quiescence of the volcanic activity that affected the adjoining arcs

the western tyrrhenian sea revisited new evidence for a rifted basin during the messinian salinity crisis abstract in the last fifty years the messinian salinity crisis msc has been widely investigated in the mediterranean sea but a major basin remains fewly explored in terms of msc thematic the western tyrrhenian basin the rifting of this back arc basin is considered to occur between the middle miocene and the early pliocene thus including the msc giving a unique opportunity to study the crisis in a context of active geodynamics however the msc seismic markers in the western part of the tyrrhenian sea have only been investigated in the early eighties and the msc event in the western tyrrhenian basin remains poorly studied and unclear in this study we revisit the msc in the western tyrrhenian basin i e along the eastern sardinian margin we present results from the interpretation of a 2400 km long hr seismic reflection dataset acquired along the margin during the metyss research cruises in 2009 and 2011 the maps of the msc seismic markers reveal that the eastern sardinian margin was already dissected in structurals highs and lows during the msc we also demonstrate that the msc markers constitute powerfull time markers to refine the age of the rifting which ended earlier than expected in the east sardinian basin and the cornaglia terrace these results allow us to discuss the palaeo water depth of the western tyrrhenian basin during the msc as well as implications for possibles scenarios of the messinian salinity crisis across the eastern sardinian margin

the southern tyrrhenian subduction zone deep geometry magmatism and plio pleistocene evolution abstract we report on a high resolution vp vp vs and qp model of the southern tyrrhenian subduction zone obtained by the inversion of p and s wave arrival times and t values from intraslab seismicity the arcuate shape of the southern apennines calabrian arc sicilian maghrebides is perfectly mirrored by two rather continuous low and high vp bands lying beneath the belt system at ca 25 and 100 km respectively between 100 and 300 km two independent high vp slabs lie beneath the neapolitan region and the southern tyrrhenian sea separated by unperturbed mantle we suggest that the ca 150 km wide slab window beneath the southern apennines opened after a tear occurring within a composite subduction system formed by the apulian continental lithosphere and the ionian oceanic slab the abrupt slab rupture induced ultrafast southeastward retreat of the ionian slab and the 19 cm yr spreading of the back arc oceanic marsili basin between ca 2 1 and 1 6 ma ago the 25 km low vp zone beneath the arc denotes continental upper crustal rocks below the chain its striking continuity requires a unique orogenic wedge at 25 km depth below the southern apennines the calabrian arc and the sicilian maghrebides the alternative explanation would imply the ubiquitous occurrence of autochthonous lower plate rocks at 25 km depth i e a puzzling autochthonous continental calabria the ionian slab beneath calabria shows high vp high qp and low vp vs anomalies typical of old oceanic lithosphere intermediate depth seismicity is concentrated within its thin oceanic crust suggesting the occurrence of vigorous metamorphism the slab dehydration promotes the melting of the overlying mantle as testified by high vp vs and low qp anomalies between the slab and the aeolian magmatic arc

a proposal for the kinematic modelling of w dipping subductions possible applications to the tyrrhenian apennines system in w dipping subduction zones there is a general eastward progression of the back arc basin accretionary wedge foredeep complex with the forward progression early stages of the complex are revealed by slices of upper crust and sedimentary cover abandoned to the west left floating above a new section of mantle a major shear zone should form at the new moho separating upper crust slices of earlier accretionary stages and the eastward flowing mantle the mantle wedging at the top of the subduction plane could be responsible for the uplift of the central parts of the belt the retreating of the subduction hinge is interpreted as due to the push generated by the eastward mantle flow detected in the hot spot reference frame the foredeep depth is mainly a function of the radius of curvature of the subduction hinge the frontal wedge is constructed from the stacking of the upper layers of the subducting plate and the syntectonic clastics that fill the foredeep which are progressively involved in thrusting and later by extension in order to preserve volume balance the lithosphere of the eastern plate before subduction has to be the same size as that which has been subducted due to the longer length of the arc with respect to the original length of the linear margin between the two converging plates laterally stretched subducted lithosphere is predicted at depth w dipping subductions usually have a short life probably due to their inherent capability to produce new lateral heterogeneities of the lithosphere the thin back arc which are a key factor in controlling and generating new subductions both e and w dipping this model is applied to the apennines tyrrhenian sea system

lower plate geometry controlling the development of a thrust top basin the tectonosedimentary evolution of the ofanto basin southern apennines the ofanto basin is a pliocene pleistocene thrust top basin that formed with an unusual east west orientation along the frontal part of the southern apennine allochthon during the latest stages of tectonic transport its tectonic and sedimentary evolution was studied integrating field surveys biostratigraphic analyses and the interpretation of a large seismic grid well data and seismic interpretation indicate that a large east west trending normal fault underlies the northern margin of the basin displacing the apulian carbonates that form the foreland and the footwall of the southern apennine allochthon in our reconstruction the ofanto basin formed at the rear of the bulge caused by buttressing of the southern apennine allochthon against this normal fault in a second stage of contraction the footwall of the southern apennine allochthon was involved in deformation with a different trend from the normal faulting and buttressing this caused eastward tilting of the basin and broad folding around its eastern termination good stratigraphic constraints permit the age of buttressing to be defined as early pliocene and that of the shortening in the apulian carbonates as early pleistocene this study highlights the importance of early orogenic normal faults in conditioning the evolution of the frontal parts of orogenic wedges supplementary material a 3d reconstruction of the base of the pliocene deposits of the ofanto basin based on seismic interpretation is available at www geolsoc org uk sup18559

attribution of projected future changes in tropical cyclone passage frequency over the western north pacific abstractthis paper performs an attribution analysis of future changes in the frequency of tropical cyclone tc passages over the western north pacific basin projected by seven general circulation models the models project increases in the passage frequency over the tropical central north pacific and decreases in regions to the west and northwest including east asian countries the attribution analysis reveals that while changes of the basinwide tc count would decrease the frequency of passages throughout the basin the gross horizontal contrast in the passage frequency changes is caused by a projected eastward shift of main tc development regions probably caused by el nino like sea surface temperature changes the change in the frequency of passages is also caused by changes of tc translation vectors and preferable tracks in particular the translation vector would rotate clockwise to point in a more easterly direction over oceanic regions south of japan decreasing the passage frequency over the kor

cyclostratigraphy and high frequency carbon isotope fluctuations in upper cretaceous shallow water carbonates southern italy a detailed carbon isotope study has been carried out on a santonian upper cretaceous carbonate platform succession that crops out at monte sant erasmo southern italy previous centimetre scale studies on this succession have shown that high frequency eustatic changes resulting from the earth s orbital fluctuations controlled the hierarchical organization of the depositional and early diagenetic features in elementary cycles bundles groups of three to five elementary cycles and superbundles groups of three or four bundles the elementary cycles which correspond to single beds suggest a control caused by earth s precession the bundles and superbundles record the short 100 kyr and long 400 kyr eccentricity periodicity respectively the 1 3 c signal of the monte sant erasmo succession is cyclic in nature and may be considered to be a reliable proxy for the sedimentary evolution and related sea level history of the analysed sequence the carbon isotope cyclicity is recorded at bundle and superbundle level but it is not evident at the scale of the elementary cycles at least with the sampling interval used in this study spectral analysis of the 1 3 c record shows two main peaks corresponding to the short and long eccentricity periodicity whereas the precession signal is not evident in the power spectrum in addition lithofacies analysis shows that in each bundle and superbundle higher c isotope values occur in sediments characterized by marine cements whereas lower values are normally found in more restricted deposits overprinted by early meteoric diagenesis early diagenesis driven by periodic sea level fluctuations developed in either shallow subtidal marine diagenesis or subaerial exposed meteoric overprint sedimentary environments and directly influenced the carbon isotope signature as a consequence the 1 3 c record at monte sant erasmo reflects high frequency climatic oscillations controlling both environmental and early diagenetic changes the long term isotopic record is similar to that of contemporaneous pelagic sections in england and elsewhere in italy it is concluded that the 1 3 c signature of shallow water carbonates such as those of monte sant erasmo offers great potential for correlation with coeval sections including those of the pelagic realm

transfer zones in an oblique back arc basin setting insights from the latium campania segmented margin tyrrhenian sea new multichannel seismic reflection profiles were acquired to unravel the structure of a portion of the eastern margin of the tyrrhenian basin this extensional feature is part of an oligocene to present back arc basin in the hangingwall of the west directed apennines subduction system the basin provides excellent conditions to investigate the early stage processes leading to the development of rifted passive margins and to the emplacement of oceanic crust in an oblique setting the interpreted post stack migrated seismic profiles highlight the geometry and kinematics of the pontine escarpment that connects the latium campania continental margin to the vavilov basin the latter is the main feature of the area related to the early pliocene extension of the tyrrhenian sea several morphological variations are pointed out along strike mirroring different structural settings of the margin itself a steeper margin to the north corresponds to high angle possibly transtensional faults whereas a smooth slope in the southern portion corresponds to several more distributed listric faults this work contributes to the understanding of the interplay between extensional and transtensional tectonics along the margins of an oblique back arc basin

tectonic evolution of arcuate mountain belts on top of a retreating subduction slab the example of the calabrian arc 1 in this paper new paleomagnetic results from the calabrian arc are presented together with a critical review of all paleomagnetic data collected in the last decades in southern italy our study is focused on the upper miocene to middle pleistocene deposits of the crati extensional basin a sector of the arc where an abrupt change in the sense of paleomagnetic rotations is observed paleomagnetic data indicate that the crati basin underwent a uniform clockwise cw rotation of about 15 20 in its central and southern part whereas the northern sector is organized in small scale fault bounded blocks which rotated independently we interpret this pattern of deformation as the evidence of the complex nature of this area which represents the boundary between two domains characterized by opposite rotations the southern apennines which rotated counterclockwise and the calabria and sicily which rotated cw integrating these new paleomagnetic data with paleomagnetic data from southern italy we reconstruct the history of paleomagnetic rotations through time paleomagnetic rotations highlight the peculiarity of the formation of the calabrian arc curvature and imply that either an oroclinal bending model or a progressive arc model cannot be simply applied to the calabrian arc formation we describe a realistic tectonic geodynamic model where the progressive curvature of the calabrian arc is framed within the space time evolution of the ionian subduction system

neogene evolution of the southwestern tyrrhenian sea sardinia basin and western bathyal plain abstract the reprocessing of mcs reflection lines and sampling data across the sw tyrrhenian basin from the sardinia tunisia strait sts to the orosei canyon line ocl show that the acoustic basement of the area is made by variscan crystalline metamorphic rocks covered by a thick sequence of sediments including the messinian interval the pre messinian sequence can be subdivided into three seismic intervals or subunits largely calibrated by sampling data the oldest pre messinian subunit is strongly deformed by compressional and or transpressional structures and the recovered samples are deep water arkosic sediments aquitanian in age however the whole interval may encompass a wider time span probably from late oligocene to langhian this subunit was laid down in a fore arc basin located between a volcanic arc sardinia and an accretionary wedge calabrian peloritanian kabilide or ck units prior to the collision of the latter elements with the continental margin of africa in sicily and tunisia along the so called drepano thrust front dtf coeval to collision the generation of the main sardinia thrust mst occurred carrying the sardinia basement rocks over the ck units and deforming the fore arc basin sediments the intermediate pre messinian sedimentary subunit spans from part of serravallian to part of tortonian it is post tectonic with respect to the underlying subunit but it represents a pre rift succession if related to the overlying one it consists of terrigenous deposits prograding from sardinia to the ene into a basin some hundreds of meters deep which was left in the area after collision the youngest pre evaporitic subunit late tortonian early messinian in age displays wedge shaped reflectors in the sardinia basin and forms the lower portion of a syn rift complex including the messinian and part of the pliocene sediments this succession records the onset of extensional tectonics in the area as also testified by the tortonian age of exumation of the basement while in the tyrrhenian basin north of the ocl intra tortonian to intra pliocene rifting was strong but discontinuous and migrating with time to the east in the sw tyrrhenian basin in contrast rifting was less severe but continuous during the same time interval this emphasizes the role played by the ocl a inherited mesozoic discontinuity reactivated as a transfer zone during the neogene these new data allow correlation of the main miocene deformational events observed in the study area to those of the adjacent emerged areas namely the peloritani and maghrebian units in sicily prior to the pliocene quaternary full development of the southern tyrrhenian sea

volcanological and petrological evolution of marsili seamount southern tyrrhenian sea abstract a swath bathymetric survey was conducted on marsili volcano the biggest seamount in the tyrrhenian sea it stands 3000 m above the surrounding oceanic crust of the 3500 m deep marsili back arc basin and is axially located within the basin the seamount has an elongated shape and presents distinctive morphology with narrow 2400 m on the edifice is governed by h2o and probably co2 exsolution and is not a feature indicative of shallow water depth eruption

cluster analysis of typhoon tracks part i general properties a new probabilistic clustering technique based on a regression mixture model is used to describe tropical cyclone trajectories in the western north pacific each component of the mixture model consists of a quadratic regression curve of cyclone position against time the best track 1950 2002 dataset is described by seven distinct clusters these clusters are then analyzed in terms of genesis location trajectory landfall intensity and seasonality both genesis location and trajectory play important roles in defining the clusters several distinct types of straight moving as well as recurving trajectories are identified thus enriching this main distinction found in previous studies intensity and seasonality of cyclones though not used by the clustering algorithm are both highly stratified from cluster to cluster three straight moving trajectory types have very small withincluster spread while the recurving types are more diffuse tropical cyclone landfalls over east and southeast asia are found to be strongly cluster dependent both in terms of frequency and region of impact the relationships of each cluster type with the large scale circulation sea surface temperatures and the phase of the el nino southern oscillation are studied in a companion paper

orogens and slabs vs their direction of subduction abstract subduction zones appear primarily controlled by the polarity of their direction i e w directed or e to nne directed probably due to the westward drift of the lithosphere relative to the asthenosphere the decollement planes behave differently in the two end members in the w directed subduction zone the decollement of the plate to the east is warped and subducted whereas in the e to nne directed it is ramping upward at the surface there are w directed subduction zones that work also in absence of active convergence like the carpathians or the apennines w directed subduction zones have shorter life 30 40 ma than e or ne directed subduction zones even longer than 100 ma the different decollements in the two end members of subduction should control different ptt paths and therefore generate variable metamorphic assemblages in the associated accretionary wedges and orogens these asymmetries also determine different topographic and structural evolutions that are marked by low topography and a fast eastward migrating structural wave along w directed subduction zones whereas the topography and the structure are rapidly growing upward and expanding laterally along the opposite subduction zones the magmatic pair calc alkaline and alkaline tholeiitic volcanic products of the island arc and the back arc basin characterise the w directed subduction zones magmatic rocks associated with e or ne directed subduction zones have higher abundances of incompatible elements and mainly consist of calc alkaline shoshonitic suites with large volumes of batholithic intrusions and porphyry copper ore deposits the subduction zones surrounding the adriatic plate in the central mediterranean confirm the differences among subduction zones as primarily controlled by the geographic polarity of the main direction of the slab the western margin of the adriatic plate contemporaneously overridden and underthrust europe toward the west to generate respectively the alps and the apennines while the eastern margin subducted under the dinarides hellenides these belts confirm the characters of the end members of subduction zones as a function of their geographic polarity similarly to the pacific subduction zones

tectonics of the punta bianca promontory insights for the evolution of the northern apennines northern tyrrhenian sea basin the structural setting of the eastern headland of the la spezia gulf punta bianca promontory provides some constraints on the contractional and extensional framework of the northern apennines northern tyrrhenian sea basin geodynamic system and allows a detailed reconstruction of a complex evolutionary path out of sequence thrusting is supposed in the inner side of the chain two different extensional events are identified the older early middle miocene may be related to the imbrication of the deeper metamorphic units of the apenninic thrust wedge younger extension fits very well into an eastward asymmetrical faulting framework related to the opening of the northern tyrrhenian sea basin from the late miocene to the pliocene pleistocene well exposed low angle normal faults developed during this event extensional structures were then overprinted and reactivated by a mainly strike slip regime in the quaternary

cluster analysis of typhoon tracks part ii large scale circulation and enso abstract a new probabilistic clustering method based on a regression mixture model is used to describe tropical cyclone tc propagation in the western north pacific wnp seven clusters were obtained and described in part i of this two part study in part ii the present paper the large scale patterns of atmospheric circulation and sea surface temperature associated with each of the clusters are investigated as well as associations with the phase of the el nino southern oscillation enso composite wind field maps over the wnp provide a physically consistent picture of each tc type and of its seasonality anomalous vorticity and outgoing longwave radiation indicate changes in the monsoon trough associated with different types of tc genesis and trajectory the steering winds at 500 hpa are more zonal in the straight moving clusters with larger meridional components in the recurving ones higher values of vertical wind shear in the midlatitudes also accompany the straight moving tracks compared to

odp leg 107 in the tyrrhenian sea insights into passive margin and back arc basin evolution leg 107 of the ocean drilling program drilled a west northwest east southeast transect of seven sites across the tyrrhenian sea the youngest of the sub basins of the mediterranean sea sites 654 653 652 and 656 document the rifting and subsidence of the sardinia passive continental margin on the upper margin site 654 we cored a classic transgressive sequence subaerial conglomerates overlain by oyster bearing sands overlain by marine marl comparison between the recovered lithologies and seismic reflection profiles suggests that the synrift sediments on the upper margin are tortonian late miocene to messinian latest miocene in age whereas synrift sediments on the lower margin are messinian to pliocene in age during the messinian desiccation of the mediterranean sites 654 and 653 now on the upper sardinian margin apparently occupied a basinal setting where they received nannoplankton bearing clays interbedded with laminated gypsum sites 656 and 652 now on the lower sardinia margin were apparently higher standing during the desiccation event their messinian facies are subaerial and lacustrine respectively we infer from these lines of evidence that tilting and subsidence occurred more than a million years earlier on the upper margin than on the lower margin such diachroneity can be interpreted in terms of migration of the zone of maximum extension above a rolling back subduction zone or in terms of extension of continental crust by shear along a deep detachment fault sites 655 651 and 650 were drilled into two small basalt floored basins of the central and eastern tyrrhenian emplacement of basaltic crust in the central tyrrhenian vavilov basin apparently began more than a million years before emplacement of basaltic crust in the eastern tyrrhenian marsili basin this observation is compatible with previous suggestions that the tyrrhenian has grown southeastward in response to rollback of the down going slab that currently dips northwestward under the toe of italy at the easternmost site high vesicularity of the basalt and benthic foram assemblages in the oldest sediments imply that the basalt erupted in water shallower than 2 500 m it has apparently subsequently subsided to its present depth of 4 100 m below sea level nearly three times as fast as normal subsidence of crust formed at a mid ocean ridge

redistribution of the lithosphere deformation by the emplacement of underplated mafic bodies implications for microcontinent formation abstract sedimentary basin migration and microcontinent formation could be the result of deformation redistribution in which the emplacement of an underplated mafic body upmb may play an important role in this study a 2d finite element model is used to examine the redistribution of the deformation that can be triggered by a upmb it is shown that three modes of deformation redistribution can exist 1 a shift completed mode where the deformation is completely redistributed into the newly weakened region 2 a transition mode where the deformation is redistributed but extension is accommodated by thinning in both regions 3 a shift failed mode where the deformation is not redistributed whether or not the deformation is redistributed depends on the configuration of the upmb and on the initial rheological heterogeneity in the initially deformed region however it becomes difficult for any upmb to initiate the redistribution of the deformation once the stretching factor in the first deformed region exceeds a critical value the microcontinent formations observed in the indian ocean in the norwegian greenland sea in the red sea afar region and in the western mediterranean are particularly discussed in relation to the transition mode providing some important geodynamic implications

exhumation of deep crustal metamorphic rocks and crustal extension in arc and back arc regions we adress the problem of exhumation of metamorphic rocks in arc and back arc positions based on observations of the aegean and tyrrhenian back arc regions in both regions back arc extension has been active for 25 ma at least while convergence and crustal thickening was going on at the thrust front compressional structures are reworked in the back arc domain as extensional flat lying detachments which allow unroofing of the metamorphic pile metamorphic rocks suffer first a dynamic burial during nappe stacking and then fast exhumation when they reach the extensional region we describe a continuous process of burial and exhumation that is contemporaneous with the migration of the thrust front toward external zones the front of extension follows behind at approximately one hundred kilometers at the convergence front continuous subduction of a cold oceanic slab or continuous accretion of continental units keeps a cool p t gradient and hp lt metamorphic rocks are formed at depth the overall cool environment leads to a deep brittle ductile transition and thus to a resistant crust which can sustain its large thickness while the thrust front propagates forward parts of the accretionary wedge which were formed earlier enter the back arc domain which can be already under extension and which is warmer because of a greater distance to the cold slab and the presence of the volcanic arc the brittle ductile transition rises in the thick crust which then becomes unstable and subsequently collapses the exhumation history of metamorphic rocks below detachments is two fold 1 a constantely thickening crust is unroofed by flat lying detachments which rework early thrusts this first period is characterized by a good preservation of hp lt parageneses 2 the second period is when rocks are in the zone of crustal scale extension of the back arc region deep crustal metamorphics are exhumed below flat lying detachements which affect the whole crust

paleomagnetic evidence for a pleistocene clockwise rotation of the calabro peloritan block southern italy abstract a paleomagnetic study of marine marls of early pliocene age and clays of late pliocene to middle pleistocene age from sites along the ionian coast spartivento basin and catanzaro depression of calabria and from sites along the tyrrhenian coast of both calabria and sicily was carried out to determine the amount and timing of tectonic rotation of the underlying calabro peloritan block the magnetisations of the lower pliocene trubi marls have maximum blocking temperatures indicating the presence of magnetite these lower pliocene sediments as well as the younger upper pliocene lower pleistocene clays of this area reveal consistent clockwise rotations of 10 20 there is evidence for a uniform 15 clockwise rotation of the entire calabro peloritan block during the middle pleistocene this is opposite in sense of rotation to the earlier established 23 counterclockwise rotations for the southern apennines but the timing is the same between 0 7 and 0 2 ma the tectonic rotations occur 1 myr after the major phases of extension in the southeastern part of the tyrrhenian basin but simultaneously with the onset of major uplift of the block

western north pacific tropical cyclone tracks in cmip5 models statistical assessment using a model independent detection and tracking scheme abstractpast studies have shown that tropical cyclone tc projection results can be sensitive to different types of tc tracking schemes and that the relative adjustments of detection criteria to

tectonics and seismicity of the tindari fault system southern italy crustal deformations at the transition between ongoing contractional and extensional domains located above the edge of a subducting slab 1 the tindari fault system southern tyrrhenian sea italy is a regional zone of brittle deformation located at the transition between ongoing contractional and extensional crustal compartments and lying above the western edge of a narrow subducting slab onshore structural data an offshore seismic reflection profile and earthquake data are analyzed to constrain the present geometry of the tindari fault system and its tectonic evolution since neogene including the present seismicity results show that this zone of deformation consists of a broad nnw trending system of faults including sets of right lateral left lateral and extensional faults as well as early strike slip faults reworked under late extension earthquakes and other neotectonic data provide evidence that the tindari fault system is still active in the central and northern sectors and mostly accommodates extensional or right lateral transtensional displacements on a diffuse array of faults from these data a multiphase tectonic history is inferred including an early phase as a right lateral strike slip fault and a late extensional reworking under the influence of the subduction related processes which have led to the formation of the tyrrhenian back arc basin within the present regional geodynamic context the tindari fault system is interpreted as an ongoing accommodation zone between the adjacent contractional and extensional crustal compartments these tectonic compartments relating to the complex processes of plate convergence occurring in the region the tindari fault system might also be included in an incipient oblique extensional transfer zone linking the ongoing contractional belts in the calabrian ionian and southern tyrrhenian compartments

late neogene evolution of the taza guercif basin rifian corridor morocco and implications for the messinian salinity crisis abstract magnetostratigraphic and biostratigraphic results are presented from neogene deposits in the taza guercif basin located at the southern margin of the rifian corridor in morocco this corridor was the main marine passageway which connected the mediterranean with the atlantic during messinian times correlation of the biostratigraphy and polarity sequence of the taza guercif composite section to the astronomical time scale allows an accurate dating of three subsequent events in the rifian corridor 1 the oldest marine sediments marking the opening of the rifian corridor were deposited at 8 ma at this age a deep 600 m marine basin developed in the taza guercif area marked by deposition of precession controlled turbidite marl cycles 2 paleodepth reconstructions indicate that a rapid 5 m ka shallowing of the marine corridor took place at the tortonian messinian boundary at an age of 7 2 ma this shallowing phase is primarily related to active tectonics although a small glacio eustatic sea level lowering also took place 3 the taza guercif basin was emergent at an age of 6 0 ma and subsequently continental sedimentation continued well into the early pliocene we suggest that shallowing and restricting the marine passageway through the rifian corridor actually initiated the messinian salinity crisis well before the deposition of the messinian evaporites in the mediterranean

cyclostratigraphy of a carbonate platform as a tool for high precision correlation abstract mesozoic carbonate platforms of southern italy are thick 3000 m and well stratified bodies uplifted by the late tertiary quaternary deformation of the northern gondwanian continental margin they formed mostly in the shallow ramp open to restricted lagoon and peritidal supratidal settings and show a prevailingly cyclic organization consisting of m scale shallowing upward units we think that this cyclicity is demonstrably controlled by the earth s orbital perturbations individual cycle duration hierarchical organization numerical analysis of their sedimentological and petrophysical features the genetic mechanisms of the cyclicity have a climatic dictator allocyclicity that is coupled with eustatic oscillations evidenced by features related to subaerial exposure ranging from microkarst to more mature karst and paleosoils exposure features are widespread at the top of the cycles even when these units are formed by only subtidal deposits suggesting eustatic control this paper presents a study of three sections of the aptian in the campania region of southern italy here a total of 250 m has been studied at a cm scale sections include serra sbregavitelli central matese mountains 160 m upper aptian lower albian monte faito sorrento peninsula 55 m upper aptian lower albian and monte tobenna picentini mountains 35 m upper aptian the latter two outcropping 100 km sse of the former the three sections have a hierarchical organization composed of elementary cycles in turn grouped in bundles and superbundles that have been related respectively to the earth s short and long orbital eccentricity oscillation while the elementary cycles mostly appear to correspond to the precession or to a combination of precession and obliquity periodicities in these successions the stratal pattern shows a dominant aggradational configuration the thickness of the cycles and their groups appears environmentally controlled the thicker cycles being those formed in more open marine settings and vice versa if analysed in terms of sequence stratigraphy we may recognize in the superbundles a transgressive and a highstand system tract that together with maximum flooding surfaces and sequence boundaries was used to develop chronostratigraphic diagrams and to identify cycle omissions at the bundle and superbundle level the number and amplitude of omissions in the successions appear proportional to the environmental conditions the more restricted the water circulation in their original depositional sites the more prone they were to cycle omissions the sections of monte tobenna and monte faito were punctuated by omissions one of them at the superbundle level while in serra sbregavitelli we recognize a smaller number of gaps not reaching the superbundle level lower frequency oscillations 800 2000 k y are also evident and suggest a long term eustatic oscillation of the same periodicity during the lower cretaceous based on the hierarchical organization of the cyclic successions analysed and taking into account the recognized omissions we have correlated the serra sbregavitelli section sss with the two distant sections of monte tobenna corresponding to the lower sss and of monte faito corresponding to the upper sss using appropriate biostratigraphic markers a correlation appears possible at the scale of bundles of cycles 100 k y and sometimes also at the elementary cycle level 50 k y