The Miocene tectono-sedimentary evolution of the southern Tyrrhenian Sea: stratigraphy, structural and palaeomagnetic data from the on-shore Amantea basin (Calabrian Arc, Italy)

We report on new stratigraphic, palaeomagnetic and anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) results from the Amantea basin, located on‐shore along the Tyrrhenian coast of the Calabrian Arc (Italy). The Miocene Amantea Basin formed on the top of a brittlely extended upper plate, separated from a blueschist lower plate by a low‐angle top‐to‐the‐west extensional detachment fault. The stratigraphic architecture of the basin is mainly controlled by the geometry of the detachment fault and is organized in several depositional sequences, separated by major unconformities. The first sequence (DS1) directly overlaps the basement units, and is constituted by Serravallian coarse‐grained conglomerates and sandstones. The upper boundary of this sequence is a major angular unconformity locally marked by a thick palaeosol (type 1 sequence boundary). The second depositional sequence DS2 (middle Tortonian‐early Messinian) is mainly formed by conglomerates, passing upwards to calcarenites, sandstones, claystones and diatomites. Finally, Messinian limestones and evaporites form the third depositional sequence (DS3). Our new biostratigraphic data on the Neogene deposits of the Amantea basin indicate a hiatus of 3 Ma separating sequences DS1 and DS2. The structural architecture of the basin is characterized by faulted homoclines, generally westward dipping, dissected by eastward dipping normal faults. Strike‐slip faults are also present along the margins of the intrabasinal structural highs. Several episodes of syn‐depositional tectonic activity are marked by well‐exposed progressive unconformities, folds and capped normal faults. Three main stages of extensional tectonics affected the area during Neogene‐Quaternary times: (1) Serravallian low‐angle normal faulting; (2) middle Tortonian high‐angle syn‐sedimentary normal faulting; (3) Messinian‐Quaternary high‐angle normal faulting. Extensional tectonics controlled the exhumation of high‐P/low‐T metamorphic rocks and later the foundering of the Amantea basin, with a constant WNW‐ESE stretching direction (present‐day coordinates), defined by means of structural analyses and by AMS data. Palaeomagnetic analyses performed mainly on the claystone deposits of DS1 show a post‐Serravallian clockwise rotation of the Amantea basin. The data presented in this paper constrain better the overall timing, structure and kinematics of the early stages of extensional tectonics of the southern Tyrrhenian Sea. In particular, extensional basins in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea opened during Serravallian and evolved during late Miocene. These data confirm that, at that time, the Amantea basin represented the conjugate extensional margin of the Sardinian border, and that it later drifted south‐eastward and rotated clockwise as a part of the Calabria‐Peloritani terrane.     

Anatomy and evolution of a Mediterranean-type fault bounded basin: the Lower Pliocene of the northern Crotone Basin (Southern Italy)

The complex development of the northern Crotone Basin, a forearc basin of the Calabrian Arc (Southern Italy), has been documented by sedimentological, stratigraphic and structural analyses. This Mediterranean‐type fault bounded basin consists of small depocentres commonly characterized by a mix of facies that grades from continental to shallow marine. The lower Pliocene infill of the Crotone Basin consists of offshore marls (Cavalieri Marl) that grade upwards into a shallow‐marine to continental succession up to 850 m thick (Zinga Formation). The succession is subdivided into three main stratal units: Zinga 1, Zinga 2, Zinga 3 bounded by major unconformities. The Zinga 1 stratal unit grades from the Cavalieri Marl to deltaic and shoreface deposits, the latter organized into several stacked progradational wedges that show spectacular thickness changes and progressive unconformities related to salt‐cored NE‐trending growth folds and listric normal faults. The Zinga 2 stratal unit records a progressive and moderate deepening of the area, marked by fluvial sedimentation at the base, followed by lagoonal deposits and by a stacking of mixed bioclastic and siliciclastic shoreface units, organized into metre‐scale high‐frequency cycles. Deposition was controlled by NE‐trending synsedimentary normal faults that dissected the basin into a series of half‐grabens. Hangingwall stratigraphic expansion was compensated by footwall condensed sedimentation. The extensional tectonic regime continued during sedimentation of the Zinga 3 stratal unit. Deposition confined within structural lows during a generalized transgressive phase led to local enhancement of tidal flows and development of sand‐wave trains. The tectonic setting testifies the generalized structural domain of a forearc region. The angular unconformity at the top of the Zinga 3 stratal unit is regional, and marks the activation of a large‐scale tectonic phase linked to strike‐slip movements.     

Monoclinal flexure of an orogenic plateau margin during subduction,south Turkey

Geologic evidence across orogenic plateau margins enables the discrimination of the relative contributions of orogenic, epeirogenic and/or climatic processes that lead to growth and maintenance of those plateaus and their margins. Here, we discuss the mode of formation of the southern margin of the Central Anatolian Plateau (SCAP) and evaluate its time of formation using fieldwork in the onshore and seismic reflection data in the offshore. In the onshore, uplifted Miocene rocks in a dip‐slope topography show monocline flexure over >100 km, km‐scale asymmetric folds verging south, and outcrop‐scale syn‐sedimentary reverse faults. On the Turkish shelf, vertical faults transect the basal latest Messinian of a 10 km fold where on‐structure syntectonic wedges and synsedimentary unconformities indicate pre‐Pliocene uplift and erosion, followed by Pliocene and younger deformation. Collectively, Miocene rocks delineate a flexural monocline at plateau margin scale that is expressed along our on‐offshore sections as a kink‐band fold with a steep flank 20–25 km long. In these reconstructed sections, we estimate a relative vertical displacement of 3.8 km at rates of ca. 0.5 mm/y, and horizontal shortening values <1 %. We use this evidence together with our observations of shortening at outcrop, basin, plateau‐margin and forearc‐system scales to infer that the SCAP forms as a monoclinal flexure to accommodate deep‐seated thickening and shortening since >5 Ma, and to contextualize the plateau margin as the forearc high of the Cyprus subduction system.     

Neogene supradetachment basin development on Crete (Greece) during exhumation of the South Aegean core complex

Tertiary extension in the Aegean region has led to extensional detachment faulting, along which metamorphic core complexes were exhumed, among which is the Early to Middle Miocene South Aegean core complex. This paper focuses on the supradetachment basin developed during the final stages of exhumation of the South Aegean core complex along the Cretan detachment, plus the Late Miocene to Pliocene basin development and palaeogeography associated with the southward motion of Crete during the opening of the Aegean arc. For the latter purpose, the sedimentary and palaeobathymetric evolutions of a large number of Middle Miocene to Late Pliocene sequences exposed on Crete, Gavdos and Koufonisi were studied. The supradetachment basin development of Crete is characterised by a break‐up of the hanging wall of the Cretan detachment into extensional klippen and subsequent migration of laterally coexisting sedimentary systems, and finally the deformation of the exhumed core complex by processes related to the opening of the Aegean arc. Hence, three main tectonic phases are recognised: (1) Early to Middle Miocene N–S extension formed during the Cretan detachment, exhumed in the South Aegean core complex. The Cretan detachment remained active until 11–10 Ma, based on the oldest sediments that unconformably overlie the metamorphic rocks. Successions older than 11–10 Ma unconformably overlie only the hanging wall of the Cretan detachment, and do not contain fragments of the footwall rocks; they therefore predate the oldest exposure of the metamorphic rocks of the footwall. The hanging wall rocks and Middle Miocene sediments form isolated blocks on top of the exhumed metamorphic rocks, which are interpreted as extensional klippen. (2) From approximately 10 Ma onward, southward migration of the area that presently covers Crete was accompanied by E–W extension, and the opening of the Sea of Crete to the north. Contemporaneously, large folds with WNW–ESE striking, NNE dipping axial planes developed, possibly in response to sinistral transpression. (3) During the Pliocene, Crete emerged and tilted to the NNW, probably as a result of left‐lateral transpression in the Hellenic fore‐arc, induced by the collision with the African promontory.     

Extensional tectonics during the Tyrrhenian back‐arc basin formation and a new morpho‐tectonic map

We present a new tectonic map focused upon the extensional style accompanying the formation of the Tyrrhenian back‐arc basin. Our basin‐wide analysis synthetizes the interpretation of vintage multichannel and single‐channel seismic profiles, integrated with modern seismic images, P‐wave velocity models, and high‐resolution morpho‐bathymetric data. Four distinct evolutionary phases of the Tyrrhenian back‐arc basin opening are further constrained, redefining the initial opening to Langhian/Serravallian time. Listric and planar normal faults and their conjugates bound a series of horst and graben, half‐graben and triangular basins. Distribution of extensional faults, active throughout the basin since Middle Miocene, allows us to define an arrangement of faults in the northern/central Tyrrhenian mainly related to a pure shear which evolved to a simple shear opening. At depth, faults accommodate over a Ductile‐Brittle Transitional zone cut by a low‐angle detachment fault. In the southern Tyrrhenian, normal, inverse and transcurrent faults appear to be related to a large shear zone located along the continental margin of the northern Sicily. Extensional style variation throughout the back‐arc basin combined with wide‐angle seismic velocity models allows to explore the relationships between shallow deformation, faults distribution throughout the basin, and crustal‐scale processes as thinning and exhumation.     

Tectonic control of facies architecture, sequence stratigraphy and drowning of a Liassic carbonate platform (Betic Cordillera, Southern Spain)

This paper develops a tectono‐stratigraphic model for the evolution and drowning of Early Jurassic carbonate platforms. The model arises from outcrop analysis and Sr isotope dating of successions exposed in the Betic Cordillera in southeastern Spain. Here, an extensive Early Jurassic (Sinemurian) carbonate platform developed on the rifted Tethyan margin of the Iberian Plate. The platform was dissected by extensional faults in early jamesoni times (ca. 191 Ma) and again in late ibex times (ca.188 Ma) during the Pliensbachian stage. Extensional faults and fault block rotation are shown to control the formation of three sequence boundaries that divide the platform stratigraphy (the Gavilan Formation) into three depositional sequences. The last sequence boundary marks localised drowning of the platform and deposition of the deeper water Zegri Formation, whereas adjacent platforms remain exposed or continue as the site of shallow‐marine sediment accumulation. This study is based on mapping, facies analysis and dating of platform carbonates exposed in three tectonic units within the zone: Gabar, Ponce and Canteras. Facies analysis leads to the recognition of facies associations deposited in carbonate ramp environments and adjacent to synsedimentary, marine, fault scarps. Sr isotope dating enables us to correlate platform‐top carbonates from the different tectonic units at a precision equivalent to ammonite zones. A sequence stratigraphic analysis of sections from the three tectonic units is carried out using the facies models together with the Sr isotope dates. This analysis indicates a clear tectonic control on the development of the stratigraphy: depositional sequences vary in thickness, have wedge‐shaped geometries and vary in facies, internal geometries and systems tracts from one tectonic unit to another. Criteria characterising depositional sequences and sequence boundaries from the Gabar and Ponce units are used to establish a tectono‐stratigraphic model for carbonate platform depositional sequences and sequence boundaries in maritime rifts, which can be applied to other less well‐exposed or subsurface successions from other sedimentary basins. Onlapping transgressive and progradational highstand systems tracts are recognised on dip slope ramps. Falling stage and lowstand systems tracts are developed as thick breccia units in hangingwall areas adjacent to extensional faults. Sequence boundaries vary in character, amplitude and/or duration of sea‐level fall and persistence across the area. Some boundaries coalesce onto the Canteras unit, which remained as a relatively positive area throughout the early Pliensbachian (Carixian). The carbonate platform on the Ponce tectonic unit drowned in the latest Carixian (davoei biozone). However, the adjacent tectonic units remained emergent and developed a long‐lived sequence boundary, indicating tectonic subsidence as the major cause for platform drowning. The stratigraphic evolution of this area on the rifted southern Iberian margin indicates that a widespread restricted shallow‐water carbonate platform environment accumulating peritidal carbonates evolved with faulting to a more open‐marine setting. Sr dating indicates that this transition took place around the Sinemurian–Pliesbachian boundary and it was driven by local fault‐related subsidence together with likely post‐faulting regional subsidence.     

Structure of the footwall of a listric fault system revealed by 3D seismic data from the Niger Delta

We use three‐dimensional (3D) seismic reflection data to analyse the architecture of the footwall of a listric fault, in a gravitationally driven extensional system, in the north‐western Niger Delta. In contrast to conventional listric normal fault models with a single master listric fault plane the level of detachment switches from a deeper to shallower level. The footwall evolves through the generation of new master detachment faults and detachments, which transfers hanging wall rocks into the footwall. New detachments form by branching off pre‐existing detachment levels, cutting‐up through stratigraphy to the next mechanical weakness, separating discrete sections of extended strata. As a consequence a deeper, older array of seaward‐dipping, tilted extensional fault blocks is now located in the footwall beneath the master listric detachment fault. The structural complexity located below the master detachment fault highlights extensional episodes on separate detachment faults that are not captured in conventional listric models. We speculate that changes in the level of the detachment are caused by mechanical weaknesses controlled by lithology, pore pressure and episodes of sediment loading related to deltaic progradation.     

Tectono‐climatic evolution of a Neogene intramontane basin (Late Miocene Carboneras subbasin,southeast Spain): revelations from basin mapping and biofacies analysis

Exceptional 3‐D exposures of fault blocks forming a 5 km × 10 km clastic sediment‐starved, marine basin (Carboneras subbasin, southeast Spain) allow a test of the response of carbonate sequence stratigraphic architectures to climatic and tectonic forcing. Temperate and tropical climatic periods recorded in biofacies serve as a chronostratigraphic framework to reconstruct the status of the basin within three time‐slices (late Tortonian–early Messinian, late Messinian, Pliocene). Structural maps and isopach maps trace out the distribution of fault blocks, faults, and over time, their relative motions, propagational patterns and life times, which demonstrate a changing layout of the basin because of a rotation of the regional transtensional stress field. Progradation of early Messinian reefal systems was perpendicular to the master faults of the blocks, which were draped by condensed fore‐slope sediments. The hangingwall basins coincided with the toe‐of‐slope of the reef systems. The main phase of block faulting during the late Tortonian and earliest Messinian influenced the palaeogeography until the late Pliocene (cumulative throw < 150–240 m), whereas displacements along block bounding faults, which moved into the hangingwall, died out over time. An associated shift of the depocentres of calciturbidites, slump masses and fault scarp degradation breccias reflects 500–700 m of fault propagation into the hangingwall. The shallow‐water systems of the footwall areas were repeatedly subject to emergence and deep peripheral erosion, which imply slow net relative uplift of the footwall. In the dip‐slope settings, erosional truncations of tilted proximal deposits prevail, which indicate rotational relative uplift. Block movements were on the order of magnitude of third order sea‐level fluctuations during the late Tortonian and earliest Messinian. We suggest that this might be the reason for the common presence of offlapping geometries in early Messinian reef systems of the Betic Cordilleras. During the late Pliocene, uplift rates fell below third order rates of sea‐level variations. However, at this stage, the basin was uplifted too far to be inundated by the sea again. The evolution of the basin may serve as a model for many other extensional basins around the world.     

Structure and evolution of mass transport deposits in the South Caspian Basin,Azerbaijan

The Quaternary to late Pliocene sedimentary succession along the margin of the South Caspian Basin contains numerous kilometre‐scale submarine slope failures, which were sourced along the basin slope and from the inclined flanks of contemporaneous anticlines. This study uses three‐dimensional (3D) seismic reflection data to visualise the internal structure of 27 mass transport deposits and catalogues the syndepositional structures contained within them. These are used to interpret emplacement processes occurring during submarine slope failure. The deposits consist of three linked structural domains: extensional, translational and compressive, each containing characteristic structures. Novel features are present within the mass transport deposits: (1) a diverging retrogression of the headwall scarp; (2) the absence of a conventional headwall scarp around growth stratal pinch outs; (3) restraining bends in the lateral margin; (4) a downslope increase in the throw of thrust faults. The results of this study shed light on the deformation that occurred during submarine slope failure, and highlight an important geological process in the evolution of the South Caspian Basin margin.     

Analogue modelling of inverted domino‐style basement fault systems

Inversion of pre‐existing extensional fault systems is common in rift systems, back‐arc basins and passive margins. It can significantly influence the development of structural traps in hydrocarbon basins. The analogue models of domino‐style basement fault systems shown in this paper produced, on extension, characteristic hangingwall growth stratal wedges that, when contracted and inverted, formed classic inversion harpoon geometries and asymmetric hangingwall contractional fault‐propagation folds. Segmented footwall shortcut faults formed as the basement faults were progressively back‐rotated and steepened. The pre‐existing extensional fault architectures, basement fault geometries and the relative hangingwall and footwall block rotations exerted fundamental controls on the inversion styles. Digital image correlation (DIC) strain monitoring illustrated complex vertical fault segmentation and linkage during inversion as the major faults were reactivated and strain was progressively transferred onto footwall shortcut faults. Hangingwall deformation during inversion was dominated by significant back‐rotation as the inversion progressed. The mechanical stratigraphy of the cover sequences strongly influenced the fold and fault evolution of the reactivated fault systems. The implications of the experimental results for the interpretation and analysis of inversion structures are discussed and are compared with natural examples of inverted basement‐involved extensional faults observed in seismic datasets.     

Effects of pre-orogenic tectonic structures on the Cenozoic evolution of Andean deformed belts: Evidence from the Salar de Punta Negra Basin in the Central Andes of Northern Chile

We integrated new field observations, two-dimensional (2-D) seismic profiles and new and previously reported chronological data to understand the effects of pre-orogenic structures on the tectonic evolution of the Salar de Punta Negra in the Central Andes. For first time a series of restored geological cross-sections are presented, thus showing the pre-orogenic tectonic architecture of the region and new ideas about the tectonic evolution of the inner forearc of the Central Andes. Our results show a series of east-dipping normal faults as the main pre-orogenic structures in the region, which resulted from lithospheric stretching of the western continental margin during the Paleozoic to Mesozoic (Triassic–Jurassic). These were later incorporated into the Andean orogen by tectonic inversion, forming west-verging inversion anticlines. The beginning of the tectonic inversion is constrained by the first on-lap of the Upper Cretaceous-Palaeocene syn-kinematic deposits on the top of the Mesozoic syn-rift successions, highlighting that inversion occurred during this period. These syn-kinematic deposits display zircons with older age peaks between ca. 200 and 300 Ma, thus indicating that some Carboniferous to Triassic sources of sediments were eroded during the uplift of the orogen. Other basement reverse faults affect the footwalls of normal inverted faults and the shoulders of ancient half-graben structures. These truncate and decapitate previous inverted faults and completely cut the infill of the basin, leading to exhumation of the pre-rift basement rocks. We propose that the propagation of these structures was favoured by the modified thermal-tectonic state of the lithosphere from the eastward migration of the volcanic arc, and not by the previous pre-orogenic structures. The structural and stratigraphic relationships recognized both in the field and 2-D seismic profiles indicate that many reverse faults originated after the initial tectonic inversion and continued to be active from the Eocene until the Pleistocene period.     

Deformed Messinian markers in the Cyprus Arc: tectonic and/or Messinian Salinity Crisis indicators?

This paper focuses on Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) evaporites in the Cyprus Arc (eastern Mediterranean) using high‐resolution reflection seismic and multi‐beam data. The results shed new light on the Miocene to Present tectonic evolution of this area and contribute to our general knowledge of the MSC in a deep basin setting. The evaporites and overlying formations show a complex deformation pattern due to a combination of thick‐skinned plate‐tectonic convergence and thin‐skinned disharmonic deformation related to the mobile evaporite‐bearing unit. Several MSC markers are identified and precisely mapped: the base of the MSC unit is a ‘decollement’ level, whereas the top is clearly identified as a toplap surface. Intra‐MSC markers and two MSC subunits are identified and mapped over the entire study area. The geometry of MSC markers shows that the lower MSC subunit was deposited in a relatively quiet tectonic setting. The nature of the anisopachous upper unit indicates a syn‐depositional phase of large‐scale plate‐tectonic activity. A thin‐skinned phase of compressional deformation during the Late Miocene affected the entire MSC unit, overlain by undeformed Pliocene–Quaternary layers. A second thin‐skinned phase, well expressed in the bathymetry, occurred from the Pliocene to Recent, resulting in extensional gravity‐gliding within the evaporites and the Pliocene–Quaternary sequence. We show that the MSC had a dramatic impact on the regional structure. For instance, the erosive nature of the top of the MSC unit is linked to the desiccation episode rather than to the cessation of tectonic activity. This particularly strong and short‐lived erosion may have been enhanced by the regional effects of the MSC, owing to differential uplift/subsidence caused by the drawdown. The evaporites are essential markers for constraining the tectonic framework, provided that active deformation can be distinguished from passive gliding associated with extensional/contractional deformation.     

Interaction of tectonics, eustasy, climate and carbonate production on the sedimentary evolution of an early/middle Jurassic extensional basin (Southern Provence Sub-basin, SE France)

This paper describes the evolution of an extensional basin in regard to the nature and sequence stratigraphic arrangement of its carbonate deposits. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the respective effects of tectonism, eustasy, climate and oceanography on a carbonate sedimentary record. The case study is the early to mid‐Jurassic age carbonate succession of the Southern Provence Sub‐basin (SE France), located within the southern part of the extensional Western European Tethyan Margin. This work is based on sedimentologic, biostratigraphic (using ammonites and brachiopods) and sequence stratigraphic analysis of the carbonate facies of the Cherty Reddish Limestone Formation (late Sinemurian to earliest Bajocian). These strata were deposited in shoreface to lower offshore depositional environments. The succession of the various environments together with the recognition of key stratigraphic surfaces allow us to define four second‐order depositional sequences; of late Sinemurian to earliest Pliensbachian, early Pliensbachian to late Pliensbachian, earliest Toarcian to middle Aalenian and late Aalenian to early Bathonian ages. The architecture of the depositional sequences (thickness and facies variations within the systems tracts, wedge‐shaped geometries) reflects a strong tectonic control. The sub‐basin was structured by extensional faults (oriented approximately 070–090/250–270). Sea‐level variations, fluctuations in carbonate production and preservation, and environmental changes were also significant controlling factors of the carbonate deposition. The interplay of the tectonic control with the other factors resulted in five main phases in the sedimentary evolution of the sub‐basin: (1) dominant tectonic control during the initial rifting stage (late Sinemurian to early Pliensbachian); (2) increasing extensional tectonics (mid‐Pliensbachian); (3) global climato‐eustatic sea‐level fall (latest Pliensbachian) and global climato‐eustatic sea‐level rise plus hypoxia/anoxia (early Toarcian); (4) relative sea‐level fall linked to tectonic uplift related to the ‘Mid‐Cimmerian phase’ (mid‐Aalenian) and (5) oceanographic events (upwelling) and reduction in carbonate production (hypoxia/anoxia) plus tectonic downwarping (late Aalenian/earliest Bajocian).     

Syn‐depositional thin‐ and thick‐skinned extensional tectonics in the mid‐Cretaceous Lasarte sub‐basin,western Pyrenees

In the mid‐Cretaceous Lasarte sub‐basin (LSB) [northeastern Basque‐Cantabrian Basin (BCB)] contemporaneous and syn‐depositional thin‐ and thick‐skinned extensional tectonics occur due to the presence of a ductile detachment layer that decoupled the extension. Despite the interest in extension modes of rift basins bearing intra‐stratal detachment layers, complex cases remain poorly understood. In the LSB, field results based on mapping, stratigraphic, sedimentological and structural data show the relationship between growth strata and tectonic structures. Syn‐depositional extensional listric faults and associated folds and faults have been identified in the supra‐detachment thin‐skinned system. But stratigraphic data also indicate the activation of sub‐detachment thick‐skinned extensional faults coeval with the development of the thin‐skinned system. The tectono‐sedimentary evolution of the LSB, since the Late Aptian until the earliest Late Albian, has been interpreted based on thin‐ and thick‐skinned extensional growth structures, which are fossilized by post‐extensional strata. The development of the thin‐skinned system is attributed to the presence of a ductile detachment layer (Upper Triassic Keuper facies) which decoupled the extension from deeper sub‐detachment basement‐involved faulting under a regional extensional/transtensional regime.     

Tectonic and eustatic controls on Pliocene accommodation space along the front of the southern Apennine thrust‐belt (Basilicata,southern Italy)

The stratigraphical organization of the Pliocene thrust‐top deposits cropping out at the front of the Southern Apennine thrust‐belt has been debated for a long time taking a great importance in the context of the geodynamics of the Central Mediterranean area. During this time, spreading episodes in the Apennine backarc zone alternate with important phases of overthrusting in the thrust‐belt. As a consequence, the Pliocene succession appears to be arranged in a series of stacked units, recording the poliphase tectonic history that leads to the building of the front of the southern Apennine thrust‐belt. Although there is not yet an accordance on the nature and position of the main unconformities bounding the thrust‐top units, all authors agree that the creation of new accommodation space is mainly ruled by contractional tectonics consequent to the eastward nappe propagation according to the Apennine vergence polarity. A detailed geological survey, carried out along a large portion of southern Apennine thrust‐belt front, running south of the Vulture volcano, allowed the collecting of new data concerning the basinal‐formation mechanisms acting during the sedimentation of Pliocene deposits. From this analysis, it is clear that even if contractional tectonics is the predominant factor controlling the creation or destruction of accommodation space, other mechanisms, as well as wedge uplift‐related extensional tectonics and eustasy, could have also played a significant role in the basin accommodation. In order the considered sector of southern Apennines can provide an useful example about the complex phenomena occurring at mountain belt front where the accommodation space results from a concomitance of eustatic and tectonic factors mainly linked to the accretionary wedge activity.     

Sequence architecture and depositional evolution of the northern continental slope of the South China Sea: responses to tectonic processes and changes in sea level

The continental slopes of the South China Sea (SCS), the largest marginal sea on the continental shelf of Southeast Asia, are among the most significant shelf‐margin basins in the world because of their abundant petroleum resources and a developmental history related to sea floor spreading since Late Oligocene time. Based on integrated analyses of seismic, well‐logging and core data, we systematically document the sequence architecture and depositional evolution of the northern continental slope of the SCS and reveal its responses to tectonism, sea‐level change and sediment supply. The infill of this shelf‐margin basin can be divided into seven composite sequences (CS1–CS7) that are bounded by regional unconformities. Composite sequences CS3 to CS7 have formed since Late Oligocene time, and each of them generally reflects a regional transgressive–regressive cycle. These large cycles can be further divided into 20 sequences that are defined by local unconformities or transgressive–regressive boundaries. Depositional–geomorphological systems represented on the continental slope mainly include shelf‐edge deltas, prodelta‐slope fans, clinoforms of the shelf‐margin slope, unidirectionally migrating slope channels, incised slope valleys, muddy slope fans, slope slump‐debris‐flow complexes and large‐scale soft‐sediment deformation of bedding. Changing sea levels, reflected by evidence from sequence architecture in the study area, are generally comparable with those of the Haq (1987) global sea level curve, whereas the regional transgressions and regressions were apparently controlled by tectonic uplift and subsidence. Composite sequences CS3 and CS4 formed from Late Oligocene to Middle Miocene time and represent continental‐slope deposition during a time of northwest‐northeast seafloor spreading and subsequent development of sub‐basins in the southwest‐central SCS. The development of composite sequences CS5 to CS7 after Middle Miocene time was obviously influenced by the Dongsha Movement during convergence between the SCS and Philippine Sea plates. Climatic variations and monsoon intensification may have enhanced sediment supply during Late Oligocene‒Early Miocene (25–21 Ma) and Late Pliocene‒Pleistocene (3–0.8 Ma) times. This study indicates that shelf‐edge delta and associated slope fan systems are the most important oil/gas‐bearing reservoirs in the SCS continental‐slope area.     

Recent tectonics in the Turkana Rift (North Kenya): an integrated approach from drainage network, satellite imagery and reflection seismic analyses

The Turkana rifted zone in northern Kenya is a long‐lived and polyphased rift system where the lack of well‐marked rift morphology makes it difficult to identify the zone of active deformation. A high‐density river network is exceptionally well developed over the study area and shows evidence of drainage anomalies that suggest recent fault‐induced movements at various scales. Correlation of surface drainage anomalies with Landsat remote sensing and deep seismic reflection data permits to characterize the deep geometry of the inferred fault structures. Seismic stratigraphy further allows distinction between the inherited (Oligocene–Pliocene) and the newly formed (<3.7 Ma) origin of the recent deformation. Evidence for neotectonics are observed (1) along a large‐scale transverse (EW) fault rooted at depth along a steep basement discontinuity (Turkwell), (2) along a rift‐parallel (NS) fault zone probably emplaced during the Pliocene–Pleistocene and currently bounding the Napedet volcanic plateau to the west and (3) over a round‐shaped uplifted zone caused by positive inversion tectonics (Kalabata). The major contribution of this work is the recognition of a broad (80 km wide) zone of recent/active extensional deformation in the Turkana Rift in contrast with the narrow (20 km wide) N10°E‐trending axial trough forming the Suguta valley to the south, and the Chew Bahir faulted basin to the north. These along‐strike variations in structural style are partly controlled by the occurrence of rejuvenated Oligocene–Miocene rift faults and long‐lived transverse discontinuities in the Turkana Rift area. More generally, this study has implications for the use of river drainage network about recent/active extensional domains with subdued topography and slow deformation rate.     

Miocene extensional basin development in the Betic Cordillera, SE Spain revealed through analysis of the Alhama de Murcia and Crevillente Faults

The Alhama de Murcia and Crevillente faults in the Betic Cordillera of southeast Spain form part of a network of prominent faults, bounding several of the late Tertiary and Quaternary intermontane basins. Current tectonic interpretations of these basins vary from late‐orogenic extensional structures to a pull‐apart origin associated with strike–slip movements along these prominent faults. A strike–slip origin of the basins, however, seems at variance both with recent structural studies of the underlying Betic basement and with the overall basin and fault geometry. We studied the structure and kinematics of the Alhama de Murcia and Crevillente faults as well as the internal structure of the late Miocene basin sediments, to elucidate possible relationships between the prominent faults and the adjacent basins. The structural data lead to the inevitable conclusion that the late Miocene basins developed as genuinely extensional basins, presumably associated with the thinning and exhumation of the underlying basement at that time. During the late Miocene, neither the Crevillente fault nor the Alhama de Murcia fault acted as strike–slip faults controlling basin development. Instead, parts of the Alhama de Murcia fault initiated as extensional normal faults, and reactivated as contraction faults during the latest Miocene–early Pliocene in response to continued African–European plate convergence. Both prominent faults presently act as reverse faults with a movement sense towards the southeast, which is clearly at variance with the commonly inferred dextral or sinistral strike–slip motions on these faults. We argue that the prominent faults form part of a larger scale zone of post‐Messinian shortening made up of SSE‐ and NNW‐directed reverse faults and NE to ENE‐trending folds including thrust‐related fault‐bend folds and fault‐propagation folds, transected and displaced by, respectively, WNW‐ and NNE‐trending, dextral and sinistral strike–slip (tear or transfer) faults.     

Integrated provenance record of a forearc basin modified by slab‐window magmatism: detrital‐ zircon geochronology and sandstone compositions of the Paleogene Arkose Ridge Formation,south‐central Alaska

This study presents an integrated provenance record for ancient forearc strata in southern Alaska. Paleocene–Eocene sedimentary and volcanic strata >2000 m thick in the southern Talkeetna Mountains record nonmarine sediment accumulation in a remnant forearc basin. In these strata, igneous detritus dominates conglomerate and sandstone detrital modes, including plutonic and volcanic clasts, plagioclase feldspar, and monocrystalline quartz. Volcanic detritus is more abundant and increases upsection in eastern sandstone and conglomerate. U‐Pb ages of >1600 detrital zircons from 19 sandstone samples document three main populations: 60–48 Ma (late Paleocene–Eocene; 14% of all grains), 85–60 Ma (late Cretaceous–early Paleocene; 64%) and 200–100 Ma (Jurassic–Early Cretaceous; 11%). Eastern sections exhibit the broadest distribution of detrital ages, including a principal population of late Paleocene–Eocene ages. In contrast, central and western sections yield mainly late Cretaceous–early Paleocene detrital ages. Collectively, our results permit reconstruction of individual fluvial drainages oriented transverse to a dissected arc. Specifically, new data suggest: (1) Detritus was eroded from volcanic‐plutonic sources exposed along the arcward margin of the sampled forearc basin fill, primarily Jurassic–Paleocene magmatic‐arc plutons and spatially limited late Paleocene–Eocene volcanic centers; (2) Eastern deposystems received higher proportions of juvenile volcanic detritus through time from late Paleocene–Eocene volcanic centers, consistent with emplacement of a slab window beneath the northeastern part of the basin during spreading‐ridge subduction; (3) Western deposystems transported volcanic‐plutonic detritus from Jurassic–Paleocene remnant arc plutons and local eruptive centers that flanked the northwestern part of the basin; (4) Diagnostic evidence of sediment derivation from accretionary‐prism strata exposed trenchward of the basin fill is lacking. Our results provide geologic evidence for latest Cretaceous–early Paleocene exhumation of arc plutons and marine forearc strata followed by nonmarine sediment accumulation and slab‐window magmatism. This inferred history supports models that invoke spreading‐ridge subduction beneath southern Alaska during Paleogene time, providing a framework for understanding a mature continental‐arc/forearc‐basin system modified by ridge subduction. Conventional provenance models predict reduced input of volcanic detritus to forearc basins during progressive exhumation of the volcanic edifice and increasing exposure of subvolcanic plutons. In contrast, our results show that forearc basins influenced by ridge subduction may record localized increases in juvenile volcanic detritus during late‐stage evolution in response to accumulation of volcanic sequences formed from slab‐window eruptive centers.