Tethyan heritage in the development of the Neogene Umbria-Marche fold-and-thrust belt, Italy: a 3D approach

The Umbria-Marche fold-and-thrust belt (Northern Apennines, Italy), provides excellent opportunities to evaluate the structural heritage of the opening of the Mesozoic Tethys Ocean in the 3D geometry of the Neogene compressional structures related to the Alpine Orogeny. The structure and evolution of a portion of the southernmost belt, between the Nera River and the Rieti Basin, are described as a field example, and the kinematics along well-exposed Mesozoic extension structures are provided. Cross-section restoration shows a close coincidence between these extension structures and the Neogene thrust ramps, thus suggesting that the geometry of the latter was controlled by the map distribution of the former. Sequential balancing also allows for the definition of the geometrical pattern of pre-existing normal faults, which were produced in response to a unidirectional or a two-directional extension stress field. The inferred direction of principal extension, corrected for the effects of late deformation, is consistent with that proposed for the northern margin of the Adria Promontory in global-scale plate tectonic reconstructions.