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Coexisting tectonic settings: the example of the southern Tyrrhenian Sea

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Abstract

We performed geodetic strain rate analyses in southern Italy, using new GPS velocities. Two-dimensional strain and rotation rate fields were estimated and results show that most of the shortening is distributed in the northern Sicily offshore. Extension becomes more evident and comparable with shortening on the eastern side of the same margin, and greater in the eastern Sicily offshore. Principal shortening and extension rate axes are consistent with long-term geological features: seismic reflection profiles show both active compressive and extensional faults affecting Pleistocene strata. We show evidence for contemporaneous extension and transtension in the Cefalù Basin. Combining geodetic data and geological features point to the coexistence of independent geodynamic processes, i.e., the active E–W backarc spreading in the hangingwall of the Apennines subduction zone and shortening along the southern margin of the Tyrrhenian backarc basin operated by the NNW-motion of Africa relative to Eurasia.

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Acknowledgments

Discussions with Marco Ligi, Roberto Devoti and Grazia Pietrantonio were very fruitful. The article strongly benefited from the reviews by Francois Roure, Donna M. Jurdy and an anonymous reviewer. Single-channel “Sparker” profiles were made available by Nevio Zitellini (ISMAR-CNR). Valentina Ferrante is thanked for reprocessing the CROP M6A multichannel seismic profile. Riccardo Recanati and Marinella Anastasio provided support with the interpretation of the seismic profiles. Marco Guerrini gave useful help with the September 2002 relocated afterschocks. Ilaria Paradisi is warmly thanked for her suggestions on figure optimization. Many of the figures were made with the Generic Mapping Tools of Wessel and Smith (1995). Research carried out with the contribution of the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) and Dipartimento per la Protezione Civile.

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  1. Marco Cuffaro

    Present address: Istituto di Geologia Ambientale e Geoingegneria, CNR, c/o Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Sapienza Università di Roma, P.le A. Moro 5, PO Box 11, 00185, Rome, Italy

Authors and Affiliations

  1. MOX—Dipartimento di Matematica, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Marco Cuffaro

  2. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, sez. CNT, Rome, Italy

    Federica Riguzzi

  3. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Sapienza Università di Roma, Rome, Italy

    Federica Riguzzi & Carlo Doglioni

  4. Istituto di Geologia Ambientale e Geoingegneria, CNR, Rome, Italy

    Davide Scrocca

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  1. Marco Cuffaro
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  4. Carlo Doglioni
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Correspondence to Marco Cuffaro.

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Cuffaro, M., Riguzzi, F., Scrocca, D. et al. Coexisting tectonic settings: the example of the southern Tyrrhenian Sea. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 100, 1915–1924 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-010-0625-z

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