Abstract
During latest Miocene to Early Pleistocene deformation of the southwestern
margin of Adria, the frontal thrust of the Southern Apennines orogen
migrated toward the foreland rapidly (\~16 mm/yr) and was accompanied
by subsidence with the frontal thrust belt and foredeep remaining
at or below sea level. In contrast, the orogenic hinterland experienced
extension, which was accompanied by uplift at \~0.3 mm/yr along
the eastern transition to the contractional belt but net subsidence
and formation of the Tyrrhenian basin farther west. Through time,
the extensional belt progressively widened toward the northeast at
the same rate as the encroachment of the thrust front on the Adriatic
foreland. Following a mid-Pleistocene reduction in horizontal displacement
rate associated with impingement of the thrust belt on thick crust
of the Adriatic interior, the frontal thrust belt and foreland experienced
uplift at \~0.5 mm/yr as contraction stepped to deeper structural
levels. Uplift of the eastern margin of the extensional hinterland
continued at \~0.3 mm/yr and is followed by tectonic subsidence
along the Tyrrhenian coast of southern Italy. Today, the pattern
of mid-Pleistocene displacements continues, as suggested by seismicity
and GPS velocities.
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