The night between the January 14th and 15th 1968, a wide area of western Sicily (Italy) was shake... more The night between the January 14th and 15th 1968, a wide area of western Sicily (Italy) was shaken by a strong earthquake, the main shock of a seismic crisis that hit the region until the January 25th. The disastrous event, that is the strongest seismic event recorded in Western Sicily in historical times, caused about 370 deaths and the destruction of many villages facing the Belice river valley, which was the epicentral area for this unexpected natural disaster. The seismic sequence consisted of a main shock with M=5.9 and a series of pre-shock and aftershocks that were clustered along a NE-SW alignment. Focal planes solutions provided by many authors in the last decades show controversial interpretations about the possible geometrical and kinematic pattern of the seismogenetic source. Computed focal solutions provide in fact different hypothesis on trend and kinematics of possible faulting mechanism that range from pure thrusting on NW-SE steeply dipping planes to right-lateral slip of NNW striking sub-vertical plane. This ambiguity remains at present-day still unresolved due to the fact that the 1968 earthquake sequence did not produced a typical seismic landscape and that, as result of low magnitude of events, coseismic fault ruptures were never observed until now. However, the lacking of any morphological expression and fault breaks at surface makes the 1968 Belice earthquakes sequence a geologically unconstrained event. Starting from the analysis of SAR interferometry (DInSAR) for western Sicily, which displays a differential ground motion near the Castelvetrano and Campobello di Mazara villages, new field surveys have been performed along the Belice Valley with the aim to verify possible correspondence between geodetic data and geological-morphological ones. In this respect, available geological maps have been upgraded by original field surveys, that were supported by the morphometric analysis of a 2x2m grid resolution DEM and by the interpretation of 1:10,000 scale aerial photographs. The re- measurement of a 20 years old GPS network has allowed to constrain the current deformation pattern of the area. Moreover, in correspondence of the offshore extension of the lineament marked by the interferometric data, a shaded relief representation of sea-floor bathymetry has been elaborated and available seismic lines have been analyzed and interpreted. Finally, the discovery of dislocated archaeological and recent marker near the epicentral area of the 1968 seismic sequence enabled us to provide, for the first time, the likely evidence of surface expression for coseismic faulting
In this work, we investigated the landscape response to the recent activity of the faults affecti... more In this work, we investigated the landscape response to the recent activity of the faults affecting the Catanzaro Trough, a seismically active structural basin that developed transversally to the Calabrian Arc (Southern Italy) during the Neogene–Quaternary. We carried out a geomorphological and morphometric study of the drainage networks and basins intercepted by the Quaternary faults that were previously mapped through remote and field analyses. The study confirms the occurrence north of the Catanzaro Trough of a WNW–ESE-oriented left-lateral strike-slip fault system (here named the South Sila Piccola Fault System), which accommodates the differential SE-ward migration of the upper crustal sectors of the Calabrian Arc, and of a south-dipping WNW–ESE-oriented oblique fault system (the Lamezia-Catanzaro Fault System), characterized by a predominant normal component of movement. The latter delimits the Catanzaro Trough and accommodates the transition from a strike-slip regime to an ex...
1 Department of Mathematics and Geosciences, University of Trieste, Italy, sbiolchi@units.it 2 EN... more 1 Department of Mathematics and Geosciences, University of Trieste, Italy, sbiolchi@units.it 2 ENEA, Roma, Italy 3 Departmentof Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Catania, Italy, 4 Department of Geography, University of Malta 5 Department of Biology, University of Malta, 6 Department of Classics and Archaeology, University of Malta 7 Department of Earth and Geoenvironmental Sciences, University of Bari, Italy 8 Studio geologi associati T.S.T, Messina, Italy
The accumulation of large boulders related to large waves generated by tsunami and extreme storm ... more The accumulation of large boulders related to large waves generated by tsunami and extreme storm events have been observed in different areas of the Mediterranean Sea. Along the NE and E low-lying rocky coasts of Malta a tens of large boulder deposits have been observed (Furlani et al., 2011; Mottershead et al., 2014). In the Sicily-Malta channel heavy seas are frequent and are originated by the NE and NW winds. Few severe earthquakes and tsunamis hit historically the Maltese Archipelago, where the seismicity is related mainly to the Malta Escarpment, the Sicily Channel Rift Zone and the Hellenic Arc. A multidisciplinary study has been carried out on a large boulder deposit located between Armier Bay and Ahrax Point on the NE coast of Malta. The boulder accumulation is 100 m wide and is located on a gently sloping coast, at an altitude ranging between 0 and 5 m asl. The boulders, metric in size, are made up by limestones and are Miocene in age. An underwater surveying allowed to des...
Investigation of sea-level positions during the highly-dynamic Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3: 29–... more Investigation of sea-level positions during the highly-dynamic Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3: 29–61 kyrs BP) proves difficult because: (i) in stable and subsiding areas, coeval coastal sediments are currently submerged at depths of few to several tens of meters below the present sea level; (ii) in uplifting areas, the preservation of geomorphic features and sedimentary records is limited due to the erosion occurred during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) with sea level at a depth of −130 m, followed by marine transgression that determined the development of ravinement surfaces. This study discusses previous research in the Mediterranean and elsewhere, and describes new fossiliferous marine deposits overlaying the metamorphic bedrock at Cannitello (Calabria, Italy). Radiocarbon ages of marine shells (about 43 kyrs cal BP) indicate that these deposits, presently between 28 and 30 m above sea level, formed during MIS 3.1. Elevation correction of the Cannitello outcrops (considered in an ...
Diagnostic morphological features (e.g., rectilinear seafloor scarps) and lateral offsets of the ... more Diagnostic morphological features (e.g., rectilinear seafloor scarps) and lateral offsets of the Upper Quaternary deposits are used to infer active faults in offshore areas. Although they deform a significant seafloor region, the active faults are not necessarily capable of producing large earthquakes as they correspond to shallow structures formed in response to local stresses. We present a multiscale approach to reconstruct the structural pattern in offshore areas and distinguish between shallow, non-seismogenic, active faults, and deep blind faults, potentially associated with large seismic moment release. The approach is based on the interpretation of marine seismic reflection data and quantitative morphometric analysis of multibeam bathymetry, and tested on the Sant’Eufemia Gulf (southeastern Tyrrhenian Sea). Data highlights the occurrence of three major tectonic events since the Late Miocene. The first extensional or transtensional phase occurred during the Late Miocene. Since...
<p>Estimates of global ice volume during MIS 3 (60-... more <p>Estimates of global ice volume during MIS 3 (60-29 ka) can be constrained between -25 and -87 m (Shackleton, 2000; Waelbroeck et al., 2002; Clark et al., 2009; Hughes et al., 2013; Grant et al., 2014). As regards the maximum altitude reached during this period there are few observed data for a comparison between the global curves and the variations due to different rheostay of the mantle in coastal areas. Uncertainties on the rheostatic behaviour near- or far-fields from the ice bulk during cold period, make it very difficult to estimate the local sea level during MIS 3. Several factors make investigations of  MIS 3 sea level difficult: i) the areas where suitable coastal sediments formed are currently submerged at depths of few tens of meters below present sea level; ii) the preservation of geomorphic features and sedimentary records is limited due to the erosion occurred during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) with sea level at depth of -130m, followed by marine transgression that determined  the development of ravinement surfaces).</p><p>Few data were observed worldwide, especially when tectonics or GIA in the near field leads to uplifts. Our research aims to point out what has been published globally and in the Mediterranean, but, above all, to illustrate the sections of new outcrops in Cannitello (Calabria, Italy) where we have found and dated fossiliferous marine pocket beaches deposited on uplifted bed metamorphic rock. Radiocarbon ages of marine shells (about 43 kyrs cal BP) indicate that these outcrops (presently at 28 and 30 meters above sea level) belong to MIS 3.1. Based on some considerations regarding the altitude of MIS 3.1 highstand, the correction for altitude with the local vertical tectonic movements and GIA of the Cannitello outcrops allows us to revise the eustatic altitude of this highstand. This is consistent with the recent findings (Gowan et al., 2020), which are based on a novel ice sheet modelling technique.</p><p>Clark, P.U., Dyke, A.S., Shakun, J.D., Carlson, A.E., Clark, J., Wohlfarth, B., Mitrovica, J.X., Hostetler, S.W., McCabe, A.M., 2009. The Last Glacial Maximum. Science 325, 710–714. doi:10.1126/science.1172873</p><p>Gowan, E.J., Zhang, X., Khosravi, S., Rovere, A., Stocchi, P., Hughes, A. C., Gyllencreutz, R., Mangerud, J., Svendsen, J. I., Lohmann, G. (in print): Global ice sheet reconstruction for the past 80000 years. PANGEA, Earth & Environmental Science https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.905800.</p><p>Grant, K.M., Rohling, E.J., Ramsey, C.B., Cheng, H., Edwards, R.L., Florindo, F., Heslop, D., Marra, F., Roberts, A.P., Tamisiea, M.E., Williams, F., 2014. Sea-level variability over five glacial cycles. Nature Communications 5, 5076. doi:10.1038/ncomms6076</p><p>Hughes, P.D., Gibbard, P.L., Ehlers, J., 2013. Timing of glaciation during the last glacial cycle: evaluating the concept of a global ‘Last Glacial Maximum’ (LGM). Earth-Science Reviews 125, 171–198. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2013.07.003</p><p>Shackleton, N.J., 2000. The 100,000-Year Ice-Age Cycle Identified and Found to Lag Temperature, Carbon Dioxide, and Orbital Eccentricity. Science 289, 1897–1902. doi:10.1126/science.289.5486.1897</p><p>Waelbroeck, C., Labeyrie, L., Michel, E., Duplessy, J.C., McManus, J.F., Lambeck, K., Balbon, E., Labracherie, M., 2002. Sea-level and deep water temperature changes derived from benthic foraminifera isotopic records. Quaternary Science Reviews, EPILOG 21, 295–305. doi:10.1016/S0277-3791(01)00101-9</p>
Framed in the current geodynamics of the central Mediterranean, the Aeolian-Tindari-Letojanni fau... more Framed in the current geodynamics of the central Mediterranean, the Aeolian-Tindari-Letojanni fault system is part of a wider NW-SE oriented right-lateral wrench zone which accommodates diverging motion between regional-scale blocks located at the southern edge of the Calabrian Arc. In order to investigate the structural architecture and the active deformation pattern of the northern sector of this tectonic feature, structural observations on-land, high and very-high resolution seismic reflection profiles, swath bathymetry and seismological and geodetic data were merged from the Lipari-Vulcano volcanic complex (central sector of the Aeolian Islands) to the Peloritani Mountains across the Gulf of Patti. Our interpretation shows that the active deformation pattern of the study area is currently expressed by NW-SE trending, right-transtensional en-echelon fault segments whose overlapping gives rise to releasing stepover and pull-apart structures. This structural architecture has favored magma and fluid ascent and the shaping of the Lipari-Vulcano volcanic complex. Similarly, the Gulf of Patti is interpreted as an extensional relay zone between two overlapping, right-lateral NW-SE trending master faults. The structural configuration we reconstruct is also supported by seismological and geodetic data which are consistent with kinematics of the mapped faults. Notably, most of the low-magnitude instrumental seismicity occurs within the relay zones, whilst the largest historical earthquakes (1786, Mw=6.2; 1978, Mw=6.1) are located along the major fault segments.
... that along the segments of the Crati Val ley fault system (northern Calabrian arc), with simi... more ... that along the segments of the Crati Val ley fault system (northern Calabrian arc), with similar lengths and slip rates (egS Marco Ar gentanoS ... L., Bonardi, G., Colonna, V., Dietrich, D., Giunta, G., Ippolito, F., Liguori, V., Lorenzoni, S., Paglionico, A., Perrone, V., Piccarreta, G., Russo ...
Morphotectonic analysis and fault numeric modeling of uplifted marine terraces along the Ionian S... more Morphotectonic analysis and fault numeric modeling of uplifted marine terraces along the Ionian Sea coast of the Southern Apennines allowed us to place quantitative constraints on middle Pleistocene‐Holocene deformation. Ten terrace orders uplifted to as much as +660 m were mapped along ~80 km of the Taranto Gulf coastline. The shorelines document both a regional and a local, fault‐induced contribution to uplift. The intermingling between the two deformation sources is attested by three 10 km scale undulations superimposed on a 100 km scale northeastward tilt. The undulations spatially coincide with the trace of NW‐SE striking transpressional faults that affected the coastal range during the early Pleistocene. To test whether fault activity continued to the present, we modeled the differential uplift of marine terraces as progressive elastic displacement above blind oblique‐thrust ramps seated beneath the coast. Through an iterative and mathematically based procedure, we defined the...
The night between the January 14th and 15th 1968, a wide area of western Sicily (Italy) was shake... more The night between the January 14th and 15th 1968, a wide area of western Sicily (Italy) was shaken by a strong earthquake, the main shock of a seismic crisis that hit the region until the January 25th. The disastrous event, that is the strongest seismic event recorded in Western Sicily in historical times, caused about 370 deaths and the destruction of many villages facing the Belice river valley, which was the epicentral area for this unexpected natural disaster. The seismic sequence consisted of a main shock with M=5.9 and a series of pre-shock and aftershocks that were clustered along a NE-SW alignment. Focal planes solutions provided by many authors in the last decades show controversial interpretations about the possible geometrical and kinematic pattern of the seismogenetic source. Computed focal solutions provide in fact different hypothesis on trend and kinematics of possible faulting mechanism that range from pure thrusting on NW-SE steeply dipping planes to right-lateral slip of NNW striking sub-vertical plane. This ambiguity remains at present-day still unresolved due to the fact that the 1968 earthquake sequence did not produced a typical seismic landscape and that, as result of low magnitude of events, coseismic fault ruptures were never observed until now. However, the lacking of any morphological expression and fault breaks at surface makes the 1968 Belice earthquakes sequence a geologically unconstrained event. Starting from the analysis of SAR interferometry (DInSAR) for western Sicily, which displays a differential ground motion near the Castelvetrano and Campobello di Mazara villages, new field surveys have been performed along the Belice Valley with the aim to verify possible correspondence between geodetic data and geological-morphological ones. In this respect, available geological maps have been upgraded by original field surveys, that were supported by the morphometric analysis of a 2x2m grid resolution DEM and by the interpretation of 1:10,000 scale aerial photographs. The re- measurement of a 20 years old GPS network has allowed to constrain the current deformation pattern of the area. Moreover, in correspondence of the offshore extension of the lineament marked by the interferometric data, a shaded relief representation of sea-floor bathymetry has been elaborated and available seismic lines have been analyzed and interpreted. Finally, the discovery of dislocated archaeological and recent marker near the epicentral area of the 1968 seismic sequence enabled us to provide, for the first time, the likely evidence of surface expression for coseismic faulting
In this work, we investigated the landscape response to the recent activity of the faults affecti... more In this work, we investigated the landscape response to the recent activity of the faults affecting the Catanzaro Trough, a seismically active structural basin that developed transversally to the Calabrian Arc (Southern Italy) during the Neogene–Quaternary. We carried out a geomorphological and morphometric study of the drainage networks and basins intercepted by the Quaternary faults that were previously mapped through remote and field analyses. The study confirms the occurrence north of the Catanzaro Trough of a WNW–ESE-oriented left-lateral strike-slip fault system (here named the South Sila Piccola Fault System), which accommodates the differential SE-ward migration of the upper crustal sectors of the Calabrian Arc, and of a south-dipping WNW–ESE-oriented oblique fault system (the Lamezia-Catanzaro Fault System), characterized by a predominant normal component of movement. The latter delimits the Catanzaro Trough and accommodates the transition from a strike-slip regime to an ex...
1 Department of Mathematics and Geosciences, University of Trieste, Italy, sbiolchi@units.it 2 EN... more 1 Department of Mathematics and Geosciences, University of Trieste, Italy, sbiolchi@units.it 2 ENEA, Roma, Italy 3 Departmentof Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Catania, Italy, 4 Department of Geography, University of Malta 5 Department of Biology, University of Malta, 6 Department of Classics and Archaeology, University of Malta 7 Department of Earth and Geoenvironmental Sciences, University of Bari, Italy 8 Studio geologi associati T.S.T, Messina, Italy
The accumulation of large boulders related to large waves generated by tsunami and extreme storm ... more The accumulation of large boulders related to large waves generated by tsunami and extreme storm events have been observed in different areas of the Mediterranean Sea. Along the NE and E low-lying rocky coasts of Malta a tens of large boulder deposits have been observed (Furlani et al., 2011; Mottershead et al., 2014). In the Sicily-Malta channel heavy seas are frequent and are originated by the NE and NW winds. Few severe earthquakes and tsunamis hit historically the Maltese Archipelago, where the seismicity is related mainly to the Malta Escarpment, the Sicily Channel Rift Zone and the Hellenic Arc. A multidisciplinary study has been carried out on a large boulder deposit located between Armier Bay and Ahrax Point on the NE coast of Malta. The boulder accumulation is 100 m wide and is located on a gently sloping coast, at an altitude ranging between 0 and 5 m asl. The boulders, metric in size, are made up by limestones and are Miocene in age. An underwater surveying allowed to des...
Investigation of sea-level positions during the highly-dynamic Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3: 29–... more Investigation of sea-level positions during the highly-dynamic Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3: 29–61 kyrs BP) proves difficult because: (i) in stable and subsiding areas, coeval coastal sediments are currently submerged at depths of few to several tens of meters below the present sea level; (ii) in uplifting areas, the preservation of geomorphic features and sedimentary records is limited due to the erosion occurred during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) with sea level at a depth of −130 m, followed by marine transgression that determined the development of ravinement surfaces. This study discusses previous research in the Mediterranean and elsewhere, and describes new fossiliferous marine deposits overlaying the metamorphic bedrock at Cannitello (Calabria, Italy). Radiocarbon ages of marine shells (about 43 kyrs cal BP) indicate that these deposits, presently between 28 and 30 m above sea level, formed during MIS 3.1. Elevation correction of the Cannitello outcrops (considered in an ...
Diagnostic morphological features (e.g., rectilinear seafloor scarps) and lateral offsets of the ... more Diagnostic morphological features (e.g., rectilinear seafloor scarps) and lateral offsets of the Upper Quaternary deposits are used to infer active faults in offshore areas. Although they deform a significant seafloor region, the active faults are not necessarily capable of producing large earthquakes as they correspond to shallow structures formed in response to local stresses. We present a multiscale approach to reconstruct the structural pattern in offshore areas and distinguish between shallow, non-seismogenic, active faults, and deep blind faults, potentially associated with large seismic moment release. The approach is based on the interpretation of marine seismic reflection data and quantitative morphometric analysis of multibeam bathymetry, and tested on the Sant’Eufemia Gulf (southeastern Tyrrhenian Sea). Data highlights the occurrence of three major tectonic events since the Late Miocene. The first extensional or transtensional phase occurred during the Late Miocene. Since...
<p>Estimates of global ice volume during MIS 3 (60-... more <p>Estimates of global ice volume during MIS 3 (60-29 ka) can be constrained between -25 and -87 m (Shackleton, 2000; Waelbroeck et al., 2002; Clark et al., 2009; Hughes et al., 2013; Grant et al., 2014). As regards the maximum altitude reached during this period there are few observed data for a comparison between the global curves and the variations due to different rheostay of the mantle in coastal areas. Uncertainties on the rheostatic behaviour near- or far-fields from the ice bulk during cold period, make it very difficult to estimate the local sea level during MIS 3. Several factors make investigations of  MIS 3 sea level difficult: i) the areas where suitable coastal sediments formed are currently submerged at depths of few tens of meters below present sea level; ii) the preservation of geomorphic features and sedimentary records is limited due to the erosion occurred during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) with sea level at depth of -130m, followed by marine transgression that determined  the development of ravinement surfaces).</p><p>Few data were observed worldwide, especially when tectonics or GIA in the near field leads to uplifts. Our research aims to point out what has been published globally and in the Mediterranean, but, above all, to illustrate the sections of new outcrops in Cannitello (Calabria, Italy) where we have found and dated fossiliferous marine pocket beaches deposited on uplifted bed metamorphic rock. Radiocarbon ages of marine shells (about 43 kyrs cal BP) indicate that these outcrops (presently at 28 and 30 meters above sea level) belong to MIS 3.1. Based on some considerations regarding the altitude of MIS 3.1 highstand, the correction for altitude with the local vertical tectonic movements and GIA of the Cannitello outcrops allows us to revise the eustatic altitude of this highstand. This is consistent with the recent findings (Gowan et al., 2020), which are based on a novel ice sheet modelling technique.</p><p>Clark, P.U., Dyke, A.S., Shakun, J.D., Carlson, A.E., Clark, J., Wohlfarth, B., Mitrovica, J.X., Hostetler, S.W., McCabe, A.M., 2009. The Last Glacial Maximum. Science 325, 710–714. doi:10.1126/science.1172873</p><p>Gowan, E.J., Zhang, X., Khosravi, S., Rovere, A., Stocchi, P., Hughes, A. C., Gyllencreutz, R., Mangerud, J., Svendsen, J. I., Lohmann, G. (in print): Global ice sheet reconstruction for the past 80000 years. PANGEA, Earth & Environmental Science https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.905800.</p><p>Grant, K.M., Rohling, E.J., Ramsey, C.B., Cheng, H., Edwards, R.L., Florindo, F., Heslop, D., Marra, F., Roberts, A.P., Tamisiea, M.E., Williams, F., 2014. Sea-level variability over five glacial cycles. Nature Communications 5, 5076. doi:10.1038/ncomms6076</p><p>Hughes, P.D., Gibbard, P.L., Ehlers, J., 2013. Timing of glaciation during the last glacial cycle: evaluating the concept of a global ‘Last Glacial Maximum’ (LGM). Earth-Science Reviews 125, 171–198. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2013.07.003</p><p>Shackleton, N.J., 2000. The 100,000-Year Ice-Age Cycle Identified and Found to Lag Temperature, Carbon Dioxide, and Orbital Eccentricity. Science 289, 1897–1902. doi:10.1126/science.289.5486.1897</p><p>Waelbroeck, C., Labeyrie, L., Michel, E., Duplessy, J.C., McManus, J.F., Lambeck, K., Balbon, E., Labracherie, M., 2002. Sea-level and deep water temperature changes derived from benthic foraminifera isotopic records. Quaternary Science Reviews, EPILOG 21, 295–305. doi:10.1016/S0277-3791(01)00101-9</p>
Framed in the current geodynamics of the central Mediterranean, the Aeolian-Tindari-Letojanni fau... more Framed in the current geodynamics of the central Mediterranean, the Aeolian-Tindari-Letojanni fault system is part of a wider NW-SE oriented right-lateral wrench zone which accommodates diverging motion between regional-scale blocks located at the southern edge of the Calabrian Arc. In order to investigate the structural architecture and the active deformation pattern of the northern sector of this tectonic feature, structural observations on-land, high and very-high resolution seismic reflection profiles, swath bathymetry and seismological and geodetic data were merged from the Lipari-Vulcano volcanic complex (central sector of the Aeolian Islands) to the Peloritani Mountains across the Gulf of Patti. Our interpretation shows that the active deformation pattern of the study area is currently expressed by NW-SE trending, right-transtensional en-echelon fault segments whose overlapping gives rise to releasing stepover and pull-apart structures. This structural architecture has favored magma and fluid ascent and the shaping of the Lipari-Vulcano volcanic complex. Similarly, the Gulf of Patti is interpreted as an extensional relay zone between two overlapping, right-lateral NW-SE trending master faults. The structural configuration we reconstruct is also supported by seismological and geodetic data which are consistent with kinematics of the mapped faults. Notably, most of the low-magnitude instrumental seismicity occurs within the relay zones, whilst the largest historical earthquakes (1786, Mw=6.2; 1978, Mw=6.1) are located along the major fault segments.
... that along the segments of the Crati Val ley fault system (northern Calabrian arc), with simi... more ... that along the segments of the Crati Val ley fault system (northern Calabrian arc), with similar lengths and slip rates (egS Marco Ar gentanoS ... L., Bonardi, G., Colonna, V., Dietrich, D., Giunta, G., Ippolito, F., Liguori, V., Lorenzoni, S., Paglionico, A., Perrone, V., Piccarreta, G., Russo ...
Morphotectonic analysis and fault numeric modeling of uplifted marine terraces along the Ionian S... more Morphotectonic analysis and fault numeric modeling of uplifted marine terraces along the Ionian Sea coast of the Southern Apennines allowed us to place quantitative constraints on middle Pleistocene‐Holocene deformation. Ten terrace orders uplifted to as much as +660 m were mapped along ~80 km of the Taranto Gulf coastline. The shorelines document both a regional and a local, fault‐induced contribution to uplift. The intermingling between the two deformation sources is attested by three 10 km scale undulations superimposed on a 100 km scale northeastward tilt. The undulations spatially coincide with the trace of NW‐SE striking transpressional faults that affected the coastal range during the early Pleistocene. To test whether fault activity continued to the present, we modeled the differential uplift of marine terraces as progressive elastic displacement above blind oblique‐thrust ramps seated beneath the coast. Through an iterative and mathematically based procedure, we defined the...
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