Mass Transport Deposits and geo-hazard assessment in the Bradano Foredeep (Southern Apennines, Ionian Sea)

Seafloor bathymetry, combined with multi-scale seismic reflection profiles, were used to describe the morphostructural setting of the Bradano Foredeep (Gulf of Taranto, northern Ionian Sea), where a submerged portion of the Southern Apennines is facing the Apulia Platform in the Calabrian Arc convergent margin. In this complex area, marine geophysical data highlight the presence of two mega-slide deposits at the shelf-slope transition, which are most likely the largest ever described in the region. These slid masses, named the Bradano Basento MegaSlide (BBMS) and Bradano Basento MegaSlide 1 (BBMS1), form a Mass Transport Deposit Complex (MTDC) affecting and eroding the topmost portion of the outer Apennines deformation front and the Apulian Foreland Ramp. It was emplaced in late Pleistocene times inside the narrow (about 10 km wide) Bradano Foredeep basin, a Plio-Pleistocene submarine trough developing at the chain front. The youngest of these deposits (BBMS1) likely predates the Last Glacial Maximum. Location of the MTDC within the subduction complex suggests that active tectonics and seismic shaking might represent the main triggering mechanisms for gravitative instability in this area, although gravitational tectonics and sediment creeping mechanisms cannot be excluded. On the other hand, size and distribution of the MTDC in the sedimentary record of the Bradano Foredeep suggest the need of re-evaluating the potential for large earthquakes/tsunamis, and more in general geological hazard related to submarine sliding masses, along the coast of this highly populated area

Mass transport deposits and geo-hazard assessment in the Bradano Foredeep (Southern Apennines, Ionian Sea)

Seafloor bathymetry, combined with multi-scale seismic reflection profiles, were used todescribe the morphostructural setting of the Bradano Foredeep (Gulf of Taranto,northern Ionian Sea), where a submerged portion of the Southern Apennines isfacing the Apulia Platform in the Calabrian Arc convergent margin. In thiscomplex area, marine geophysical data highlight the presence of two mega-slidedeposits at the shelf-slope transition, which are most likely the largest everdescribed in the region. These slid masses, named the Bradano Basento MegaSlide(BBMS) and Bradano Basento MegaSlide 1 (BBMS1), form a Mass Transport DepositComplex (MTDC) affecting and eroding the topmost portion of the outer Apenninesdeformation front and the Apulian Foreland Ramp. It was emplaced in latePleistocene times inside the narrow (about 10 km wide) Bradano Foredeep basin,a Plio- Pleistocene submarine trough developing at the chain front. The youngestof these deposits (BBMS1) likely predates the Last Glacial Maximum. Location ofthe MTDC within the subduction complex suggests that active tectonics andseismic shaking might represent the main triggering mechanisms for gravitativeinstability in this area, although gravitational tectonics and sedimentcreeping mechanisms cannot be excluded. On the other hand, size anddistribution of the MTDC in the sedimentary record of the Bradano Foredeepsuggest the need of re-evaluating the potential for large earthquakes/tsunamis,and more in general geological hazard related to submarine sliding masses,along the coast of this highly populated area

Oblique plate collision and orogenic translation of the Southern Apennines revealed by post-Messinian interregional unconformities in the Bradano Basin (Ionian Sea - Central Mediterranean)

The Bradano Basin is a foreland basin along the Africa/Eurasia plate boundary. Due to its location and physiography, between Southern Apennines (SA) and Calabrian Arc (CA), it represents a natural recorder of Plio-Pleistocene tectonic processes. Integrated analysis of seismic reflection data, exploration well logs and seafloor bathymetry allowed us to unravel the basin architecture and the interplay between tectonics and sedimentation, providing stratigraphic and structural evidences on deep processes and shallow morpho-structural development. It results, that the post-Messinian tectonic evolution on this area is marked by two major tectonic events, whose effects are recorded in four sedimentary sequences bounded by interregional unconformities. During Pliocene times, an obliquely convergent margin led to collision between SA and CA, associated with shelf to deep marine turbiditic deposits. Around the Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary (2.58 Ma), a sudden and widespread rearrangement took place. The SA front, along with portions of the earlier obliquely collisional margin, started to move toward the NE, along progressively deeper detachments involving the lower Apulia plate. During this phase, a fast (3.8–8.3 cm/yr) ~50 km translation of the orogenic wedge was followed by uplift and slow-rate shortening (1.9 mm/year), associated with seafloor folding. This second phase is marked by deep marine deposits in the central part of the basin, and clinoforms in shallower western and northern sectors. Our data suggest that no oceanic crust is presently subducting below the Bradano Basin, although we cannot exclude that a narrow sliver of oceanic lithosphere was subducted before and/or during Pliocene times. The complex deformation pattern observed, represents the response to the interaction of (small-) plates, which is still active and important to be considered in neotectonics and paleoseismological reconstructions

The Plio-Pleistocene Bradano basin and the Southern Apennine Orogenic Wedge: evidences of accretion collision and segmentation of Apulian continental plate

The Pliocene-Pleistocene tectono-stratigraphic evolution of the Bradano Basin in the Gulf of Taranto is investigated by means of multi-scale, high-resolution seismic reflection profiles combined with exploration wells and seafloor bathymetry. Being located between the Ionian Calabrian Margin, to the West, and the Apulian Margin, to the East, the Bradano Basin is the site of pervasive tectonic deformations part of the southward and seaward prolongation of the Southern Apennines orogenic wedge. Within the Gulf of Taranto, five main domains surround the Bradano Basin: the Calabrian Arc, the Calabrian Accretionary Wedge, the Southern Apennines and the subducting Apulian Foreland Ramp. The external fronts of the Calabrian Accretionary Wedge and Southern Apennines progressively migrated toward ESE overriding and colliding with the subducting Apulian lithosphere during the Pliocene-Pleistocene. As previously recognized, this collisional setting has been responsible for the formation of the Pliocene-Pleistocene Bradano Foreland Basins System while the Apulian Foreland Ramp was uplifted and down-flexed toward west but generally considered as an “undeformed” foreland area. The multi-scale analyses of geophysical data reveals active deformation involving the foreland ramp which was affected by different tectonic phases: contraction and transcurrent deformations along E-W trending faults active from the Miocene to recent times; thrusts and thrust-related anticlines even underneath the Southern Apennine fronts; NW-SE and N-S striking thrust-related folds affecting the whole Apulian continental plate, likely inverting inherited Mesozoic-Pliocene extensional faults and gently folding the Pliocene-Recent deposits. Two main transcurrent systems have been recognized to segment the continental margin: the Amendolara Transpressive System and the new Apulian Transtensive System on the foreland ramp never described before this study. The above structures played a major role in the Bradano basin tectonic evolution during two main tectono-stratigraphic events. During middle-upper Pliocene, the Amendolara Transpressive System, a left-lateral strike-slip zone, segmented the Southern Apennine thrust fronts actively moving toward E onto the Apulian plate along a shallow detachment surface. At the end of this stage, the Southern Apennines frontal thrusts could thrust over the Pliocene Bradano Foredeep Basin as well as the underlying western portion of the Apulian Plate. The Apulian Transtensive System was active and, locally, extensional faults were inverted. During the second event (from Pleistocene to Present), the compressional deformations were localized at depths deeper than the subducted Bradano Foredeep Basin. Out-of-sequence thrusting reshaped the Southern Apennines orogenic wedge while, to the east, the Apulian Transpressive System and the inversion of extensional faults were still active. The proposed evolutionary model suggests that Bradano Basin, laying on top of the western margin of Apulian Plate, and the Apulian Foreland ramp are part of the Southern Apennines orogenic wedge whose outermost front can be located in the Apulian Foreland Ramp since Pliocene

Styles and rates of deformation in the frontal accretionary wedge of the Calabrian Arc (Ionian Sea): controls exerted by the structure of the lower African plate

The Calabrian Arc is a narrow subduction-rollback system resulting from Africa/Eurasia plate convergence. We analysed the structural style of the frontal accretionary wedge through a multiscale geophysical approach. Pre-stack depth-migrated crustal-scale seismic profiles unravelled the overall geometry of the subduction complex; high-resolution multi-channel seismic and sub-bottom CHIRP profiles, together with morpho-structural maps, integrated deep data and constrained the fine structure of the frontal accretionary wedge, as well as deformation processes along the outer deformation front. We identified four main morpho-structural domains in the western lobe of the frontal wedge: the proto-deformation area at the transition with the abyssal plain; two regions of gentle and tight folding; a hummocky morphology domain with deep depressions and intervening structural highs; a highstanding plateau at the landward limit of the salt-bearing accretionary wedge, where the detachment cuts through deeper levels down to the basement. Variation of structural style and seafloor morphology in these domains are related to a progressively more intense deformation towards the inner wedge, while abrupt changes are linked to inherited structures in the lower African plate. Our data suggest focusing of intense shallow deformation in correspondence of deeply rooted faults and basement highs of the incoming plate. Back-arc extension in the Southern Tyrrhenian Sea has recently ceased, producing a slowdown of slab rollback and plate-boundary re-organization along trans-tensional lithospheric faults segmenting the continental margin. In this complex setting, it is not clear if the accretionary wedge is still growing through frontal accretion. Our data suggest that shortening is still active at the toe of the wedge, and uplift rates along single folds are in the range of 0.25-1.5 mm/yr. An unconformity within the Plio-Quaternary sediments suggests a discontinuity in sedimentation and tectonic processes, i.e. a slowdown of shortening rate or an increase in sedimentation rate, but not a real inactivation of frontal accretion, which still contribute

LIBER AMICORUM PER ANTONIO MATACENA

Vi sono professori che per spessore scientifico, capacit\ue0 divulgativa e carisma personale si distinguono da tutti gli altri e divengono \u201cmaestri\u201d, proprio come l\u2019etimo della parola richiederebbe. Per questi \u2013 e solo per questi \u2013 \ue8 consuetudine che nell\u2019ultimo anno accademico di ruolo venga curato un libro collettaneo, per celebrare i contributi scientifici e la figura accademica del maestro. La forma pi\uf9 diffusa e istituzionale \ue8 quella degli Scritti in onore di. Chi conosce Antonio Matacena, tuttavia, sa bene che le soluzioni istituzionali e pi\uf9 rassicuranti mal si adattano alla sua personalit\ue0 e al suo impegno intellettuale, sempre attento alla \u201calterit\ue0\u201d e spesso anticonvenzionale. Abbiamo quindi ritenuto che un liber amicorum \u2013 in grado di ospitare contributi eterogenei e non solo accademici \u2013 fosse la soluzione pi\uf9 efficacie per rappresentare la passione per l\u2019insegnamento e la gioia della condivisione che, insieme all\u2019innovazione scientifica, hanno caratterizzato la vita del nostro Maestro Antonio Matacena. In particolare, questo volume pi\uf9 che essere un liber amicorum, vuole essere un liber ab amicis, ossia una testimonianza dagli amici per il prof. Matacena, per ringraziarlo del ruolo che ha saputo svolgere nella vita di ciascuno, come studioso e come docente

Familial aggregation of MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery scores in a large sample of outpatients with schizophrenia and their unaffected relatives

Background: The increased use of the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) to investigate cognitive dysfunctions in schizophrenia fostered interest in its sensitivity in the context of family studies. As various measures of the same cognitive domains may have different power to distinguish between unaffected relatives of patients and controls, the relative sensitivity of MCCB tests for relativeâ\u80\u93control differences has to be established. We compared MCCB scores of 852 outpatients with schizophrenia (SCZ) with those of 342 unaffected relatives (REL) and a normative Italian sample of 774 healthy subjects (HCS). We examined familial aggregation of cognitive impairment by investigating within-family prediction of MCCB scores based on probandsâ\u80\u99 scores. Methods: Multivariate analysis of variance was used to analyze group differences in adjusted MCCB scores. Weighted least-squares analysis was used to investigate whether probandsâ\u80\u99 MCCB scores predicted REL neurocognitive performance. Results: SCZ were significantly impaired on all MCCB domains. REL had intermediate scores between SCZ and HCS, showing a similar pattern of impairment, except for social cognition. Proband's scores significantly predicted REL MCCB scores on all domains except for visual learning. Conclusions: In a large sample of stable patients with schizophrenia, living in the community, and in their unaffected relatives, MCCB demonstrated sensitivity to cognitive deficits in both groups. Our findings of significant within-family prediction of MCCB scores might reflect disease-related genetic or environmental factors