Evolution of the late Quaternary San Gregorio Magno tectono-karstic basin (southern Italy) inferred from geomorphological, tephrostratigraphical and palaecological analyses: tectonic implications

Abstract

The Pantano di San Gregorio Magno is a 4.7 km 2 large tectono-karstic basin located in the axial belt of the Southern Apennines, an area affected by intense seismicity. The basin was formed in the Middle Pleistocene and is presently undissected. It is filled by lacustrine sediments (clays, silts and pyroclastic sands) passing laterally into alluvial fan deposits. Geomorphological investigations were integrated with tephrostratigraphical, palynological and palaeoecological analyses of a 61 m thick core (not reaching the bedrock). The multiproxy analysis of the S. Gregorio Magno record shows that, over the last 200k yr, the basin hosted a freshwater lake with an oscillating level. Age constraints provided by the tephrostratigraphic record allowed estimation of the sedimentation rate, which varied strongly through time. Evolution of the basin resulted from the complex combination of tectonic subsidence, karst processes and changing amounts of sedimentary inputs. The latter was influenced by allogenic contributions related both to primary and reworked volcanoclastic inputs and was climate-driven. The overall evidence, which indicates that in the long-term the accumulation rate substantially counterbalanced the accommodation space created by faulting, suggests that the basin evolution was also modulated by changing subsidence rates.