Magnetic fabric of Plio-Pleistocene sediments from the Crotone fore-arc basin: Insights on the recent tectonic evolution of the Calabrian Arc (Italy)

Abstract

Low-field anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) analyses were performed on 532 samples col-lected in 36 (mostly lower Pliocene to lower Pleistocene) marine clay sites from the Crotone basin, afore-arc basin located on top of the external Calabrian accretionary wedge. The Crotone basin formedsince mid-late Miocene under a predominant extensional tectonic regime, but it was influenced there-after by complex interactions with NW–SE left-lateral strike-faults bounding the basin, which also yieldedpost-1.2 Ma ~30◦counterclockwise block rotations. The basin is filled by continental to marine sedimentsyielding one of the thickest and best-exposed Neogene succession available worldwide. The deep-marinefacies – represented by blue-grey marly clays gave the best results, as they both preserved a clear mag-netic fabric, and provided accurate chronology based on previously published magnetostratigraphy andcalcareous plankton (i.e. foraminifers and nannofossils) biostratigraphy. Magnetic susceptibility rangeand rock magnetic analyses both indicate that AMS reflects paramagnetic clay matrix crystal arrange-ment. The fabric is predominantly oblate to triaxial, the anisotropy degree low (<1.06), and the magneticfoliation mostly subparallel to bedding. Magnetic lineation is defined in 30 out of 36 sites (where thee12 angle is <35◦). By also considering local structural analysis data, we find that magnetic fabric wasgenerally acquired during the first tectonic phases occurring after sediment deposition, thus validatingits use as temporally dependent strain proxy. Although most of the magnetic lineations trend NW–SE andare orthogonal to normal faults (as observed elsewhere in Calabria), few NE–SW compressive lineationsshow that the Neogene extensional regime of the Crotone basin was punctuated by compressive episodes.Finally, compressive lineations (prolate magnetic fabric) documented along the strike-slip fault boundingthe basin to the south support the significance of Pleistocene strike-slip tectonics. Thus the Crotone basinshows a markedly different tectonics with respect to other internal and western basins of Calabria, asit yields a magnetic fabric still dominated by extensional tectonics but also revealing arc-normal short-ening episodes and recent strike-slip fault activity. The tectonics documented in the Crotone basin iscompatible with a continuous upper crustal structural reorganization occurring during the SE-migrationof the Calabria terrane above the Ionian subduction system.