Deformation of 125 ka marine terraces: tectonic implications

Abstract

In peninsular Italy, marine terraces and shorelines created during oxygen- isotope substage 5e, known historically as the Tyrrhenian highstand, provide a reliable and homogeneous datum of vertical motions during the past 125,000 years. Published accounts of 121 locations on the Tyrrhenian inner edge were reinterpreted and used to calculate both local and regional uplift rates. The data show arching of southern Italy between the Tyrrhenian and the Adriatic coasts and of the Calabrian Arc between the Sangineto and the Longi-Taormina tectonic lineaments at rates of up to 1.2 mm/yr for the past 125 ka. They also suggest that the present configuration of the southern Apennines is the product of post-Early Pleistocene regional uplift superimposed on Tortonian to Early Pleistocene thrusting. Uplift patterns are characterised by different wavelength in different geodynamic settings, suggesting a close link with the depth of the causative tectonic sources.