GeoSed - Associazione Italiana per la Geologia del Sedimentario
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra dell'Università di Siena
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Table of Contents


Vol. 9 - 2010

Vol. 8 - 2009

Vol. 7 - 2008
SP 1 - 2008

Vol. 6 - 2007
Vol. 5 - 2006
Vol. 4 - 2005
Vol. 3 - 2004
Vol. 2 - 2003
Vol. 1 - 2001-2002

Notes for Authors
(PDF - 80 kb)



GeoActa Special Publication 1 2008


Acquisto online

GeoActa
an international Journal of Earth Sciences


Claudio Corrado Lucente
Servizio Tecnico Bacini Enza, Panaro e Secchia, sede di Modena, Regione Emilia-Romagna, via Fonteraso 15, 41100 Modena, Italy. E-mail: clucente@regione.emilia-romagna.it
Gian Andrea Pini
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e Geologico-Ambientali, Universita` di Bologna, Via Zamboni 67, 40127 Bologna, Italy
Cipriano De Libero
Podere Calmaino 26, 56048 Volterra (PI)

The role of large-scale sedimentary failures at the wedge front-foredeep boundary: a case study from the northern Apennines, Italy


Volume 5, 2006, pages 113-128

PDF (2.2 MB)
Abstract

The Modino complex is a composite chaotic body, more than 400 m thick, extending for more than 50 kilometers. It is intercalated within the lower Miocene turbidite succession of the Northern Apennines. The sedimentary versus tectonic mechanism of emplacement of this body is still matter of debate. New field observations carried out along two transects - alongside the Mt. Modino and the Mt. Nuda slopes - led us to interpret the Modino complex as a large-scale, multi-story submarine landslide deposited onto the foredeep basin and, therefore, to consider it one of the largest fossil examples known in literature. A retrogressive slope failure seems to be the most reliable mechanism driving the emplacement of the masswasting deposit triggered by tectonic oversteepening, with instability beginning in the foredeep and subsequently propagating to the slope and the accretionary wedge front. The deposition of such slide reduced the accommodation space within the foredeep, thus forcing turbidite deposition in a more northeasterly position, i.e. shifting the depocentre toward the foreland. The original physiographic conditions were restored after leveling the topographic differences.

Keywords: Northern Apennines, Miocene foredeep, Chaotic complex, Melange, Olistostrome