... 1 Danubian Energy Consulting, Bucharest, Romania 2 Bucharest University, Faculty of Geology a... more ... 1 Danubian Energy Consulting, Bucharest, Romania 2 Bucharest University, Faculty of Geology and Geophysics, Romania Emails: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] ...
X – ExPlanatory notes. ABSTRACT The 594-585 ”Partinico-Mondello” Map Sheet 1:50.000 includes mari... more X – ExPlanatory notes. ABSTRACT The 594-585 ”Partinico-Mondello” Map Sheet 1:50.000 includes marine and land areas of the topographic map sheet “Partinico” and “Mondello”. The map sheet “Partinico-Mondello” (Palermo Province) covers a part of the Sicily Fold and Thrust Belt (FTB) which has developed along the plate boundary between Africa and Europe in the Central Mediterranean. The Sicily FTB links the African Maghrebides to the Calabrian arc and the Southern Apennines. The FTB and its submerged western and northern extensions are partly located between the Sardinia block and the Pelagian-Ionian sector, and partly beneath the central southern Tyrrhenian Sea. In this sector of the Mediterranean area, the main compressional movements, after the Paleogene Alpine orogeny, began with the latest Oligocene-Early Miocene counterclockwise rotation of Corsica-Sardinia, believed to represent a volcanic arc, and its collision with the African continental margin. Thrusting occurred in connectio...
The crust under central Sicily, from the Tyrrhenian margin to the coastline of the Sicily Channel... more The crust under central Sicily, from the Tyrrhenian margin to the coastline of the Sicily Channel, has been investigated by the multidisciplinary (SI.RI.PRO.) research project. The SI.RI.PRO. transect confirmed that the NNW-dipping, autochthonous Iblean platform of SE Sicily and its basement extends all the way into central Sicily. Further NW, towards the NNW end of the transect, a large uplift involves the Iblean platform and its underlying basement. The associated gravity anomaly is interpreted as the southern wedge edge of the Tyrrhenian mantle that splits the subducting Iblean–Pelagian (African) continental slab from an overlying synformal stack of allochthonous thrust sheets. Among the several considerations: a) SIRIPRO confirms, following earlier paleomagnetic studies on the contrasting thrust sheets rotations, that overall the higher, more northern allochthonous thrust sheets of Sicily were emplaced prior to the lower units; b) the palinspastic restorations remain approximate...
ABSTRACT Neogene-Quaternary wedge-top-basins arose during the Sicilian Fold and Thrust Belt (FTB)... more ABSTRACT Neogene-Quaternary wedge-top-basins arose during the Sicilian Fold and Thrust Belt (FTB) build-up. The infilling sedimentary successions are: i) middle-upper Miocene silicoclastics succession, accommodated on top of the accreted Sicilide and Numidian Flysch nappes; ii) upper Miocene – lower Pliocene deepening-upwards sediments unconformably overlying the inner Meso-Cenozoic deep-water, Imerese and Sicanian Thrust Units; iii) Upper Pliocene – Quaternary coastal-open shelf deposits unconformably covering (in the outer sector of the FTB) a tectonic stack (Gela Thrust System). These successions are characterized by a basal unconformity on the deformed substrate believed to be the depositional interface common both to the coeval wedge-top and foredeep basins. The tectono-sedimentary evolution of the syn-tectonic basins was controlled by the progressive deepening of the structural levels, which were active during the growing of the FTB. The palinspastic restoration of a crustal geological transect in central Sicily points to: i) the occurrence of two subsequent, basal main thrusts (MT1 and MT2) active during the Neogene – middle Pleistocene tectonic evolution, as well as ii) a decrease in slip- and shortening-rate, estimated for the later MT2 as compared to earlier MT1 basal main thrust. The foreland-basin system evolution recorded during these two steps suggests: - the regional lithofacies distribution, during late Tortonian – early Pliocene, accounted for a wide depozone including the Iblean Plateau and its offshore; - a crucial change was recorded by the late Pliocene-Pleistocene wedge-top depozone, when the deeper basal main thrust (MT2) involved and thickened (in the inner sector of the FTB) the crystalline basement (thin- to thick-skinned thrust tectonics) influenced the depozones, progressively narrowing up to the present-day setting. As regards this general evolutionary framework, thin-skinned and thick-skinned thrust tectonics can be recognized in the Sicilian FTB evolution. The late Tortonian – early Pliocene, thin-skinned thrust tectonics include two main tectonic events, a “shallow-seated” Event 1 and a “deep-seated” Event 2, with the Pliocene-Pleistocene thick-skinned thrust tectonics representing a third tectonic event (Event 3).
We present an integrated stratigraphy of the outcropping and
buried Permian-Cenozoic deep-water c... more We present an integrated stratigraphy of the outcropping and buried Permian-Cenozoic deep-water carbonate successions, forming some of the tectonic units mostly buried beneath the Late Neogene sedimentary cover in the fold and thrust belt of Central Sicily. Three main successions, pertaining to the well known Lercara, Imerese and Sicanian domains, have been reconstructed on the basis of a detailed facies analysis, seismostratigraphic interpretation, bio - stratigraphy (mostly based on palynological data) and comparison between outcropping and subsurface deep-water sediments. The main results reveal a continuous sedimentation of the deepwater Southern Tethyan Sicilian succession since the Permian to Cenozoic. In detail: a) the Permian-Middle Triassic terrigenous and carbonate deep-water successions, outcropping or buried in the Cerda, Lercara-Roccapalumba and Sosio Valley regions, are well comparable to each other and represent the common substrate of the Mesozoic-Paleogene Imerese and Sicanian carbonate successions; b) the Mesozoic-Paleogene deep-water carbonates, when compared among them, reveal the occurrence of different sedimentary successions (Imerese and Sicanian); c) the Oligo-Miocene foreland basin terrigenous sediments (Numidian flysch) clearly differ from the coeval foreland pelagic to open-shelf carbonates. The paleogeographic reconstruction envisages: a) during the Permian-Triassic, a wide subsident continental rifting area, bordered by a shallow-water domain periodically supplying the basin with calciturbiditic to gravity flows sedimentation (rift stage of the Southern Tethyan margin); b) during the Jurassic-Paleogene, two different deep-water basins developed in a context of a post-rift stage. The different sedimentation reflects the location of the Imerese and Sica - nian basins, respectively, along adjacent rimmed shelf and stepped carbonate platform margins.
The promontory of Monte Gallo (Palermo, NW Sicily) is a spectacular site where Upper Triassic-
Eo... more The promontory of Monte Gallo (Palermo, NW Sicily) is a spectacular site where Upper Triassic- Eocene carbonate platform rocks and Quaternary continental to marine deposits are well exposed. A Mesozoic-Paleogene rock succession allows the potential visitor to easily detect the features and the evolution of the Panormide carbonate platform, a shallow-water paleogeographic domain of the Southern Tethyan margin. Quaternary deposits, as well many landforms, enable the visitor to directly identify the interplay between climate changes, tectonics and fluctuations of marine level that occurred during the Quaternary Period. A detailed geological map (1:15,000 mapping scale) is presented, accompanied by a stratigraphic correlation of logged sections and morpho-stratigraphic and tectonic schemes of the area, aimed at highlighting the geological heritage of Monte Gallo in support of the establishment of a Geosite. The Geological Map and relevant explanatory notes should be used as cartographic support and as a field trip guide for possible geological itineraries.
The crust under central Sicily, from the Tyrrhenian margin to the coastline of the Sicily Channel... more The crust under central Sicily, from the Tyrrhenian margin to the coastline of the Sicily Channel, has been investigated by the multidisciplinary (SI.RI.PRO.) research project. The SI.RI.PRO. transect confirmed that the NNW-dipping, autochthonous Iblean platform of SE Sicily and its basement extends all the way into central Sicily. Further NW, towards the NNW end of the transect, a large uplift involves the Iblean platform and its underlying basement. The associated gravity anomaly is interpreted as the southern wedge edge of the Tyrrhenian mantle that splits the subducting Iblean–Pelagian (African) continental slab from an overlying synformal stack of allochthonous thrust sheets. Among the several considerations: a) SIRIPRO confirms, following earlier paleomagnetic studies on the contrasting thrust sheets rotations, that overall the higher, more northern allochthonous thrust sheets of Sicily were emplaced prior to the lower units; b) the palinspastic restorations remain approximate...
X – ExPlanatory notes. ABSTRACT The 594-585 ”Partinico-Mondello” Map Sheet 1:50.000 includes mari... more X – ExPlanatory notes. ABSTRACT The 594-585 ”Partinico-Mondello” Map Sheet 1:50.000 includes marine and land areas of the topographic map sheet “Partinico” and “Mondello”. The map sheet “Partinico-Mondello” (Palermo Province) covers a part of the Sicily Fold and Thrust Belt (FTB) which has developed along the plate boundary between Africa and Europe in the Central Mediterranean. The Sicily FTB links the African Maghrebides to the Calabrian arc and the Southern Apennines. The FTB and its submerged western and northern extensions are partly located between the Sardinia block and the Pelagian-Ionian sector, and partly beneath the central southern Tyrrhenian Sea. In this sector of the Mediterranean area, the main compressional movements, after the Paleogene Alpine orogeny, began with the latest Oligocene-Early Miocene counterclockwise rotation of Corsica-Sardinia, believed to represent a volcanic arc, and its collision with the African continental margin. Thrusting occurred in connectio...
Vengono presentati i risultati di uno studio multidisciplinare condotto nell'area de La Montagnol... more Vengono presentati i risultati di uno studio multidisciplinare condotto nell'area de La Montagnola (Sicilia centrale). L'area indagata presenta peculiari aspetti scientifici e culturali. Essa costituisce un settore rappresentativo della geologia e della geomorfologia dei Monti Sicani. In questo settore si riconoscono: successioni di carbonati di mare profondo, del Giurassico-Eocene (successione Imerese) e le coperture clastico-torbiditiche dell'Oligo-Miocene (flysch Numidico); successioni di depositi clastico-evaporitici di bacino di wedge-top, del Miocene Pliocene; culminazioni anticlinaliche e fronte SO delle unità Imeresi sovrascorse sulle unità Sicane; forme fluviali di approfondimento, forme strutturali derivate, forme gravitative e forme di ruscellamento diffuso o concentrato, quali tipiche morfologie dei rilievi collinari della Sicilia centrale. Dal punto di vista speleologico e carsologico, l'elemento più significativo presente nell'area indagata, che costituisce anche l'emergenza di maggiore interesse, è la Grotta dell'Acqua Fitusa. Questa grotta è costituita da un sistema di cavità sotterranee la cui genesi è dovuta alla risalita di acque termali profonde di natura sulfurea. Al suo interno sono stati inoltre ritrovati resti scheletrici ed industriali di Homo sapiens, che conferiscono a questa cavità un importante valore antropologico; così come di sicuro interesse antropologico è la Rocca del Vruaro, con i suoi reperti industriali. La totalità dei dati acquisiti mostra quindi un'area con elementi geologici e antropologici significativi, di una certa importanza scientifica e culturale, tali da giustificare la proposizione di un Geosito.
... 1 Danubian Energy Consulting, Bucharest, Romania 2 Bucharest University, Faculty of Geology a... more ... 1 Danubian Energy Consulting, Bucharest, Romania 2 Bucharest University, Faculty of Geology and Geophysics, Romania Emails: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] ...
X – ExPlanatory notes. ABSTRACT The 594-585 ”Partinico-Mondello” Map Sheet 1:50.000 includes mari... more X – ExPlanatory notes. ABSTRACT The 594-585 ”Partinico-Mondello” Map Sheet 1:50.000 includes marine and land areas of the topographic map sheet “Partinico” and “Mondello”. The map sheet “Partinico-Mondello” (Palermo Province) covers a part of the Sicily Fold and Thrust Belt (FTB) which has developed along the plate boundary between Africa and Europe in the Central Mediterranean. The Sicily FTB links the African Maghrebides to the Calabrian arc and the Southern Apennines. The FTB and its submerged western and northern extensions are partly located between the Sardinia block and the Pelagian-Ionian sector, and partly beneath the central southern Tyrrhenian Sea. In this sector of the Mediterranean area, the main compressional movements, after the Paleogene Alpine orogeny, began with the latest Oligocene-Early Miocene counterclockwise rotation of Corsica-Sardinia, believed to represent a volcanic arc, and its collision with the African continental margin. Thrusting occurred in connectio...
The crust under central Sicily, from the Tyrrhenian margin to the coastline of the Sicily Channel... more The crust under central Sicily, from the Tyrrhenian margin to the coastline of the Sicily Channel, has been investigated by the multidisciplinary (SI.RI.PRO.) research project. The SI.RI.PRO. transect confirmed that the NNW-dipping, autochthonous Iblean platform of SE Sicily and its basement extends all the way into central Sicily. Further NW, towards the NNW end of the transect, a large uplift involves the Iblean platform and its underlying basement. The associated gravity anomaly is interpreted as the southern wedge edge of the Tyrrhenian mantle that splits the subducting Iblean–Pelagian (African) continental slab from an overlying synformal stack of allochthonous thrust sheets. Among the several considerations: a) SIRIPRO confirms, following earlier paleomagnetic studies on the contrasting thrust sheets rotations, that overall the higher, more northern allochthonous thrust sheets of Sicily were emplaced prior to the lower units; b) the palinspastic restorations remain approximate...
ABSTRACT Neogene-Quaternary wedge-top-basins arose during the Sicilian Fold and Thrust Belt (FTB)... more ABSTRACT Neogene-Quaternary wedge-top-basins arose during the Sicilian Fold and Thrust Belt (FTB) build-up. The infilling sedimentary successions are: i) middle-upper Miocene silicoclastics succession, accommodated on top of the accreted Sicilide and Numidian Flysch nappes; ii) upper Miocene – lower Pliocene deepening-upwards sediments unconformably overlying the inner Meso-Cenozoic deep-water, Imerese and Sicanian Thrust Units; iii) Upper Pliocene – Quaternary coastal-open shelf deposits unconformably covering (in the outer sector of the FTB) a tectonic stack (Gela Thrust System). These successions are characterized by a basal unconformity on the deformed substrate believed to be the depositional interface common both to the coeval wedge-top and foredeep basins. The tectono-sedimentary evolution of the syn-tectonic basins was controlled by the progressive deepening of the structural levels, which were active during the growing of the FTB. The palinspastic restoration of a crustal geological transect in central Sicily points to: i) the occurrence of two subsequent, basal main thrusts (MT1 and MT2) active during the Neogene – middle Pleistocene tectonic evolution, as well as ii) a decrease in slip- and shortening-rate, estimated for the later MT2 as compared to earlier MT1 basal main thrust. The foreland-basin system evolution recorded during these two steps suggests: - the regional lithofacies distribution, during late Tortonian – early Pliocene, accounted for a wide depozone including the Iblean Plateau and its offshore; - a crucial change was recorded by the late Pliocene-Pleistocene wedge-top depozone, when the deeper basal main thrust (MT2) involved and thickened (in the inner sector of the FTB) the crystalline basement (thin- to thick-skinned thrust tectonics) influenced the depozones, progressively narrowing up to the present-day setting. As regards this general evolutionary framework, thin-skinned and thick-skinned thrust tectonics can be recognized in the Sicilian FTB evolution. The late Tortonian – early Pliocene, thin-skinned thrust tectonics include two main tectonic events, a “shallow-seated” Event 1 and a “deep-seated” Event 2, with the Pliocene-Pleistocene thick-skinned thrust tectonics representing a third tectonic event (Event 3).
We present an integrated stratigraphy of the outcropping and
buried Permian-Cenozoic deep-water c... more We present an integrated stratigraphy of the outcropping and buried Permian-Cenozoic deep-water carbonate successions, forming some of the tectonic units mostly buried beneath the Late Neogene sedimentary cover in the fold and thrust belt of Central Sicily. Three main successions, pertaining to the well known Lercara, Imerese and Sicanian domains, have been reconstructed on the basis of a detailed facies analysis, seismostratigraphic interpretation, bio - stratigraphy (mostly based on palynological data) and comparison between outcropping and subsurface deep-water sediments. The main results reveal a continuous sedimentation of the deepwater Southern Tethyan Sicilian succession since the Permian to Cenozoic. In detail: a) the Permian-Middle Triassic terrigenous and carbonate deep-water successions, outcropping or buried in the Cerda, Lercara-Roccapalumba and Sosio Valley regions, are well comparable to each other and represent the common substrate of the Mesozoic-Paleogene Imerese and Sicanian carbonate successions; b) the Mesozoic-Paleogene deep-water carbonates, when compared among them, reveal the occurrence of different sedimentary successions (Imerese and Sicanian); c) the Oligo-Miocene foreland basin terrigenous sediments (Numidian flysch) clearly differ from the coeval foreland pelagic to open-shelf carbonates. The paleogeographic reconstruction envisages: a) during the Permian-Triassic, a wide subsident continental rifting area, bordered by a shallow-water domain periodically supplying the basin with calciturbiditic to gravity flows sedimentation (rift stage of the Southern Tethyan margin); b) during the Jurassic-Paleogene, two different deep-water basins developed in a context of a post-rift stage. The different sedimentation reflects the location of the Imerese and Sica - nian basins, respectively, along adjacent rimmed shelf and stepped carbonate platform margins.
The promontory of Monte Gallo (Palermo, NW Sicily) is a spectacular site where Upper Triassic-
Eo... more The promontory of Monte Gallo (Palermo, NW Sicily) is a spectacular site where Upper Triassic- Eocene carbonate platform rocks and Quaternary continental to marine deposits are well exposed. A Mesozoic-Paleogene rock succession allows the potential visitor to easily detect the features and the evolution of the Panormide carbonate platform, a shallow-water paleogeographic domain of the Southern Tethyan margin. Quaternary deposits, as well many landforms, enable the visitor to directly identify the interplay between climate changes, tectonics and fluctuations of marine level that occurred during the Quaternary Period. A detailed geological map (1:15,000 mapping scale) is presented, accompanied by a stratigraphic correlation of logged sections and morpho-stratigraphic and tectonic schemes of the area, aimed at highlighting the geological heritage of Monte Gallo in support of the establishment of a Geosite. The Geological Map and relevant explanatory notes should be used as cartographic support and as a field trip guide for possible geological itineraries.
The crust under central Sicily, from the Tyrrhenian margin to the coastline of the Sicily Channel... more The crust under central Sicily, from the Tyrrhenian margin to the coastline of the Sicily Channel, has been investigated by the multidisciplinary (SI.RI.PRO.) research project. The SI.RI.PRO. transect confirmed that the NNW-dipping, autochthonous Iblean platform of SE Sicily and its basement extends all the way into central Sicily. Further NW, towards the NNW end of the transect, a large uplift involves the Iblean platform and its underlying basement. The associated gravity anomaly is interpreted as the southern wedge edge of the Tyrrhenian mantle that splits the subducting Iblean–Pelagian (African) continental slab from an overlying synformal stack of allochthonous thrust sheets. Among the several considerations: a) SIRIPRO confirms, following earlier paleomagnetic studies on the contrasting thrust sheets rotations, that overall the higher, more northern allochthonous thrust sheets of Sicily were emplaced prior to the lower units; b) the palinspastic restorations remain approximate...
X – ExPlanatory notes. ABSTRACT The 594-585 ”Partinico-Mondello” Map Sheet 1:50.000 includes mari... more X – ExPlanatory notes. ABSTRACT The 594-585 ”Partinico-Mondello” Map Sheet 1:50.000 includes marine and land areas of the topographic map sheet “Partinico” and “Mondello”. The map sheet “Partinico-Mondello” (Palermo Province) covers a part of the Sicily Fold and Thrust Belt (FTB) which has developed along the plate boundary between Africa and Europe in the Central Mediterranean. The Sicily FTB links the African Maghrebides to the Calabrian arc and the Southern Apennines. The FTB and its submerged western and northern extensions are partly located between the Sardinia block and the Pelagian-Ionian sector, and partly beneath the central southern Tyrrhenian Sea. In this sector of the Mediterranean area, the main compressional movements, after the Paleogene Alpine orogeny, began with the latest Oligocene-Early Miocene counterclockwise rotation of Corsica-Sardinia, believed to represent a volcanic arc, and its collision with the African continental margin. Thrusting occurred in connectio...
Vengono presentati i risultati di uno studio multidisciplinare condotto nell'area de La Montagnol... more Vengono presentati i risultati di uno studio multidisciplinare condotto nell'area de La Montagnola (Sicilia centrale). L'area indagata presenta peculiari aspetti scientifici e culturali. Essa costituisce un settore rappresentativo della geologia e della geomorfologia dei Monti Sicani. In questo settore si riconoscono: successioni di carbonati di mare profondo, del Giurassico-Eocene (successione Imerese) e le coperture clastico-torbiditiche dell'Oligo-Miocene (flysch Numidico); successioni di depositi clastico-evaporitici di bacino di wedge-top, del Miocene Pliocene; culminazioni anticlinaliche e fronte SO delle unità Imeresi sovrascorse sulle unità Sicane; forme fluviali di approfondimento, forme strutturali derivate, forme gravitative e forme di ruscellamento diffuso o concentrato, quali tipiche morfologie dei rilievi collinari della Sicilia centrale. Dal punto di vista speleologico e carsologico, l'elemento più significativo presente nell'area indagata, che costituisce anche l'emergenza di maggiore interesse, è la Grotta dell'Acqua Fitusa. Questa grotta è costituita da un sistema di cavità sotterranee la cui genesi è dovuta alla risalita di acque termali profonde di natura sulfurea. Al suo interno sono stati inoltre ritrovati resti scheletrici ed industriali di Homo sapiens, che conferiscono a questa cavità un importante valore antropologico; così come di sicuro interesse antropologico è la Rocca del Vruaro, con i suoi reperti industriali. La totalità dei dati acquisiti mostra quindi un'area con elementi geologici e antropologici significativi, di una certa importanza scientifica e culturale, tali da giustificare la proposizione di un Geosito.
The extended, well documented and richly illustrated monograph dedicated to LITHOSTRATRIGRAPHY OF... more The extended, well documented and richly illustrated monograph dedicated to LITHOSTRATRIGRAPHY OF SICILY, written by Luca Basilone from the University of Palermo, deserves a special presentation. It displays the results of over ten years of field work carried out under the expert and careful guidance of Raimondo Catalano and from related detailed sedimentologic, microcropaleontologic and microfacies analysis. The work is pertinent in particular to several geological sheets of the new geologic map at the scale 1:50 000 of the Italian CARG project, but it has a much broader context, that extends well beyond the sheets boundaries.
The extended, well documented and richly illustrated monograph dedicated to LITHOSTRATRIGRAPHY OF... more The extended, well documented and richly illustrated monograph dedicated to LITHOSTRATRIGRAPHY OF SICILY, written by Luca Basilone from the University of Palermo, deserves a special presentation. It displays the results of over ten years of field work carried out under the expert and careful guidance of Raimondo Catalano and from related detailed sedimentologic, microcropaleontologic and microfacies analysis. The work is pertinent in particular to several geological sheets of the new geologic map at the scale 1:50 000 of the Italian CARG project, but it has a much broader context, that extends well beyond the sheets boundaries.
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Papers by Luca Basilone
buried Permian-Cenozoic deep-water carbonate successions, forming
some of the tectonic units mostly buried beneath the Late Neogene
sedimentary cover in the fold and thrust belt of Central Sicily.
Three main successions, pertaining to the well known Lercara,
Imerese and Sicanian domains, have been reconstructed on the basis
of a detailed facies analysis, seismostratigraphic interpretation, bio -
stratigraphy (mostly based on palynological data) and comparison
between outcropping and subsurface deep-water sediments.
The main results reveal a continuous sedimentation of the deepwater
Southern Tethyan Sicilian succession since the Permian to
Cenozoic. In detail: a) the Permian-Middle Triassic terrigenous and
carbonate deep-water successions, outcropping or buried in the
Cerda, Lercara-Roccapalumba and Sosio Valley regions, are well
comparable to each other and represent the common substrate of
the Mesozoic-Paleogene Imerese and Sicanian carbonate successions;
b) the Mesozoic-Paleogene deep-water carbonates, when compared
among them, reveal the occurrence of different sedimentary
successions (Imerese and Sicanian); c) the Oligo-Miocene foreland
basin terrigenous sediments (Numidian flysch) clearly differ from
the coeval foreland pelagic to open-shelf carbonates.
The paleogeographic reconstruction envisages: a) during the
Permian-Triassic, a wide subsident continental rifting area, bordered
by a shallow-water domain periodically supplying the basin with calciturbiditic
to gravity flows sedimentation (rift stage of the Southern
Tethyan margin); b) during the Jurassic-Paleogene, two different
deep-water basins developed in a context of a post-rift stage. The different
sedimentation reflects the location of the Imerese and Sica -
nian basins, respectively, along adjacent rimmed shelf and stepped
carbonate platform margins.
Eocene carbonate platform rocks and Quaternary continental to marine deposits are well
exposed. A Mesozoic-Paleogene rock succession allows the potential visitor to easily detect
the features and the evolution of the Panormide carbonate platform, a shallow-water
paleogeographic domain of the Southern Tethyan margin. Quaternary deposits, as well many
landforms, enable the visitor to directly identify the interplay between climate changes,
tectonics and fluctuations of marine level that occurred during the Quaternary Period. A
detailed geological map (1:15,000 mapping scale) is presented, accompanied by a
stratigraphic correlation of logged sections and morpho-stratigraphic and tectonic schemes
of the area, aimed at highlighting the geological heritage of Monte Gallo in support of the
establishment of a Geosite. The Geological Map and relevant explanatory notes should be
used as cartographic support and as a field trip guide for possible geological itineraries.
buried Permian-Cenozoic deep-water carbonate successions, forming
some of the tectonic units mostly buried beneath the Late Neogene
sedimentary cover in the fold and thrust belt of Central Sicily.
Three main successions, pertaining to the well known Lercara,
Imerese and Sicanian domains, have been reconstructed on the basis
of a detailed facies analysis, seismostratigraphic interpretation, bio -
stratigraphy (mostly based on palynological data) and comparison
between outcropping and subsurface deep-water sediments.
The main results reveal a continuous sedimentation of the deepwater
Southern Tethyan Sicilian succession since the Permian to
Cenozoic. In detail: a) the Permian-Middle Triassic terrigenous and
carbonate deep-water successions, outcropping or buried in the
Cerda, Lercara-Roccapalumba and Sosio Valley regions, are well
comparable to each other and represent the common substrate of
the Mesozoic-Paleogene Imerese and Sicanian carbonate successions;
b) the Mesozoic-Paleogene deep-water carbonates, when compared
among them, reveal the occurrence of different sedimentary
successions (Imerese and Sicanian); c) the Oligo-Miocene foreland
basin terrigenous sediments (Numidian flysch) clearly differ from
the coeval foreland pelagic to open-shelf carbonates.
The paleogeographic reconstruction envisages: a) during the
Permian-Triassic, a wide subsident continental rifting area, bordered
by a shallow-water domain periodically supplying the basin with calciturbiditic
to gravity flows sedimentation (rift stage of the Southern
Tethyan margin); b) during the Jurassic-Paleogene, two different
deep-water basins developed in a context of a post-rift stage. The different
sedimentation reflects the location of the Imerese and Sica -
nian basins, respectively, along adjacent rimmed shelf and stepped
carbonate platform margins.
Eocene carbonate platform rocks and Quaternary continental to marine deposits are well
exposed. A Mesozoic-Paleogene rock succession allows the potential visitor to easily detect
the features and the evolution of the Panormide carbonate platform, a shallow-water
paleogeographic domain of the Southern Tethyan margin. Quaternary deposits, as well many
landforms, enable the visitor to directly identify the interplay between climate changes,
tectonics and fluctuations of marine level that occurred during the Quaternary Period. A
detailed geological map (1:15,000 mapping scale) is presented, accompanied by a
stratigraphic correlation of logged sections and morpho-stratigraphic and tectonic schemes
of the area, aimed at highlighting the geological heritage of Monte Gallo in support of the
establishment of a Geosite. The Geological Map and relevant explanatory notes should be
used as cartographic support and as a field trip guide for possible geological itineraries.