Belt bending driven by lateral bending of subducting lithospheric slab: geophysical evidences from the northern Apennines (Italy)

Abstract

Many of the mountain belts displaying a curved shape are ‘oroclines’, i.e. are produced after progressive bending of an originally straight fold and thrust belt. The bending process was previously explained as a consequence of several possible events taking place in the crustal orogenic wedge, such as occurrence of obstacles, non-coaxial deformation, and movements on wrench faults. Recent paleomagnetic results from the northern Apenninic Arc document that this belt is properly an orocline and results from Late Messinian–Early Pliocene bending of a Messinian straight belt–foredeep system. Tomographic images in turn show the presence of a high-velocity body, interpreted as subducted slab, in the upper mantle beneath the northern Apennines, between 35 and 670km depth. Down to 100km, this body displays an arcuate shape which closely mirrors the geological outlines, while it appears to be straight (and parallel to the Messinian pre-rotated belt) at depth. We explore here the possibility that the arcuate shape of the northern Apennines is a consequence, closely following in time, of much deeper processes than previously suggested, i.e. the lateral bending of the subducting Adriatic plate.