Brittle deformations in the Upper Pleistocene deposits of the Crotone Peninsula, Calabria, southern Italy

Abstract

The structural setting of the Crotone Peninsula (Calabria, southern Italy) is discussed in this paper. Structural analyses were carried out both on a regional and an outcrop scale to detect the main structural systems and the stress field which affected the area during the Late Pleistocene. The tectonic features observed in the area are represented by normal faults and extensional joints: the regional-scale faults are arranged in five main systems striking ENE-WSW, NNE-SSW, E-W, NW-SE and NNW-SSE. They are responsible for the dislocation of four marine depositional units (Cutro Terrace, correlatable with the isotopic stage 7; S. Leonardo-Campolongo-Isola di Capo Rizzuto Terrace, correlatable with the isotopic substage 5e; Le Castella-Capo Rizzuto Terrace, correlatable with the isotopic substage 5c and Capo Colonne Terrace, correlatable with the isotopic substage 5a) in several distinct terraces. From the studies carried out on a mesostructural scale it is possible to conclude that for the last 200,000 yrs the Crotone Peninsula was affected by an extensional stress field. The comparison between the average uplift rates calculated for the Crotone Peninsula terraces and those computed for several Upper Pleistocene deposits located in Sicily, Calabria and Campania suggests that the intense tectonics which affected the Crotone Peninsula can be related to the geodynamic activity of the Calabrian Arc.