Fault activity and marine terracing in the Capo Vaticano area (southern Calabria) during the Middle-Late Quaternary

Abstract

The Capo Vaticano peninsula is a structural high bordered by several normal fault segments, mainly striking NE–SW and WNW–ESE and belonging to the so-called “Siculo-Calabrian rift zone”. Both the two fault systems extend in the Tyrrhenian offshore and show recent activity. In the Capo Vaticano peninsula, six orders of marine terraces with their preserved paleoshorelines and a top surface have been recognised. They form a continuous set of morphological elements ascribed to the last seven principal high-stands of the eustatic curve, occurred from 330 to 60 kyr, on the basis of new chronological data available in the recent literature. The morphotectonic analysis of the paleoshorelines allowed recognition of a deformation pattern characterised by a northeastward tilting of the area and to quantify the uplift rates. Moreover, vertical slip-rates ranging between 0.25 and 2.5 mm/yr have been calculated for a WNW–ESE trending fault segment (the Coccorino Fault). In this structural framework, the Late Quaternary uplift of the Capo Vaticano peninsula can be related to the activity of both the NE–SW and WNW–ESE striking normal fault systems, added to the regional component of uplift. The recent activity of these structures is also suggested by the 1905 seismic event that occurred offshore of the Capo Vaticano peninsula.