Latest Miocene to Quaternary horizontal and vertical displacement rates during simultaneous contraction and extension in the Southern Apennines orogen, Italy

Abstract

AbstractForeland contraction and hinterland extension in the Southern Apennines orogen of Italy produced a complex spatial and temporal pattern of vertical and horizontal displacement. Remarkably, Late Miocene to mid‐Pleistocene foreland migration of the contractional front at ∼16 mm yr−1 was not accompanied by uplift and the frontal thrust belt remained at or below sea level. Only following a mid‐Pleistocene reduction in horizontal displacement did the frontal thrust belt and foreland begin uplift at ∼0.5 mm yr−1, a rate that increased to ∼1 mm yr−1 after 125 ka. Although the extensional hinterland experienced net subsidence during formation of the Tyrrhenian basin, an extensional transition zone adjacent to the frontal thrust belt records sustained uplift at ∼0.3 mm yr−1. The interaction of preexisting crustal structure and deep tectonic processes resulted in time‐integrated displacement rates suggesting steady‐state deformation for periods of 106 years. Displacement rate changes were abrupt and occurred over intervals of 105 years or less.