Reconstructing stress magnitude evolution in deformed carbonates: a paleopaleopiezometric study of the Cingoli anticline (North-Central Apennines, Italy)

Abstract

<p>Picturing the distribution of stress, in term of magnitude and orientation, during the development of a fold-and-thrusts belt is key for many fundamental and applied purposes, e.g., crustal rheology, orogen dynamics, fluid dynamics and prediction of reservoir properties. Specific meso- and micro-structures observed in fold-and-thrust belts and related forelands (i.e., faults, stylolites, veins and calcite twins), on top of being good markers of the deformation sequence that affected the rocks before, during and after folding and thrusting, can be used to access the past stress orientation and/or magnitude. This study reports the result of a paleopiezometric analysis of calcite twins and stylolite roughness documented in Mesozoic carbonates cropping out in the Cingoli anticline, an arcuate fold in the Umbria-Marche Apennine Ridge (UMAR), where a complex fracturing sequence was highlighted in a previously published study. The stylolite roughness inversion technique (SRIT) was applied to tectonic stylolites related to early folding layer-parallel shortening (LPS), and the calcite twin inversion technique (CSIT) was applied to cements from veins related to either foreland flexure or LPS. Both inversion processes require somehow the knowledge of the depth at which deformation occurred, as the vertical stress is an input for SRIT in the case of its application to tectonic stylolites, and as the differential stress magnitudes obtained by CSIT combined to vertical stress magnitude provides access to the absolute principal stress magnitudes. Building on a previously published time-burial path valid for the studied strata at the Cingoli anticline that also predicted the timing of each deformation stage, we quantify differential and principal stress magnitudes at the scale of the anticline. Beyond regional implications, our approach helps improve our knowledge of the past stress magnitudes in folded carbonate reservoirs.</p>