Stratigraphy and depositional setting of slurry and contained (reflected) beds in the Marnoso-arenacea Formation (Langhian-Serravallian) Northern Apennines, Italy

Abstract

This work presents the stratigraphy and facies analysis of an interval of about 2500 m in the Langhian and Serravallian stratigraphic succession of the foredeep turbidites of the Marnoso-arenacea Formation. A high-resolution stratigraphic analysis was performed by measuring seven stratigraphic logs between the Sillaro and Marecchia lines (60 km apart) for a total thickness of about 6700 m. The data suggest that the stratigraphy and depositional setting of the studied interval was influenced by syndepositional structural deformations. The studied stratigraphic succession has been subdivided into five informal stratigraphic units on the basis of how structurally controlled topographic highs and depocentres, a consequence of thrust propagation, change over time. These physiographic changes of the foredeep basin have also been reconstructed through the progressive appearance and disappearance of thrust-related mass-transport complexes and of five bed types interpreted as being related to structurally controlled basin morphology. Apart from Bouma-like Type-4 beds, Type-1 tripartite beds, characterized by an internal slurry unit, tend to increase especially in structurally controlled stratigraphic units where intrabasinal topographic highs and depocentres with slope changes favour both mud erosion and decelerations. Type-2 beds, with an internal slump-type chaotic unit, characterize the basal boundary of structurally controlled stratigraphic units and are interpreted as indicating tectonic uplift. Type-3 beds are contained-reflected beds that indicate different degrees of basin confinement, while Type-5 are thin and fine-grained beds deposited by dilute reflected turbulent flows able to rise up the topographic highs. The vertical and lateral distribution of these beds has been used to understand the synsedimentary structural control of the studied stratigraphic succession, represented in the Marnoso-arenacea Formation by subtle topographic highs and depocentres created by thrust-propagation folds and emplacements of large mass-transport complexes.