TITLE:
Belt-Parallel Shortening in the Northern Apennines and Seismotectonic Implications
AUTHORS:
Marcello Viti, Enzo Mantovani, Daniele Babbucci, Caterina Tamburelli, Nicola Cenni, Massimo Baglione, Vittorio D’Intinosante
KEYWORDS:
Northern Apennines, Seismotectonics, Oroclinal Bending
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Geosciences,
Vol.6 No.8,
August
31,
2015
ABSTRACT: Major seismic activity in
the Northern Apennines concentrates in few zones, distributed in a peculiar
way. It is argued that such context may be plausibly explained as an effect of
belt-parallelshortening, which
has caused oroclinal bending of the longitudinal ridges formed during the Late
Miocene to Lower Pliocene evolutionary phase. The main effects of this process,
developed since the upper Pliocene, have mainly affected the outer sectors of
the belt. The major seismic sources have generated in the zones where different
oroclinal bendings of adjacent ridges have produced extensional/transtensional
deformation. In the inner side of the Northern Apennines, belt parallel
shortening has occurred at a lower rate. The main effects have resulted from
the shortening of theAlbano-Chianti-Rapolano-Cetona
ridge. In particular, the proposed tectonic setting may accountfor the moderate seismic activity that
occurs in the Firenze, Elsa, Pesa, Siena and Radicofani basins.