The Sabina strike-slip fault at the 'ancient marble' quarry of Cottanello (central Apennine, Italy)

The Geosite is a N10E strike-slip fault (Sabina Fault: Alfonsi et al. 1991), which crops out continuously within the western part of the Sabina area, in central Apennines, Italy. The shear zone of Sabina Fault is spectacularly exposed in an abandoned quarry, north of the village of Cottanello.Here, the Sabina fault system shows a peculiar petrofabric texture within the reddish marly limestones (Scaglia Rossa Formation) resulting in severe pressure solution and subsequent recrystallization of calcites, within extensional fractures and inside S-C structures whose frequency increases towards the main fault surface. These phenomena produced a peculiar lithological type, called Marmo di Cottanello (marbe of Cottanello), where the term 'marble' is used to describe a decorative stone used in antiquity.