Strain features and small-scale diapirism in Pleistocene unconsolidated sediments of central Italy

The main cause for the investigated deformation events appears to be the existence of the inverse density gradient between the clay and the sand layers, especially in relation to the high specific weight of the sand granules. In other words, the origin of the deformation could have been purely depositional. It is not possible to demonstrate whether it was triggered by external causes or not; some caution is therefore needed before attributing the occurrence of certain sedimentary structures to paleoseismic events. -from Authors