Neotectonic significance of bedrock fault scarps: case studies from the Lazio-Abruzzi Apennines (central Italy)

Bedrock fault scarps essentially comprise emergent fault planes, weathered to a greater or lesser extent by erosional activity and are generally located on the lower parts of fault-generated mountain slopes. Their importance in neotectonics lies in the possibility that, as occurs with corresponding scarps in unconsolidated recent sediments, they may be related to recent tectonic deformations. However, while the tectonic significance of fault scarps in recent deposits is relatively easy to interpret, similar results and studies are more difficult to obtain for bedrock fault scarps. This is because these morphological elements form a continuum produced in different ways. Studies of various fault scarps in carbonates of the Lazio-Abruzzi Apennine have highlighted the variety of processes which may have given rise to the bedrock fault scarps. While some scarps have a clear tectonic origin, others are the products of exhumation or re-exhumation of buried structures as a result of landslides or erosional processes. -from Authors