Folding within Upper Miocene deposits of the Calabrian Coast Range (Southern Italy)

The Tyrrhenian margin of northern Calabria is characterised by discontinuous outcrops of Late Tortonian-Messinian clastic deposits. These late Miocene successions, constituted by conglomerates, clays, calcarenites and evaporitic arenites, lie unconformably over the Calabrian igneous and metamorphic rocks. A detailed structural study in a sample area, located around the village of Belvedere Marittimo, allowed us to evaluate the deformation style of these Upper Miocene deposits. These successions display a double noncoaxial set of folds. The first compressive deformation shows an Apenninic axis of shortening (NE-SW), while the second displays a strike of folds comparable to Calabrian Arc structures (NE-SW). These two sets of folds represent two distinct structural stages linked to a progressive incorporation in the Calabrian Arc domain of portions of the Apenninic Chain.