Progressive changes in rifting directions in the Campania margin (Italy): New constrains for the Tyrrhenian Sea opening

Current models for the opening of the Tyrrhenian Sea invoke a unique extension vector throughout the rift to drift process, accommodated by margin parallel faults, but the role of the Campania margin faults in the opening of the Tyrrhenian back-arc basin is still poorly constrained. Gaeta Bay, located on the Campania mar- gin, was investigated through the interpretation of seismic reflection and borehole data together with a strat- igraphic correlation of dated outcropping units. The interpretation of a seismic grid using seismic and sequence stratigraphy and structural geology approaches in a dedicated GIS environment led to the genera- tion of 2-D models of relevant geological surfaces, isochron maps, a 3-D digital model of the subsurface and to the reconstruction of the geological evolution of the margin with a resolution of 100 ka. Gaeta Bay is formed by three basins (northern, central and southern) and features a complex stratigraphic architecture: in the northern and central basins a syn-rift deposit (unit PP) is buried by the oldest aggradational deposit (unit A) that fills the accommodation space; a post 0.7 Ma succession (units B and C) filled the northern basin with a lateral aggradational geometry; a syn-tectonic wedge (unit B) was deposited in the central basin between 0.7 and 0.4 Ma; post 0.4 Ma thick deposits (unit C) are testimony to the collapse of the southern basin. A correlation between the geology of the bathyal basin and that of the Campania margin was established using a CROP seismic section that extended from the Vavilov basin to Gaeta Bay. Based on original and literature data we propose a kinematic evolution of the Tyrrhenian Sea upper plate over the last 10 Ma. This evolution consists of older extensional events (stages 1-2) off Sardinia and in the Vavilov basin (leaving the Campania margin unaffected). Younger events (stages 3-5) developed in the eastern (with a Pliocene-Quaternary change of the extension direction along the Campania Margin) and central Tyrrhenian region. This paper suggests that the Tyrrhenian Sea opening was a polyphase rifting with a migration of activity and a change of style over time (including a period of lithospheric detachment faulting). © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.