The Plio-Pleistocene evolution of the Crotone Basin (southern Italy): Interplay between sedimentation, tectonics and eustasy in the frame of Calabrian Arc migration

The Crotone Basin is the exposed part of a larger Neogene forearc basin developed in the Ionian Sea in the frame of the SE-ward migration of the Calabrian Arc, which led to the subduction of the Ionian lithosphere and the spreading of the Tyrrhenian back-arc Basin (central Mediterranean). Taking into account the geologic context that accompanied its accumulation, the Plio-Pleistocene part of the Crotone Basin succession is exceptionally well preserved, and consists of a suite of continental, paralic, shallow-marine and deep-marine deposits organized to form unconformity bounded stratal units that in turn compose two main tectono-stratigraphic cycles. The unconformities separating these units are well recognizable along the basin margin and tend to vanish basinwards, and they record phases of basin reorganization linked to large-scale tectonics. In particular, the basin evolution was characterized by a cyclic pattern consisting of an alternation between longer subsidence phases, that favored the accumulation of stratal units, and uplift phases that led to base-level falls and the generation of unconformities. These phases were strictly related to an alternation between active subduction of the Ionian lithosphere below the Calabrian Arc, accompanied by the spreading of the Tyrrhenian back-arc Basin and by extension and subsidence in the forearc basin, and regional-scale compressional and transpressional events, during which the Arc migration temporarily stopped. The younger uplift of the basin, started during middle Pleistocene and still active, was characterized by extensional tectonics, and its interplay with glacio-eustasy controlled the formation of marine terraces. Since the Plio-Pleistocene tectonic episodes affecting the Calabrian Arc during its SE-ward migration seem to be all recorded in the Crotone Basin, the recognition of their effects on the basin fill and their time constraint become both critical, representing a reference to develop a clearer picture on the complex evolution of the central Mediterranean. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.