Active foreland deformation evidenced by shallow folds and faults affecting late Quaternary shelf-slope deposits (Adriatic Sea, Italy)

A succession of depositional sequences, recording middle-late Pleistocene and Holocene glacial-interglacial cycles, documents the impact of short-term tectonic deformation on the western Adriatic margin. The western Adriatic margin is part of the Apennine foreland which was intensely, though variably, deformed during the Meso-Cenozoic evolution of the Adriatic region from a passive margin to a foreland basin. The study area extends offshore Gargano Promontory, an uplifted sector of the Adriatic foreland, and includes three major deformation belts located along or cross-strike to the margin: (1) the NW-SE Gallignani-Pelagosa ridge, (2) the WSW-ENE Tremiti-Pianosa high (both located north of Gargano) and (3) the W-E to NW-SE Gondola fault deformation belt (in the south Adriatic). Long-term deformation along these tectonic lineaments is documented on conventional low-frequency seismic profiles by regional folds and faults affecting Eocene-Miocene units overlain by dominantly draping Plio-Quaternary deposits. At this scale of observation, only north of Gargano Promontory there is some evidence of Plio-Quaternary units thinning against structural highs, thus suggesting that tectonic deformation was protracted through this interval. Based on new high-resolution seismic data, we show that deformation along these pre-existing tectonic structures continued during the Quaternary, affecting middle-late Pleistocene and even Holocene units on the shelf and upper slope north and south of Gargano Promontory. These recent deformations consist of gentle folds and high-angle faults, locally producing topographic relief that affects the stratigraphy and thickness of syn-tectonic deposits. We interpret the small-scale, shallow faults and gentle folds affecting middle-late Pleistocene and Holocene deposits, north and south Gargano Promontory, as the evidence of ongoing foreland deformation along inherited regional fold and fault systems.