The Lower Miocene volcaniclastic sedimentation in the Sicilian sector of the Maghrebian Flysch Basin: geodynamic implications |
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| Authors: | Paola de Capoa Angelida Di Staso Francesco Guerrera Vincenzo Perrone Mario Tramontana Mohamed Najib Zaghloul |
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| Institution: | 1. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra , Università di Napoli “Federico II” , Largo San Marcellino 10, 80138 , Naples , Italy;2. Istituto di Geologia, Università di Urbino , Campus Scientifico, Località Crocicchio, 61029 , Urbino , Italy;3. Istituto di Geodinamica e Sedimentologia, Università di Urbino , Campus Scientifico, Località Crocicchio, 61029 , Urbino , Italy;4. Département des Sciences de la terre et d'Océanologie , Université Abdelmalek Essaadi de Tanger , Morocco |
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| Abstract: | Abstract Volcaniclastic debris-rich formations, characterising the Troina-Tusa Unit in the Sicilian Maghrebian Chain, are examined. The Troina-Tusa Unit terrains sedimented in the Maghrebian Flysch Basin, which, from Jurassic to Early Miocene, constituted the southernmost branch of the Western Tethys, located between Africa and the Mesomediterranean Terrane margins. New field, biostratigraphic and pétrographie data enable a reconstruction of the palaeogeographic and structural evolution of the Flysch Basin immediately before its deformation. All the studied formations transpired to be Burdigalian in age. The sandstone compositions, showing different source areas (magmatic arc, recycled orogen and continental block), indicate a provenance for the clastic material from a crystalline basement with an active volcanic arc, replaced by a remnant volcanic arc, which was rapidly completely eroded. The source area that has been considered is Sardinia, where Upper Oligocene -Aquitanian calc-alkaline volcanites are widespread, but the sedimentological characteristics and the Burdigalian age do not fit with this provenance. The Burdigalian calc-alkaline arc should be located on the internal side of the Troina-Tusa Basin, above the already stacked Peloritanian units. A migration of the volcanic activity, connected with the subduction plain roll-back, can be envisaged from the Sardinia Block to the Peloritanian Chain, this latter still docked to the Sardinia-Corsica massif. © 2002 Editions scientifiques et médicales Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved. |
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| Keywords: | Volcaniclastic sedimentation Geodynamics Early Miocene Maghrebian Flysch Basin Sicily |
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