Abstract In this paper we inferred the origin of a huge clastic deposit (i.e. L'Aquila Breccia) which widely crops out within the L'Aquila intermontane basin, a tectonic depression in central Apennines, that is bounded by seismogenic active faults, as demonstrated by the earthquake occurred on April 6, 2009 (Mw 6.1). The genesis of this deposit is still debated in the literature: for this reason, a number of methods have been applied, mainly aimed at evidencing its geomorphological and sedimentological features, as well as at defining its geometry and volume through cross sections constrained by borehole data and field observations. On the basis of the obtained results, we identified such deposit as resulting from a Quaternary rock avalanche event. In particular, the rock avalanche would have detached during the cold climate phases of late Middle Pleistocene from the southern slope of the Gran Sasso Range, a sector characterized by the presence of numerous DGSD-related landforms. We performed morphometric analyses of the Gran Sasso slope, in order to define the potential source area of the inferred rock avalanche and, according to the results, the volume estimated from this area (about 108 m3) is coherent with the volume calculated for the preserved rock avalanche deposit. Furthermore, we analyzed the main features of the deposit (i.e. age and morphometric parameters) also in the light of similar rock avalanche events occurred in the same region during the Quaternary, with the aim of discussing potential analogues and better understanding the role of gravity-induced processes in the Quaternary morpho-evolution of the Apennine chain.

中文翻译：

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亚平宁山脉第四纪岩崩：拉奎拉盆地（意大利中部）巨大碎屑沉积的新数据和解释

摘要 在本文中，我们推断了一个巨大的碎屑矿床（即 L'Aquila Breccia）的起源，该矿床在 L'Aquila 山间盆地内广泛出露，该盆地是亚平宁山脉中部的构造凹陷，以地震活动断层为界，如地震发生在 2009 年 4 月 6 日（Mw 6.1）。该矿床的成因在文献中仍然存在争议：为此，已经应用了许多方法，主要旨在证明其地貌和沉积学特征，以及通过受钻孔数据约束的横截面来定义其几何形状和体积和实地观察。根据获得的结果，我们确定该矿床是由第四纪岩崩事件形成的。特别是，在中更新世晚期的寒冷气候阶段，岩石雪崩会从格兰萨索山脉的南坡分离，该地区的特点是存在许多与 DGSD 相关的地貌。我们对 Gran Sasso 斜坡进行了形态测量分析，以确定推断的岩石雪崩的潜在源区，根据结果，从该区域估计的体积（约 108 立方米）与为保存的岩崩计算的体积一致。岩崩矿床。此外，我们还根据第四纪同一地区发生的类似岩崩事件，分析了矿床的主要特征（即年龄和形态参数），