Elsevier

Earth-Science Reviews

Volume 232, September 2022, 104114
Earth-Science Reviews

Structural and sedimentary origin of the Gargano - Pelagosa gateway and impact on sedimentary evolution during the Messinian Salinity Crisis

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2022.104114Get rights and content

Abstract

Circulation of water masses, sediment, and biotope between the sub-basins of the Mediterranean Sea strongly depends on morphological oceanic gateways. These geological features react to geodynamic reorganisation through volcanism, vertical movements, and/or the segmentation of sedimentary basins. Despite the palaeogeographic relevance of straits and oceanic-gateways, their evolution and impact on sedimentary transports and deposition in the Mediterranean remain in general poorly constrained. The Gargano-Pelagosa gateway is here first recognized as an influential element of the palaeogeographic/environmental evolution of the central-southern Apenninic foredeep and wedge-top domains during the Messinian, as shown by the integration of (i) seismic lines, (ii) well information from the Adriatic Sea, and (iii) a review of both onshore and offshore structural data and Messinian depositional environments. A palinspastic evolution is proposed for the Apennine and south Adriatic foredeeps during the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC: 5.97–5.33 Ma). We highlight the implication of the pre-MSC structural legacy and the development of the Apennine and Dinarid-Albanian chains in 1) the isolation of the Apennine foredeep from the deep central Mediterranean domains at the peak of the MSC; 2) the vertical movements at the Gargano-Pelagosa structure and the Apulian Platform and 3) their implication in the deposition of a chaotic sedimentary body.

Introduction

The paleocurrents, and therefore the evolution of the paleoclimate but also of the dispersal of sediments and their deposition, is strongly linked to the presence and evolution of straits which can act as open passages (oceanic gateways) or barriers (Straume et al., 2020). In the Mediterranean Sea, the present-day physiographic map shows a strong segmentation with several major oceanic gateways (i.e. the Gibraltar, Sicilian, Aegean straits) and secondary oceanic gateways (Fig. 1). As circulation of water masses, sediment, and biotope between the sub-basins of the Mediterranean Sea strongly depends on these morphological oceanic-gateways, their evolution is of primary importance to understand the morphological and sedimentary evolution of the different basins (e.g. Leever et al., 2010; Flecker et al., 2015; Palcu et al., 2017; Suc et al., 2015; Balázs et al., 2017; Pellen et al., 2017; Amadori et al., 2018; Camerlenghi et al., 2020). This is particulary critical in the case of large relative sea-level variations, such as during the MSC (5.97–5.33 Ma) (Manzi et al., 2013) when huge amount of gypsum was only deposited along the Apennine Foreland (Manzi et al., 2020), and a understanding approach of the Mediterranean Sea needs very detailled local studies, such as for the Betic, Rifain, Balkan or Iron Gate gateways (Fig. 1; Betzler et al., 2006; Krijgsman et al., 2006; Suc et al., 2011, Suc et al., 2015; Do Couto et al., 2016).

The Gargano-Pelagosa gateway, located on the Adria plate and separating the central and the south Adriatic basins, perfectly displays the relationship between the inherited sedimentary structure (e.g. Argnani, 2013), vertical tectonic motion and sea-level variation, and their impacts on water mass exchange during the Neogene. To understand the relationship between each process, we focus on the connection between the Adriatic foredeep, the South Adriatic Basin (SAB) and the deep Ionian Sea (through the former Lagonegro Basin) during the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC: 5.97–5.33 Ma) taking account of the pre-MSC inherited sedimentary and/or tectonic features.

In this study, we describe the segmentation and tectonic history of each domain surrounding the Gargano-Pelagosa gateway by compiling the onshore and offshore structural and sedimentary features. These observations are completed by the compilation of borehole data and seismic profiles between the Central Adriatic Basin (CAB) and the South Adriatic Basin (SAB). This set of data allowed us to re-evaluate the relationships of MSC environment history with the structural heritage and to present palinspastic and environmental reconstructions for the Messinian period.

Section snippets

Early history of the Adria plate

The present-day structure of the central Mediterranean area and the Adria plate results from the interaction between the African, European, Iberic and Adria plates since the breakup of the mega-continent Pangea (for a review, see Cavazza et al., 2004).

Mesozoic palaeogeographic reconstructions suggest two main sub-orthogonal extensional directions associated with the development of Neotethysian oceanic domains: NW-SE and NE-SW (Ciarapica and Passeri, 2002; in Vezzani et al., 2010; Stampfli and

Data and methodology

To characterize the development of Cenozoic and MSC units along the Central Adriatic Basin (CAB) and South Adriatic Basin (SAB), we merged seismic reflection profiles studied during the academia-industry program GRI Méditerranée (Groupement Recherche-Industrie) and vintage industrial profiles obtained from the VIDEPI website (https://www.videpi.com/videpi/videpi.asp) and reprocessed. Fig. 5 present the distribution of the seismic lines used in this study and highlight the line drawings

Post-Mesozoic sedimentary evolution between the CAB and SAB from borehole observation

The Gargano Peninsula and Palagruža Island (see location in Fig. 2) mark the boundary between the south (SAB) and central (CAB) Adriatic basins. The depth of the top of the Mesozoic series reached in boreholes varies markedly between 2400 and 2900 m in the SAB and 1700-2000 m in the CAB (Figs. 6a, and 6b). The transition between the two basins is influenced by several structural features of different wavelengths.

The Gargano Peninsula is the most elevated portion of the Apulian foreland and is

Evolution of marine corridors across the Adria plate during the Messinian (7.2–5.33 Ma)

The identification of the Gargano-Pelagosa strait and its impact on the distribution of MSC deposits makes it possible to draw detailed palaeotectonic-paleoenvironmental reconstructions of the study area of the Pelagosa Strait during Messinian times (Fig. 10, Fig. 11, Fig. 12, Fig. 13, Fig. 14, Fig. 15). For each stage, two maps show the palinspatic reconstruction and palaeoenvironmental information of the area. The kinematic motion of the Calabria block, the Adria plate, and the north Apulian

Conclusions

The Gargano-Pelagosa gateway is here first recognized as an influential element of the palaeogeographic/environmental evolution of the central-southern Apenninic foredeep and wedge-top domains during the Messinian, as shown by the integration of (i) seismic lines, (ii) well information from the Adriatic Sea, and (iii) a review of both onshore and offshore structural data and Messinian depositional environments. Several processes concur to explain the isolation of the Apennine foredeep during

Declaration of Competing Interest

We confirm that we have no conflicts of interest related to this research, this work is original to its form and has not been published elsewhere, nor is under consideration for publication elsewhere.

Acknowledgment

We acknowledge the “Visibilità dei dati afferenti all’ atticità du esplorazione petrolifera in Italia (VIDEPI)” for the public release of borehole and seismic data and their easy access. This work was supported by Action Marge project, Labex MER and the ISblue Theme 2 project, co-funded by a post-doctoral grant awarded to R. Pellen by IFREMER and UBO. We are also grateful to Alison Chalm for English proofreading.

References (201)

  • G. Clauzon et al.

    New insights on the Sorbas Basin (SE Spain): the onshore reference of the Messinian Salinity Crisis

    Mar. Pet. Geol.

    (2015)
  • G. De Alteriis

    Different foreland basins in Italy: examples from the central and southern Adriatic Sea

    Tectonophysics

    (1995)
  • D. Do Couto et al.

    Tectonic and stratigraphic evolution of the Western Alboran Sea Basin in the last 25Myrs

    Tectonophysics

    (2016)
  • D. Esu

    Latest Messinian “Lago-Mare” Lymnocardiinae from Italy: Close relations with the Pontian fauna from the Dacic Basin: geobios

    (2007)
  • C. Faranda et al.

    Late Miocene brackish Loxoconchidae (Crustacea, Ostracoda) from Italy

    Geobios

    (2007)
  • S. Fauquette et al.

    Quantifying the Eocene to Pleistocene topographic evolution of the southwestern Alps, France and Italy

    Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.

    (2015)
  • S. Fauquette et al.

    Reconstruction of the Northern and Central Apennines (Italy) palaeoaltitudes during the late Neogene from pollen data

    Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol.

    (2015)
  • R. Flecker et al.

    Evolution of the Late Miocene Mediterranean–Atlantic gateways and their impact on regional and global environmental change

    Earth Sci. Rev.

    (2015)
  • J. Gattacceca et al.

    Paleomagnetism of Jurassic to Miocene sediments from the Apenninic carbonate platform (southern Apennines, Italy) : evidence for a 60° counterclockwise Miocene rotation: Earth and planet

    Sci. Lett.

    (2002)
  • E. Gliozzi et al.

    Paratethyan Ostracod immigrants in Italy during the Late Miocene: geobios

    (2007)
  • R. Govers et al.

    Regional isostatic response to Messinian Salinity Crisis events

    Tectonophysics

    (2009)
  • A. Afilhado et al.

    Deep crustal structure across a young passive margin from wide-angle and reflection seismic data (The SARDINIA Experiment) – II. Sardinia's margin

    Bulletin de la société géologique de france

    (2015)
  • C. Amadori et al.

    Restored topography of the Po Plain-Northern Adriatic region during the Messinian base-level drop—Implications for the physiography and compartmentalization of the palaeo-Mediterranean basin: Basin Research

    (2018)
  • O. Amore et al.

    La successione miocenica del Matese nord-occidentale: nuevi dati biostratigrafici e conseguenti ipotesi paleogeografiche

    Memorie della Societa Geologica d'Italia

    (1988)
  • G.F. Andriani et al.

    The influence of the geological setting on the morphogenetic evolution of the Tremiti Archipelago (Apulia, Southeastern Italy)

    Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

    (2005)
  • A. Argnani

    The influence of Mesozoic palaeogeography on the variations in structural style along the front of the Albanid thrust-and-fold belt: Italian

    J. Geosci.

    (2013)
  • A. Argnani

    Mesozoic palaeogeography of Adria: Hints on the origin of the Skutari-Pec Line

  • A. Argnani et al.

    Stili strutturali al fronte della catena appenninica nell'Adriatico centro-settentrionale

    Studi Geologici Camerti Special

    (1995)
  • A. Argnani et al.

    Foreland deformational pattern in the Southern Adriatic Sea

    Ann. Geophys.

    (1993)
  • A. Argnani et al.

    Tectonics of the Mattinata fault, offshore south Gargano (southern Adriatic Sea, Italy): Implications for active deformation and seismotectonics in the foreland of the Southern Apennines

    Geol. Soc. Am. Bull.

    (2009)
  • A. Artoni

    Messinian events within the tectono-stratigraphic evolution of the Southern Laga Basin (Central Apennines, Italy)

    Bollettino della Societa Geologica Italiana

    (2003)
  • A. Artoni et al.

    Sequential balancing of growth structures, the late tertiary example from the central Apennine

    Bulletin de la société géologique de france

    (1997)
  • A. Ascione et al.

    The Pliocene–Quaternary wedge-top basins of southern Italy: an expression of propagating lateral slab tear beneath the Apennines

    Basin Res.

    (2012)
  • F. Bache et al.

    A two-step process for the reflooding of the Mediterranean after the Messinian Salinity Crisis

    Basin Res.

    (2012)
  • A. Balázs et al.

    Tectonic and climatic controls on asymmetric half-graben sedimentation: inferences from 3-D numerical modelling

    Tectonics

    (2017)
  • A.W. Bally et al.

    Balanced sections and seismic reflection profiles across the Central Apennines

    Memorie dellà Società Geologica Italiana

    (1986)
  • M. Barone et al.

    Stratigraphy and Detrital Modes of Upper Messinian Post-evaporitic Sandstones of the Southern Apennines, Italy: evidence of Foreland-Basin Evolution during the Messinian Mediterranean Salinity Crisis

    Int. Geol. Rev.

    (2006)
  • M. Barone et al.

    Detrital modes in a late Miocene wedge-top basin, northeastern Calabria, Italy: compositional record of wedgetop partitioning

    J. Sediment. Res.

    (2008)
  • M. Bellagamba

    Gli “strati a Congerie” di Capanne di Bronzo (Pesaro) del Messiniano terminale e deduzioni paleoambientali

    Acta Naturalia dell'Ateneo Parmense

    (1978)
  • L. Ben-Moshe et al.

    Estimating drawdown magnitudes of the Mediterranean Sea in the Levant basin during the Lago Mare stage of the Messinian Salinity Crisis

    Mar. Geol.

    (2020)
  • A. Bertini

    The Northern Apennines palynological record as a contribute for the reconstruction of the Messinian palaeoenvironments

    Sediment. Geol.

    (2006)
  • C. Betzler et al.

    Closure of a seaway: stratigraphic record and facies (Guadix basin, Southern Spain)

    Int. J. Earth Sci.

    (2006)
  • G. Bigi et al.

    Structural Model of Italy scale 1:500.000, sheet 1–6. C.N.R., Progetto Finalizzato Geodinamica, SELCA Firenze

    (1990)
  • S. Bigi et al.

    Stratigraphy, structural setting and burial history of the Messinian Laga basin in the context of Apennine foreland basin system

    J. Mediterranean Earth Sci.

    (2009)
  • S. Bigi et al.

    Seismic interpretation of the Laga basin; constraints on the structural setting and kinematics of the Central Apennines

    J. Geol. Soc.

    (2011)
  • A. Billi et al.

    Neogene-Quaternary intraforeland transpression along a Mesozoic platform-basin margin: The Gargano fault system, Adria, Italy

    Geosphere

    (2007)
  • M. Boccaletti et al.

    Palinspastic restoration and paleogeographic recontruction of the Peri-Tyrrhenian area during the Neogene

    Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol.

    (1990)
  • G. Booth-Rea et al.

    The Alboran volcanic-arc modulated the Messinian faunal exhange and salinity crisis

    Nat. Sci. Rep.

    (2018)
  • R.W.H. Butler et al.

    Styles of continental contraction: a review and introduction: In: Styles of Continental Contraction (Ed. by S. Mazzoli and R.W.H. Butler), GSA Special Paper

    (2006)
  • R.W.H. Butler et al.

    Tectonics and sequence stratigraphy in Messinian basins, Sicily: constraints on the initiation and termination of the Mediterranean salinity crisis: Geological Society of

    America

    (1995)
  • Cited by (0)

    View full text