Ricerc@Sapienza

This research initiative aims at improving our fundamental multiscalar understanding of the dynamic evolution of orogenic belts from rifting to shortening and late orogenic extension. By studying carefully selected key areas of the Apennines, northern Calabria and Oman Mountains, this project will address the: 1) definition of burial and exhumation paths in space and time; 2) deformation style (continuum vs. episodic, and possibly seismic deformation); 3) analysis of the time relationships among thrust-sheet emplacement, internal deformation by folding and extensional tectonics and the study of the rates of the controlling processes.
The project will implement a completely novel scientific approach based on the combination of multiscalar stratigraphic and structural analysis with the study of thermal and thermochronological evolution of sedimentary units and dating of low-temperature deformation episodes. We aim at measuring the timing and rates of the processes that have steered the nucleation and growth of the belts, by K-Ar dating of fine-grained synkinematic clay minerals formed in brittle and brittle-ductile fault rocks and by X-ray diffraction of mixed layered minerals formed during burial. We further aim at investigating the processes that triggered orogenic extension by U-Pb analysis of synkinematic calcite and U-Th/He and fission track analysis of apatite crystals dispersed in sediments. We expect to improve significantly the existing and only loosely time-constrained models of nucleation and development of the Apennines and Oman Mountains by adding tight constraints on the exact temporal dimension involved in buildup and subsequent tearing down of the orogens. Numerical modeling will aid the final synthesis of the project, where results will be collated to constrain the long-term tectonic evolution of the orogens in space and time. A fine understanding of orogen dynamics will help us to better assess hydrogeological and seismic risk in the Italian region.