Calabria, Sicily, and the Umbria-Marche and Sabina Apennines display styles of extension during the Early Jurassic rift phase, which can be contrasted based on recent advances in research across these regions. These structural differences also resulted in differences in the development and geometries of the pelagic and clastic deposits which characterize the network of basins and structural highs of each continental-margin tract. Jurassic Calabria was part of a vast high of the Hercynian basement, also including the Sardinia-Corsica block, made of metamorphic and intrusive Paleozoic rocks. Here the rift faults coud locally have a marked oblique-slip component, which resulted in the sequestering of clastic sediments within geographically isolated compartments. In the Apennines, the pattern of synsedimentary faults was dictated over by the existence of very thick Upper Jurassic salt, which acted as a shallow (in the Early Jurassic) detachment layer and was instrumental in producing a dense network of small structural highs and narrow basins. In Western Sicily (Trapanese and Sciacca Domains), basaltic volcanism accompanied the stretching of the African Plate.
