Foredeep turbidites of the Miocene Marnoso-arenacea Formation (Northern Apennines)
AAPG International Conference & Exhibition - Milan, 2011
This field trip guidebook was prepared for the AAPG International Conference & Exhibition that was held in Milan in October 2011. The main targets of this 3-days field trip were the stratigraphy, facies and processes of foredeep turbidites of the Marnoso-areancea Formation (MAF, Langhian-Tortonian) outcropping in the north-eastern Apennines, in an area included between the Santerno and Savio Valleys (60km apart). Among foredeep turbidites, the MAF is probably the best exposed and less structurally deformed, due to its relatively external position within the Apenninic orogen. These characteristics have often favoured detailed physical stratigraphy studies, such as the pioneering ones by Ricci Lucchi and his co-workers.
Specifically, this study is based on a new high-resolution stratigraphic framework made by measuring stratigraphic logs for a total thickness of about 9 km, and is focused on two specific aspects of the MAF sedimentation: A) the synsedimentary structural control affecting the turbidites deposited in an elongate, NW-stretched complex foredeep, and B) the vertical facies changes of the MAF stratigraphic succession (more than 4000m thick) in relation to the progressive closure, uplift and consequent fragmentation of the foredeep due to the north-eastward propagation of the Apennine orogenic wedge.
DOI: 10.3301/GFT.2012.03