A Neogene-Quaternary Geotraverse within the northern Calabrian Arc from the foreland peri-Ionian margin to the backarc Tyrrhenian margin

The fieldtrip corresponds to a transect across the northeastern to the western Calabria. The two-days fieldtrip illustrates the Miocene to Quaternary tectono-stratigraphic features of the two distinctive Calabria margins. Sedimentary architecture and tectonic activity are testified in the infill of basins. Some structural features of the Calabrian Neogene basins cropping out in the northern sector of Calabria are exposed. The first day concerns the Neogene structural and stratigraphic evolution of the eastern Calabria margin in the peri-Ionian piedmont. The fieldtrip focus on the effects of the tectonic deformation during Neogene sedimentation in the Rossano and Crotone basins. Typical foreland-basins characterized by clastic sediments were derived from uplifted fold-thrust belts exposing sedimentary, metasedimentary and plutonic source rocks. The entire stratigraphic, structural and compositional data set are interpreted using new general models of sequential evolution of foreland basin systems. The asymmetric fold growths, are also responsible of the progressive unconformities observed in the Rossano and Crotone basins. Facies associations record strong erosion and cannibalization processes of the lower stratigraphic unit, whereas a marine clastic sedimentation persisted in the Cirò basin. The exposed stratigraphic and structural architecture are related to the offshore borehole and seismic stratigraphy, suggesting the presence of structural highs, interpreted as thrust and folds and having the main onshore evidence in the “Cariati Nappe”. During the fieldtrip, some outcrops of the margin flexure and related progressive unconformities in the succession and major backthrust can be looked. Pliocene-Quaternary sedimentary architecture and tectonic activity will be observed in the Crotone basin. In the second day, the fieldtrip is mainly concentrated on the western margin of Coastal Chain along the Amantea basin. In this day other stops in the Crati basin on temporal and spatial distribution of transtensional and transpressional faulting involving the metamorphic units of the Coastal Chain and the Pliocene-Pleistocene deposits can be observed. To the north of the Amantea village, the marginal facies of the infill outcrop and the basin margin has been offset along the major fault zone. To the south of the Amantea village, tectono-stratigraphic assemblage of the second sequence and Tortonian growth faults can be observed. Panoramic view of the western Coastal Range piedmont zone will be shown during the Stop in the Fiumefreddo Bruzio village.