Quaternary International 101–102 (2003) 81–91

Long-term behaviour of the late Quaternary normal faultsin the Straits of Messina area (Calabrian arc): structural and

morphological constraints

Stefano Catalano*, Giorgio De Guidi, Carmelo Monaco, Giuseppe Tortorici,Luigi Tortorici

Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche, Universit "a di Catania, Corso Italia 55, 95129 Catania, Italy

Abstract

The Calabrian arc is located in the peri-Tyrrhenian orogenic belt of southern Italy and is characterised by intense post-collision

dynamics. This consists of rapid regional uplifting combined with active normal faulting affecting the Tyrrhenian side of Calabria

and the Ionian coast of Sicily (the ‘‘Siculo-Calabrian rift zone’’). The effects of the two combined processes are well exposed in the

Straits of Messina area that represent a major transfer zone located between two opposing sets of normal faults characterising the

southern Calabria and the northeastern Sicily branches of the rift. In the Straits of Messina region, the distribution and elevation of

the upper Quaternary marine terraces suggest a southward propagation of the normal fault belt, from Calabria to Sicily. It occurred

at about 125 ka, after a long period of tectonic quiescence and was triggered by huge elastic releases in southern Calabria. The long-

term behaviour recorded on the distinct fault segments of the rift is to relate to the presence of a crustal barrier that influenced both

the geometry and the fault propagation along the rift zone.

r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

The southern Calabria and the eastern Sicily regions,in the peri-Tyrrhenian collision belt of southern Italy,are characterised by intense late Quaternary deforma-tion and high level crustal seismicity (Gasparini et al.,1982; Ghisetti and Vezzani, 1982), derived from thecombination of large scale uplifting of the mountain belt(Ghisetti, 1981; Dumas et al., 1982; Valensise andPantosti, 1992; Westaway, 1993; Catalano and Cinque,1995; Tortorici et al., 1995; Catalano and Di Stefano,1997) and active faulting that originated the ‘‘Siculo-Calabrian rift zone’’ (SCRZ; Fig. 1) (Monaco et al.,1997; Bianca et al., 1999; Monaco and Tortorici, 2000;Jacques et al., 2001). The effects of the two interactingprocesses are well exposed in the Straits of Messina area,where the normal faults (Dumas et al., 1978; Ghisetti,1984; Bottari et al., 1986; Monaco et al., 1996) markedby well-preserved scarps, dissect several, strongly

uplifted, Quaternary marine terraces. Several kinematicmodels have been proposed based on the relationshipsbetween the seismogenic source of the 1908 MessinaStrait earthquake and the coseismic deformation affect-ing the area (Ghisetti, 1984, 1992; Mulargia et al., 1984;Bottari et al., 1986; Valensise and Pantosti, 1992). Thesemodels predict a general coseismic subsidence of coastalareas on both sides of the straits and a stronger upliftingof the Calabrian side with respect to Sicily.Starting from this evidence, structural and morpho-

logic analyses have been carried out in the Straits ofMessina area, in order to evaluate the faulting-inducedperturbation of the regional signal of tectonic uplifting.Morphotectonic studies of fault scarps and terracesoccurring in this area were based on the analysis of1:10,000 and 1:33,000 scale aerial photographs and fieldsurveys on 1:10,000 scale topographic maps. Field datawere combined with chronological data on terraces andpaleoshorelines available in the literature. The analysisaims to determine a high-resolution timing of thefaulting-related deformations, in order to reconstructthe long-term behaviour of the late Quaternary normalfault segments in the Straits of Messina area.

*Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-95-7195-714; fax: +39-95-7195-

712.

E-mail address: catalano@mbox.unict.it (S. Catalano).

1040-6182/02/$ - see front matter r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

PII: S 1 0 4 0 - 6 1 8 2 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 9 1 - 5

Fig. 1. (a) Tectonic sketch map of southern Calabria and eastern Sicily (after Monaco and Tortorici, 2000; modified) showing the geometry of the

Quaternary normal fault belt of the Siculo-Calabrian rift zone, crossing the thickened crustal area located at the transition between the Calabrian arc

and the foreland domains (Hyblean Plateau and Ionian Sea). The location of epicentres of the main historical seismic events (Mp6.5; Ho35 km;data from Postpischl, 1985; Boschi et al., 1995, 1997), are reported. (b) Transect showing the crustal architecture at the transition between the

Calabrian arc and the African domains in Eastern Sicily (after Cristofolini et al., 1979; Panza et al., 1980; Nicolich, 1981; Locardi and Nicolich,

1988). The tectonic setting is dominated by a main oblique (dextral) shear zone (Kumeta-Alcantara line of Ghisetti and Vezzani, 1987), separating the

continental crust of the Calabrian arc, resting on the subducted Ionian domains, from the continental crust of the African foreland.

S. Catalano et al. / Quaternary International 101–102 (2003) 81–9182

2. Tectonic setting

The southern Calabria and the eastern Sicily (Fig. 1)represent the southern edge of the Calabrian arc(Tortorici, 1983), a prominent arc-shaped segment ofthe peri-Tyrrhenian mountain belt, which developedduring the Neogene-Quaternary Africa–Europe colli-sion (Dewey et al., 1989; Ben Avraham et al., 1990;Boccaletti et al., 1990). At the present, the Calabrian arcrepresents a thickened crustal area (Boccaletti et al.,1990; Locardi and Nicolich, 1988), which is confinedbetween a series of peri-Tyrrhenian Plio-Pleistoceneextensional basins and a Neogene-Quaternary accre-tionary wedge, located in the outer edge of the arc(Ghisetti and Vezzani, 1982; Boccaletti et al., 1990;Finetti et al., 1996).During the Quaternary, huge regional uplifting

affected the whole Calabrian arc. Several authors(Ghisetti, 1981; Dumas et al., 1982; Mulargia et al.,1984; Westaway, 1993; Catalano and Cinque, 1995;Tortorici et al., 1995; Catalano and Di Stefano, 1997)estimated, in different sites of the arc (Fig. 1), a time-averaged uplift rate of about 1mm/a.Emergence of the area was coupled, since the middle

Pleistocene, with the extensional processes whichoriginated the SCRZ, from the Tyrrhenian side of theCalabrian arc to the African foreland on the Ioniancoast of southeastern Sicily, for a length of about370 km (Monaco and Tortorici, 2000). The southernCalabrian branch of the rift zone consists of NNE–SSWoriented, west-facing master faults, which are distrib-uted both in the onshore and the offshore of theTyrrhenian coast (Fig. 1). The southern termination ofthis branch comprises the ENE–WSW oriented ScillaFault and the NNE–SSW trending Reggio Calabria(RCF) that have been respectively responsible for the1783 and the 1908 earthquakes (Mp7; Baratta, 1901,1910; Monaco and Tortorici, 2000; Jacques et al., 2001,and references therein). The two seismogenic faultsflank a half-graben that is filled with middle Pleistocene(300–200ka) syntectonic clastic fans (Ghiaie di MessinaFm.; Bada et al., 1991; Bonfiglio, 1991; Catalano andCinque, 1995; Tortorici et al., 1995; Monaco et al., 1996).The northeastern Sicily branch of the extensional belt

(Fig. 1) is represented by a NNE–SSW trending, east-facing, normal fault belt, here designed Taormina FaultZone (TFZ; ‘‘Messina-Fiumefreddo System’’ of Ghiset-ti, 1979; see also Bosi et al., 1983; Scandone et al., 1991;Monaco et al., 1997). The fault zone bounds a 40 km-long segment of the Ionian coast that, extending fromthe south of Messina to the Taormina region, is markedby severely uplifted upper Quaternary marine terraces(Catalano and De Guidi, 2002). The most updatedcatalogues of historical earthquakes in Italy (Postpischl,1985; Boschi et al., 1995, 1997) outline a low level toabsent seismicity along the TFZ. Nevertheless, several

morphologic features suggest very recent activity alongthe fault zone. The most impressive evidence isrepresented by the four Holocene elevated notch levels,preserved on the carbonate promontory of Taorminaand Capo S. Alessio, at a distance of about 10 km,parallel to the coast. These elevated shorelines have beeninterpreted as the expression of repeated co-seismicdisplacements occurring during the last 5 ka (Stewartet al., 1997). Between the two opposing branches of therift zone, an antithetic interference zone (Gawthorpeand Hurst, 1993) developed in the Straits of Messinaarea, where the rift crosses the thickened crust area(Fig. 1; Panza et al., 1980; Nicolich, 1981; Locardi andNicolich, 1988) of the previous collision belt.

3. Late Quaternary uplift in the Straits of Messina area

The evaluation of the late Quaternary uplift rateaffecting the seismogenic fault belt of the SCRZ hasbeen carried out on both sides of the Straits of Messinaregion, by means of the elevation of the inner edges ofage-constrained middle–upper Pleistocene marine ter-races. In the uplifted regions, the elevation of the inneredges of each order of marine terraces marks themaximum sea-level transgression, associated with ahighstand (Lajoie, 1986; Westaway, 1993; Cinque et al.,1995; Armijo et al. 1996; Bosi et al., 1996; Bianca et al.,1999). Thus, the elevation of successive inner edges canbe converted into the vertical displacement of thecorrelative eustatic peaks of a reference eustatic curve,in a time–elevation diagram (m/ka). The result is anapparent eustatic curve that takes into account thecombination of eustatic and tectonic uplifting (Fig. 2).The net uplift rate is represented by the gradient of theapparent eustatic curve in the diagram, that is betterindicated by the deformation of the 0m reference line ortectonic behaviour of the land (TBL) line (Cinque et al.,1995). The TBL line is represented by a horizontal line,in the case of stable lands; by an inclined straight line, inthe case of uniform uplift rate; and by a broken line, inthe case of uplift rate changing over time. In all thesecases, the apparent eustatic curve and the TBL lineprovide the time variation of the net uplift rate of land,with the resolution of the eustatic changes (20 ka duringthe late Quaternary).The apparent eustatic curves for different sites of

southern Calabria and eastern Sicily have been recon-structed by detailed field mapping, on 1:10,000 scalemaps (contour elevation lines of 10m), of marineterraces and their relative inner and outer edges. Anuncertainty in the elevation of the inner edges of 75ma.s.l., basically depending on the effects of sub-aerialerosional and depositional processes, has been admittedin the field measurement. The induced error is, however,negligible in the evaluation of the uplift rate with the

S. Catalano et al. / Quaternary International 101–102 (2003) 81–91 83

adopted time resolution. The graphic restitution of theapparent eustatic curves is derived from correction ofthe eustatic curve proposed by Chappel and Shackleton(1986).

3.1. Southern Calabria

In southern Calabria, a flight of five marine terraces,distributed along the coast from Villa S. Giovanni andthe town of Reggio Calabria (Dumas et al., 1978), areseverely displaced by the Reggio Calabria Fault (RCF)(Fig. 3). Chronological data proposed by Balescu et al.(1997) well constrain the age of terraces between the 7.1and the 3.3 OIT stages, each paleoshoreline representingthe record of a single eustatic peak. In addition, fielddata (Fig. 3) indicate that the 125-ka old strandline isdisplaced of about 70m across the RCF, while offsets of30 and 10m affect the 100 and 60 ka-old marineterraces, respectively.The uplift rate affecting both the hangingwall and the

footwall of the RCF has been partitioned vs. the time by

the construction of two apparent eustatic curves (Fig. 4)based on measurements carried out along the twotransects illustrated in Fig. 3. For the hangingwall ofthe structure (transect 1), the curve has been constrainedby the elevation, from 200 to 40m a.s.l., of the inneredges of the marine platforms ranging in age from 125 to60 ka, respectively. The TBL line in Fig. 4a clearlyindicates, at about 100 ka, a significant change in theuplift rate, from 3.7 to 1–1.1mm/a. As regards thefootwall of the fault (transect 2), the apparent eustaticcurve (Fig. 5b) shows the distribution of the upperPleistocene marine terraces from 270 to 60m a.s.l. Theresulting TBL line indicates two changes in the upliftrate, from 5.4 to 1.2mm/a and from 1.2 to 1.5mm/a,which occurred at about 100 and 60 ka, respectively.A very large uplift rate, from 3 to 5 times higher than

the regional, affected both the footwall and thehangingwall of the Reggio Calabria Fault, during the125–100 ka time interval. This period was followed by asudden decrease of the vertical motion rate, declining tovalues approximating the regional signal.

Fig. 2. (a) Reference eustatic curve (after Chappel and Shackleton, 1986, modified); the numbers refer to the OIT stages corresponding to main

interglacial highstands. (b) Eustatic curve modified (apparent eustatic curve) by uplift rate of the coast of 1.0mm/a. The time-averaged uplift rate is

graphically represented by the gradient of the TBL curve.

S. Catalano et al. / Quaternary International 101–102 (2003) 81–9184

3.2. Northeastern Sicily

In northeastern Sicily (Fig. 5), the segment of theIonian coast located on the footwall of the TFZ ischaracterised by a flight of upper Quaternary marine

terraces and paleoshorelines. During the late Quatern-ary, this sector experienced amounts of tectonic uplifthigher than in the adjacent coastal areas out of theinfluence of the fault (Catalano and De Guidi, 2002).This is reflected in a different arrangement of the marine

Fig. 3. Distribution of the upper Quaternary marine terraces and elevation of inner edges in the Calabrian side of the Straits of Messina. The age of

the terraces, referred to the main sea-level highstands (ka and OIT stages), has been determined by TL determinations (Balescu et al., 1997; stars

indicate sample location)

S. Catalano et al. / Quaternary International 101–102 (2003) 81–91 85

terraces that, severely uplifted in the fault-controlledsegment of the coast, descend and converge towardsboth the northern and southern tips of TFZ.

In the Taormina area (Fig. 5a), seven orders ofterraces, represented by marine abrasion surfaces,preserved beneath a veneer of continental deposits, have

Fig. 4. Apparent eustatic curves reconstructed for the hangingwall (a) and the footwall (b) of the Reggio Calabria Fault. The elevation and the age of

the inner edges of marine terraces constraining the curves are reported in the columns. Numbers along the TBL lines refer to the time-averaged uplift

rate estimated for the 125–100, 100–60 and 60–0 ka time intervals.

S. Catalano et al. / Quaternary International 101–102 (2003) 81–9186

Fig. 5. Distribution of the upper Quaternary marine terraces and relative paleoshorelines in the Taormina (a) and Capo Al"ı (b) areas. The ages of the

terraces are referred to the main sea-level highstands (ka).

S. Catalano et al. / Quaternary International 101–102 (2003) 81–91 87

been mapped in the lower portion of the coastal slope.Their inner edges, distributed from 250 to 18m a.s.l.,have been adopted as level data to constrain the uplifthistory. The three upper surfaces, showing their inneredge at about 250, 230 and 180m a.s.l., carve a gentlydipping portion of the slope. Terraced continentaldeposits, containing 200 ka-mammal fauna (Hippopota-

mus pentlandi and Cervus siciliae; Bada et al., 1991;Bonfiglio, 1991), rest on the II order surface. The outeredge of the III order abrasion platform is localised at thetop of a very steep coastal slope, where further fourmarine terraces, showing their inner edges at about 130,90, 50 and 18m a.s.l., have been carved.In the Ionian onshore of northeastern Sicily, the flight

of marine terraces culminates in the surroundings of Al"ıvillage, 20 km south of Messina (Fig. 5b). In this sector,5 orders of marine terraces have been recognised. Theyare bounded by inner edges distributed at 305, 210, 160,115, and 65m a.s.l.

The apparent eustatic curve for the Taormina area(Fig. 6a) has been constrained by assigning the sequenceof five marine terraces that undercut the 200 ka-oldcontinental deposits to the 5 main eustatic peaksoccurring from the 5.5 (125 ka) to 3.1 (40 ka) OITstages. The timing of the elevated marine platforms ofthe Al"ı area (Fig. 6b) has been based on their lateralcorrelation with the marine terraces of the Taorminaarea (see Catalano and De Guidi, 2002). The resultingdiagrams indicate the occurrence, at the footwall of theTFZ, of a late Pleistocene (0–125 ka time interval)uplifting that, ranging from 1.4mm/a (Taormina sector)to 1.6mm/a (Al"ı sector), largely exceeding the regionalsignal. On the contrary, in both the two diagrams the125–240 ka time interval is characterised by a TBL linethat, constrained by the elevation of the marine terracesrelated to the 7 OIT stage, shows a lower gradient,indicating, in that period, a rate of uplifting of about0.8–0.9mm/a, very close to the regional signal.

Fig. 6. Apparent eustatic curves reconstructed for the Taormina (a) and Capo Al"ı (b) areas. The elevation and the age of the inner edges of marine

terraces constraining the curves are plotted in the columns. Numbers along the TBL lines refer to the time-averaged uplift rate estimated for the

240–125 and 125–0 ka time intervals.

S. Catalano et al. / Quaternary International 101–102 (2003) 81–9188

4. Discussion and conclusions

The uplift rates calculated along the Straits ofMessina sector of the Siculo-Calabrian rift zonerepresent the time-averaged combination between auniform regional signal and the faulting-induced co-seismic and post-seismic vertical motions that, aspredicted by models (King et al., 1988), periodicallyaffected the areas around the late Quaternary faults.These three components are additive on the footwall oflarge seismogenic normal faults. Conversely, in thehangingwall of the structures opposite signs characterisethe co-seismic and the post-seismic vertical motions, asthe former results in an absolute subsidence of thedownthrown block while the latter consist of a long-term uplift of a large sector centred on the fault (Kinget al., 1988).The effects of the three combined components have

been recorded by the apparent eustatic curves relative tothe footwall and the hangingwall of the RCF (Fig. 4),which show the same path but differ in terms of theabsolute value. This difference corresponds, for eachtime interval, to the time-averaged slip rate along thefault plane that can be estimated, by the collected data,in about 1.6mm/a during the 125–100 ka interval and in0.2–0.3mm/a since 100 ka ago.In the case of the RCF, the ratio between the co-

seismic hangingwall subsidence and footwall uplift isundetermined and, consequently, the amount of post-seismic rebound is also unknown. Nevertheless, theactual post-seismic component of the uplifting, releasedfor each time interval, ranges between the valuesresulting from Figs. 4a and b, minus the regional signal.The two diagrams predict, for the 125–100 ka interval,amounts of post-seismic releases irregularly higher(from 1.7 to 2.7 times) than the co-seismic motions.Moreover, a clear positive correlation exists between theamounts of co-seismic displacements and releases of thepost-seismic deformation, as largely predicted bymodels. This suggests the occurrence, at the beginningof the late Pleistocene, of huge releases of elasticdeformation, associated with irregularly high post-seismic readjustments, concentrated along the Calabrianside of the Straits of Messina. At the same time, alongthe Sicilian side of the Straits the rate of tectonicuplifting suddenly increased from the regional signal tovalues controlled by the additional contribution of thenormal faulting which affected the whole sector of theIonian coast bounded by the TFZ. This evidencestrongly suggests the propagation of the active faultsof the Siculo-Calabrian rift zone in this sector, long afterthe normal faulting started (about 300 ka ago) insouthern Calabria.The prolonged cessation of the fault propagation, on

the Calabrian side of the Straits, and the transientmechanic behaviour of the active faults of southern

Calabria, during the 125–100 ka interval, can be relatedto the main crustal change occurring in the Straits ofMessina region (Monaco et al., 1997). The area, in fact,represents the boundary zone between the thinned crustof the peri-Tyrrhenian belt and the thickened crust ofthe hinge zone of the Calabrian arc (Fig. 1; Panza et al.,1980; Nicolich, 1981; Locardi and Nicolich, 1988),which forms a crustal barrier exerting huge amountsof elastic strength.During the late Pleistocene the releases of the elastic

deformation along the southern Calabria fault segmentsprobably triggered the fault propagation on the Sicilianside of the Straits. The relation between the twoprocesses is suggested by the sudden decrease of boththe vertical displacement rate and the post-seismicrebounds on the active faults of southern Calabria, asthe southward fault propagation, on the Ionian coast ofSicily, occurred. The same mechanical behaviour hasbeen recognised, on a shorter term, by analyses of thestress variation along the distinct fault segments of thesouthern Calabria branch of the rift zone, duringhistorical seismic sequences (Jacques et al., 2001).In conclusion, analysis of the long-term behaviour of

the active faults in the Straits of Messina area pointedout that the occurrence of a crustal barrier influencedthe geometry, the mechanics of faulting, and faultpropagation along the Siculo-Calabrian rift zone. Thiscrustal barrier, whose surface structural expression is atransfer zone, from a mechanical point of viewrepresents a transient strengthened area where hugeelastic deformation is absorbed over long periods. Thisbehaviour also reflects fault propagation, which wastemporary inhibited on the barrier as long as ruptureswere triggered by huge releases of elastic deformation,which cumulated during the cessation of the propaga-tion. The relation between the reconstructed long-termbehaviour and the mechanics of the fault triggeringwhich governs the short-term distribution of historicalseismic events along the Siculo-Calabrian rift zone,might be fully investigated, both to explain the low-grade historical seismicity of NE Sicily and to evaluatethe correct seismogenic potential of the area.

References

Armijo, R., Meyer, B., King, G.C.P., Rigo, A., Papanastassiou, D.,

1996. Quaternary evolution of the Corinth Rift and its implications

for the late Cenozoic evolution of the Aegean. Geophysical Journal

International 126, 11–53.

Bada, J.L., Belluomini, G., Bonfiglio, L., Branca, M., Bugio, E.,

Dell’itala, L., 1991. Isoleucine epimerization ages of Quaternary

Mammals of Sicily. Il Quaternario 4, 49–54.

Balescu, S., Dumas, B., Gu!er!emy, P., Lamothe, M., Lh!enaff, R.,

Raffy, J., 1997. Thermoluminescence dating tests of Pleistocene

sediments from uplifted marine shorelines along the southwest

coastline of the Calabria Peninsula (southern Italy). Palaeogeo-

graphy, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 130, 25–41.

S. Catalano et al. / Quaternary International 101–102 (2003) 81–91 89

Baratta, M., 1901. I terremoti d’Italia. Arnoldo Forni, Bologna,

950pp.

Baratta, M., 1910. La catastrofe sismica calabro-messinese (28

Dicembre 1908). Relazione alla Societ"a Geografica Italiana, Roma,

496pp.

Ben Avraham, Z., Boccaletti, M., Cello, G., Grasso, M., Lentini, F.,

Torelli, L., Tortorici, L., 1990. Principali domini strutturali

originatesi dalla collisione Neogenica-Quaternaria nel Mediterra-

neo centrale. Memorie Societ"a Geologica Italiana 45, 453–462.

Bianca, M., Monaco, C., Tortorici, L., Cernobori, L., 1999.

Quaternary normal faulting in southeastern Sicily (Italy): a seismic

source for the 1693 large earthquake. Geophysical Journal

International 139, 370–394.

Boccaletti, M., Nicolich, R., Tortorici, L., 1990. New data and

hypothesis on the development of the Tyrrhenian basin. Palaeo-

geography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 77, 15–40.

Bonfiglio, L., 1991. Correlazione tra depositi a mammiferi, depositi

marini, linee di costa e terrazzi medio e tardo-Pleistocenici nella

Sicilia orientale. Il Quaternario 4, 205–214.

Boschi, E., Ferrari, G., Gasperini, P., Guidoboni, E., Smriglio, G.,

Valensise, G., 1995. Catalogo dei forti terremoti in Italia dal 461

a.c. al 1980. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica-S.G.A., Roma, 973pp.

Boschi, E., Guidoboni, E., Ferrari, G., Valensise, G., Gasperini, P.,

1997. Catalogo dei forti terremoti in Italia dal 461 a.c. al 1990.

Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica, S.G.A., Roma, 644pp.

Bosi, C., Ambrosetti, P., Carraro, F., Ciaranfi, N., Panizza, M.,

Papani, G., Vezzani, L., Zanferrari, A., 1983. Neotectonic map of

Italy. C.N.R.-Progetto Finalizzato Geodinamica, Sheet 6.

Bosi, C., Carobene, L., Sposato, A., 1996. Il ruolo dell’eustatismo nella

evoluzione geologica nall’area mediterranea. Memorie Societ"a

Geologica Italiana 51, 363–382.

Bottari, A., Carapezza, E., Carapezza, M., Carveni, P., Cefali, F., Lo

Giudice, E., Pandolfo, C., 1986. The 1908 Messina Strait earth-

quake in the regional geostructural framework. Journal of

Geodynamics 5, 275–302.

Catalano, S., Cinque, A., 1995. Dati preliminari sull’evoluzione

neotettonica dei Peloritani settentrionali (Sicilia nord-orientale)

sulla base dei dati morfologici. Studi Geologici Camerti, Volume

Speciale 2, 113–123.

Catalano, S., DeGuidi, G., 2002. late Quaternary uplift of north-

eastern Sicily: relation with the active normal faulting deformation.

Journal of Geodynamics, in press.

Catalano, S., Di Stefano, A., 1997. Sollevamento e tettogenesi

Pleistocenica lungo il margine tirrenico dei Monti Peloritani:

integrazione dei dati geomorfologici, strutturali e biostratigrafici. Il

Quaternario 10, 337–342.

Cristofolini, R., Lentini, F., Patan"e, G., Ras"a, R., 1979. Integrazione

dei dati geologici, geofisici e petrologici per la stesura di un profilo

crostale in corrispondenza dell’Etna. Memorie Societ"a Geologica

Italiana 98, 239–247.

Chappel, J., Shackleton, N.J., 1986. Oxygen isotopes and sea level.

Nature 324, 137–140.

Cinque, A., De Pippo, T., Romano, P., 1995. Coastal slope terracing

and relative sea-level changes: deductions based on computer

simulations. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 20, 87–103.

Dewey, J.F., Helman, L.M., Turco, E., Hutton, D.W.H., Knott, S.D.,

1989. Kinematics of the western Mediterranean. In: Coward, M.P.,

Dietrich, D., Park, R.G. (Eds.), Alpine Tectonics. Geological

Society of London Special Publications London, Vol. 45, pp. 265–

283.

Dumas, B., Gu!er!emy, P., Lh!enaff, R., Raffy, J., 1978. Relief et

n!eotectonique de la facade orientale du D!etroit de Messine

(Calabre, Italie). Travail R.C.P. 461 du C.N.R.S, pp. 95–125.

Dumas, B., Gu!er!emy, P., Lh!enaff, R., Raffy, J., 1982. Le soul"evement

quaternaire de la Calabre m!eridionale. Revue de G!eologie

Dynamique et de G!eographie Physique 23, 27–40.

Finetti, I., Lentini, F., Carbone, S., Catalano, S., Del Ben, A., 1996. Il

Sistema Appennino Meridionale-Arco Calabro-Sicilia nel Medi-

terraneo centrale: Studio geologico-geofisico. Memorie Societ"a

Geologica Italiana 115, 529–559.

Gasparini, C., Iannacone, G., Scandone, P., Scarpa, R., 1982.

Seismotectonics of the Calabrian arc. Tectonophysics 82, 267–286.

Gawthorpe, R.L., Hurst, J.M., 1993. Transfer zones in extensional

basins: their structural style and influence on drainage development

and stratigraphy. Journal of the Geological Society of London 150,

1137–1152.

Ghisetti, F., 1979. Evoluzione neotettonica dei principali sistemi di

faglie della Calabria centrale. Bollettino Societ"a Geologica Italiana

98, 387–430.

Ghisetti, F., 1981. Upper Pliocene–Pleistocene uplift rates as indicators

of neotectonic pattern: an example from southern Calabria (Italy).

Zeitschrift f .ur Geomorphologie 40, 93–118.

Ghisetti, F., 1984. Recent deformations and the seimogenic

source in the Messina Strait (Southern Italy). Tectonophysics

109, 191–208.

Ghisetti, F., 1992. Fault parameters in the Messina Straits (southern

Italy) and relations with the seismogenic source. Tectonophysics

210, 117–133.

Ghisetti, F., Vezzani, L., 1987. Different styles of deformation in the

Calabrian arc (southern Italy): implications for a seismotectonic

zoning. Tectonophysics 85, 149–165.

Jacques, E., Monaco, C., Tapponier, P., Tortorici, L., Winter, T.,

2001. Faulting and earthquake triggering during the 1783 Calabria

seismic sequence. Geophysical Journal International 147, 499–516.

King, G.C.P., Stein, R.S., Rundle, J.B., 1988. The growth of geological

structures by repeated earthquakes 1. Conceptual framework.

Journal of Geophysical Research 93, 13307–13318.

Lajoie, K.R., 1986. Coastal tectonics. In: Active Tectonics. National

Academy Press, Washington, pp. 95–124.

Locardi, E., Nicolich, R., 1988. Geodinamica del Tirreno e dell’Ap-

pennino centro-meridionale: La nuova carta della moho. Memorie

Societ"a Geologica Italiana 41, 121–140.

Monaco, C., Tortorici, L., 2000. Active faulting in the Calabrian arc

and eastern Sicily. Journal of Geodynamics 29, 407–424.

Monaco, C., Tortorici, L., Cernobori, L., Nicolich, R., Costa, M.,

1996. From collisional to rifted basins: an example from the

southern Calabrian Arc (Italy). Tectonophysics 266, 233–249.

Monaco, C., Tapponier, P., Tortorici, L., Gillot, P.Y., 1997. Late

Quaternary slip rates on the Acireale–Piedimonte normal faults

and tectonic origin of Mt Etna (Sicily). Earth and Planetary Science

Letters 147, 125–139.

Mulargia, F., Baldi, P., Achilli, V., Broccio, F., 1984. Recent crustal

deformations and tectonics of the Messina Strait area. Geophysical

Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society 76, 369–381.

Nicolich, R., 1981. Crustal structures in the Italian peninsula and

surroundings seas: a review of DSS data. In: Wezel, F.C. (Ed.),

Sedimentary basins of Mediterranean margins. Tecnoprint, Bolog-

na, pp. 3–17.

Panza, G.F., Mueller, S., Calcagnile, G., 1980. The gross features of

the lithosphere–asthenosphere system in Europe from seismic

surface waves and body waves. Pure Applied Geophysics 118,

1209–1213.

Postpischl, D., 1985. Catalogo dei terremoti italiani dall’anno 1000 al

1980. C.N.R.—Progetto Finalizzato Geodinamica, Graficcop,

Bologna, 239pp.

Scandone, P., Bigi, G., Cosentini, D., Parotto, M., Sartori, R., 1991.

Structural model of Italy. C.N.R.—Progetto Finalizzato Geodina-

mica, Sheet 6, Bologna.

Stewart, I., Cundy, A., Kershaw, S., Firth, C., 1997. Holocene coastal

uplift in the Taormina area, northeastern Sicily: implications for

the southern prolongation of the Calabrian seismogenic belt.

Journal of Geodynamics 24, 37–50.

S. Catalano et al. / Quaternary International 101–102 (2003) 81–9190

Tortorici, L., 1983. Lineamenti geologico-strutturali dell’arco calabro-

peloritano. Rendiconti Societ"a Italiana Mineralogia e Petrografia

38, 927–940.

Tortorici, L., Monaco, C., Tansi, C., Cocina, O., 1995. Recent and

active tectonics in the Calabrian arc (southern Italy). Tectonophy-

sics 243, 37–55.

Valensise, G., Pantosti, D., 1992. A 125 Kyr-long geological

record of seismic source repeatability: the Messina Straits

(southern Italy) and the 1908 earthquake (Ms 712). Terra Nova 4,

472–483.

Westaway, R., 1993. Quaternary uplift of southern Italy. Journal of

Geophysical Research 98, 21741–21772.

S. Catalano et al. / Quaternary International 101–102 (2003) 81–91 91