GEOLOGICA CARPATHICA
, FEBRUARY 2017, 68, 1, 57 – 67
doi: 10.1515/geoca-2017-0005
www.geologicacarpathica.com
Long-term geomorphological evolution of the axial zone
of the Campania-Lucania Apennine, southern Italy:
a review
MARCELLO SCHIATTARELLA
1
, SALVATORE IVO GIANO
2
and DARIO GIOIA
3
1
Dipartimento delle Culture Europee e del Mediterraneo (DiCEM), Basilicata University, I-75100 Matera, Italy; marcello.schiattarella@unibas.it;
2
Dipartimento di Scienze, Basilicata University, Campus Macchia Romana, I-85100 Potenza, Italy; ivo.giano@unibas.it
3
CNR – Istituto per i Beni Archeologici e Monumentali, I-85050 Tito Scalo (PZ), Italy; d.gioia@ibam.cnr.it
(Manuscript received December 1, 2015; accepted in revised form November 30, 2016)
Abstract: Uplift and erosion rates have been calculated for a large sector of the Campania-Lucania Apennine and
Calabrian arc, Italy, using both geomorphological observations (elevations, ages and arrangement of depositional and
erosional land surfaces and other morphotectonic markers) and stratigraphical and structural data (sea-level related
facies, base levels, fault kinematics, and fault offset estimations). The values of the Quaternary uplift rates of the southern
Apennines vary from 0.2 mm/yr to about 1.2–1.3 mm/yr. The erosion rates from key-areas of the southern Apennines,
obtained from both quantitative geomorphic analysis and missing volumes calculations, has been estimated at 0.2 mm/yr
since the Middle Pleistocene. Since the Late Pleistocene erosion and uplift rates match well, the axial-zone landscape
could have reached a flux steady state during that time, although it is more probable that the entire study area may be
a transient landscape. Tectonic denudation phenomena — leading to the exhumation of the Mesozoic core of the chain
— followed by an impressive regional planation started in the Late Pliocene have to be taken into account for a coherent
explanation of the morphological evolution of southern Italy.
Keywords: Southern Apennines, uplift and erosion rates, regional morphotectonics, Quaternary landscape evolution.
Introduction
We review the results of fifteen years of scientific investi-
gation performed by our research group in the Campania-
Lucania and northern Calabria segments of the southern
Apennines (Fig. 1), particularly in the axial zone of the chain
where several intermontane basins filled by Pliocene and
Quaternary clastic deposits are present.
Regional-scale morphostructural analysis, recognition and
dating of features related to ancient base levels of erosion used
as reference levels for the rates calculations, quantitative eva-
luation of the erosional — both fluvial and gravitative — pro-
cesses, estimation of tectonic loadings suffered by the
sedimentary rocks that form the backbone of the southern
Apennines and the consequent estimate of the exhumation rate
of the non-metamorphic “core complex” of the chain, recogni-
tion and recording in a wide area of palaeoclimate proxies,
such as palaeosols, weathering horizons, planation surfaces,
and palaeolandslides, allowed us to obtain a detailed and
synoptic picture of the landscape evolution of the chain during
the last 3 Ma.
Geological and geomorphological framework
The southern Apennines are a northeast-verging fold-and-
thrust belt mainly composed of shallow-water and deep-sea
sedimentary covers (Fig. 1), deriving from Mesozoic–Cenozoic
circum-Tethyan domains (Patacca & Scandone 2007), covered
by Neogene–Pleistocene foredeep and satellite-basin deposits
(Pescatore et al. 1999). The hinge of the subducting plate of
the orogenic system coincides with the present-day eastern
foreland area (carbonate Apulian platform, Fig. 1).
Starting from the Tortonian, the orogen underwent low-
angle extension which led to the exhumation of its non-meta-
morphic core complex constituted of Mesozoic Lagonegro-type
pelagic units (Schiattarella et al. 2003, 2006, and references
therein).
This regional framework has been strongly complicated by
Quaternary tectonics, responsible for the formation of longitu-
dinal and transversal fault-bounded basins (Aucelli et al.
2014), for the displacement of several generations of planation
surfaces (Amato & Cinque 1999; Schiattarella et al. 2003,
2013), and for the re-organization and control of many hydro-
graphic networks (Beneduce et al. 2004; Capolongo et al.
2005). Southern Italy underwent significant uplift during the
Quaternary, with average rates 0.6 –1 mm/yr (Westaway 1993;
Schiattarella et al. 2003).
The southern Apennines are characterized by an asymmetri-
cal topographic profile (Fig. 2a). The summit line of the moun-
tain belt is markedly shifted westward and does not correspond
to the regional water divide (Fig. 2b). Consequently, the eastern
flank of the chain has a greater length and a lower mean gradient
than the western flank. Swath profile (Fig. 2c) highlights
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SCHIATTARELLA, GIANO and GIOIA
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a regional and asymmetrical topographic bulge, with its cul-
mination roughly coinciding with the axial zone of the chain.
In this sector, we can also discriminate a shorter wavelength
topographic signal, which is related to the basin-border fault
activity. Higher uplift rates of the axial sector of the southern
Apennines can reasonably be attributed to the coupled forces
of regional raising and local fault activity.
The tops of the mountain belt of the axial zone of the chain
can exceed the altitude of 2000 m a.s.l. and are frequently
characterized by a low angle topography representing rem-
nants of an ancient flat landscape, uplifted and dismembered
by Quaternary fault activity. Consequently, these palaeo-
surfaces are arranged in several superimposed levels
(Schiattarella et al. 2003, 2006, 2013; Boenzi et al. 2004;
Putignano & Schiattarella 2008; Di Leo et al. 2009; Martino et
al. 2009; Amato et al. 2011; Gioia et al. 2011b; Robustelli et al.
2014; Giano 2016).
The landscape of the Campania-Lucania Apennine was
strongly controlled by tectonics. The fault slopes of many
ranges and adjacent intermontane basins are often the surface
expression of the Pliocene to Quaternary block faulting (fault
scarps and fault line scarps bound in fact many mountain
fronts, cf. Brancaccio et al. 1978, and Giano & Schiattarella
2014), and the drainage networks are frequently controlled by
fracture systems (Capolongo et al. 2005). The more destruc-
tive and strong earthquakes of the region are located along
Fig. 1. Geological sketch map of the Campania-Lucania Apennine and northern Calabria. In the frame, main tectonic structures are reported.
Toponyms of the intermontane basins (indicated with numbers): 1. Ofanto basin; 2. Tito-Picerno basin; 3. Auletta basin;
4. Pergola-Melandro basin; 5. Vallo di Diano basin; 6. Sanza basin; 7. Agri basin; 8. Sant’Arcangelo basin; 9. Mercure basin.
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GEOMORPHOLOGICAL EVOLUTION OF THE CAMPANIA-LUCANIA APENNINE, ITALY
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the NW–SE and NE–SW-trending high-angle faults, some-
times with clear geomorphic expression. Some palaeosols
were involved in Late Quaternary faulting, furnishing C
14
ages
included between 40,000 and 8000 years B.P. (Giano et al.
2000; Moro et al. 2007; Giano & Schiattarella 2014).
Northern Calabria, which from a geographical point of view
represents the southern continuation of the Apennines, is made
up of crystalline metamorphic units thrust on the Mesozoic
African-Apulian carbonate domains, locally outcropping in
tectonic windows. It is part of the larger Calabrian arc and is
also characterized by flat-topped mountains, especially in the
Sila Massif, where the top palaeolandscapes are deeply
affected by tropical-type weathering and show tens-of-metres-
thick regolith and/or altered rock horizons (Guzzetta 1974;
Scarciglia 2015).
Morphotectonics
A relevant number of morphostratigraphic profiles across
the intermontane basins and contiguous mountain ranges
of the axial zone of the southern Apennines (examples in
Fig. 3) have been realized analysing both the arrangement of
relicts of planation surfaces scattered at different elevations
a.s.l. and other key morphostructural markers, such as trun-
cated karst landforms, fault-related slopes, and hanging val-
leys (Schiattarella et al. 2003, 2006; Boenzi et al. 2004; Gioia
& Schiattarella 2010; Di Leo et al. 2009, 2011; Martino &
Schiattarella 2010; Gioia et al. 2011b; Giano 2011; Giano &
Giannandrea 2014; Giano & Schiattarella 2014; Giano et al.
2014b).
The signatures of the continental base-level changes during
the last 2–3 Ma have been adequately preserved in both the
geological and geomorphological features of the intermontane
basins, such as flat land surfaces and tops of alluvial deposits.
The exhumation of the core of the chain occurred since the
late Miocene by low-angle extension, followed by erosional
processes on a regional scale that led to the formation of the
summit palaeosurface. An earlier event at 9.2 Ma and two
different clusters included in the 5.5–5.0 and 3.9–1.5 Ma
ranges in the distribution of the apatite fission-track data
(Fig. 4) can be attributed to two previous stages of tectonic
denudation followed by a relatively fast planation (Schiat-
tarella et al. 2013). It means that the erosion processes leading
to the formation of such a morphological feature was pro-
moted by the incipient rising of the chain, but their rates were
faster than the uplift ones. It is possible that the regional
palaeo surface was formed at the sea level by marine erosion,
and subsequently moulded by fluvial and karst processes, so
assuming the character of a polygenetic landform (Amato &
Cinque 1999; Martino & Schiattarella 2006).
In the different catchment basins and surrounding ranges,
three or four generations of erosional land surfaces, carved in
both Mesozoic–Cenozoic bedrock and Pliocene–Quaternary
clastic sediments of the basin infill, are normally recognized
(Schiattarella et al. 2003; Boenzi et al. 2004; Gioia et al.
2011b; Giano 2016). The highest land surface (summit palaeo-
surface, or S1 after Schiattarella et al. 2003) represents
Fig. 2. a — Topographic profile of southern Italy, from Tyrrhenian to Adriatic coastlines; b — shaded relief of part of the Campania, Basilicata,
and Calabria Apennines with regional watershed (white dashed line) and maximum elevation line (black dotted line); c — swath profiles (swath
width of 2 km, profile trace in the sketch map) from the southern Apennines. Arrows indicate the sector of the chain featured by higher uplift
rates and by main basin-border high-angle faults, whereas the dashed grey-line marks the asymmetrical topographic bulge of the mean
topography.
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SCHIATTARELLA, GIANO and GIOIA
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Fig. 3.
Morphostratigraphic profile
(A–A
’) from the axial
zone of the Lucani
an
Apennines and detailed
morphostratigraphic
sections (vertical
exaggeration
2×
) from Melandro (B–B’) and
Agri (C–C’)
valleys, adopted for slip rate calculation.
Note that the slip rates refer to dif
ferent time
spans (from 1.8 to 1.2 Ma and from 1.2 to 0.8–0.7 Ma for B–B’
and C–C’
profiles, respectively).
In the frame,
location
of
the
profiles
is
reported
on
a
simplified
geological
scheme
(1.
Pliocene
to
Quaternary
clastics;
2.
Miocene
siliciclastic
deposits;
3.
Mesozoic–Cenozoic
shallow-water
carbonates;
4. Mesozoic–Cenozoic deep-sea Lagonegro units; 5.
Trace of section). Modified after Schiattarella et al. (2003).
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GEOMORPHOLOGICAL EVOLUTION OF THE CAMPANIA-LUCANIA APENNINE, ITALY
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the morphological remnants of a regional planated landscape.
They unconformably cut across tilted Mesozoic–Cenozoic
shallow-water limestones, coeval basinal formations and
Lower–Middle Pliocene marine sediments outcropping along
the Campania-Lucania segment of the southern Apennines.
Relative and absolute dating of the summit palaeosurface
indicated that it developed in the Late Pliocene, but the plana-
tion process was still active during the Early Pleistocene
(Gioia et al. 2011a; Schiattarella et al. 2013). The morpho-
logical de-activation of a land surface is achieved when it
undergoes to a significant tectonic hanging and acquires the
condition of relict landform. In this way, fault-controlled
basins are often surrounded by flat-topped ridges.
Because of the Late Pliocene age of the oldest palaeosurface
(S1 after Schiattarella et al. 2003) generally found above 1100
m a.s.l., the lower S2 erosional land surfaces (often at about
900–1000 m a.s.l.) has to be attributed to the Early Pleistocene
(Schiattarella et al. 2003). This is also proved by the presence
of Early Pleistocene fluvial deposits in many basins of the
axial zone (Aucelli et al. 2014), morphologically inserted in
such flat surfaces. The S2 surfaces frequently represent dislo-
cated remnants of the oldest one (S1), subsequently re-moulded
by processes acting in a continental environment.
The S3 erosional surfaces have been used to morpho-strati-
graphically correlate the clastic infill of the different basins
(Schiattarella et al. 2003; Boenzi et al. 2004); as a matter of
fact, the S3 land surfaces often cut both bedrock and Pleisto-
cene fluvio-lacustrine deposits along the axis of the entire
Campania-Lucania orogenic segment. Several key-data about
the
40
Ar–
39
Ar ages of tephra layers interbedded in the fluvial-
lacustrine deposits of Vallo di Diano and Sanza basins (Karner
et al. 1999; Di Leo et al. 2009; Giano et al. 2014a, b) allowed
us to closely constrain the genesis and de-activation of the S3
surfaces that can be reasonably referred to the Early Pleisto-
cene–Middle Pleistocene time span.
The tectonic loadings suffered by the rocks of the non-
metamorphic “core complex” cropping out in the southern
Apennines have been estimated to be not less than 4–5 km
Fig. 4. AFT ages from the southern Apennines (after Aldega et al. 2005, Schiattarella et al. 2006; Mazzoli et al. 2008; Schiattarella et al. 2013).
The younger cluster groups cooling ages included in the 2.4–2.7 Ma range (in turn comprised in the wider 3.9–1.5 Ma set) and represents
the exhumation episode linked to the relatively fast planation of the chain during the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition, whereas the older clusters
(at about 5 and 9 Ma) have to be attributed to tectonic denudation phenomena (i.e. low-angle extension) leading to the genesis of the non-
metamorphic “core complex” of the southern Apennines (Schiattarella et al. 2003, 2006; Invernizzi et al. 2008; Mazzoli et al. 2008). Note that,
according to such an interpretation, the final stage of unroofing was not accompanied by a relevant footwall uplift of the core complex,
favouring the formation of the regional palaeosurface.
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SCHIATTARELLA, GIANO and GIOIA
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(Schiattarella et al. 2003, 2006; Aldega et al. 2005). Mecha-
nisms of tectonic denudation have therefore been invoked by
several authors to reach the present-day configuration of the
chain (Schiattarella et al. 2003, 2006; Corrado et al. 2005;
Mazzoli et al. 2008).
The thermal history of the different tectonic units of the
southern Apennines (Aldega et al. 2005) has been studied by
Apatite fission-track analysis (Fig. 4). Such data, combined
with geological and morphotectonic results, furnished a picture
of the exhumation of the rocks from the uppermost part of the
crust (i.e. above the 110°C isotherm). On this basis, we infer
that the planation surface sculpture, occurred in a relatively
short time span of low-rate tectonic activity (more or less
1 Ma), is the geomorphic expression of the above episode of
exhumation (i.e. the erosion/planation rate exceeds the rock
uplift rate). This is also demonstrated by the presence of many
marine to continental basins filled by thick successions of
Pliocene clastic rocks (locally involved in the planation pro-
cesses) deriving from the dismantling of a previous, namely
Upper Miocene–Lower Pliocene relief.
As above reported, apatite fission-track data from rocks
belonging to different tectonic units of the axial zone of the
southern Apennines (Aldega et al. 2005; Mazzoli et al. 2008)
indicate a concordant final cooling age of ca 2.5–2.6 Ma
(average value, Gioia et al. 2011a; Schiattarella et al. 2013),
suggesting a widespread exhumation during the Late Pliocene.
Since apatite passed the closure temperature isotherm at about
2.5 Ma, a considerable (~2 km) exhumation/denudation was
needed to reach the surface. Therefore, the planation process
was probably still active during the Early Pleistocene.
This relatively young exhumation is likely related to ero-
sional denudation rather than tectonics (i.e. low-angle exten-
sion, as suggested by other authors for older stages, see
Schiattarella et al. 2006), thus implying a Late Pliocene stage
widely affected by intense erosional
processes. It can be
argued that such a regional shaping could be related to the
summit palaeosurface morphogenesis. The attribution of those
features to the Late Pliocene is strengthened by the presence of
Lower–Middle Pliocene clastic deposits outcropping at the top
of the Maddalena Mts (Schiattarella et al. 2003) and in the
Mt. Marzano area (Fig. 1), involved in the planation of the
palaeosurface, which means that the Pliocene sediments are
truncated by the erosional sub-horizontal surface.
The transition period between the Late Pliocene and the
Early Pleistocene represents the time span in which the sum-
mit palaeosurface developed, when the decreasing rates
related to tectonics were efficiently faced by the climate-
induced erosional processes (i.e. triggered by the global
cooling that started about 3 Ma). In such a way, the exhuma-
tion of deep rocks was accompanied by the progressive plana-
tion of a slowly uplifting chain, meaning that the antiformal
stack was constantly truncated during its emersion, so permit-
ting the creation of a regional-scale flat landscape. This
feature, formed at the sea level by marine erosion and then
moulded by fluvial and karst processes (Amato & Cinque
1999; Martino & Schiattarella 2006), was partly displaced by
the 2.5 Ma tectonic stage in the Tyrrhenian flank of the Plio-
cene wedge (today submerged) and more largely fragmented
by the 1.8 Ma tectonic stage in the spatial domain of the
present-day chain. Its displacement and fragmentation created
a younger generation of polygenetic land surfaces, in turn
faulted and hung with regard to the erosion base level at about
1.2 Ma (“Emilian” tectonic stage).
Uplift and erosion rates
The tectonic stages between 2.5 and 0.125 Ma in the axial
zone of the chain were responsible for both the displacement
of the planation surfaces and the subsidence of the Upper
Pliocene to Quaternary basins (Brancaccio et al. 1991; Amato
& Cinque 1999; Schiattarella et al. 2003; Gioia et al. 2011a;
Giannandrea et al. 2014).
Morphotectonic data indicating gently dipping, horizontal,
or slightly undulated land surfaces, fault slopes and fault
scarps, plano-altimetric offset of minor divides, fault-
controlled streams, hanging valleys, wine-glass shaped valleys
and so on, have been obtained all along the axial zone of the
chain, from the northernmost mountains of the southern Apen-
nines to the Calabrian Arc (Schiattarella et al. 2006, 2013).
The attribution of a relative age to each planation surface
gene ration, based on well-defined deactivation stages of the
same land surfaces by Quaternary tectonics, allowed us to
reconstruct the morpho-evolutionary stages of the southern
Apennines since the Late Pliocene and to calculate the values
of the regional and local tectonic uplift of a large sector of
the chain.
The estimated regional and local uplift rates have improved
our comprehension of the possible dynamic state of the
south-Apennine orogenic system (Schiattarella et al. 2006).
The regional uplift rates have been calculated on the basis of
the elevation of reference surfaces with regard to the absolute
(or ultimate) base level (i.e. the present-day sea level), whereas
the local uplift rates have been estimated using the same mor-
phological elements with regard to local base levels such as
alluvial floodplains or lacustrine basins. In detail, a clear
decrease of the local uplift rates took place between 1.2 and
0.7 Ma whilst increasing rates characterize the Middle Pleisto-
cene (Fig. 5).
If we examine the whole south-Apennine chain, a quasi-
linear trend of growth of the regional uplift since the end of the
Pliocene can be deduced (Fig. 5). However, a differential
behaviour of two adjacent sub-regional sectors has to be taken
into account for the comprehension of the long-term uplift
history, since the Alburni Mts.–Mt. Marzano area is characte-
rized by a flat uplift rate curve. Therefore, we may hypothe-
size a further subdivision of the axial zone due to the existence
of a significant kinematic release between the most internal
(i.e. Cilento) belt and the most external one (axial zone s.s.).
Several morphometric profiles with geological information
intercepting basin border faults (Fig. 3) of the Agri and the
Pergola-Melandro valleys (Schiattarella et al. 2003, 2006;
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GEOMORPHOLOGICAL EVOLUTION OF THE CAMPANIA-LUCANIA APENNINE, ITALY
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Boenzi et al. 2004; Giano & Schiattarella 2014), and the mor-
phostratigraphic correlations from the Vallo di Diano and
Sanza basins based on recent
40
Ar–
39
Ar dating of tephra layers
(Di Leo et al. 2009; Giano et al. 2014a, b) allowed us to
compute the slip rate values of the faults and to compare them
to the local uplift values. The last kinematics of such faults is
expressed by normal slip and was responsible for major
Quaternary offsets and basin widening during Middle to Late
Pleistocene times (Giano et al. 2000). Former strike-slip
faulting which affected the whole south-Apennine chain
starting from the Late Pliocene (Schiattarella 1998), with hori-
zontal offsets of few kilometres as a maximum, did not favour
the relief growth like that generated during Middle–Late
Pleistocene times. This is also documented by low rates of
a normal component of faulting during the Late Pliocene–
Early Pleistocene. In fact, the fault-slip rates (referred to the
vertical component of motion, cf. Boulton & Whittaker 2009)
from the upper Agri Valley and Pergola-Melandro basin vary
from 0.3 to 0.5 mm/yr in the time interval included between
1.8 –1.2 Ma, and from 0.5 to 0.8 mm/yr in the 1.2– 0.7 Ma time
span (Schiattarella et al. 2003; Boenzi et al. 2004). The
0.3 – 0.5 mm/yr slip rate value has also been obtained for the
Vallo di Diano basin fault system, but in relation to the activity
started from the Early–Middle Pleistocene boundary (Giano et
al. 2014a, b). Therefore, it can be argued that the Monti della
Maddalena carbonate ridge, separating the Pergola-Melandro
and Agri basins from the Vallo di Diano basin, is bounded on
its western side by a master fault with a constant slip rate,
whereas on its eastern slopes is bordered by a fault system
whose displacement rate progressively increased (see loca-
tions of the cited sites in Fig. 1).
The comparison between the uplift and erosion rates of the
whole south-Apennine chain allowed us to recognize the
dynamic state of the orogen (sensu Willett & Brandon 2002).
The quantitative geomorphic analysis has been used for the
computation of the linear erosion and the estimation of the
missing volume of sediment in many fluvial catchments
(Schiattarella et al. 2004, 2006, 2008). Several indices have
been calculated for quite different drainage basins. Some of
them may have a morphotectonic meaning, whereas others are
needed for erosion estimates (Strahler 1957). Bifurcation ratio
and index (Rb, Rbd, and R) express the state of hierarchical
organization of the drainage network, which is related to the
maturity of the basin and to its geomorphological processes.
Hierarchic anomaly number and index (Ga, Da, and ga, after
Avena et al. 1967) and the morphometric estimation of sus-
pended sediment yield (Tu [t/km
2
/year], after Ciccacci et al.
1980) represent an expression of the strength of the fluvial
erosion (Della Seta et al. 2007).
Such an analysis permitted us to suppose the existence of
a linear correlation between the suspended sediment yield (Tu)
and the missing volume of sediment in the drainage basins
(V in Fig. 6) thus supplying a tool for the evaluation of the
erosion rate. Short-term denudation rates have been calculated
converting the parameter Tu, derived from the quantitative
geomorphic analysis, in the parameter Ta (expressed in mm/yr),
obtained considering the average density of outcropping rocks
of sample areas according to the following expression:
Ta = Tu / γs * 10
-3
where Tu is the suspended sediment yield and γs is the spe-
cific weight of the drained rocks.
Mid- to long-term denudation rates have been obtained from
the calculation of eroded volumes of rocks with regard to refe-
rence levels such as fluvial terraces and palaeosurfaces, or
from the estimation of bedrock incision rates (Burbank &
Anderson 2001). Refinements of the rate values have been
achieved by comparisons between long- and short-term ero-
sion rates, so obtaining an average value of about 0.2 mm/yr in
the Middle Pleistocene to Holocene range (Fig.7).
The average values of the Quaternary regional uplift rates of
the south Apennines axial zone are equal to 0.6 – 0.7 mm/yr,
with peaks of ~1.2–1.3 mm/yr in the Agri Valley and Pollino
Ridge (see location of these sites in Fig. 1 and rate values in
Fig. 5. Diagrams showing the variation of the regional and local uplift rates from five key-areas of the axial zone of the southern Apennines
during the Quaternary.
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SCHIATTARELLA, GIANO and GIOIA
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Fig. 5). An increasing trend of uplift rate toward the south can
be observed. An acceleration of the local component of vertical
motion starting from the beginnings of the Middle Pleistocene
and slowing of the uplift rates during the Late Pleistocene
down to 0.2 mm/yr can be deduced as well (Boenzi et al. 2004;
Giano & Schiattarella 2014).
Since erosion and uplift rates match well in the Late Pleisto-
cene, the axial zone landscape could have reached a flux
steady state (Willett & Brandon 2002) just in that stage. This
is also suggested by low values of fault slip rate, as in the case
of the fault-bounded upper Agri Valley and Pergola-Melandro
basin — among the most active seismic zones of Italy — in
which during the last 30 ky, the main high-angle faults were
characterized by a slip rate decreasing to about 0.1 mm/yr
(data from Giano et al. 2000).
Nevertheless, it is worth noting that the ratio between uplift
and erosion rates related to Quaternary long-term landscape
evolution of the chain is about 3:1. Further, in the Middle
Pleistocene to Holocene time span, low values of denudation
rates (i.e. about 0.1 mm/yr) have recently been recognized in
the northern sector of the Pliocene–Pleistocene foredeep of
the southern Apennines on the basis of fluvial terrace
chrono stratigraphy, supported by OSL and AAR dating (Gioia
et al. 2014). In this sector, Middle to Late Pleistocene uplift
rates from the elevation of marine terraces are quite similar to
the denudation rates, thus suggesting a near steady-state
landscape.
Such a space-time pattern suggests that the Late Quaternary
steady state could represent only a fluctuation of a more
general transient state of the orogenic segment here studied.
Final remarks
The data acquired of the last fifteen years has made possible
to discriminate between the amount of the regional uplift and
the local uplift generated by master faults of basins that
together have produced the present day elevation a.s.l. of the
ancient planation surfaces. In some axial-zone basins (such as
the Melandro River basin) a comparable partitioning between
local (i.e. induced by faulting) and regional (tectonic) uplift
was responsible for the present elevation of the relict land sur-
faces, whereas the relief of the Agri River upper valley can be
almost totally ascribed to the activity of basin-border faults.
Higher uplift rates, recorded in the Mercure basin-Pollino
Ridge area and in the Calabria Coastal Range (Fig. 1), indicate
a southward increasing trend of the uplift rate related to the
stronger activity of the high-angle faults. During the Quater-
nary, the total amount of tectonic uplift of the axial zone of the
southern Apennines is ~1.2–1.3 km, with local peaks of
1.5 km (Schiattarella et al. 2006). The most relief of the chain
was gained starting from the Middle Pleistocene, when normal
faulting became the major deformational mechanism.
Tectonic loadings suffered by the Mesozoic deep-sea rocks
of the southern Apennines have been estimated to be not less
than 4–5 km (Schiattarella et al. 2003, 2006; Aldega et al.
2005), or greater for the area of the Calabria-Lucania boun-
dary (Di Leo et al. 2005; Invernizzi et al. 2008). The conside-
rable difference (about 3 km) between the relief gain and the
lost overburden needs an alternative explanation with regard
to the ordinary erosion processes (i.e. not exclusively linked to
the uplift-erosion interplay). Assuming a fixed uplift rate of
0.6 mm/yr to reach a response of ~4–5 km in denudation (i.e.
rock uplift), a Tortonian (Late Miocene) exhumation age can
be obtained. This age is concordant with the older exhumation
age furnished by apatite fission-track analysis (Aldega et
al. 2005). Tectonic exhumation (“tectonic erosion” sensu
Mancktelow 2000; see also “tectonic denudation” in Ring et
al. 1999 and in Burbank and Anderson 2001) may be a reliable
explanation for the above mentioned gap (i.e. between the
amounts of rock uplift and surface uplift, sensu England and
Molnar 1990). Low-angle extensional faulting may be taken
into account as the dominant mechanism of such an evolution,
responsible for both the exhumation of the Mesozoic core of
the chain (Lagonegro units) and the reactivation and inversion
of older thrusts on its Tyrrhenian side, whereas gravitative
stacking represents the counterpart of those phenomena on the
frontal sector of the orogen (Schiattarella et al. 2006).
Fig. 6. Relationships between the suspended sediment yield (Tu) and
the eroded volumes (V) calculated for the fluvial sub-basins of the a)
Auletta basin (i.e. Tanagro River lower valley), b) Melandro River
catchment, and c) Fiumara di Tito-Picerno catchment.
65
GEOMORPHOLOGICAL EVOLUTION OF THE CAMPANIA-LUCANIA APENNINE, ITALY
GEOLOGICA CARPATHICA
, 2017, 68, 1, 57 – 67
The orogen derived from the fold-and-thrust tectonics and
subsequent exhumation processes was largely modelled as
a long-wavelength or flat landascape from the Late Pliocene,
as suggested by both the more recent cluster of AFT (Fig. 4)
and field data. The chain was subsequently cut off by trans-
current and normal high-angle faults responsible for its recent
uplift in combination with several regional mechanisms, such
as deep stacking of crustal elements in the axial portion of the
chain and footwall uplift of its western sector by back-arc
extension (Schiattarella et al. 2006, 2013).
Since the long-term fluvial erosion did not match the tec-
tonic uplift of the axial zone of the southern Apennines, this
region has been largely hit by other erosion phenomena.
Above all, mass movements are needed to drop the disequi-
librium triggered by rates differential (Schiattarella et al. 2008;
Lazzari & Schiattarella 2010; Santangelo et al. 2013).
Acknowledgements: We sincerely thanks two anonymous
referees for the accurate revision of the manuscript and
Professor J. Minár for his helpful suggestions. This study was
financially supported by RIL 2015 (Basilicata University)
grants (M. Schiattarella and S.I. Giano).
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