Il terrazzo marino del Pleistocene inferiore del Monte Carpinoso (Costa Tirrenica della Calabria)

The Lower Pleistocene monte Carpinoso Terrace (Tyrrhenian Coast of Calabria, Southern Italy)

Abstract

Plio-Pleistocene marine terraces occur along the Tyrrhenian coast of Calabria (Southern Italy) and display intense, recent uplift connected with formation of the Calabrian Arc. The Monte Carpinoso terrace is characterised by a wide surface (maximum width 3,300 m) covered by a sedimentary deposit composed of different superimposed depositional events. The formation of the wave-cut platform is related to several sea level stands due to the glacio-eustatic fluctuations of the Lower Pleistocene, occurred during a long lasting slow subsidence phases of the coastal area. The regressive phase and the emersion of the terrace started about 1 – 1.1 m.y. ago at the same time of the strong uplifting of the whole region; the mean uplift rate is about 0.5 mm/y. Before uplift, the terrace was probably represented by a smooth surface, gently dipping seaward, later dissected by fluvial erosion and by normal faults.