The oblique and diachronous collision of the Apennine-Maghrebian Chain with the Apulian (in the north-east) and Pelagian (in the south) continental forelands, has determined the characteristic arcuate structure of this orogen. The effects of Plio-Pleistocene deformation
of the Calabrian Arc have been analysed on the basis of
available reflection seismic profiles and using local timestructural
maps reconstructed along the main structures.
During this period, internal sectors of the Tertiary chain
migrated forward on the oceanic Ionian foreland, and were
cut by important strike-slip systems. These last have an
orientation approximately coincident with that of the
migration of the front, allowing differential movement of
the different sectors of the arc, towards the weakly buoyant
Ionian oceanic domain. The dataset suggests a clear connection
between the development of the strike-slip systems
cutting the chain and the direction of tectonic transport,
towards the East during Late Messinian/Early Pliocene
time, to the ESE during Late Pliocene/Early Pleistocene
time, finally to the SSE during the Middle/Late Pleistocene
to Present, showing a clockwise rotation in well defined stages during the kinematic evolution of the chain. The
origin of the Strait of Messina during the different phases is
also interpreted in the context of the analysed regional
tectonic setting.
