Geological - structural outlines of the southern Madonie Mts. (Central northern Sicily)

Geological and structural surveys were undertaken in central-northern Sicily along the southern slope of the Madonie Mts., a portion of the Sicilian Fold and Thrust Belt. Collected data have allowed the compilation of a new map of this region at 1:30,000 scale. The map is the result of a classic field survey supported by a combined analysis of 1:33,000 aerial photographs, 1:10,000 ortho-photos, and the use of a high-resolution Digital Elevation Model.The cartographic product displays the distribution of the distinct sedimentary successions and the geometric setting of the major tectonic lineaments, providing further constraints on the geology of the area. The mapped rocks mostly consist of Neogene syn-tectonic sedimentary successions deposited within basins developed in a SE-migrating piggy-back/foredeep system. Thrust-top deposits are floored by a clayey substratum pertaining to a former oceanic domain.The tectonic setting has been reconstructed through the mapping of structural lineaments and compared to available seismic sections. The geometries and orientation of the observed/measured faults and folds and the age of the sediments involved, suggest that since Miocene times the area experienced a multi-phased deformation with previously formed (middle Miocene) large flat thrusts and associated folds, re-deformed by a younger (Upper Miocene to Early Pliocene) and deep-seated thrust and folds system.Strike-slip deformation affected the area after the Early Pliocene with the nucleation of NW-SE-oriented right-lateral faults whose propagation produced vertical axis rotations with a general re-orientation of previously formed structures.