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Geology

Active fragmentation of Adria, the north African promontory, central

Mediterranean orogen
J.S. Oldow, L. Ferranti, D.S. Lewis, J.K. Campbell, B. D'Argenio, R. Catalano, G. Pappone, L.
Carmignani, P. Conti and C.L.V. Aiken

Geology 2002;30;779-782
doi: 10.1130/0091-7613(2002)030<0779:AFOATN>2.0.CO;2

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Notes

Geological Society of America

 Downloaded from geology.gsapubs.org on May 27, 2014
Active fragmentation of Adria, the north African promontory,
central Mediterranean orogen
J.S. Oldow Geological Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho 83844, USA
L. Ferranti Scienze della Terra, Universitá de Napoli, Federico II, Napoli 80130, Italy
D.S. Lewis  Geological Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho 83844, USA
J.K. Campbell 
B. D’Argenio Istituto de Geologia Marina, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Napoli 80142, Italy
R. Catalano Geologia e Geodesia, Universitá de Palermo, Palermo 90123, Italy
G. Pappone Scienze Matematiche, Fisiche e Naturali, Universitá de Molise, Isernia 70999, Italy
L. Carmignani 
 Scienze della Terra, Universitá de Siena, Siena 53100, Italy
P. Conti
C.L.V. Aiken Geosciences, University of Texas Dallas, Richardson, Texas 76081, USA

ABSTRACT Keywords: active tectonics, central Mediterranean, GPS geodesy, Ad-

Global Positioning System (GPS) velocities indicate that Adria
no longer behaves as a rigid tectonic indenter into southern Europe
and is divided into northwestern and southeastern velocity do-
mains. Differential motions are recognized in a velocity field de-
termined from the Peri-Tyrrhenian Geodetic Array (PTGA) and
International GPS Service (IGS) sites in the circum-Tyrrhenian
region of the central Mediterranean and published GPS velocities
from the eastern Adriatic coast. In a fixed Eurasian reference
frame, PTGA and IGS site velocities in Sicily and southern Italy
are as much as 10 mm/yr in a northward direction, similar to GPS
velocities along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. In contrast,
velocities in northern Italy are small or statistically insignificant
and similar to velocities in Sardinia and Corsica outboard of west-
ern Adria. The tectonic boundary dividing Adria is seismically ac-
tive and passes around the southern and eastern margins of the
Tyrrhenian Basin, crosses central Italy, extends into the Adriatic
Sea, and follows the western margin of the Dinaride tectonic belt
north to the Gulf of Venice. The eastern margin of Adria is ap-
proximately located and follows the axis of the central Dinaric Alps
southeast to the Hellenic arc. Southeastern Adria has a velocity
related to northward motion of Africa, whereas northwestern Ad-
ria has negligible differential motion in the Eurasian frame and
now is part of the Alpine collage of southern Europe.
ria, continental collision.
INTRODUCTION
In continental collision, plate-margin irregularities concentrate
strain, fragment continental massifs, and cause rotation and lateral mi-
gration of tectonic blocks (e.g., Molnar and Tapponnier, 1975). In the
western and central Mediterranean region (Fig. 1), convergence be-
tween Eurasia and Africa resulted in deformation characterized by deep
extensional basins ringed by coeval fold-and-thrust belts carrying sed-
imentary rocks and crystalline basement outward from the extensional
hinterland toward continental interiors (e.g., Jolivet and Faccenna,
2000). The complexity of the orogen is attributable in large part to the
original geometry of the opposing plate margins and the existence of
continental blocks within the western Tethys (Dewey et al., 1989; Zie-
gler, 1988).
The tectonic evolution of the central Mediterranean was profound-
ly influenced by Adria, a block of continental lithosphere underlying
Italy, Sicily, and the Dinarides, that behaved as a tectonic indenter
during convergence between Africa and Europe (Channell and Hor-
vath, 1976). Deformation along the boundaries of Adria evolved diach-
ronously since the late Mesozoic. In the east, rocks of the Dinaride
belt were detached from Adriatic basement and imbricated in west-
directed contraction since the Cretaceous (D’Argenio et al., 1980). In

Figure 1. Tectonic setting of western and

central Mediterranean region (after Jolivet
and Faccenna, 2000). Contractional fault
systems—black lines with teeth on upper
plate. Transcurrent faults—black un-
adorned lines. Extensional fault systems—
blue lines. Water depth—white (0 to 1000 m)
and green (.1000 m). Much of deep West-
ern Mediterranean Basin is underlain by
Miocene to Holocene oceanic crust. Peri-
Tyrrhenian orogen is divided into Northern
and Southern Apennines, Calabrian arc, and
Maghrebid belt. Northeast-trending curved
faults between Northern and Southern Ap-
ennines are, from north to south, Anzio-
Ancona and Ortona-Roccamonfina lines.

q 2002 Geological Society of America. For permission to copy, contact Copyright Permissions, GSA, or editing@geosociety.org.
Geology; September 2002; v. 30; no. 9; p. 779–782; 2 figures. 779
 Downloaded from geology.gsapubs.org on May 27, 2014

Figure 2. Central Mediterranean. A: Earthquake epicenters (1986–

1998) from U.S. Geological Survey and Favali et al. (1993). Light
shading—area of crustal delamination and large-magnitude exten-
sion. B: Global Positioning System velocities; ellipses are 95% con-
fidence; long arrow above distance scale gives velocity scale.
PTGA—Peri-Tyrrhenian Geodetic Array. C: Velocity model for Adria;
large arrow in lower right gives velocity scale. Thick dashed red
lines—external boundary. Thin dashed red line—internal boundary.
Red arrow—NUVEL1A velocity of Africa in Eurasian frame. Blue ar-
rows—southeastern Adria velocities. Green arrows—northwestern
Adria velocities. Yellow arrows—Eurasia velocities. Note that Eur-
asian velocity east of Adria is from European Reference Frame
(EUREF).

the north, the part of Adria composing the Austro-Alpine nappe ov-
erthrust the European continental margin (Laubscher, 1989) and then
was stranded by Paleocene to Holocene south-directed thrusting and
transpressional deformation in the southern Alps (Roeder, 1989). West-
ern Adria remained undeformed until the Neogene, when the counter-
clockwise rotation of Corsica and Sardinia from southern France (Al-
varez, 1972) resulted in early Miocene collision and initiation of the
peri-Tyrrhenian orogen in mainland Italy and Sicily (e.g., Catalano and
D’Argenio, 1978; D’Argenio et al., 1975). Foreland contraction in the
peri-Tyrrhenian belt migrated eastward and southward and was accom-
panied by coeval hinterland extension and the formation of the Tyr-
rhenian Sea (e.g., Patacca et al., 1990). Tyrrhenian rifting and foreland
shortening involved crustal delamination and rollback of a west-
dipping slab (Royden et al., 1987; Channell and Mareschal, 1989; Dog-
lioni, 1991). The slab is imaged tomographically to depths of 250 km
beneath the Northern Apennines and to 600 km in the Southern Ap-
ennines and Calabrian arc (e.g., Wortel and Spakman, 2000; Cimini
and De Gori, 2001). Active delamination occurs beneath the axis of
the Apennines and coincides with a belt of seismicity (Fig. 2A) and
the transition between contraction and extension within the mountain
chain (e.g., Mariucci et al., 1999).
The tectonic affinity of Adria is debated, and the continental block
is viewed both as a promontory of North Africa (Channell et al., 1979)
and as an independent microplate between Europe and Africa (Dercourt
et al., 1986). Present-day dimensions are delineated by crustal earth-
quakes (Wortmann et al., 2001) that define laterally discontinuous belts
(Gasparini et al., 1985) that ring the southern Tyrrhenian Sea, track
north along the axis of the Apennine chain to the Alps, and follow the
Dinarides south to the Hellenic arc (Fig. 2A).
Attempts to assess the tectonic affinity of Adria on the basis of
active deformation have met with limited success. Although consensus
exists that southern Italy is not acting as part of Eurasia, the complexity
of active deformation in the central Mediterranean has obscured the
relationship between large tracts of Adria and Africa. The paucity of
earthquakes along the African margin east of Sicily led to conflicting
interpretations of Adria as an African promontory (McKenzie, 1972)
and as an independent microplate (Anderson and Jackson, 1987). Non-
Eurasian velocities for sparse space-geodetic sites in southern Italy and
Sicily were established (Noomen et al., 1996; Larson et al., 1997), but
the relative motions of Sicily and Sardinia with respect to Europe and
Africa were not conclusive (Ward, 1994; Noomen et al., 1996). For-
tunately, results from regional Global Positioning System (GPS) strain
networks deployed in the central Mediterranean during the past decade
provide new insight, and together with regional seismicity place Adria
in the context of African and Eurasian motion.

GPS VELOCITIES
The Peri-Tyrrhenian Geodetic Array (PTGA) consists of 49 sites
located in southern Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia, 24 of which were re-
occupied during three campaigns. In 1995, sites were occupied for at
least two sessions of 10–12 h each, but in 1997 and 2000, each site
received between 24 and 48 h of continuous measurement. Data from

780 GEOLOGY, September 2002

 Downloaded from geology.gsapubs.org on May 27, 2014
all campaigns were transformed to the ITRF97 coordinate realization
and processed with the software BERNESE (4.2). PTGA site coordi-
nates were determined by using continuous GPS data from Interna-
tional GPS Service (IGS) reference stations MATE, NOTO, and CAGL
in southern Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia, respectively (Fig. 2B), which
form part of the European Reference Frame (EUREF). PTGA velocities
were computed together with all continuous IGS-EUREF sites and are
shown as residuals (Fig. 2B) in a fixed Eurasian frame. The Eurasian
frame was estimated by fixing IGS-EUREF sites characterized by ,1
mm/yr of differential motion and by performing a translation and ro-
tation of the combined velocity field to minimize residuals. Velocity
uncertainties shown in Figure 2B are 95% confidence ellipses estimated
by scaling formal errors by root mean square (RMS) coordinate
uncertainties.
The PTGA velocity field is complex and differs noticeably from
the velocities of Anzidei et al. (2001) obtained independently for much
of the same region. The discrepancy apparently stems from the defi-
nition of the fixed Eurasian reference frame used in the two studies.
The Eurasian frame determined by Anzidei et al. (2001) yields residual
velocities for IGS sites MATE, NOTO, and CAGL that depart from
the internally consistent, Eurasian-fixed velocities for the same sites in
the PTGA and IGS-EUREF (EUREF, 2001) solutions. Nevertheless,
although differing in detail, PTGA velocities support the interpretation
by Anzidei et al. (2001) that the southern peri-Tyrrhenian region is
undergoing substantial internal deformation. The heterogeneous PTGA
velocity field is of interest to the process of coeval contractional and
extensional deformation within orogenic belts, but is beyond the scope
of this paper. In the context of the evolution of Adria, we focus on the
spatial distribution of sites with relatively large, to 10 mm/yr, north-
ward velocities compared to the distribution of those with small or
statistically insignificant velocities.
GPS velocities for IGS-EUREF and PTGA sites in Sicily and
southern mainland Italy reflect significant northward displacement in
the Eurasian frame (Fig. 2B). In contrast, the IGS-EUREF sites in
Sardinia and western Corsica do not show significant displacement,
and PTGA sites in southern Sardinia show statistically insignificant to
modest velocity residuals in the Eurasian frame. In northern Italy, IGS-
EUREF sites show only modest or insignificant displacement with re-
spect to stable Eurasia. GPS velocities from the Dalmatian coast of the
Adriatic (Altiner, 2001) are comparable to those observed in southern
Italy and Sicily. The Adriatic sites are part of an international GPS
network, CRODYN, occupied in 1994, 1996, and 1998 (Altiner, 1999).
Sites were occupied for 24 h, and data for the 1994 and 1996 cam-
paigns were processed in the ITRF94 realization by using four IGS-
EUREF sites for reference-frame alignment. The velocities were de-
termined in a reference frame fixed on the IGS-EUREF site GRAZ in
Austria, and range to ;10 mm/yr in a northward to northwestward
direction. Velocity uncertainties for CRODYN sites were not stipulat-
ed, but coordinate uncertainties are ,63 mm/yr (Altiner, 1999).
TECTONIC BOUNDARY WITHIN ADRIA
Based on GPS site velocities and seismicity, Adria is divided into
northwestern and southeastern tectonic blocks (Fig. 2C). The boundary
between blocks is irregular and in some instances located with uncer-
tainty owing to inadequate GPS coverage, but a significant north to
south difference in site velocities is clear (Fig. 2B).
In northwestern Adria, GPS sites have little or no Eurasian ve-
locity residual (Fig. 2B). The small (;3 mm/yr) northeastward veloc-
ities of IGS-EUREF sites south of the Po Plain together with southward
motion of GPS sites north of the Po Plain are consistent with present-
day seismicity and indicate continued contraction along the frontal
structures of the Northern Apennines and southern Alps. Within the
interior of the Northern Apennines and along the margin of the north-
ern Tyrrhenian Sea, the lack of significant velocities in a fixed Eurasian
GEOLOGY, September 2002
frame is best explained by southwest-directed extension. Geologic in-
vestigations argue for coeval extension and contraction along a
northeast-southwest axis since the Miocene (Elter et al., 1975; Bally
et al., 1986) and are consistent with active extensional and contrac-
tional earthquakes in the Northern Apennines (Mariucci et al., 1999).
The insignificant velocities within the Northern Apennines interior sug-
gest that active extension toward the Tyrrhenian essentially equals con-
traction toward the foreland and thus yields no net displacement in the
Eurasian frame.
In contrast, GPS site velocities in Sicily and southern Italy exhibit
significant north- and northwest-directed velocity residuals in the Eur-
asian reference frame (Fig. 2B). Velocities in Sicily range to ;10 mm/
yr and are consistent with right-transpressional deformation and con-
vergence between Sardinia and Sicily along a northwest-southeast
contractional axis recorded by earthquake focal mechanisms (Mc-
Kenzie, 1972). In southern Italy, the velocity field is equally complex.
Site velocities along the Tyrrhenian coast increase toward the southeast
from 1 to 5 mm/yr (directed to the north to northeast) to ;10 mm/yr
(directed to the northeast) (Fig. 2B). The differential velocities record
a transition from southwest-directed extension to northeast-directed
contraction along the Tyrrhenian coast. Along the axis of the Southern
Apennines and along the Adriatic coast, velocities of 5–9 mm/yr to-
ward the north-northeast and northwest are consistent with extension
in the mountain belt and contraction across the foreland as recorded
by earthquake focal mechanisms in the axial Apennines and near the
Adriatic margin (Anderson and Jackson, 1987).
GPS sites in mainland Italy place limits on the boundary between
fast and slow velocity domains as lying along the axis of the Southern
Apennines and crossing the peninsula in central Italy (Fig. 2C). In the
central Apennines, two north-northeast–trending physiographic breaks,
the Ortona-Roccamonfina and the Anzio-Ancona lines, divide the
mountain chain into sectors (e.g., Di Bucci and Tozzi, 1991; Castellarin
et al., 1978). The physiographic lines are defined by abrupt changes in
elevation, termination of structures, breaks in seismicity, and differ-
ences in paleotectonic setting of Mesozoic rocks. The expression of
recent seismic activity along the eastern Ortona-Roccamonfina line (Di
Bucci and Tozzi, 1991) and the proximity to a belt of seismicity ex-
tending across the Adriatic (Fig. 2A) lead us to suspect that this belt
may accommodate significant differential motion in left-lateral trans-
pression, but we cannot discount motion along the Anzio-Ancona line
as well.
Seismicity crosses the central Adriatic (Fig. 2A) from central Italy
to the central Dalmatian coast and, as interpreted by Favali et al.
(1993), is evidence for an active tectonic boundary separating the Adri-
atic into north and south blocks. The seismicity coincides with east-
northeast–trending transpressional structures imaged by marine
seismic-reflection profiles (de Alteriis, 1995). The transpressional
structures deform the seafloor, indicating recent activity, and together
with the seismicity provide a link between east-trending faults and
folds of the southern Dinaride belt and similarly oriented structures
along the Adriatic margin of central Italy (Fig. 1).
The seismicity and submarine transpressional structures together
with the velocity field for the CRODYN network (Altiner, 2001) sup-
port continuation of southeastern Adria into the Dinarides (Fig. 2C).
Although rigorous comparison of the PTGA and IGS-EUREF velocity
field with CRODYN velocities is not possible because of differences
in reference frame, qualitative comparison strongly supports this inter-
pretation. Site velocities in the Dinarides indicate substantial northward
convergence with the Adriatic foreland of the Northern Apennines and
with the southern Alps (Fig. 2B). The CRODYN velocities of the
coastal Adriatic differ greatly from IGS-EUREF site velocities of only
a few millimeters per year in the Pannonian basin and Carpathian
Mountains (EUREF, 2001). The differential GPS velocities and region-
781
 Downloaded from geology.gsapubs.org on May 27, 2014
al seismicity (Fig. 2A) point to an eastern boundary of southeastern
Adria along the axis of the Dinaric Alps from northern Italy and Slo-
venia to the Hellenic arc (Fig. 2C).
From central Italy, the western continuation of the velocity bound-
ary is marked by prominent belts of seismicity (Fig. 2A). No evidence
exists for differential motion within the seismically quiet Tyrrhenian
basin, and active deformation is localized along the eastern and south-
ern margins of the sea (McKenzie, 1972; Wortmann et al., 2001). The
seismicity crossing the Adriatic merges with earthquakes following the
axis of the Apennine chain to the south (Fig. 2A). We suspect that the
velocity boundary within Adria opportunistically utilizes the southern
boundary of active Tyrrhenian extension and crustal delamination and
follows the Southern Apennines to just north of Calabria. West of Cal-
abria, earthquake focal mechanisms shift from extension to northwest-
southeast contraction (McKenzie, 1972) and form a diffuse belt ex-
tending west along the southern margin of the Tyrrhenian through the
Sardinian Strait, where they merge with a belt of earthquakes offshore
of northern Africa.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of differential GPS velocities and seismicity, Adria
is divided into blocks separated by a boundary extending around the
southern Tyrrhenian Sea, across central Italy, and along the Dalmatian
coast of the eastern Adriatic. Northwestern Adria has velocities indic-
ative of little or no motion relative to Europe, whereas southeastern
Adria is moving together with Africa and exhibits a spatially hetero-
geneous velocity field with northward velocities to ;10 mm/yr. The
lithospheric significance of different parts of the boundary within Adria
may change along trace. Whereas the segment following the locus of
crustal delamination along the axis of the Southern Apennines is of
clear lithospheric proportions, the significance of the boundary seg-
ments between the Tyrrhenian basin and Sicily and along the western
Dinarides is less obvious. The differential velocities in northwestern
and southeastern Adria may reflect motion of relatively thin crustal
sheets caught between Eurasia and Africa or they may define the lo-
cation of part of a new plate interface between Europe and Africa.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This research was funded by various sources, including Union Texas Petroleum,
Atlantic Richfield Company, and the Geomare Sud Consiglio Nazionale della Ricerche.
The GPS campaigns could not have been carried out without the diligent work of many
undergraduate and graduate students from Italy and the United States.
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Manuscript received January 7, 2002
Revised manuscript received May 31, 2002
Manuscript accepted June 4, 2002
Printed in USA
GEOLOGY, September 2002