The Crotone Megalandslide, southern Italy: Architecture, timing and tectonic control
M. Zecchin, F. Accaino, S. Ceramicola, D. Civile, G. Mangano
National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics (OGS), Sgonico, Italy
S. Critelli
Dipartimento di Biologia, Ecologia e Scienze della Terra, Università della Calabria,
Cosenza, Italy
C. Da Lio, L. Tosi
Institute of Marine Sciences, CNR, Venezia, Italy
G. Prosser
Dipartimento di Scienze, Università della Basilicata, Potenza, Italy
P. Teatini
Dept. of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering,
University of Padova, Padova, Italy
Large-scale submarine gravitational land movements involving even more than 1,000 m thick
sedimentary successions are known as megalandslides. We prove the existence of large-scale
gravitational phenomena off the Crotone Basin, a forearc basin located on the Ionian side of Calabria
(southern Italy), by seismic, morpho-bathymetric and well data. Our study reveals that the Crotone
Megalandslide started moving between Late Zanclean and Early Piacenzian and was triggered by
a contractional tectonic event leading to the basin inversion. Seaward gliding of the megalandslide
continued until roughly Late Gelasian, and then resumed since Middle Pleistocene with a modest rate.
Interestingly, the onshore part of the basin does not show a gravity-driven deformation comparable to
that observed in the marine area, and this peculiar evidence allows some speculations on the origin of
the megalandslide.
