The CROP Profiles Across the Mediterranean Sea (CROP MARE I and II) I Profili CROP Attraverso Il Mar Mediterraneo (CROP MARE I E II)
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Mem. Descr. Carta Geol. d’It. LXII (2003), pp. 171-184 11 figg. The CROP profiles across the Mediterranean Sea (CROP MARE I and II) I profili CROP attraverso il Mar Mediterraneo (CROP MARE I e II) FINETTI I.R. (1) ABSTRACT - Within the framework of the Italian CROP Pro- RIASSUNTO - Nell’ambito del Progetto CROP, i sotto-pro- ject, the CROP MARE I and II sub-projects have been carried getti CROP MARE I e II sono stati realizzati per cercare di out to better define the deep crustal structure and the complex definire la struttura crostale profonda e il complesso assetto geological settings in the Central Mediterranean offshore geologico nei mari circostanti l’Italia. Con questi sotto-pro- (around the Italian Peninsula). With these sub-projects, about getti sono stati acquisiti oltre 8500 km di sismica crostale a 8500 km of NVR crustal seismic profiles has been acquired in riflessione nel Mar Ionio, Mar Adriatico, Mar Tirreno, Mare the Balearic, Tyrrhenian, Ionian, Pelagian and Adriatic seas. Balearico e Mare Pelagico. L’acquisizione dei dati sismici è The seismic reflection data acquisition have been conduct- stata eseguita dall’OGS di Trieste mentre l’elaborazione dei ed by OGS of Trieste while the data processing has been dati è stata realizzata da OGS, ISMES, AGIP e dal Gruppo di realised by OGS, ISMES, AGIP and Exploration Geophysics Geofisica d’Esplorazione dell’Università di Trieste. L’acquisi- Group (Trieste University). The data acquisition and processing zione ed elaborazione dati è stata completata con le metodo- has been performed with standard advanced multifold seismic logie standard della sismica a riflessione avanzata multifold reflection techniques, properly parametrised for deep crustal opportunatamente parametrizzate per una penetrazione cro- penetration. Obtained data quality is fair to good in foreland stale profonda. La qualità dei dati ottenuti è da discreta a buo- regions (Adriatic and Pelagian seas), and in part of the deep na nelle aree di avampaese (Mari Adriatico e Pelagico) ed in basins. Tyrrhenian Sea margins, the Corso-Sardinian block and parte dei bacini profondi. I margini tirrenici, il blocco Sardo- the Calabrian arc, where more complex tectonic setting take Corso e l’Arco Calabro presentano dati fortemente variabili place, show data strongly variable from good to poor quality. da buona a scarsa qualità. In this paper, a short description of some of the most sig- In questo contributo, vengono descritte le principali carat- nificant explored features is made with exhibition of CROP teristiche delle aree indagate e mostrati alcuni esempi dell’in- seismic interpretation examples. terpretazione sismica. KEY-WORDS: CROP MARE, central Mediterranean, deep PAROLE CHIAVE: CROPMARE, Mediterraneo centrale, seismic exploration. esplorazione sismica profonda (1) Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche, Ambientali e Marine (DISGAM), Gruppo di Geofisica d’Esplorazione, Università di Trieste, Via Weiss, 1 - 34127 Trieste. E-mail: [email protected]. 172 FINETTI I. R. 1. - FOREWORD total of about 400 km, for which CROP Line M-1 contributed about 200 km (FANUCCI, this vol.). Investigations of the Mediterranean Sea using advanced multi-channel stacking seismic techniques started in 1969 in the Tyrrhenian Sea, when the 2. - CROP MARE NETWORK Osservatorio Geofisico Sperimentale of Trieste (OGS) launched its 5-year program to explore the In 1989 CNR, AGIP (Italian Oil Company) and entire Mediterranean Basin (FINETTI et alii, 1970; ENEL (Italian National Electricity Authority) agreed FINETTI & MORELLI, 1972; 1973). The objective of to finance a 5-year program of deep crustal seismic the Mediterranean Sea (MS) Lines project was the sections in the off-shore Central Mediterranean reconstruction of the tectono-stratigraphic setting (around the Italian peninsula), as well as connected of the sedimentary cover and a regional definition on-shore lines across the Apennines. Following on the of the involved geodynamics, using record lengths ECORS-CROP M1 line, the CROP MARE project, ranging from 6 to 10 seconds (TWT). which is by far the largest part of the CROP network, Although basically limited to the sedimentary acquired a total of about 8500 km of deep NVR sec- sequence, the MS Lines project revealed for the first tions (sections M-2 to M-39), during cruises in 1991, time the presence of an old oceanic crust in the 1993-94 and 1995. The regional distribution of the Ionian Sea (FINETTI, 1982) and also produced a clear CROP MARE sections is reported in Table 1 (see also subsurface image of the young oceanic crust in the Appendix “Plates enclosed with the CROP Atlas”, fig. Tyrrhenian Sea (FINETTI & DEL BEN, 1986). It 1 for a location map of these sub-projects). became clear, however, that in order to further our knowledge of the Mediterranean, seismic explo- ration would have to extend from middle to deep 3. - SOME RESULTS crustal penetration. This was the origin of the CROP project. The first off-shore seismic line was The following is a summary of some results a joint ECORS-CROP profile acquired in 1988 in obtained from interpretation of the CROP MARE the Western Mediterranean, extending from the sections, illustrated by a number of examples exhib- Gulf of Lyon to the NW margin of Sardinia for a ited in figures 1 to 11.(2) Table 1. – Regional distribution of the CROP MARE sections – Distribuzione regionale dei profili sismici CROP MARE TOTAL REGION CROP M Section or Part of Section (P) Sections and Parts ADRIATIC SEA 13 14 15 16 17A 17B 17C 18 8 LIGURIAN SEA 10 11 2 (P) TYRRHENIAN SEA 2A 6A 613 9 26 27 28A 28B 29A 29B 30 36 12 (P) IONIAN SEA 2B 3 4 5 8 21 22 23A 31 34 38 11 (P) PELAGIAN SEA 23A 24 25 39 4 (P) TUSCAN 10 11 12A 12B 37 5 ARCHIPELAGO (P) (P) SARDINIAN 23B 32 2 CHANNEL CORSO-SARDINIAN 1 2A 12B 3 BLOCK (P) (P) (P) BALEARIC SEA 1 2A 2 (P) (P) ( 2 ) This Atlas shows only a few examples of interpreted CROP MARE sections. The interpretation of the entire CROP MARE data-set, including all reprocessed sec- tions and connected onshore CROP sections, will be published by Elsevier Science in a forthcoming volume entitled “CROP - Crustal Seismic Exploration of the Medi- terranean Region” (I. R. FINETTI, Editor). THE CROP PROFILES ACROSS THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA (CROP MARE I & II) 173 Fig. 1 - Part of the reprocessed and interpreted CROP M-10 in the Tuscan Archipelago - East Corsica Block off-shore area, showing the collisio- nal contact between the rotated Corsica Block and the Adria margin. Derived segment of a figure after FINETTI et alii (2001). - Porzione, riprocessata ed interpretata, della linea CROP M-10 nell’arcipelago Toscano – zona orientale del blocco Corso; è mostrato il contatto collisionale tra il blocco Corso ruotato e il margine di Adria. Ripreso da FINETTI et alii (2001). 3.1. - M-2 SECTION clear image, for the first time, of the crustal tectono- stratigraphy of the Corso-Sardinian Block. The M- This is the longest CROP MARE section of the 2A section also clearly reveals: a) the listric faults of project. It starts within the Balearic Sea, crosses the the Balearic margin of the Corso-Sardinian Block; b) entire Corso-Sardinian Block, all of the Tyrrhenian the extensional tectonics superimposed on previous Sea up to the Calabrian coast (M-2A), and, after a compressive deformations on the Tyrrhenian mar- break in the Strait of Messina, continues into the gin; c) the oceanic crust of the Tyrrhenian Sea; d) Ionian Sea (M-2B). This second part of the section the upper part of the subducting Ionian slab. The explores the thick wedge of the Calabrian Arc and inner sector of the Calabrian Arc, on M-2A, and the the subducting Ionian oceanic crust and its con- thick Calabrian wedge into the Ionian Sea (M-2B) densed Mesozoic-Tertiary cover. are imaged fairly well (see sections in the Atlas). The decision to cross the Corso-Sardinian Block through the channel of water between the two islands (Bocche di Bonifacio) (M-2A) was taken 3.2. - LIGURIAN SEA SECTIONS (M-10 & M-11) because of the much cheaper cost of this option and the better seismic response with respect to the on- These two sections provide useful informa- shore line initially proposed as the continuation of tion on the crustal opening of the Ligurian Sea, line M-1 (CROP-ECORS: Section Gulf de Lyon - the collisional tectonics between the Corsica and NW Sardinian coast). The M-2A section provides a northwestern Adria plates, and the tectono-strati- 174 FINETTI I. R. Fig. 2 - Simplified version of the reconstructed seismo-geological cross-section on CROP M-12A and M-16 and adjacent part of CROP 03. Reduced version of a complete section from FINETTI et alii (2001). - Versione semplificata della sezione sismo-geologica basata sulle linee CROP M-12A e M-16 e su porzione adiacente del CROP 03. Versione ridotta della sezione contenuta in FINETTI et alii (2001). graphic setting of the northward continuation of Northern Apennines into the Adriatic Sea and the the Corsica Block (fig. 1). There is good evidence Tuscan Archipelago, respectively. Total length of from these data that the Alpine Tethys slab was the three sections is about 400 km. Section M-16 subducted beneath the Adria Plate during the Eo- exhibits the frontal thrusts of the Northern Apen- Alpine stage. Crustal thrust faults of European nines (fig. 2b) and allows us to identify the Moho vergence (Eo-Alpine stage) are truncated by discontinuity and the top of the lower crust, which thrust faults of opposite polarity, which were gen- are normally better defined seismically in the Adri- erated during the opening of the Balearic Sea atic Sea than in the adjacent on-shore belt.