This field trip is addressed to graduate/PhD student groups with interest in field-based training of stratigraphic log measurements, correlations and facies analysis on sandstone pinching-out bodies encased within offshore deposits. Spectacular giant outcrops from the Miocene Gorgoglione Flysch Formation allow to stimulate discussion on different-scale turbiditic depositional processes and on the regional significance of these deposits: field exercises will be proposed with aim to compare and/or correlate seismic-based models with outcrop analogs.

Pliocene Gilbert-type deltas of the Potenza Basin (central Basilicata, southern Apennines):

tectonic uplift vs. high-frequency relative sea-level changes.

 

(Leader: S. Longhitano; duration: 2 days, difficulty: low/medium).

 

Coarse grained Gilbert-type deltas developed during the middle-late Pliocene along the southern margin of the piggy-back Potenza Basin. Their vertical/lateral-stacked stratigraphic arrangement records an uninterrupted influence of coastal tectonic uplift during the sedimentation, on which the effect of high-frequency relative sea-level oscillations superimposed. The outcrops, located very close to the city of Potenza, offer a good opportunity to observe vertical stacks of deltaic sedimentary facies within coarse-grained deltas and large-scale clinoform geometries.

 

Field Trip # 3

 

Clinoform geometries and high-frequency relative sea-level changes:

the example from  the Pliocene Calcarenite di Gravina Formation (eastern Basilicata, southern Apennines).

 

(Leaders: M. Tropeano, L. Pomar; duration: 2-3 days, difficulty: medium/high).

 

Excellent outcrops of the upper Pliocene-lower Pleistocene Calcarenite di Gravina around Matera (southern Italy) provide continuous exposure of basin-margin, shoreline to offshore facies forming large-scale, high-angle, cross-bedded lithosomes. Three types of building blocks are recognized based on bedding patterns and facies architecture: embryonic parasequences, mature parasequences, and simple sequences. Parasequences formed during stillstands of sea level and simple sequences during high-frequency cycles of relative change of sea level. These building blocks are stacked in a backstepping configuration and onlap onto Cretaceous limestone substrate. This field trip is particularly indicated to researchers working on seismic images and searching for outcrop analogs.

 

Field Trip # 4

 

Pliocene-Pleistocene stratigraphic and tectonic evolution of the

foreland-foredeep-chain system in Southern Italy.

 

(Leaders: P. Pieri, L. Sabato, M. Tropeano, M. Schiattarella, S. Longhitano; duration: 2-3 days, difficulty: medium).

 

The aim of this field trip is to illustrate the three main depositional areas of the Pliocene-Pleistocene Apennines foredeep system (foreland, foredeep s.s., and satellite basins) in southern Italy and to discuss its evolution showing stratigraphic and sedimentologic features of Meso-Cenozoic intensely-deformed to Plio-Pleistocene undeformed successions. The excursion offers good outcrops, significant sections and regional panoramic views that stimulate discussion on the relationships between tectonics and sedimentation during the different stages of the Southern Apennine evolution. The topics are addressed both to researchers and graduate/PhD students working on different aspects of collisional margins.