Tectonic and climatic control on deposition of seep-carbonates: the case of middle-late Miocene Salsomaggiore Ridge (Northern Apennines, Italy)

Seep-carbonates are generally related to hydrocarbon seepage on continental margins. Modern cold seeps are abundant in actively deforming tectonic settings, suggesting that tectonics is one of the major controlling factor on fluid emissions. Hydrocarbon seepages are considered major geological sources of atmospheric methane, one of the most important green-house gases, and therefore may also be related to climate changes. However, the cause-effect relationship between seepage and climate changes is debated and the interplay between tectonics and climate change in forcing seepage is not clearly understood. Miocene seep-carbonates, formed in a collisional setting such as that of the Salsomaggiore area of the Northern Apennines (Italy), provide an opportunity to assess accumulation and release of methane in response to tectonics and climate change along a convergent margin. A new stratigraphic framework indicates that the studied seep-carbonates, related to fluid emissions of various intensities and to sediment destabilization events, were coeval with both local and regional tectonic pulses. In addition, planktonic foraminifer biostratigraphy reveals that deposition of these seep-carbonates is late Serravallian-early Tortonian in age and partially coeval with the Miller’s global cooling event Mi 5. It could be also established that the seep-carbonates were deposited in two stages with different seepage modalities. During the first stage, local tectonic pulses at the onset of the Mi5 event may have produced slow seepage, whereas during the second stage regional tectonics and more extreme climatic conditions (coolest peak of Mi5 event) may have resulted in a fast and