Fluid seeps and dewatering of sediments are fundamental processes along the world’s continental margins. Seep-carbonates, recognized worldwide from Devonian to Pleistocene, associated with mud diapirism, sediment instability and specialized seep ecosystem are important indicators of seafloor fluid expulsion often related to gas-hydrates dissociation. In convergent margins and accretionary wedges fluids expulsion is very efficient because of the considerable reduction in pore space of sedimentary sequences due to tectonic compression. In the Northern Apennines orogenic wedge, seep-carbonates occur in different settings of the middle-late Miocene foreland basin system and they are generally found in pelitic successions. Instead, in the Salsomaggiore area (Northwestern Apennines) seep-carbonates outcrop at the top of Serravallian foredeep deposits and they cement and/or encrust coarse-grained sandstones and conglomerates, a case that rarely occurs. This site provides a unique opportunity for analyzing depositional characters, three-dimensional distribution and evolution of the seepage system at the leading edge of an orogenic wedge. Fluid expulsions, strictly related to variable intensities in tectonic stresses, generate seepage-carbonates facies and sediment instabilities depending on the position of the feeding fluid pathways within the Salsomaggiore Ridge, a middle-late Miocene intra-basinal high. These newly described seep-carbonates precise better the Miocene tectono-stratigraphic evolution of the Salsomaggiore area, a key area to unravel the history of Northern Apennine orogenic wedge, and they present an evolution from slow to fast seepage; the latter in connection with a major tectonic pulse. Then, the studied seep-carbonates are also climatically-controlled as they develop during late Serravallian global high-frequencies climatic changes, Miller events. Therefore, the detailed analysis of seep-carbonates assumes a fundamental role in order to understand the feed-back between tectonic and climatic processes in orogenic wedges, which often preserve these types of seep-related deposits.

Seep-carbonates in intrabasinal highs of the inner foredeep: new insights from the middle Miocene Salsomaggiore Ridge (Northern Apennines, Italy) / Artoni, Andrea; Conti, Stefano. - STAMPA. - -:(2006), pp. 17-20. (Intervento presentato al convegno Geosed 2006 tenutosi a Modena nel 25-29 Settembre 2006).

Seep-carbonates in intrabasinal highs of the inner foredeep: new insights from the middle Miocene Salsomaggiore Ridge (Northern Apennines, Italy).

CONTI, Stefano
2006

Abstract

Fluid seeps and dewatering of sediments are fundamental processes along the world’s continental margins. Seep-carbonates, recognized worldwide from Devonian to Pleistocene, associated with mud diapirism, sediment instability and specialized seep ecosystem are important indicators of seafloor fluid expulsion often related to gas-hydrates dissociation. In convergent margins and accretionary wedges fluids expulsion is very efficient because of the considerable reduction in pore space of sedimentary sequences due to tectonic compression. In the Northern Apennines orogenic wedge, seep-carbonates occur in different settings of the middle-late Miocene foreland basin system and they are generally found in pelitic successions. Instead, in the Salsomaggiore area (Northwestern Apennines) seep-carbonates outcrop at the top of Serravallian foredeep deposits and they cement and/or encrust coarse-grained sandstones and conglomerates, a case that rarely occurs. This site provides a unique opportunity for analyzing depositional characters, three-dimensional distribution and evolution of the seepage system at the leading edge of an orogenic wedge. Fluid expulsions, strictly related to variable intensities in tectonic stresses, generate seepage-carbonates facies and sediment instabilities depending on the position of the feeding fluid pathways within the Salsomaggiore Ridge, a middle-late Miocene intra-basinal high. These newly described seep-carbonates precise better the Miocene tectono-stratigraphic evolution of the Salsomaggiore area, a key area to unravel the history of Northern Apennine orogenic wedge, and they present an evolution from slow to fast seepage; the latter in connection with a major tectonic pulse. Then, the studied seep-carbonates are also climatically-controlled as they develop during late Serravallian global high-frequencies climatic changes, Miller events. Therefore, the detailed analysis of seep-carbonates assumes a fundamental role in order to understand the feed-back between tectonic and climatic processes in orogenic wedges, which often preserve these types of seep-related deposits.
2006
Geosed 2006
Modena
25-29 Settembre 2006
-
17
20
Artoni, Andrea; Conti, Stefano
Seep-carbonates in intrabasinal highs of the inner foredeep: new insights from the middle Miocene Salsomaggiore Ridge (Northern Apennines, Italy) / Artoni, Andrea; Conti, Stefano. - STAMPA. - -:(2006), pp. 17-20. (Intervento presentato al convegno Geosed 2006 tenutosi a Modena nel 25-29 Settembre 2006).
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.
Pubblicazioni consigliate

Licenza Creative Commons
I metadati presenti in IRIS UNIMORE sono rilasciati con licenza Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal, mentre i file delle pubblicazioni sono rilasciati con licenza Attribuzione 4.0 Internazionale (CC BY 4.0), salvo diversa indicazione.
In caso di violazione di copyright, contattare Supporto Iris

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11380/464536
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
social impact