Structural styles in the frontal zones of the southern Apennines, Italy: An example from the Molise District

Abstract

Structural interpretation of available geological and geophysical data from the Molise area (southern Italy) demonstrates that the frontal zones of this sector of the Apennines are characterized by a threefold zoneography defined by distinct structural styles. Resolved geometry of both pellicular and deep‐seated structures and their relationships, constrain possible reconstructions for the undeformed, pre‐Miocene, southeastern margin of the Afro‐Adriatic continent and its neogene deformation history. Identification of peculiar structural associations in the foreland‐foredeep complex and reinterpretation of relevant stratigraphic data suggest that deformation, in this sector of the Apennines, has already reached the most external (Apulian) domains and is possibly migrating, at present, toward the currently active Adriatic foredeep of the Molisan thrust system. Copyright 1989 by the American Geophysical Union.