A Geological Itinerary Through the Southern Apennine Thrust Belt (Basilicata—Southern Italy)

Abstract

The proposed geological itinerary connects a series of impressive outcrops distributed between the front and the inner portion of the Southern Apennine thrust belt. It offers the opportunity to visit some of the most interesting and best-exposed Southern Apennine geosites, inserted within landscapes typical of the different sectors of the thrust belt, in order to illustrate its geological evolution. The itinerary has been designed in such a way as to intersect different stacked tectonic units and a great variety of sedimentary successions whose age ranges from Triassic to Pleistocene. Each of the chosen geosite contains multidisciplinary geological information that may be of interest for researchers, but may be also appreciated by a general public interested in geology. In particular, the stratigraphy, the structural geology and the geomorphology are the most recurrently treated topics. Most of these outcrops extend for many hundreds or thousands of metres and include villages or mountain reliefs. Therefore, every single site can be considered as an areal geosite containing particular geological features. However, the largest geosite can also be observed in a panoramic view from suitable locations. Thus, each of these sites provides different evidence and when combined together provides an opportunity to understand the complex geological history of the Southern Apennines. The motivation for establishing this itinerary mostly resides in the great scientific interest of the chosen outcrops; this will hopefully facilitate their conservation and the development of geotourism.