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Anatomy of a submerged archipelago in the Sicilian Channel (central Mediterranean Sea)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 August 2015

DARIO CIVILE ,
EMANUELE LODOLO ,
MAURO CAFFAU ,
LUCA BARADELLO  and
ZVI BEN-AVRAHAM
DARIO CIVILE
Affiliation:
Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS), Borgo Grotta Gigante 42/C, 34010 Sgonico (Trieste), Italy
EMANUELE LODOLO*
Affiliation:
Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS), Borgo Grotta Gigante 42/C, 34010 Sgonico (Trieste), Italy
MAURO CAFFAU
Affiliation:
Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS), Borgo Grotta Gigante 42/C, 34010 Sgonico (Trieste), Italy
LUCA BARADELLO
Affiliation:
Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS), Borgo Grotta Gigante 42/C, 34010 Sgonico (Trieste), Italy
ZVI BEN-AVRAHAM
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Tel Aviv University, PO Box 39040, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 3498838, Israel
*
†Author for correspondence: [email protected]
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Abstract

The Sicilian Channel is a broad and shallow shelf which is geologically part of the African Plate. Its NW sector (the Adventure Plateau), where water depths rarely exceed 100 m, is punctuated by several kilometre-sized morphological highs. These elevations, formed by both sedimentary and volcanic rocks, emerged around middle Holocene time or earlier when they constituted a large archipelago. High-resolution single-channel and multichannel seismic reflection profiles, along with stratigraphic and lithological information derived from exploration wells and rock samplings, are analysed to derive the shallow and deep structural setting of these banks and identify their geological nature. The sedimentary banks (Talbot, Ante-Talbot, Panope, Nereo and Pantelleria Vecchia), presently located at water depths 8–40 m, are composed of Miocene rocks severely deformed by a late Miocene compressional phase which produced the external sector of the Sicilian–Maghrebian thrust belt. Tortonian-aged rock samples from the Pantelleria Vecchia Bank represent patch reefs that have mostly formed on structural highs. Sedimentary analogies suggest that other sedimentary banks of the Adventure Plateau may have the same origin. Galatea, Anfitrite and Tetide represent submarine volcanic edifices emplaced on major extensional faults formed during early Pliocene – Quaternary continental rifting of the Sicilian Channel. The present-day morphology of the banks is the result of repeated phases of subaerial exposure and drowning, especially since the Last Glacial Maximum.

Keywords

Sicilian Channelshallow banksrock samplingsseismic profilesmorpho-structural setting
Type
Original Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 153 , Issue 1 , January 2016 , pp. 160 - 178
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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