THE STRUCTURAL AND MORPHOTECTONIC FRAMEWORK OF THE NW SICILIAN MAGHREBIDES, IN A SEISMOTECTONIC PERSPECTIVE.

Abstract

In the NW Sicilian Maghrebides fold-and-thrust belt, neotec­tonics is mostly documented by the occurrence of different types of fault systems dissecting the Mio-Pliocene W-E trending belt, both in the submerged northern sector and in the mainland. On land, the fault network consists of three main systems, oriented NW-SE/NNW­SSE, N-S/NE-SW and W-E, showing transcurrent component of motion, with prevalently right-lateral displacement along the NW­SE trend and a left-lateral motion along the NE-SW trend. Faults belonging to the W-E trend are also characterized by dip-slip normai components in the coastal areas of Northern Sicily and by reverse components in the centrai sectors of the Island. [...]