GEOLOGICAL NATURAL LABORATORY

Single discipline educational activity

Course Sheet

Course code:

GE250

Academic Year of enrolment:

2019

Year of supply:

2019/2020

Degree:

Course of 2nd Cycle Degree in GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGIES OF EARTH AND PLANETS

Disciplinary Sector:

Structural Geology

Location:

CHIETI

Credits:

Programme Year:

Cycle:

Second semester

Hours of classroom activity:

Individual study hours:

Prerequisites:

It is necessary that the students have already followed and possibly sustained the Tectonics exam.

Objectives

The aim of this Field Trip is to multi-fold
1) Enable students to improve their practical skills in structural geology, and in particular in the recognition and survey of minor structures (cleavage, minor folds, foliated cataclasites) as key instruments to understand geometry, kinematics and history of deformation of complex major structures.
2) Bring students in real contact with uncommon structural features as. f.i. exhumed metamorphic. shear zones, Low Angle Normal Faults in brittle environment, overturned fold limbs with regional extent, complex S/C tectonites.
3) Make students to observe and understand the different rheological behavior of the tectonic deformation at different structural crustal levels, from the brittle crust to the ductile middle crust.
4) Bring students in direct contact with the dramatic surface co-seismic effects of the Central Italy 2016-17 seismic sequence and make them aware of the fondamental role of earthquake geology for seismic hazard assessment purposes

Contents

MULTI-SCALE STRUCTURAL-GEOLOGICAL INSIGHT INTO
LONG-TERM AND ACTIVE TECTONIC HISTORY OF PENINSULAR ITALY:
A COAST TO COAST GEOTRAVERSE FROM ELBA ISLAND TO GARGANO PROMONTORY.
For academic year 2017-2018, NatLab offers an eight -day structural-geological field trip, to be held between May and June 2019.
The first four-days will be dedicated to the western sector of the Transect from Elba Island to the Tiber Graben in western Umbria. In the eastern Elba, fieldwork will focus on the Early-Middle Miocene contractional structures of the internal Apennine stack, including the metamorphic units, and on their subsequent deformation due to the Late Miocene-Early Pliocene low-angle extensional tectonics. After a trip across the middle Tuscan Range and the Larderello geothermal field, this first part of the NatLab, will end with an analysis of the surface evidence of the east-dipping Altotiberina fault, in the Massicci Perugini area.

The fifth and sixth days will be aimed at looking/studying multi-scale fold-and-thrust structures across the beautiful Fiastrone Gorge (Sibillini thrust zone), in the Marche region.
The seventh day will be focused on the spectacular multi-scale Quaternary and co-seismic structures outcropping along the Bove-Vettore extensional fault alignment.
The eighth day, will provide a regional look at the active and potentially seismogenic Mattinata strike-slip fault displacing the Gargano foreland, with insights on its kinematic history, inferred by large-scale and meso-scale tectonic features.

Extended Syllabus

Preliminary program for the first Natural Laboratory Geological Field trip – 10 May to 19 May 2019
(the time schedule is not definitive)

10 may Friday evening - departure for Elba Island
1-Night at Elba
11 May Saturday - Multiphase compressional deformation at Elba island
2-Night at Elba
12 May Sunday - The Zuccale low-angle normal fault
3-Night at Elba
13 may Monday - Visit of for Lardarello Geothermal Field
4-Night at Perugia
14 May Tuesday – Massicci Perugini Low-angle normal faults
5-Night at Perugia
15 May Wednesday – The Gubbio normal fault: participation at the traditional “Festa dei Ceri”
6-Night at Perugia
16 May Thursday –Fold-and-thrust multi-scale structures of the Fiastrone Gorge
7-Night at Fiastra
17 May Friday - Fold-and-thrust multi-scale structures of the Fiastrone Gorge
8- Night at Fiastra
18 May Saturday – The Vettore long-term and seismogenic extensional system
9-Night at Termoli
19 May Sunday – The long-term and active Mattinata strike-slip fault and departure for Chieti

Recommended Bibliography

Geological maps and scientific papers will be provided by the teachers.

Teaching Methods

Acquisition of field experience through direct and continuous interaction with teachers-

Evaluation methods

Verification of learning:

At the end of each field trip, the master students following the Curriculum in Seismotectonics and Seismic Hazard will have to prepare a short digital relation also containing original structural data analysis.

Contacts/More Information

Under request, the field trip may be opened, under they expenses, to doctoral students. For information, contact Daniele Cirillo, d.cirillo@unich.it (dead line for request of admittance is 30 march 2019).
A certificate of attendance will be provided to all participants at the end of the course.

Università degli Studi
"G. d'Annunzio"

Chieti - Pescara

Aree

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