Geology of the Northern Simbruini Mts. (Abruzzo – Italy)

This paper presents the results of a geological mapping project across the northern portion of the Simbruini Mts. (Latium-Abruzzi Domain – Central Apennines), where a thick Cretaceous and Miocene carbonate succession, followed by a thick upper Miocene terrigenous foredeep succession, is exposed. The terrigenous succession also includes a peculiar lithoclastic unit (‘brecce della Renga fm.’), whose sedimentation is linked to pre-orogenic (Tortonian-Messinian) extensional tectonics. The study area experienced late Messinian-early Pliocene compression, which is the Apennine chain building phase, followed by Quaternary post-orogenic extension, related to the opening of the Tyrrhenian basin. A geological map, at 1:20,000 scale, illustrates the main stratigraphic and structural features of the area.