The geology of the Pelagian Islands and their structural setting related to the Pantelleria rift (central Mediterranean Sea)

Abstract

The Pelagian islands of Lampedusa, Lampione and Linosa form a natural laboratory in which, through the analysis of synsedimentary patterns and fault kinematics, to model the history of compressional and tensional structures from Upper Miocene to recent times'. This information correlates remarkably well and compliments recent detailed studies on the Maltese Islands lying on the opposite shoulder of the Pantelleria Rift. The upper Miocene onset of rifting is deduced from synsedimentary faulting on Lampedusa. The continuation of the same tectonic regime up to the present time can be recognized on the Quaternary volcanic island of Linosa where volcanic activity is related to structures paralleling the Lampedusa trend. In the central Mediterranean area, NW-SE trending structures are characterized by normal faulting and are present from the Ionian side of the Hyblean Plateau (SE Sicily) through Malta and into central Tunisia. A second NNW-SSE trending fault pattern reveals evidence of sinistral motion as can be demonstrated in Lampedusa. This activity commenced in Upper Miocene and continues to recent time. The movements associated with the two fa ult trends a re consistent with a northwestward directed maximal horizontal compressive stress.