Filling and cannibalization of a foredeep: the Bradanic Trough, Southern Italy

The Bradanic Trough (southern Italy) is the Pliocene-present-day south Apennines foredeep. It is a foreland basin as subsidence due to westward subduction of the Adria Plate involves the continental crust of the Apulian domain. The infill succession of the Bradanic Trough is characterised by the presence of a long thrust sheet system (the so called 'allochthon') that occupied part of the accommodation space created on the foreland by subduction. The upper part of the infilling succession crops out along numerous sections. About 600 m of the 3-4 km basin-fill succession is exposed as the Bradanic Trough has experienced uplift during Quaternary times. Outcropping successions are mainly characterized by shallow-marine deposits comprising carbonates of the Calcarenite di Gravina Formation, silty clay hemipelagites of the Argille subappennine Formation and coarse-grained bodies of the 'Regressive coastal deposits'. The Calcarenite di Gravina Formation (Middle-Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene in age) crops out in a backstepping configuration onto the flanks of the Apulian Foreland highs. It displays evidence of strong transgression onto a karstic region previously dissected in a complex horst and graben system. The Argille subappennine Formation (Late Pliocene-Middle Pleistocene in age) succeeds the carbonate sedimentation on the foreland side of the basin and represents the shallowing of the basin in the other sectors of the Bradanic Trough. Toward the Apennines chain, in the wedge-top area of the foredeep, the Argille subappennine Formation covers the allochthon, while in the depocentre (in the foredeep sensu stricto) the same formation overlays turbidite deposits. The latter characterize the deeper part of the successions, and are mainly buried below the allochthon. The Regressive coastal deposits (Early-Late Pleistocene in age) represent the upper part of the succession. They consist of coarse-grained wedges that lie on the hemipelagites of the Argille subappennine Formation in, alternatively, conformable or erosional contact. The wedges of the Regressive coastal deposits stack in a downward-shifting configuration, which indicates deposition during uplift. The Quaternary development of the Bradanic Trough differs from that of the central and northern Apennines foredeep. The latter is characterized by aggradation of shallow-marine and alluvial sediments in a subsiding remnant basin, whose filling records a basin-scale depositional regression. In contrast, the Bradanic Trough is characterized by a basin-scale erosional regression and the last evolutive phase of this sector of the Apennines foredeep is best defined as a cannibalization phase rather than a filling or overfilling phase.