The Geology Of South Central Sicily

Investigating the complex interplay between tectonics and sedimentation is a key endeavor in modern earth science. Many of the world's leading researchers in this field have been brought together in this volume to provide concise overviews of the current state of the subject. The plate tectonic revolution of the 1960's provided the framework for detailed models on the structure of orogens and basins, summarized in a 1995 textbook edited by Busby and Ingersoll. Tectonics of Sedimentary Basins: Recent Advances focuses on key topics or areas where the greatest strides forward have been made, while also providing on-line access to the comprehensive 1995 book. Breakthroughs in new techniques are described in Section 1, including detrital zircon geochronology, cosmogenic nuclide dating, magnetostratigraphy, 3-D seismic, and basin modelling. Section 2 presents the new models for rift, post-rift, transtensional and strike slip basin settings. Section 3 addresses the latest ideas in convergent margin tectonics, including the sedimentary record of subduction intiation and subduction, flat-slab subduction, and arc-continent collision; it then moves inboard to forearc basins and intra-arc basins, and ends with a series of papers formed under compessional strain regimes, as well as post-orogenic intramontane basins. Section 4 examines the origin of plate interior basins, and the sedimentary record of supercontinent formation. This book is required reading for any advanced student or professional interested in sedimentology, plate tectonics, or petroleum geoscience. Additional resources for this book can be found at: www.wiley.com/go/busby/sedimentarybasins.

Accompanying CD-ROM contains plates (chiefly maps) in Adobe Acrobat files, and contents in pdf format.

Title available in Digital Reprint form on CD-ROM

This book offers as comprehensive an overview as possible of the lithostratigraphy of the Italian region of Sicily, taking into account the multiplicity of formational and terminological variability developed over more than a century of studies and publications. It presents stratigraphic terminology, the geological lexicon and the main stratigraphic subdivisions that are not familiar to Sicilian geologists. The new stratigraphic methods and the use of formations as mapping units have prompted the acquisition of new lithostratigraphic data, and a review of the previous units and their comparison with the new collected data, enabling the definition of a number of new lithostratigraphic units. The book summarizes the results in 77 worksheets containing the most important information regarding the lithological, sedimentological and microfacies characteristics, the measured thicknesses, areal extent and the regional aspects, the paleoenvironmental, paleogeographic and paleo-tectonics setting, compiled according to standard procedures and nomenclature rules provided by the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS).

This is the first book in English reviewing and updating the geology of the whole Apennines, one of the recent most uplifted mountains in the world. The Apennines are the place from which Steno (1669) first stated the principles of geology. The Apennines also represent amongst others, the finding/testing sites of processes and products like volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, olistostromes and mélanges (argille scagliose), salinity crisis, geothermal fluids, thrust-top basins, and turbidites (first represented in a famous Leonardo's painting). As such, the Apennines are a testing and learning ground readily accessible and rich of any type of field data. A growing literature is available most of which is not published in widely available journals. The objective of the book is to provide a synthesis of current data and ideas on the Apennines, for the most part simply written and suitable for an international audience. However, sufficient details and in-depth analyses of the various complex settings have been presented to make this material useful to professional scholars and to students of senior university courses.

Traditionally our understanding of ancient cities has been approached through archaeological, historical and literary sources, with little regard or understanding of geology or engineering.