Different foreland basins in Italy: examples from the central and southern Adriatic Sea.

The central Adriatic basin (CAB) and the Southern Adriatic Basin (SAB) are foreland (or foredeep) basins relative to the non-coeval Apenninic and Dinaric-Hellenic orogenic systems currently characterized by different physiographies; they are separated by a major forebulge of the Adriatic lithosphere running throughout the Adriatic region from Istria to the Gargano. Stratigraphy reveals that the CAB has experienced an overfilling regime throughoput the Plio-Pleistocene whereas the SAB has been continuosly underfilled during the same time span. It is proposed that the Messinian salinity crisis and relative eustatic lowstand affected the subsequent tectono-sedimentary evolution of the CAB. One stil tentative hypothesis is that water and sediment removal in the basin lasted for a sufficient time span to promote visco-elastic relaxation, temporary migration of the forebulge towards the thrust belt and downwarping of the foreland plate.