Geological map 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 succession, is exposed. A geological map on the 1:20,000 scale illustrates the main stratigraphic and structural features of the area. A unique feature of the study area is the existence of a thick clastic unit, the “brecce della Renga fm.” produced by the dismantling of the margins of a wide pre-orogenic extensional structural high, which rose in the early Tortonian within the foredeep basin. Following the Apennine chain building phase, the area was subjected to post – orogenic Quaternary extension, related to the opening of the Tyrrhenian sea.