Tectonic-Sedimentary evolution of the Tuscan shelf (Italy): Seismic-stratigraphic/structural analysis of Neogenic succession in the Tyrrhenian Sea between Elba Island and Monte Argentario promontory

A reinterpretation of the vectorized version of public vintage seismic profiles in the Tyrrhenian Sea (Italy), between Elba Island and Monte Argentario promontory, was performed to reappraise the Tuscan shelf tectonic evolution. Despite the almost flat geometry of the seafloor, seismic profiles show a corrugated morphology of the pre-neogenic deformed acoustic basement, organized in structural highs and narrow, mostly N-S and NNW-SSE basins. We identified an intimate relationship between the thrust-related structural highs and the position of the basins, principally located at the forelimb and backlimb of major antiforms, a legacy of a primarily Miocene compressional stage. During the middle Miocene, the Tyrrhenian Sea opening set up, and the extensional front migrated from west to east, progressively activating and deactivating the observed high-angle faults, blandly controlling the sedimentation within the basins. After the late Messinian, a regional collapse stage led to the deepening and widening of the basins. A progressive deactivation of all the normal faults is recorded from the lower Pliocene. After the Late Pliocene/early Pleistocene, the area turned into a passive and widespread sinking stage without any frank tectonic activity. Results show that regional thrusts shaped the main architecture of the Tuscan Shelf shallow crust, while the neogenic depocenters started to develop as thrust-top basins along the flanks of the inherited antiforms. Intriguingly and partially in contrast with previous works, no evidence of low-angle normal fault was observed. We propose an innovative model that poses new questions on the crustal-scale mechanisms responsible for Tyrrhenian extensional process-related features, also establishing a new and unique starting point for fully unraveling the tectonic evolution of this portion of central Italy's offshore domain.