The Pliocene-Quaternary salient structures of the Central and Southern Apennine chain inherited from pre-thrusting normal faults

The central Apennine Chain has been described as a fold- and-thrusts belt dominated by a thin-skinned tectonic style, that implies high estimates of orogenic shortening or according to a thick- skinned tectonic style, that implies a more conservative estimate of contraction. Several Authors have recently documented the inheritance of the Mesozoic paleomargin on the Neogene- Quaternary evolution of the Central Apennine Chain, emphasizing buttressing geometries and short-cut trajectories of the thrust planes through the pre- and syn-orogenic normal faults. A total, reverse-reactivation of the pre-existing normal faults has been proposed by a group of Authors. The aim of this paper is to reconstruct a crustal scale 3D model of tectonic inversion of the pre-thrusting normal faults (i.e., the Mesozoic pre-orogenic and the Messinian-Pliocene syn-orogenic normal faults) on the Pliocene-Quaternary development of salient structures in the outer Central Apennines (i.e., the Sibillini Mts-Olevano-Atrodoco, Montagna dei Fiori-Gran Sasso and Maiella-Sangro-Volturno thrusts) and in the buried chain of the Southern Apennines (e.g., the Setteporte structure) based on surface geological and structural data, and on seismic interpretation of industrial and public deep reflection profiles.