Crustal section based on CROP seismic data across the North Tyrrhenian-Northern Apennines-Adriatic Sea.

Using deep seismic reflection data from the Italian lithospheric exploration project CROP in the Central Mediterranean region, a 400-km-long section, composed of three different profiles crossing the Northern Tyrrhenian Sea (CROP M-12A profile), the Northern Apennines (CROP-03) and the Adriatic Sea (CROP M-16) is reconstructed and discussed. New data allow us to outline a seismically consistent tectono-stratigraphic setting for the crust and upper mantle of the Northern Apennines thrust-belt system and its Adriatic foreland. Time-space analysis of the deformation of the investigated chain and identification of existing macrostratigraphic crustal intervals and tectonic units allow a reasonably controlled interpretation of the geodynamic evolution and of the main orogenic stages.