AMELIO M., LE PERA E. & RIZZO V.
Osservazioni stratigrafiche e mineralogiche sulle coperture detritiche della Valle di Maratea (Basilicata) – Stratigraphic and mineralogical observations of the continental deposits within the Maratea Valley (Basilicata, Italy)
Pages 13-23
Abstract
Quaternary deposits of the Maratea Valley (Lucania, southern Italy) experienced intense gravitational deformations in a tectonically active area. Stratigraphic and morphological characteristics of the sediments allow the distinction of two depositional phases while geomorphological features mark an erosional event and a mass failure phase between them. The first depositional phase (stage a) is widely diffuse all over the valley. It is characterized by well-cemented clast supported calcareous breccias and minor debris flows whose thickness is variable but, generally, less than 60 m. This first depositional phase is abruptly truncated by an extensive erosional event (stage b). This erosional event causes a deep incision of both deposits of the stage a and of the bedrock. A mass failure episode (stage c) is characterized by landslide morphological features and related deposits. The following phase (stage d), is characterized by debris flow deposits, consisting dominantly of rounded clasts (dm to cm in diameter) in a reddish clay matrix. Interstratified with these deposits are lacustrine black clays sometimes graphite-bearing and two main volcanoclastic layers.