Some remarks on the Calabria - Peloritani arc and its relationship with the southern Apennines

Interpretations of the structure and evolution of the Calabria-Peloritani Arc are briefly reviewed, emphasizing its interpretation as the result of a juxtaposition of two sectors. Their different tectonic and metamorphic evolution is stressed, as well as open questions on their interactions. The currently proposed correlations between the ophiolitic and crystalline basement nappes of the Northern sector of the Calabrian Are and those outcropping at the Calabria-Lucania border area are criticized on the basis of biostratigraphic data and field evidence from a recent revision of the "Tiguride Complex" Auct. Three working hypotheses about the paleogeography and the tectonic evolution of the corresponding segment of the oceanic area are suggested to account for a deformation of the Calabria-Lucania border ophiolitic units occurring later than that of the Northern Calabrian ophiolitic units.