Dinaric tectonic features in the Gulf of Trieste (northern Adriatic Sea)

Seismic investigation in the Gulf of Trieste allows the identification of the extension and activity of the External Dinarides tectonic structures. The Gulf of Trieste belongs to the Adriatic Apulian foreland, consisting of the tilted Paleocene - Mesozoic carbonate platform overlaid by the Eocene foredeep Flysch deposits and by recent Quaternary sediments. The data set consists of 250 km of multichannel seismic profiles, 16 km of high resolution data, collected offshore, and 5 km of multichannel seismic profiles collected onshore since 2003. The main tectonic features identified in the study area are: a) the Trieste fault zone, occurring on the Karst coastal front, up to 2-3 km offshore; it is a Dinaric thrust system with about 1400 m of total vertical displacement in the carbonates, possibly affected by neotectonic activity; b) Dinaric frontal thrusts, present in the Gulf of Trieste and in the southern Friuli Plain, deforming the Flysch sequence and producing low angle faults in the carbonates; c) occurrence of possible NE-SW faults dissecting the Dinaric thrusts.