Plio-Pleistocene geological evolution of the northern Sicily continentalmargin (southern Tyrrhenian Sea): new insights from high-resolution,multi-electrode sparker profiles

High-resolution seismic profiles were acquired in the north Sicily offshore region with an innovative, multi-tip sparker array which lacks ringing and has a base frequency around 600 Hz. The new data, combinedwith published data, suggest that intra-slope and extensional basins formed as a consequence of the lateMiocene (?)–early Pliocene shortening and thrusting,and the middle (?)–late Pliocene continental rifting affecting the internal side of the Sicilian-Maghrebian chain. Early (?) Pleistocene to Holocene high-amplitudeand high-frequency sea-level changes resulted in repeatedsub-aerial exposure and flooding of the shelf, and the deposition of cyclically arranged hemipelagic and shelf sediments. An uplift of the shelf could explain the non-preservation of the transgressive and of the lowstand wedge systems tracts in the oldest sequences.