GNGTS 2013 - Atti del 32° Convegno Nazionale

the main bodies being clustered along the bounda- ries of the main coastal and intramontane tectonic basins (Fig. 1). In the Campania plain (Fig. 1), outcropping and buried travertine bodies follow the main faults which bound this coastal graben, and are located in the downthrown blocks. These faults, which have been responsible for the subsidence of the plain since Pleistocene times, show evidence of activity in the latest Pleistocene or Holocene (Brancaccio et al. , 1991; Cinque et al ., 2000; Irollo et al ., 2005; Santangelo et al ., 2010). Stratigraphical data point out that all outcropping travertines (which include currently depositing bodies, Fig. 2) are younger than the 39 ky old Ignimbrite Campana, which represents a major stratigraphical marker in the area (Rolandi et al. , 2003). Conversely, all buried travertine bodies are older than the Ignimbrite Campana marker level. In some instances, the lowest drilled travertines may be related to the Middle Pleistocene based on their occurrence below shallow marine deposits correlated with the Last Interglacial (130 ka). Buried travertines are located in the subsurface of Triflisco, Caserta and Maddaloni, at depths ranging from 30 up to 300 m b.s.l., and have average thicknesses between 5 and 10 m. The thickest (50 m thick) layer is found in the neighbourhood of Maddaloni, at the depth of 300 m. In the Sele Plain coastal graben, which has been subject to subsidence from the Early to the Late Pleistocene (Amato et al ., 1991; Brancaccio et al. , 1991; Cinque and Romano 2009) deeply buried travertine bodies have not been detected to date. Outcropping units include Late Pleistocene and actively forming deposits, which occur in the northern (Pontecagnano-Faiano, Ma and Fa in Fig. 1; Anzalone et al ., 2007) and southern (Capaccio and Paestum, respectively Ca and Pa in Fig. 1; D’Argenio et al ., 1988; Amato et a l., 2012) parts of the Plain. Fossil deposits, which are related to the Lower and Middle Pleistocene (Brancaccio et al ., 1987; Amato et al ., 1991;), outcrop in the E-NE margin of the Plain. Such older travertines are either interlayered with alluvial deposits or occur as isolated bodies lying on the pre-Quaternary bedrock. These deposits outcrop in the footwall blocks of the faults bounding the late Quaternary depocentre uplifted up to some hundreds of metres above the Plain. In the chain interiors, both fossil and currently forming travertine deposits are found either in the margins or/and within the main Quaternary continental basins, and in some instances are buried (Fig. 1). The oldest deposits, which are related to the Middle Pleistocene, are located to the NW of the Matese Mts. (Isernia basin; Brancaccio et al ., 2000) and in the Bianco and Tanagro river valleys (Buccino et al ., 1978; Amato et al ., 1992; Ascione et al ., 1992). The Middle Pleistocene travertines, which are generally interlayered with fluvial or lacustrine deposits, are deeply dissected and terraced and in some instances show evidence of deformation. Their thicknesses are in the order of some tens of meters. Recent and actively forming travertines occur in the Late Pleistocene to Present alluvial plains in the Venafro (Vs and Va in Fig. 1), Telese (Te, Am) and Contursi (Co) areas (Fig. 1 and Fig. 2). These develop along faults/fault zones showing evidence of activity in the Late Pleistocene-Holocene (Galli and Naso, 2009; Ascione et al ., 2013b), and may be considered as active faults. Fig. 2 – Late Pleistocene travertine at Contursi (a); historical travertine at Porta Marina Paestum (b); active encrustation at Triflisco (c). 13 GNGTS 2013 S essione 1.1