Staff

1. Festa Andrea (Coordinator)
2. Balestro Gianni (Member)
3. Gattiglio Marco (Member)
4. Groppo Chiara Teresa (Member)
5. Borghi Alessandro (Member)
6. (Member)
7. Castelli Daniele (Member)

Contacts

• 0116705186
• andrea.festa@unito.it
• Send email to members

ERC Sectors

Activity

A key factor for the mitigation of natural hazards associated to large magnitude earthquakes in modern convergent margins (e.g., Mw 9.0 Tohoku-Oki 2011 e Mw 9.1 Sumatra 2004) is the understanding of the role played by structural - stratigraphic inheritances during subduction and exhumation stages.

Due to complications to decipher in detail the characteristics of those inheritances in modern off-shore settings through seismic reflection studies, our research focuses on ancient on-land analogues of convergent margins exposed in the Alpine-Apennine system where units formed at different depth, from shallow (T<300°C) to deep (T>300°C) structural levels, can be observed

The research is aimed to improve the knowledge of the tectono-stratigraphic and metamorphic evolution of exhumed convergent margins, through the comparison of metamorphosed (W-Alps) and non-metamorphosed (Apennine and peri Mediterranean region) ancient and modern (e.g., Japan Trench, Hikurangi Margin) analogues. Our results are aimed to define a model for a better understanding of the evolution of modern and ancient convergent margins and related natural hazards.

FIG 1

Paleogeographic reconstructions of the plate interaction between Gondwana and Laurussia (Laurasia) at (A) Early Permian (modified from Ballèvre et al., 2018, Stampfli et al., 2002; Schettino and Turco, 2011), (B) Late Triassic (modified from Stampfli et al., 2002; Schettino and Turco, 2011), and (C) Early Jurassic (modified from Stampfli et al., 2002; Schettino and Turco, 2011). Modified from Festa et al. (2020, Geoscience Frontiers)

Collaborazioni principali 

Miami University, Oxford (OH-USA)
CUGB - China University of Geosciences, Beijing (China);
Charles University, Prague (Czech Republic);
Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia (Italy)

Publications

• Barbero, E., Festa, A., Saccani, E., Catanzariti, R., and D’Onofrio, R., 2020. Redefinition of the Ligurian Units at the Alps-Apennines junction (NW Italy) and their role in the evolution of the Ligurian accretionary wedge: constraints from mélanges and broken formations. Journal of the Geological Society, 177 (3), 562-574. https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2019-022. Selected in the final voting for the EARLY CAREER AWARD 2020 of the Geological Society of London (UK).
• Balestro, G., Festa, A., and Dilek, Y., 2019. Structural Architecture of the Western Alpine Ophiolites, and the Jurassic Seafloor Spreading Tectonics of the Alpine Tethys. Journal of the Geological Society, 176, 913-930. https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2018-099
• Festa, A., Balestro, G., Borghi, A., De Caroli, S., and Succo, A., 2020. The role of structural inheritance in continental break-up and exhumation of Alpine Tethyan mantle (Canavese Zone, Western Alps). Geoscience Frontiers, 11, 167-188. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2018.11.007. Awarded as Geoscience Frontiers BEST PAPER 2020 in Beijing (China).
• Balestro, G., Festa, A., Borghi, A., Castelli, D., Gattiglio, M., and Tartarotti, P., 2018. Role of Late Jurassic intra-oceanic structural inheritance in the Alpine tectonic evolution of the Monviso meta-ophiolite Complex (Western Alps). Geological Magazine, 155(2), 233-249. Doi: 10.1017/S0016756817000553.
• Balestro, G., Festa, A., Dilek, Y., and Tartarotti, P., 2015. Pre-Alpine Extensional Tectonics of a Peridotite-Localized Oceanic Core Complex in the Late Jurassic, High-Pressure Monviso ophiolite (Western Alps). Episodes, 38 (4), 266-282. Doi: 10.18814/epiiugs/2015/v38i4/82421. Awarded by IUGS (International Union of Geosciences) as Episodes BEST PAPER 2012-216 in Cape Town (ZA).

Tag: Structural inheritance, convergent margins, Alps-Apennines