Burial-exhumation history of the central Apennines (Italy), from the foreland to the chain building: thermochronological and geological data

A clear correlation between regional unconformities and related exhumation events was documented by thermochronological and geological data in the central Apennines. This approach allowed: (i) two major exhumation episodes to be identified, corresponding to turning points in the long-term burial history, from rifting to convergent margin development, and (ii) a quantification of the amount of section removed during the two exhumation events. The first exhumation event was connected with the foreland buckling process associated with the coupling between the Alpine-Apennines system, the Dinarides chain and their common foreland. During the Neogene a thrust-system development, the superposition of an allochthonous unit is envisaged to explain the second palaeoheating event. The dismantling of this additional load in central Apennines has been related to the formation of the Middle Pliocene Unconformity, during the development of the Pliocene-Quaternary frontal thrust of the Apennine Chain.