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ARTICLE IN PRESS 49

L. Ferranti et al. / Quaternary International 145– 146 (2006) 30–54

Fig. 14. Summary of the vertical tectonic behaviour of peninsular and insular Italy deduced from the elevation of the MIS 5.5 marker, and of the
spatial relation of the vertical motion domains (yellow italic notations) with the domains of fast versus slow geologic to contemporary horizontal
displacement (white bold notations) both within and at the boundaries of the Adriatic block (thin and thick dashed white lines, respectively, drawn
from Fig. 5b. The average vertical displacement rate is contoured at a 0.2 mm/a interval (positive: dashed red line; stable: solid green line; negative:
dotted blue line); dots with different colour fill identify sites uplift rate ranges. Also portrayed is the relation of the tilt pattern of the MIS 5.5 marker
(large arrows: blue for subsidence and red for uplift) with recent thrust activity (yellow lines).

Sicily (Nigro and Sulli, 1995; Nigro and Renda, 1999; 6.2. Implications of tectonic behaviour of the coastlines
Giunta et al., 2000). In southeastern Sicily, a decreasing for the active geodynamics of the Italian peninsula,
uplift south of the Etna volcano might indicate short- Sardinia and Sicily
ening of the crust at the Hyblean front, which is
consistent with Quaternary geology (Torelli et al., 1998; At a regional scale, the displacements testified by
Lickorish et al., 1999) and borehole break-outs (Ragg the MIS 5.5 marker define the vertical component
et al., 1999). The lack of the MIS 5.5 marker along the of deformation, and give deep insights into the
entire southwestern coast of Sicily might result from tectonic behaviour of crustal blocks. The island
erosional processes, or indicate prolonged subsidence of Sardinia is stable to locally slowly subsiding,
related to ongoing southwestern sliding of the Gela and forms a block almost coherent with mainland
nappe at the offshore location of the thrust front. Europe (Fig. 5). Thus, Sardinia provides the best