Lithospheric-scale 3D model of Sicily domain based on gravity analysis

Sicily is a part of the central-Western Mediterranean area and represents a geotectonic boundary between the African and European plates. It is the result of a complex geological process based on a polyphasic evolution of a compressional step beginning with the Oligocene-Miocene clockwise rotation of Corsica-Sardinia simultaneously with the extensional processes of the Tyrrhenian basin. Consequently, the area is constrained by the continuing partial advance of the Sicilian-Maghrebian chain southwards and the Tyrrhenian extensional area towards the internal foreland areas (Hyblean domain). The study focuses on the creation of a 3D lithospheric-scale model of a 300 km x 400 km extended area in the central Mediterranean domain (Lat38°, Lat35°), which is consistent with the available geological and geophysical data, as well as with the observed gravity field. The reconstructed (simplified) geological setting consists of a lithospheric mantle, a crystalline basement (continental and oceanic crust), carbonates, the European margin and the Neogene-quaternary cover including volcanic bodies. The work aims to investigate the geometry of lithosphere integrating tomographic models in order to assess the major density contrasts and the lithospheric thermo-mechanical state. The regional 3D model provides also the boundary conditions for local thermal models to investigate afterwards.