Extensional reactivation of a deep transpressional architecture: Insights from sandbox analogue modeling applied to the Val d’Agri basin (Southern Apennines, Italy)

AbstractThe structural framework of the Val d’Agri region results from the superposition of different deformation events over time. In this area, the largest European onshore oil field was discovered in the 1980s, and since then, much geologic and geophysical data have been collected. However, the structural complexity and the poor quality of subsurface data have prevented a full understanding of fault evolution and kinematics so far. In this study, scaled sandbox analogue models have been used to better understand the role of syn-rift inheritance in the present-day structural architecture and to test different possible mechanisms of interaction between inherited transpressional structures at depth and newly formed extensional fault systems at shallow levels during regional quaternary extensional tectonics. Analogue models included two consecutive sinistral transpressional phases deforming the basement and the overlying Apulian Platform carbonates, affected by preexisting northeast–southwest-oriented exte...