Inversion structures in a foreland area -Seismic examples from the adriatic sea -Italy

The Adriatic represents a foreland area surrounded by three distinct fold-and-thrust belts: the Apennines to the west, the Southern Alps to the north, and the Dinarides to the east. A NW-SE-trending compressional ridge (Mid-Adriatic Ridge) extending from more than 100 km affects the middle zone of the Adriatic foreland. The interpretation of recently reprocessed seismic data from the Italian sector of the Adriatic offshore reveals that most of the thrust-related folds belonging to the Mid-Adriatic Ridge are positive inversion structures. On seismic, they typically appear as asymmetric inversion anticlines developed by the Neogene reverse reactivation of inherited Mesozoic graben and half-graben basin-bounding normal faults. Some of these structures are undrilled and they may potentially be attractive carbonate targets.