Mapping (1:50,000) of a key sector of the northern Appennines and new results achieved in the frame of the CARG project

The realization of the new Geological Map of Italy at 1:50,000 scale (CARG Project) has concluded by now for a large area of the Northern Apennines extending from Pontremoli to Pistoia and from Viareggio to Abetone (Fig. 1). According to the mapped main geological features and the new data achieved during the realization of six geological sheets (233 Pontremoli, 234 Fivizzano, 249 Massa-Carrara, 250 Castelnuovo di Garfagnana, 260 Viareggio and 262 Pistoia) and synthesized in the explanatory notes, the following main results should be emphasized: - dating of several formations of the Tuscan Nappe, including the Toarcian and the Lower Cretaceous black shales, the onset of the Lower Toarcian marly sedimentation and the inception of the calcareous sedimentation across the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary; - lithostratigraphy and ages of some incomplete and/or condensed successions of the Tuscan Nappe Fm.; - features of litofacies and members of the Scaglia Toscana; - lithostratigraphy and age of the successions interposed between the Macigno Fm. and the Arenarie di Monte Modino Fm.; - new lithostratigraphic and biostratigraphic frame of the Canetolo Unit; - recognition of the Ottone Unit also in the sheets 250 and 262 and of the Canetolo Unit in the sheet 250; - lithostratigraphy of the Plio-Pleistocene units mapped in the Pontremoli and Aulla areas (sheet 233), in the Serchio Valley and in the Lucca-Montecarlo-Vinci area (sheet 250); - reconstruction of the hydrogeological structures of the Montecatini Terme thermal area; - identification and mapping of many landslides which were formerly unknown; - mesostructural analysis of mapped tectonic units; - main features of several tectonic depressions, such as the Magra Valley (sheets 233 and 234), the Serchio Valley (sheet 250) and the Pistoia plain (sheet 262); - low angle kilometric normal faults and their role in exhuming the Alpi Apuane metamorphic core complex; - the Alpi Apuane folding tectonics and correlation with the late uplift phases; - the cataclastic deformation in the basal formations of the Tuscan Nappe in the area surrounding the Alpi Apuane; - mesostructural analysis of mapped tectonic units; - main features of several tectonic depressions, such as the Magra Valley (sheets 233 and 234), the Serchio Valley (sheet 250) and the Pistoia plain (sheet 262); - low angle kilometric normal faults and their role in exhuming the Alpi Apuane metamorphic core complex; - the Alpi Apuane folding tectonics and correlation with the late uplift phases; - the cataclastic deformation in the basal formations of the Tuscan Nappe in the area surrounding the Alpi Apuane.