A. Messina’s research while affiliated with University of Messina and other places

... For instance, De Vivo et al. (1993) stressed the presence of anomalous contents of As, Hg, Sb, Zn and Pb in stream sediments from this area, whereas Dongarrà et al. (2009) found high As concentrations in waters from mineralised areas. A geogenic source for the As contamination detected in the Peloritani Mountains was also suggested by Cangemi et al. (2021), agreeing with previous results of Cosenza et al. (2015) who reported high PTE content in soils from Fiumedinisi, Budali and Alì, related to the weathering of ore deposits and mine wastes. ...

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Occurrence and crystal chemistry of austinite, conichalcite, and zincolivenite from the Peloritani Mountains, northeastern Sicily, Italy

... The Aspromonte-Peloritani Unit consists of orthogneisses (mostly augen gneisses), paragneisses, amphibolites, and marbles [55], intruded by Late Carboniferous-Permian granitoids [56]. It underlies the Stilo Unit of the Aspromonte Massif [57], that is composed by low greenschist-to amphibolite-facies metapelites [58] deriving from a former Paleozoic succession [59], and overlies a stack of nappes, among which the Variscan metamorphic rocks are included in the Mandanici Unit and the Lower Complex [29,60] (Figure 2). The Mandanici Unit is composed of phyllites and quartzites, with metabasites and calc-schists [61], while the Lower Complex consists of minor tectonic slices dominated by phyllites, porphyroids and metandesites, deriving from Palaeozoic volcano-sedimentary successions, equilibrated under low greenschists facies metamorphic conditions [62][63][64]. ...

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Building an Orogen: Review of U-Pb Zircon Ages from the Calabria-Peloritani Terrane to Constrain the Timing of the Southern Variscan Belt

... At this last phase are related the structures that delimit the crystalline building (Taormina Line to the south and Sangineto Line to the north) and divide it into a southern and a northern sectors by means of the Catanzaro Trough (Brutto et al. 2016) (Fig. 2). The Sila represents one of the horsts in the northern sector of Calabria and it is configured as a junction area between the Pliocene-Pleistocene Graben of the Crati (Barone et al. 2008;Zecchin et al. 2020;Civile et al. 2022) (Fig. 3).The Sila orogen is made up of the Paleozoic basement of the Sila Unit (Messina et al. 1991(Messina et al. , 1994, formed by a large plutonic complex, the Sila Batolith, and by three distinct metamorphic complexes of Gariglione (medium-high metamorphic grade), Mandatoriccio (medium-low grade) and Bocchigliero (low grade complex), locally covered by the Longobucco Mesozoic sedimentary succession (Fig. 3). Middle-Miocene to Pleistocene sedimentary successions unconformably overlap both sedimentary cover and basement rocks of the eastern side of Sila (Critelli 1999). ...

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Geoheritage of the Sila National Park and surrounding areas (Northern Calabria, Italy)

... It consists of a thick pile of Paleozoic polymetamorphic nappes including Hercynian crystalline basement rocks superimposed on Jurassic to Early-Cretaceous ophiolite-bearing units and together overthrusted upon Triassic-Miocene sedimentary succession of the Appennine chain https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2020.104386 Received 9 January 2020; Accepted 3 April 2020 during Miocene (Amodio Morelli et al., 1976;Bonardi et al., 2001;Butler et al., 2004;Iannace et al., 2007). The Calabrian Arc migrated south-eastward from mid-Miocene onwards in response to roll-back of a NW-dipping subduction of the Ionian oceanic slab, which led to the opening of the Vavilov and Marsili sub-basins in the Tyrrhenian backarc Basin (Malinverno and Ryan, 1986;Patacca et al., 1990;Sartori, 1990;Gueguen et al., 1998;Faccenna et al., 2001Faccenna et al., , 2004 (Fig. 2). ...

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Large-scale gravity-driven phenomena in the Crotone Basin, southern Italy

... In each diagram data from the analysed samples (black dots) are plotted together with those from Sardinia and Calabria basement rocks (coloured shaded areas). The latter geochemical data have been taken from Ferla (1978), Ioppolo & Puglisi (1980), D'Amico et al. (1981, Messina et al. (1988Messina et al. ( , 1991, Messina, Russo & Lima (1993) and Fiannacca et al. (2015) in the case of the calabrian rocks and from Di Simplicio et al. (1974), Del Moro et al. (1975), Traversa & Vaccaro (1992, Di Vincenzo, Andriessen & Ghezzo (1996), Cortesogno et al. (1998), Barbey et al. (2008), Cruciani et al. (2013) in the case of Sardinia. ...

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Origin of exotic clasts in the Central-Southern Apennines: Clues to the Cenozoic fold-and-thrust collisional belt in the Central Mediterranean area

... comm. of Agustin Martin-Algarra). It may be of interest that similar rocks are typical Variscan metamorphites belonging to the Benamocarra Unit in the Betic Cordillera (Spain) [55]. The source areas could be different and complex to identify, because the studied metamorphic lithics could be also cannibalized clasts deriving from different Miocene to Pleistocene siliciclastic sequences of the Calabria-Peloritani Arc. ...

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Petrographic and Textural Characterization of Beach Sands Contaminated by Asbestos Cement Materials (Cape Peloro, Messina, Italy): Hazardous Human-Environmental Relationships

... Sicilide Complex of Ogniben, 1960;Roure et al. 1990; Barbera, Critelli & Mazzoleni, 2011). This interpretation conflicts with the evidence of a diffuse Alpine metamorphic overprint that is detectable along large portions of the Variscan basement units as well as part of the Mesozoic sediments (Ferla & Azzaro, 1976;Cirrincione & Pezzino, 1991Messina et al. 1992;Pezzino et al. 2008;Fazio et al. 2010;Cirrincione et al. 2011), thus implying the syn-tectonic exhumation of deep crustal levels, similarly to the northern part of the orocline. ...

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The effects of a Meso-Alpine collision event on the tectono-metamorphic evolution of the Peloritani mountain belt (eastern Sicily, southern Italy)

... The Peloritan terrane is a SSW-verging nappe stack including an Upper Complex made by high-grade (amphibolite facies) metamorphic nappes and isolated plutons (Aspromonte and Mela Units) stacked over medium grade (greenschist-lower amphibolite facies) rocks (Mandanici, Alì-Montagnareale), in turn overriding an external Lower Complex (San Marco d'Alunzio, San Pietro-Castelmola, Longi-Taormina, and Capo S. Andrea Units) made by very low grade metamorphic basement covered by un-metamorphosed Meso-Cenozoic sedimentary sequences (Cirrincione et al., 1999(Cirrincione et al., , 2015Figure 4). Metamorphism affecting all units, except Lower Complex sediments, is both pre-Hercynian (Fiannacca et al., 2013) and Hercynian in age (314 Ma from Rb/Sr dating, Bonardi et al., 2001), with a 28-22 Ma (Oligocene) Alpine metamorphic overprint documented in the Aspromonte, Mandanici and Ali-Montagnareale Units (Atzori et al., 1994;Bonardi et al., 1987Bonardi et al., , 1992Catalano et al., 2018;Cirrincione et al., 2012Cirrincione et al., , 2015 (Figures 6a-6c). During Late Cretaceous-Eocene, whitish, reddish and greenish pelagic limestones, marls, and siltstones containing chert ("Scaglia" facies, widespread in all coeval Tethyan pelagic sequences) deposited throughout (Figures 6d and 6e). ...

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Paleomagnetism of the Peloritan Terrane (NE Sicily): From Greater Iberia to the Neo Apennine‐Maghrebide Arc

... The upper units (Aspromonte and Mela Units) are affected by a Variscan high-to medium-grade metamorphism, whereas the lower units (Mandanici-Piraino, Fondachelli, and Longi-Taormina Units) are affected by a Variscan medium-to very low-grade metamorphism, from top to base of the thrust pile [17,31,32]. An Alpine overprint was also recognized in the Aspromonte and Mandanici-Piraino Units [33][34][35], whereas an anchizone metamorphism affected the post-Varican sedimentary sequence of the Alì-Montagnareale Unit [36]. ...

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Petrographic and Textural Characterization of Beach Sands Contaminated by Asbestos Cement Materials (Cape Peloro, Messina, Italy): Hazardous Human-Environmental Relationships

... The Río Pliego Fm is a thick turbiditic succession with yellow, brown and reddish brown micaceous sandstones, mudstones, calcarenites and conglomerates whose clasts come, mainly, from the Piar Group and the Saladilla Fm and, less frequently, from the Maláguide cover and other sources (Mac Gillavry et al. 1963;Geel 1973;Hermes 1984;Martín-Algarra 1987). The upper part of the Ciudad Granada Group, in particular, is characterized by polymictic, coarse-grained debris flow conglomerates with well-rounded clasts, among them cobbles and boulders eroded from Variscan granitoids and orthogneisses that show identical features to those of the Kabylia and Calabria-Peloritan basements Careri et al. 2004), although possible Iberia-related sources have also been proposed by Gigliuto et al. (2004). ...

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Lithological Successions of the Internal Zones and Flysch Trough Units of the Betic Chain