Fault development through fractured pelagic carbonates of the Cingoli anticline, Italy: Possible analog for subsurface fluid-conductive fractures

The Cingoli anticline is a late Messinian thrust-related fold that developed along the northern Apennines front (Italy). This exposed anticline represents a potential analog of hydrocarbon reservoirs located in the nearby Po Plain and Adriatic Sea areas. The folded rock multilayer of the Cingoli anticline includes a heterogeneous, Mesozoic–Cenozoic, marine succession, consisting of massive platform carbonates below, and layered pelagic carbonates on top. This article reports the results of analyses conducted on pelagic micrites cropping out in two exposures located in the anticline backlimb. There, the late Cretaceous–Eocene Scaglia Rossa Fm., which is characterized by thin beds of pelagic limestones and marly limestones, is crosscut by pervasive, closely-spaced, stratabound fractures mostly consisting of pressure solution seams (PSSs) and sheared PSSs. The fractured strata are, in places, crosscut by small-offset fault zones. Field and laboratory structural data are used to define the nature and type of the different fracture sets as well as their temporal evolution and interaction. Seven main sets of stratabound PSSs and sheared PSSs are identified and interpreted as an early background fabric crosscut by or involved in later through-going fault zones. We propose a conceptual model of fault nucleation and growth that envisions the studied faults as late-stage structures, which formed by incorporating and connecting segments of bedding surfaces and early developed PSSs. We discuss our conceptual model in terms of fault and fracture permeability, highlighting the possible role exerted by the documented structures on subsurface fluid flow.