For a long time, the Apennine Mountains, stretching for about 1,200 kilometers along the Italian peninsula, have been a geological enigma that has puzzled scientists. There, the Earth's crust separates along the mountain range, while it is compressed at its outer edge.
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In addition, some parts of the region are rising, while others are sinking, and earthquakes on both sides reveal equally contradictory signs.
Now, geologists believe they have found an explanation for the seemingly paradoxical geological formations. According to the findings of a new study recently published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, the Earth's crust is gradually breaking apart deep within Italy, producing the unusual geological structure we see on the surface.
This process is known as "stratification," in which a part of the denser lower crust, along with the lithosphere associated with it, gradually separates from the layers above it, and then slowly descends into the mantle in a process that scientists liken – metaphorically – to the mechanism of unzipping clothes, which gradually progresses over hundreds of kilometers deep into the Earth.
To put it simply, geologist Stefano Taffani from the University of Florence, Italy, and lead researcher on the study, explains the process by saying: “Imagine a multi-layered cake whose bottom layer is pulled or separated from the top layers from below, without the top layer being damaged or broken.”
What is remarkable about this process is that this separation does not happen suddenly, nor does it include the entire mountain range at the same time, but rather it is concentrated at a single front that researchers have named the “joint,” where the separation of the layers occurs, and this front moves slowly under Italy towards the frontal area overlooking the sea.
Physically, Stefano explains that the "joint" represents the line beneath the Earth's surface where the lower crust begins to separate. It can be visualized as a moving front that shifts horizontally from the Tyrrhenian Sea – located between the western coast of Italy and the eastern coast of Sardinia – eastward, towards the Adriatic Sea, which branches off from the Mediterranean Sea and separates the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula.
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