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The evolution of the southern Tyrrhenian subduction has been possibly controlled by distinct episodes of slab break-off as indicated by a critical review of the geological literature and by the analysis of purposely acquired multichannel seismic profiles. Within the proposed interpretation the first episode occurred from 8.5 to 4.0 Ma and affected the segment of the slab located in the Sardinia Channel, causing the abandonment of the Adventure thrust front in western Sicily. The second episode occurred between 2.5 and 1.6 Ma, affecting the segment of slab located north of Sicily, and was preceeded by rifting in the Strait of Sicily. The space and time location of these episodes appear controlled by discontinuities pre-existing within the subducted African plate that trend at high angle to the advancing subduction front. These discontinuities delimit segment of subducted slab that can be affected by slab break-off and can act as wayouts for magma and mantle derived He. The major of these discontinuities, the Malta Escarpment, has been reactivated in the Quaternary as a trench-perpendicular tear (STEP faults). Ultimately, the hierarchy in strength of these trench-perpendicular features could have affected the timing and amount of trench retreat and backarc opening.

The Upper Cretaceous Helminthoid Flysch (HF) of the Northern Apennines consists of thick and regionally widespread deep-water carbonate turbidite successions, deposited during the initial stages of Alpine collision. The HF spans the time from Turonian to Early Eocene and is mainly composed of intrabasinal carbonate ooze mixed with clay; siliciclastic terrigenous beds are also present, but they are a volumetrically minor component of the successions. Petrographic and sedimentological signatures indicate that the HF was deposited in distinct basins located below the carbonate compensation depth. Bulk composition and heavy minerals of terrigenous beds indicate provenance from different crustal levels of the European and Adria plates. The petrographic and palaeobathymetric characteristics of these turbidites indicate the coexistence of an active-margin tectonic setting, a palaeogeographical position suitable for carbonate ooze production and storage, and limited supply of terrigenous detritus into the basin. Palaeotectonic reconstructions and stratigraphic data suggest that Adria represented a vast repository of penecontemporaneous carbonate mud; the presumably intense seismic activity related to the pre-collisional Alpine orogeny promoted large-scale failures of shelf and/or slope biogenic muddy sediments, resulting in the deposition of a large volume of carbonate turbidites. Only occasionally, turbidity currents probably linked to exceptional fluvial floods generated pure terrigenous beds with different petrographic signatures for each HF succession. The oceanic crust of the Tethyan domain and its overlying sediments have been extensively involved in the long-lasting subduction processes that ultimately led to the Eocene continental collision in the Alps (Coward & Dietrich 1989). Large volumes of carbonate turbidites, known in the Apennines as Helminthoid Flysch (HF), were deposited within deep-sea trenches and on the remnant ocean basin floor (Abbate & Sagri 1970; Argnani et al. 2004) during the period preceding collision between Africa and Europe (Dewey et al. 1973, 1989). Sedimentary successions comparable with the HF crop out in a fairly continuous belt along the Alpine system, from the Northern Apennines to the Eastern Alps (Fig. 1a; Rowan, 1990) and span the time from Turonian to Early