Flexural response of the Venetian foreland to the SouthAlpine tectonics along the TRANSALP profile.

The Venetian Basin was affected by flexure related to the Southalpine shortening phase during the Middle Miocene - Early Pliocene. This downbending is quantified here using a two-dimensional flexural model. A recently improved data set on basin geometry based on the bottom of the Serravallian-Tortonian clastic wedge, on palaeobathymetry and gravity anomalies is used to constrain the components of flexure and to test the importance of the initial bathymetry in evaluating the contribution of surface loads to deflection. A good fit is obtained assuming a northward broken plate configuration of the downbent Adriatic plate with an effective elastic thickness of 20 km. Results highlight that, in the studied region, flexure related to the Eastern Southern Alps is totally due to surface loads (topographic load partly replacing initial bathymetry) and that no hidden loads are required. Furthermore, the palaeobathymetry contributes up to 50% to the total flexure in the studied region. © 2004 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.