An early Pliocene uplift of the central Apenninic foredeep and its geodynamic significance

van der Meulen et al. [1998] identified a pattern of lateral shifts of Apenninic foredeep depocenters, which was interpreted as the regional expression of lateral migration of slab detachment in the sense of Wortel and Spakman [1992]. In addition to being expressed in such a pattern of lateral reorganisations, slab detachment is expected to result in rebound. This study focuses on Plio‐Pleistocene vertical motions of the central Apenninic inner forearc. Here, a major late early Pliocene phase of uplift is identified, by means of (1) micropaleontology‐based paleobathymetry, (2) analysis of the compaction history, and (3) numerical modeling of the flexural response of the underlying lithosphere to sediment loading. The timing of the uplift event is consistent with that of the regional reorganizations. On the basis of this consistency and the fact that it can be demonstrated that the uplift is not related to accretionary processes, we interpret this event as rebound after slab detachment.