Search for oil in Parma District, western Italy

The Parma district of northern Italy offers many difficult geological and geophysical problems. The writers briefly outline the stratigraphy and major structural features of the northern foothills of the Apennines, and the hidden subsurface structure of the Po Valley. Results of recent drilling have substantiated many of the geophysical interpretations. There is a series of parallel folds trending northwest and southeast in the foothills; also in the subsurface of the plains. Secondary folding at right angles has produced closed domal structure, with Tertiary strata coming near the surface. Some dislocation with diapirism has been suspected from geophysical studies and proved by drilling.