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The Latina-Pescara DSS profile, acquired in 1979-80 in central Italy, runs NE-SW across the Apennine mountain belt, from the Tyrrhenian to the Adriatic coast. DSS data provided information on the P-wave velocities within the crust and imposed important constraints on the interpretation of the Apennine deepest structures. Four structural layers within the Apennine crust were distinguished, with a variable thickness along the profile. In particular, a low-velocity layer, extended within the upper crust for about 10 km, was recognised between the uppermost sedimentary units and the Adriatic lower crust. The Latina-Pescara DSS profile gave also information about the crust-mantle transition that rises from 30-35 km in the easternmost part of the belt to less than 30 km beneath the axial zone.
Recent geologic, gravity and seismologic observations along the nearby CROP11 deep seismic reflection profile indicated that the crust-mantle boundary is deeper than imaged by the DSS data beneath the central Apennine chain. New seismologic evidence from teleseismic receiver functions computed in this study at stations located along the Latina-Pescara profile and in the surrounding areas, confirm that the Moho discontinuity exceeds 40 km of depth in the axial zone of the belt. These data have been used to reconstruct an updated regional crustal section along the Latina-Pescara profile.
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