Climatic changes during Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene at Capo Rossello (Sicily, Italy): response from planktonic foraminifera

Assessing the effect of chromium pollution on benthic foraminiferal community: morphological vs. environmental metabarcoding approaches

The purpose of this experimental study is to assess the impact of different concentrations of chromium (Cr) through time on the diversity of cultured benthic foraminifera combining two morphological approaches for the identification of living specimens that are Rose Bengal (RB) staining and CellTracker Green (CTG) labelling as well as environmental DNA and RNA metabarcoding. Seven tanks/aquaria with different concentrations of Cr in water, namely 100 ppt, 1 ppb, 10 ppb, 100 ppb, 1 ppm and 10 ppm plus the control were used. A mesocosm was extracted from each tank at pre-established time (1 week, 2 weeks, 4 weeks 6 weeks and 8 weeks). Morphological analyses produced 6 datasets based on staini…

The response of cultured meiofaunal and benthic foraminiferal communities to lead exposure: Results from mesocosm experiments

Lead (Pb) has been regarded as a very toxic element that poses a serious threat to biota. A mesocosm experiment is performed to assess the influence of Pb on meiofaunal (metazoans within 45-500 µm) and benthic foraminiferal (protozoans) communities. To this end, sediments bearing such communities are incubated in mesocosms, exposed to different levels of Pb in seawater, and monitored for up to eight weeks. Concentrations of Pb below 1 ppm in water do not promote a significant increase of this metal in sediments. Relatively high concentrations of Pb seem to affect meiofaunal and benthic foraminiferal communities by reducing their richness or diversity, and the abundance of the most sensitive…

Climatic and environmental changes of the last 10 kyr in the central Mediterranean. A study of a core collected in the Gulf of Termini (Sicily, Italy)

Un approccio integrato allo studio delle "argille ceramiche" della Sicilia Centrale e Occidentale

Climatic and oceanographic changes in the Azores region during the last 74.7 Ka

In this study, we reconstruct the complex palaeoclimatic and palaeohydrographic history of the North Atlantic Ocean during the Upper Pleistocene-Holocene, through a high-resolution Globigerinoides ruber - Globigerinoides elongatus plexus study. The studied core (ATA13-OF-KT1) was collected southwest of the Azores islands near the present-day boundary of the Subtropical Gyre/Azores Front Current System (STG/AFCS). Quantitative and stable isotope data of the G. ruber - G. elongatus plexus chromotypes and selected morphotypes showed cyclic oscillations of the STG/AFCS boundary linked to climatic variability at orbital and millennial scales, during the last 74.7 ka.

Onset of the Messinian Salinity Crisis: Sedimentological, petrographic and geochemical characterization of the pre-salt sediments from a new core (Caltanissetta Basin, Sicily)

The present study aims to reconstruct the environmental changes leading to the Messinian Salinity Crisis during the transition from the Tortonian-Messinian marine conditions to the Messinian evaporitic environments. The core 3AGN2S04, recently drilled in the Caltanissetta Basin (Sicily), was analyzed to reveal the petrographic, mineralogical and geochemical characteristics of the late Tortonian – early Messinian pre-salt sediments. In particular, the facies characterization of the carbonates and organic-rich shales of the Calcare di Base (CdB) member allowed to understand its significance in the paleoenvironmental evolution towards salt deposition and to the reconstruct the brecciation proc…

Calcareous plankton high resolution biostratigraphy from the Middle Miocene of the Mediterranean area.

Environmental Metal Pollution Considered as Noise: Effects on the Spatial Distribution of Benthic Foraminifera in two Coastal Marine Areas of Sicily (Southern Italy)

We analyze the spatial distributions of two groups of benthic foraminifera (Adelosina spp. + Quinqueloculina spp. and Elphidium spp.), along Sicilian coast, and their correlation with six different heavy metals, responsible for the pollution. Samples were collected inside the Gulf of Palermo, which has a high level of pollution due to heavy metals, and along the coast of Lampedusa island (Sicily Channel, Southern Mediterranean), which is characterized by unpolluted sea waters. Because of the environmental pollution we find: (i) an anticorrelated spatial behaviour between the two groups of benthic foraminifera analyzed; (ii) an anticorrelated (correlated) spatial behaviour between the first …

Environmental reconstruction of Trapani saltmarsh (southwestern Sicily) during the last 80 years. An integrated approach by using benthic foraminiferal assemblages and metal concentrations

Depositional and diagenetic environments of the Messinian Calcare di Base and sulfur-bearing carbonates from Sicily and Calabria

SEA-LEVEL AND CLIMATIC CHANGES DURING THELAST 41,000 YEARS IN THE OUTER SHELF OF THE SOUTHERN TYRRHENIAN SEA: EVIDENCE FROM FORAMINIFERA AND SEISMOSTRATIGRAPHIC ANALYSIS.

Caratterizzazione composizionale delle “argille ceramiche” della Sicilia nord-occidentale: ricadute di carattere archeologico ed archeometrico

Surface hydrographic changes at the western flank of the sicily channel associated with the last sapropel

Abstract In the eastern Mediterranean Sea, the early Holocene was characterized by major climatic and oceanographic changes that led to the formation of the last sapropel (S1) between 10.8 and 6.1 kyr cal. BP. These hydrographic changes might have altered the water exchange between the eastern and western Mediterranean sub-basins through the Strait of Sicily, but the existing evidences are inconclusive. In the present study we show new evidence from sediment core NDT-6-2016 located at the western flank of the Sicily channel, a key location to monitor the surface/intermediate water exchange between the two Mediterranean sub-basins. We perform paleo-hydrographic reconstructions based on plank…

Carbonate/evaporitic sedimentation during the Messinian salinity crisis in active accretionary wedge basins of the northern Calabria, southern Italy

Abstract This work deals with Messinian deposits belonging to the Neogene infill of the Rossano and Belvedere Basins, respectively developed along the fore-arc and the back-arc areas of the north Calabria accretionary wedge. The main goal is to characterize the carbonate and evaporitic sedimentation during the Messinian Salinity Crisis, in the general framework of the basin architecture and the interplay between eustatic vs tectonic controlled sea-level variations. Fieldwork integrated with seismic lines and well logs interpretations led to the revision of the general stratigraphy of the basins and the proposal of a new sequential stratigraphic model driven by cyclic sea-level variations. E…

Caratterizzazione chimica ed isotopica della carota MSK-C4 (Tirreno Meridionale)

Astronomic forcing on the planktonic foraminifera assemblage in the Piacenzian Punta Piccola section (southern Italy)

[1] A high-resolution quantitative analysis of the calcareous planktonic assemblages (planktonic foraminifers and calcareous nannofossils) at the Punta Piccola section (at the base of which, the global standard stratotype-section and point of the Piacenzian stage is defined) provided a more accurate biostratigraphy for the Mediterranean middle Pliocene (2.6–3.6 Ma). In particular, an astronomically calibrated age of 2.87 Ma was estimated for the Pliocene first occurrence of Neogloboquadrina atlantica instead of the younger previously proposed age of 2.72 Ma. Spectral analysis performed on the Globigerinoides species (spp.) planktonic foraminifera assemblage along with cross-spectral analysi…

Distribution and ecology of the Globigerinoides ruber — Globigerinoides elongatus morphotypes in the Azores region during the late Pleistocene-Holocene

Abstract Globigerinoides ruber is the dominant taxon in the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre, nowadays limited to the north by the Azores Current. It is highly sensitive to recent and late Pleistocene Azores Front Current System variability. In this study, we analyse the distribution of five individual morphotypes of the G. ruber – G. elongatus plexus (G. ruber s.s., G. ruber cyclostoma type, G. elongatus, G. elongatus cf.1, G. elongatus pyramidical type) and G. ruber kummerform gr. in a core (ATA13-OF-KT1) collected southwest of the Azores islands and located in a strategical position near the present-day boundary of the Subtropical Gyre/Azores Front Current System (STG/AFCS). Micropaleonto…

The Messinian Salinity Crisis deposits in the Balearic Promontory: An undeformed analog of the MSC Sicilian basins??

International audience; The Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) is a controversial geological event that influenced the Mediterranean Basin in the late Miocene leaving behind a widespread Salt Giant. Today, more than 90% of the Messinian evaporitic deposits are located offshore, buried below the Plio-Quaternary sediments and have thus been studied mainly by marine seismic reflection imaging. Onshore-offshore records’ comparisons and correlations should be considered a key approach to progress in our understanding of the MSC.This approach has however not been widely explored so far. Indeed, because of the erosion on the Messinian continental shelves and slopes during the MSC, only few places in …

Surface expression of eastern Mediterranean slab dynamics: Neogene topographic and structural evolution of the southwest margin of the Central Anatolian Plateau, Turkey

The southwest margin of the Central Anatolian Plateau has experienced multiple phases of topographic growth, including the formation of localized highs prior to the Late Miocene that were later affected by wholesale uplift of the plateau margin. Our new biostratigraphic data limit the age of uplifted marine sediments at the southwest plateau margin at 1.5 km elevation to <7.17 Ma, and regional lithostratigraphic correlations imply that the age is <6.7 Ma. Single-grain CA-TIMS U-Pb zircon analyses from a reworked ash within the marine sediments yield dates as young as 10.6 Ma, indicating a maximum age that is consistent with the biostratigraphy. Our structural measurements within the uplifte…

Ritrovamento di macroforaminiferi appartenenti al genere Amphistegina nei sedimenti attuali lungo le coste delle isole Pelagie (Italia Meridionale).

Ricostruzione paleoclimatica degli ultimi 11.200 anni tramite lo studio di una carota di sedimento prelevata nell’offshore del Golfo di Palermo (Tirreno Meridionale)

Il presente lavoro riguarda lo studio di una carota di sedimento della lunghezza di 196 cm, prelevata nell’offshore del Golfo di Palermo (Tirreno Meridionale) ad una profondità di 990 m durante la campagna oceanografica PUMA 09 (MaGIC 2009). La carota è stata campionata ogni 2 cm e su ciascun campione sono state effettuate analisi sedimentologiche, micropaleontologiche (foraminiferi planctonici) e geochimiche (δ13C e δ18O). Le analisi degli isotopi stabili sono state effettuate sui gusci di Globigerinoides ruber. Le analisi granulometriche hanno evidenziato che i sedimenti sono costituiti da argille e argille siltose di colore grigio-bruno, con percentuali di fango superiori al 90%, mentre …

Quantitative identification, distribution and source apportionment of anthropogenic trace metals in marine sediment of Milazzo gulf (N-E Sicily): preliminary results

Sedimentary, stable isotope and micropaleontological records of paleoceanographic change in the Messinian Tripoli Formation (Sicily, Italy)

Abstract The Tripoli Formation (6.96–5.98 Ma) of the Central Sicilian Basin provides a good record of the paleoceanographical changes that affected the Mediterranean during the transition from slightly restricted conditions to the onset of the Messinian Salinity Crisis. The Falconara/Gibliscemi section has been selected for an integrated approach at a high resolution scale using sedimentology, stable isotopes of the carbonates and microfossils. The sedimentary succession includes 46 precession-controlled cycles resulting from the periodical increase in biosiliceous productivity (diatomites) that followed the deposition of marls and pinkish laminites, which appear as sapropel-type deposits i…

Foraminiferi bentonici, metalli pesanti e radioattività - ARPAVIEW

The role of biotic and abiotic processes in the origin of Messinian evaporate-associated carbonates (Southern Italy)

The end of the Messinian Salinity Crisis in the western Mediterranean: insights from the carbonate platforms of south-eastern Spain.

International audience; How the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) ended is still a matter of intense debate. The Terminal Carbonate Complex (TCC) is a late Messinian carbonate platform system that recorded western Mediterranean hydrological changes from the final stages of evaporite deposition till the advent of Lago-Mare fresh- to brackish water conditions at the very end of Messinian times. A multidisciplinary study has been carried out in three localities in south-eastern Spain to reconstruct the history of TCC platforms and elucidate their significance in the MSC. Overall, this study provides evidence that the TCC formed following a regional 4th order water level rise and fall concomitant…

“Hidden invaders” conquer the Sicily Channel and knock on the door of the Western Mediterranean sea

Abstract This study updates the current distribution, range expansion and establishment status of the non-indigenous species Amphistegina lobifera Larsen, 1976 and other foraminifera that are cryptogenic in the Sicily Channel. Prior to this study, amphisteginids were reported from the Levantine Basin, the Central Mediterranean (Tunisia, Malta, Pelagian islands) and the southern Adriatic Sea. Here, we provide new records documenting a north-western expansion in the Central Mediterranean. In summer-autumn 2017 and spring-summer 2018, we collected algae and sediment samples from shallow coastal habitats along the shores of the Maltese archipelago, southern and north-western Sicily, Pantelleria…

Dati preliminari sulle associazioni a Foraminiferi Bentonici del Golfo di Priolo (Sr) - Sicilia Sud-Orientale

Reconstructing Bioinvasion Dynamics Through Micropaleontologic Analysis Highlights the Role of Temperature Change as a Driver of Alien Foraminifera Invasion

Invasive alien species threaten biodiversity and ecosystem structure and functioning, but incomplete assessments of their origins and temporal trends impair our ability to understand the relative importance of different factors driving invasion success. Continuous time-series are needed to assess invasion dynamics, but such data are usually difficult to obtain, especially in the case of small-sized taxa that may remain undetected for several decades. In this study, we show how micropaleontologic analysis of sedimentary cores coupled with radiometric dating can be used to date the first arrival and to reconstruct temporal trends of foraminiferal species, focusing on the alien Amphistegina lo…

Il degrado di manufatti ceramici archeologici: sistemi diagnostici e metodologie di intervento

The use of bioindicators (Posidonia oceanica and benthic foraminifera) to evaluate metal pollution in a complex ecological system: marine coastal environment.

Deep Oceanographic Changes in the South Tyrrhenian Sea during the Time of Last Mediterranean Sapropel Formation

Paleoenvironmental and climatic changes during the last 25 ky along a W-E transect across the Mediterranean Sea.

Classificazione sistematica e distribuzione dei foraminiferi bentonici recenti nei sedimenti marini delle coste siciliane.

Environmental RNA outperforms eDNA metabarcoding in assessing impact of marine pollution: A chromium-spiked mesocosm test

Environmental (e)DNA metabarcoding holds great promise for biomonitoring and ecotoxicological applications. However, few studies have compared the performance of eDNA versus eRNA metabarcoding in assessing organismal response to marine pollution, in experimental conditions. Here, we performed a chromium (Cr)-spiked mesocosm experimental test on benthic foraminiferal community to investigate the effects on species diversity by analysing both eDNA and eRNA metabarcoding data across different Cr concentrations in the sediment. Foraminiferal diversity in the eRNA data showed a significant negative correlation with the Cr concentration in the sediment, while a positive response was observed in t…

High-resolution integrated stratigraphy in the Middle Miocene Upper Globigerina Limestone and Blue Clay Formations (Malta Island)

First colonization of the genus Amphistegina and other alien benthic foraminifera in the Pelagian Islands and in the south-eastern Sicily (central Mediterranean Sea)

Distribution of Heavy Metals in Marine Sediments of Palermo Gulf (Sicily, Italy)

Concentrations of Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb and Zn have been measured, by atomic absorption spectrophotometry, in the fine fraction (<63 μm) of surface sediments collected in 30 sites in the Palermo Gulf (Sicily, Italy) in order to assess the levels and the spatial distribution of these elements. Enrichment factors calculated with respect to clean areas have been considered to discriminate between levels due to background or to pollution contributions. The sampling stations, which form a grid inside these areas, are characterized by geographic proximity and by the presence of pollution sources. Ratio matching technique along with hierarchical clustering, minimum spanning tree and principal component a…

The Messinian Salinity Crisis in the Mediterranean: an integrated scenario

A stalactite record of four relative sea-level highstands during the Middle Pleistocene Transition

International audience; Ice-sheet and sea-level fluctuations during the Early and Middle Pleistocene are as yet poorly understood. A stalactite from a karst cave in North West Sicily (Italy) provides the first evidence of four marine inundations that correspond to relative sea-level highstands at the time of the Middle Pleistocene Transition. The speleothem is located ∼97 m above mean sea level as result of Quaternary uplift. Its section reveals three marine hiatuses and a coral overgrowth that fixes the age of final marine ingression at 1.124 ± 0.2, thus making this speleothem the oldest stalactite with marine hiatuses ever studied to date. Scleractinian coral species witness light-limited…

Paleoecological constraints on reef-coral morphologies in the Tortonian-early Messinian of the Lorca Basin, SE Spain.

Coral reefs represent one of the main carbonate factories that contributed to the control of the stratigraphic architecture of carbonate platforms, which had a widespread development during the late Miocene in the paleo-Mediterranean area. The late Miocene reef complexes of the Lorca Basin in southeastern Spain are composed of five mixed siliciclastic/carbonate units, middle Tortonian to early Messinian in age. The development of coral reefs probably ceased when the first evaporitic event occurred in the basin centre in the early Messinian. This study mainly focuses on the response of reef communities and the modifications of reef organisation to global and regional parameters. At the platf…

Variazioni climatiche ed ambientali degli ultimi 10.000 anni: studio preliminare di una carota prelevata nel Golfo di Termini Imerese (Sicilia Settentrionale)

Reconstruction of the paleoenvironmental changes around the Miocene-Pliocene boundary along a W-E transect across the Mediterranean

Abstract In order to reconstruct the environmental changes at the end of the Messinian salinity crisis, a multidisciplinary study has been carried out with a high sampling resolution of the late Messinian–early Zanclean (Zone MPl 1) sediments along a West–East Mediterranean transect. The studied examples comprise sections from southern Spain (Vera/Almanzora), Balearic Basin (ODP Site 975), Tyrrhenian Basin (ODP Site 974), Sicily (Eraclea Minoa), Zakynthos (Kalamaki), Corfu (Aghios Stefanos), Crete (Aghios Vlasis). Previously analyzed sections from the Levantine Basin (Cyprus and ODP Sites 968 and 969) are used for comparison. The sections have been correlated using planktonic foraminiferal …

ASPRACOAST: A model of integrated coastal zone management of the eastern part of the Gulf of Palermo (Sicily, Italy)

Distribution of Cr and Pb in artificial sea water and their sorption in marine sediments: an example from experimental mesocosms

The uptake of two heavy metals (chromium and lead) in sediments in experimental mesocosms under exposure to different metal concentrations was evaluated by monitoring their concentrations over time both in seawater and in sediment. Two separate experiments under laboratory-controlled conditions were carried out for the two metals. Sediments were collected from a protected natural area characterized by low anthropic influence and were placed in mesocosms that were housed in aquaria each with seawater at a different metal concentration. At pre-established time intervals, seawater and sediment samples were collected from each mesocosm for chemical analyses. Quantification of chromium and lead …

Revised timing and evolution of the Messinian Salinity Crisis in the Mediterranean area

Formation of secondary carbonates and native sulphur in sulphate-rich Messinian strata, Sicily

Abstract Microbially formed authigenic carbonates accompanied by native sulphur are present in the ‘Calcare Solfifero’ below a thick succession of gypsum deposited during the Messinian salinity crisis in Sicily. We sampled these carbonates and associated sulphur in five former sulphur mines to subject them to a detailed petrographic and geochemical study in order to explore their different modes of formation. Native sulphur formed in conjunction with microbial sulphate reduction, which is reflected in its depletion in 34S (δ34S values as low as − 2‰ vs. V-CDT) and an enrichment of 34S in the residual sulphate (δ34S values as high as + 61‰). The oxidation of organic matter by sulphate reduct…

Foglio 607 Corleone

The late Messinian "Lago-Mare" event and the Zanclean Reflooding in the Mediterranean Sea: New insights from the Cuevas del Almanzora section (Vera Basin, South-Eastern Spain)

Abstract The return to normal marine conditions in the Mediterranean Sea after the end of the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC), that led to the deposition of thick evaporitic succession followed by settlement of brackish to freshwater conditions of the “Lago-Mare”, is still subject to extensive debate between two opposite scenarios. One scenario implies an abrupt reflooding through the Gibraltar gateway of the Mediterranean Sea previously disconnected from the world ocean and partly desiccated. The second scenario postulates that the Mediterranean Sea kept a high-water level throughout the Messinian Salinity Crisis and was connected continuously to the Atlantic Ocean and to the Paratethys. T…

Inquinamento da metalli pesanti in ambiente marino in correlazione con la distribuzione dei foraminiferi bentonici

Ricostruzione paleoclimatica degli ultimi 16.000 anni nella carota MSK12-C1 (Tirreno Meridionale)

Benthic foraminiferal response to trace element pollution. The case study of the Gulf of Milazzo, NE Sicily (Central Mediterranean Sea).

The response of benthic foraminiferal assemblages to trace element pollution in the marine sediments of the Gulf of Milazzo (north-eastern Sicily) was investigated. Since the 1960s, this coastal area has been a preferred site for the development of two small marinas and a commercial harbour as well as for heavy industry. Forty samples collected in the uppermost 3-4 cm of an undisturbed layer of sediment in the littoral environment were used for this benthic foraminiferal analysis. The enrichment factors (EFs) of selected trace elements (As, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn) were also calculated. Changes both in benthic foraminiferal assemblages and in some trace elements concentrations have pr…

Paleoenvironmental changes at the Messinian/Pliocene boundary in the Alboran Area: The example of the Melilla Basin, NE Marocco

Heavy metals in the fine fraction of coastal sediments from Gulf of Palermo.

Benthic foraminifera assemblages in coastal marine ecosystem and relationship with metal distribution. A spatial study along Sicilian coasts.

Le unità fisiografiche Paesaggistiche Costiere

The Messinian salinity crisis in the Mediterranean basin: A reassessment of the data and an integrated scenario

Abstract After a long period of controversial debate about the interpretation of the Messinian salinity crisis (MSC), a near consensus existed since the ODP Leg 42A for a model keeping the major lines of the deep basin-shallow water model initially proposed by Hsu et al. (1973) . The knowledge of the crisis was improved since the 1995s by the availability of a very accurate astronomically calibrated timescale. The debate about its interpretation was then reactivated by several new scenarios that questioned most the major aspects of the previous classical models. The updated re-examination of the most salient features along with consideration of the hydrological requirements for evaporite de…

Paleoenvironmental changes heralding the Messinian Salinity Crisis in central Sicili: The Tripoli formation of the Falconara-Gibliscemi composite section

Definizione composizionale delle "Argille Ceramiche" presenti nella Sicilia Nord-Occidentale: Inquadramento geologico e ricadute di carattere archeometrico

The onset of the Messinian salinity crisis: Insights from Cyprus sections

Abstract The Neogene basins of Southern Cyprus provide a good opportunity to improve the knowledge of the paleoenvironmental changes involved in the triggering of the Messinian evaporite deposition in the Mediterranean, and of their chronology, which is still questionable with regards to the parameters responsible for the triggering of the salinity crisis. It is still difficult to discriminate the individual effects of tectonics, climate, global sea-level changes. In Cyprus, considerable progress has been made on the events leading to the MSC, since the 70's, in high-resolution microfossil biostratigraphy, astrochronology, cyclostratigraphy and magnetostratigraphy. A study of the Tochni sec…

A GEOREFERENCE DATABASE AND A GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR PALERMO PLAIN AND GULF (WESTERN SICILY): AQUIFERS AND MARINE ENVIRONMENTS

Globorotalia truncatulinoides in the Mediterranean Basin during the Middle–Late Holocene: Bio-Chronological and Oceanographic Indicator

The planktonic foraminiferal species Globorotalia truncatulinoides is widely used as a biostratigraphic proxy for the Quaternary in the Mediterranean region. High-resolution quantitative studies performed on sediment cores collected in the central and western Mediterranean Sea evidence a significant abundance of G. truncatulinoides during the Middle Holocene. The robust chronological frame allows us to date this bio-event to 4.8–4.4 ka Before Present (BP), very close to the base of the Meghalayan stage (4.2 ka BP). As a consequence, we propose that G. truncatulinoides can be considered a potential marker for the Middle–Late Holocene chronological subdivision. G. truncatulinoides is a deep-d…

Lineamenti geologici e naturalistici del Progetto Aspracoast

Influence of waste water in marine ecosystem: preliminary data on benthic foraminifera assemblages and metal concentration in marine sediments

Organismi unicellulari "spie" dell'inquinamento dell'ambiente marino.

Inquadramento geologico e definizione composizionale delle "argille ceramiche" presenti nella Sicilia nord-occidentale: ricadute di carattere archeometrico.

Late Messinian to Early Pliocene paleoenvironmental changes in the Melilla Basin (NE Morocco) and their relation to Mediterranean evolution

Abstract Three major paleoenvironmental changes have been recognized during the late Miocene to Early Pliocene in the Melilla Basin (Northeastern Morocco) and compared with the regional events that affected the Mediterranean hydrology during this crucial period. The first change was the definitive conversion of the restricted marine conditions that prevailed since the end of the reef carbonate complex into lacustrine environments; this occurred around 5.8 Ma which is earlier than in the rest of the Mediterranean where the Lower Evaporites were still forming. These lacustrine settings display great similarities with the Lago-Mare environments that started in the Mediterranean during the depo…

Freshening of the Mediterranean Salt Giant: controversies and certainties around the terminal (Upper Gypsum and Lago-Mare) phases of the Messinian Salinity Crisis

The late Miocene evolution of the Mediterranean Basin is characterized by major changes in connectivity, climate and tectonic activity resulting in unprecedented environmental and ecological disruptions. During the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC, 5.97-5.33 Ma) this culminated in most scenarios first in the precipitation of gypsum around the Mediterranean margins (Stage 1, 5.97-5.60 Ma) and subsequently > 2 km of halite on the basin floor, which formed the so-called Mediterranean Salt Giant (Stage 2, 5.60-5.55 Ma). The final MSC Stage 3, however, was characterized by a "low-salinity crisis", when a second calcium-sulfate unit (Upper Gypsum; substage 3.1, 5.55-5.42 Ma) showing (bio)geochemica…

CLASSIFICATION AND TAXONOMY OF MODERN BENTHIC SHELF FORAMINIFERA OF THE CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN SEA

Benthic foraminifera as indicators of relative sea-level fluctuations: Paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic reconstruction of a Holocene marine succession (Calabria, south-eastern Tyrrhenian Sea)

This study presents the results of an integrated stratigraphic analysis conducted on a marine gravity core (MSK-12 C4) recovered from the outer continental shelf (82 mwater depth) of western Calabria, ~2.6 km, NE of Capo Vaticano (Eastern Tyrrhenian margin). The gravity core MSK-12 C4 recovered a stratigraphic succession of 4.18 m beneath the seafloor representing the last ~11.1 ka. Sedimentological analysis, micropaleontological quantitative analysis on benthic foraminiferal assemblages, tephrostratigraphy, sequence stratigraphic analysis of high resolution reflection seismic data recorded in the core site area and AMS 14C absolute age determinations allowed reconstructing the marine recor…

The role of topography and erosion in the development and architecture of shallow-water coral bioherms (Tortonian-Messinian, Cabo de Gata, SE Spain).

23 pages; International audience; During the Miocene, Mediterranean shallow-water carbonates were rich in scleractinian corals, which thrive in various depositional settings. A Tortonian–Messinian bioherm belt developing in a heterozoan-dominated ramp was investigated along a 1.2 km continuous transect located in the Cabo de Gata region. The interval studied displays four depositional environments from mid-to-inner ramp, dominated by swell waves and storm energy, deposited as a single, large-scale depositional sequence during a 3rd to 4th order transgressive–regressive cycle. The bioherms grew in three phases, and were essentially composed of inplace primary frameworks. Three coral genera w…

The Messian Salinity Crisis and the catastrophic Zanclean flooding of the dessicated Mediterranean: the Red Sea record

High resolution stratigraphy and stable isotopes at the Messinian/Zanclean boundary. In the Mediterranean basins. Paleoceanographic reconstruction

The end of the Messinian salinity crisis: Evidences from the Chelif Basin (Algeria).

How did the Messinian Salinity Crisis end is a matter of intense debate between two opposite concepts i.e., the generalised dilution event, the so-called Lago–Mare, followed by the sudden restoration of the marine conditions at the base of the Zanclean, or the early partial or complete marine refill that would have happened earlier during the upper Messinian. The Chelif Basin of Northwestern Algeria, one of the greatest Messinian marginal basins of the Mediterranean, provides an exceptional opportunity to study in detail how this major paleoenvironmental change occurred through continuous sedimentary records of the Miocene–Pliocene boundary. Five sections representative of both the central …

Neogene planktonic foraminiferal turnover in the Mediterranean area

Intratympanic gentamicin: a 1-day protocol treatment for unilateral Meniere's disease

Abstract Purpose The objective of this study was to assess the usefulness of low-dose intratympanic gentamicin administration in patients with Meniere's disease (MD). Materials and Methods We carried out a retrospective review of the charts of 55 patients with definite MD in accordance with the AAO-HNS (American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery) Diagnostic Scale who were treated at Gruppo Otologico (Piacenza, Rome, Italy). The treatment protocol consisted of 3 intratympanic injections of gentamicin at a 12-hour interval between each administration. Results Results were resumed in accordance with AAO-HNS criteria and showed complete control of vertigo spells in 60% (class A), …

Fogli 609-596, Termini Imerese-Capo Plaia

Il Servizio Geologico Nazionale ha unificato i Fogli 609 "Termini Imerese" e 596 "Capo Plaia" in un unico Foglio denominato 609/596 "Termini Imerese-Capo Plaia" allo scopo di uniformare i rilievi e raccoglierne la descrizione in un unico volume delle Note Illustrative. Il Foglio 609/596 "Termini Imerese-Capo Plaia" della Carta Geologica d’Italia in scala 1:50.000 è stato realizzato nell’ambito del Progetto CARG con i fondi della Legge 67/88 - Legge 226/99 con una convenzione tra Servizio Geologico Nazionale ora ISPRA) e Regione Siciliana. Le aree ricadono interamente nella Provincia di Palermo, comprendono la fascia marina del Golfo di Termini Imerese fino al promontorio di Capo Plaia, la r…

Paleoenvironmental changes during the calcare di base deposition a prelude to the Messinian salinity crisis.

Transition from marine to hypersaline conditions in the Messinian Tripoli Formation from the marginal areas of the central Sicilian Basin

Abstract Three sections of the early Messinian Tripoli Formation from the northern and southern margins of the central Sicilian Basin (Serra Pirciata, Torrente Vaccarizzo, and Marianopoli) have been studied with the aim to reconstruct the sedimentary and environmental changes which occurred during the transition between marine conditions and the evaporitic events of the Salinity Crisis recorded in the overlying Calcare di Base Formation. A detailed biostratigraphic and cyclostratigraphic study provided the opportunity of cycle-by-cycle correlations between the marginal sections and the reference section of Falconara. The main paleoenvironmental changes are recorded by: (1) the evolution of …

Dating of a sediment core in the Palermo Bay (Sicily, Italy)

An extensive study of sediment cores in the Palermo Bay has been carried during the last two years. Main goal of the research was to study the environmental pollution of the area, using foraminifers as an environmental indicator.

Paleoceanographic and paleoenvironmental changes in the Red Sea during the Messinian/Zanclean: new data from Site 225.

Reply to the comment on “Carbonate deposition and diagenesis in evaporitic environments: The evaporative and sulphur-bearing limestones during the settlement of the Messinian Salinity Crisis in Sicily and Calabria” by Caruso et al., 2015. Palaeo3, 429, 136–162

Abstract Manzi et al. (in press) took the opportunity offered by our paper to repeat again all the set of ideas supporting an interpretative model of the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC), a model they assert to be valid for the whole Mediterranean basin. What emerges from reading this long comment may be summarized in one criticism of our article: we have not systematically applied their interpretative model to our data! The aim of our paper was not to promote their ideas, but to submit the results of more than 20 years of field studies and petrographical and geochemical analyses on Sicilian and Calabrian sequences of the Messinian “Calcare di Base”. It is out of our purpose to enumerate aga…

Environmental evolution of the last 55 years of the Gulf of Palermo (Sicily, Italy). An integrated study of marine core sediments

Preliminary data on correlations between aberrant benthic foraminifera and metal concentrations in sediments from Palermo and Termini gulfs (Sicily)

Response of benthic foraminifera to heavy metal contamination in marine sediments (Sicilian coasts, Mediterranean sea)

To examine the suitability of benthic foraminifera and their test deformations as bioindicators of pollution in coastal marine environments, we studied foraminifera and metal concentrations in 72 marine sediment samples, collected from the inner shelf along the Sicilian coast (Gulfs of Palermo and Termini) and on the south-eastern coast of Lampedusa Island. These areas are characterised by different environmental conditions. On the basis of pollution sources and foraminiferal assemblages, we recognised different zones in the Gulf of Palermo. The most polluted zones showed high metal concentrations, and low diversity of benthic foraminifera with species typical of stressed environments. By c…

Reconstruction of the paleoenvironmental changes around the Messinian-Pliocene boundary along a W-E transect across the Mediterranean

Assessing the effect of mercury pollution on cultured benthic foraminifera using DNA metabarcoding and morphological approaches

Heavy metals such as mercury (Hg) occur in ecosystems from both natural sources and human activities, with large variations in concentrations and pose a significant health hazard through bioaccumulation and biomagnification. The aim of this experimental study is to assess the impact of different concentrations of Hg through time on the diversity of cultured benthic foraminifera. Tanks with concentrations of Hg up to 100 ppm were considered. Mesocosms containing 1-cm-thick sediment from each tank were subsampled at pre-established time intervals for geochemical (Hg content), morphological and molecular analyses. Morphological analyses were based on both Rose Bengal and the CellTracker Green …

Paleoecological constraints on reef-coral morphologies in the Tortonian–early Messinian of the Lorca Basin, SE Spain

Abstract Coral reefs represent one of the main carbonate factories that contributed to the control of the stratigraphic architecture of carbonate platforms, which had a widespread development during the late Miocene in the paleo-Mediterranean area. The late Miocene reef complexes of the Lorca Basin in southeastern Spain are composed of five mixed siliciclastic/carbonate units, middle Tortonian to early Messinian in age. The development of coral reefs probably ceased when the first evaporitic event occurred in the basin centre in the early Messinian. This study mainly focuses on the response of reef communities and the modifications of reef organisation to global and regional parameters. At …

Sea level and climate forcing of the Sr isotope composition of late Miocene Mediterranean marine basins

Sr isotope records from marginal marine basins track the mixing between seawater and local continental runoff, potentially recording the effects of sea level, tectonic, and climate forcing in marine fossils and sediments. Our 110 new Sr-87/Sr-86 analyses on oyster and foraminifera samples from six late Miocene stratigraphic sections in southern Turkey, Crete, and Sicily show that Sr-87/Sr-86 fell below global seawater values in the basins several million years before the Messinian Salinity Crisis, coinciding with tectonic uplift and basin shallowing. 87Sr/86Sr from more centrally located basins (away from the Mediterranean coast) drop below global seawater values only during the Messinian S…

Indagini archeometriche funzionali all'individuazione dei centri di produzione ceramica attivi in età arcaica nella Sicilia centro-occidentale: Monte Adranone (Sambuca di Sicilia, Agrigento).

Sul ritrovamento di tephra di composizione riolitica peralluminosa a largo del promontorio di Capo Vaticano (Calabria Occidentale, Tirreno Meridionale)

Cyclic Fluctuations, Climatic Changes and Role of Noise in Planktonic Foraminifera in the Mediterranean Sea

Globorotalia truncatulinoides in Central - Western Mediterranean Sea during the Little Ice Age

Abstract Globorotalia truncatulinoides oscillations have been recorded from different marine sediment cores collected in the central and western Mediterranean Sea. The abundances of this species over the last 500 yrs. demonstrates its potential value as bio-indicator of particular oceanographic condition during the Maunder Minimum (MM) event of the Little Ice Age (LIA). The comparison between the G. truncatulinoides abundance patterns of the Balearic Basin, central and south Tyrrhenian Sea and central and eastern Sicily Channel allows to highlight a similar response of this species during the MM event in the central-western Mediterranean Sea. The ecological meanings of this species and its …

Astronomical dating of two Pliocene alkaline volcanic ash layers in the Capo Rossello area (southern Sicily, Italy): implications for the beginning of the rifting in the Sicily Channel

Key-words. - Sicily Channel rift, Biostratigraphy, Astronomical calibration, Pliocene, Volcanic ash layers. Abstract. - Two volcaniclastic ash layers (AL1 and AL2) are intercalated throughout the middle Pliocene sedimentary sequences of Punta Piccola and Capo Rossello exposed along the south coast of Sicily (Italy). Astronomical calibration of the Punta Piccola section provided an age of 2.676 Ma for the deposition of the AL1 layer. The high-resolution bio-cyclostratigraphy of the Capo Rossello section, in combination with detailed correlations with previously astrono- mically calibrated coeval sequences, provided an age of 2.225 Ma for the deposition of the AL2 layer. Mineralogical, petrog…

Turonian-Maastrichtian biostratigraphy and isotope stratigraphy of the Kopet-Dagh Basin deposits, northeastern Neo-Tethys, Iran

Abstract Planktonic foraminiferal biostratigraphy and isotope stratigraphy analyses of Turonian-Maastrichtian deposits have been carried out in the western part of the Kopet-Dagh Basin. The identification of the planktonic foraminiferal assemblages has led to the recognition of twelve Upper Cretaceous zones (Helvetoglobotruncana helvetica Zone to the Contusotruncana contusa-Abathomphalus mayaroensis zone) from the Tethyan realm. The obtained stable carbon isotope profile correlates with other reference curves, revealing many Late Cretaceous events including the Hitchwood, Navigation, Light Point, East Cliff, White Fall, Late Campanian Event (LCE), Campanian-Maastrichtian Boundary Event (CMB…

Reconstruction of the environmental evolution of a Sicilian saltmarsh (Italy)

The present study deals with the reconstruction of the environmental evolution of a Trapani saltmarsh (southwestern Sicily, Italy) by combining different analytical approaches such as metal content evaluation, low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxometry, and benthic foraminifera identification. A 41 cm core was collected in the sediments of a Trapani saltmarsh (southwestern Sicily, Italy) at a water depth of about 50 cm. Different time intervals were recognized, each characterized by peculiar features that testify different environmental conditions. In particular, the bottom layers of the sediment core (41–28 cm) comprised the lowest amount of mud fraction, only some selected met…

Astronomic forcing on the planktonic foraminifera assemblage in the Piacenzian Punta Piccola section (Southern Italy).

The end of the Messinian salinity crisis: new insights from the Chelif Basin (Algeria)

Caratterizzazione micropaleontologica a foraminiferi delle Unità litologiche argillose affioranti nella Sicilia centro-occidentale e meridionale

The first colonization of the Genus Amphistegina and other exotic benthic foraminifera of the Pelagian Islands and south-eastern Sicily (central Mediterranean Sea)

Abstract A detailed study of the marine sediments collected on the inner shelf of some of the selected areas of the central Mediterranean Sea has been carried out in order to verify the presence of exotic benthic foraminiferal species. Since 2000, the coastal marine environments of the Pelagian Islands and of Sicily (central Mediterranean) have been increasingly colonized by exotic species (i.e. fishes and algae) originating both from the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea. The studied areas (Pelagian Islands and SE Sicily) are located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Therefore, they represent an ideal place to understand how exotic species, coming from different Oceans, may have coloniz…

Assessing the effect of mercury pollution on cultured benthic foraminifera community using morphological and eDNA metabarcoding approaches

Mercury (Hg) is a highly toxic element for living organisms and is known to bioaccumulate and biomagnify. Here, we analyze the response of benthic foraminifera communities cultured in mesocosm and exposed to different concentrations of Hg. Standard morphological analyses and environmental DNA metabarcoding show evidence that Hg pollution has detrimental effects on benthic foraminifera. The molecular analysis provides a more complete view of foraminiferal communities including the soft-walled single-chambered monothalamiids and small-sized hard-shelled rotaliids and textulariids than the morphological one. Among these taxa that are typically overlooked in morphological studies we found poten…

Cyclic fluctuations, climatic changes and role of noise in planktonic foraminifera in the Mediterranean Sea

The study of Planktonic Foraminifera abundances permits to obtain climatic curves on the basis of percentage ratio between tropical and temperate/polar forms. Climatic changes were controlled by several phenomena as: (i) Milankovitch's cycles, produced by variations of astronomical parameters such as precession, obliquity and eccentricity; (ii) continental geodynamic evolution and orogenic belt; (iii) variations of atmospheric and oceanic currents; (iv) volcanic eruptions; (v) meteor impacts. But while astronomical parameters have a quasi-regular periodicity, the other phenomena can be considered as "noise signal" in natural systems. The interplay between cyclical astronomical variations, t…

Microbial-mediated pre-salt carbonate deposition during the Messinian salinity crisis (Calcare di Base fm., Southern Italy)

Abstract A multi-scale analysis of sedimentary carbonate facies and post-sedimentary diagenetic features of the Calcare di Base Formation, the precursor to evaporites in Upper Messinian successions of Northern Calabria and Central Sicily, has revealed their microbial bio-mediated origin. Massive to laminated microbial boundstones represent the most common sedimentary facies forming flat to low relief cm to m scale stromatolitic and thrombolitic bodies. The fabric of the micrite varies from peloidal to aphanitic, and almost always preserves filamentous bacteria which characterized the original microbial mat. The mat was dominated by sulphur-oxidizing bacteria belonging to the Thiotrichaceae,…

Surface expression of eastern Mediterranean slab dynamics: Neogene topographic and structural evolution of the southwest margin of the Central Anatolian Plateau, Turkey

[1] The southwest margin of the Central Anatolian Plateau has experienced multiple phases of topographic growth, including the formation of localized highs prior to the Late Miocene that were later affected by wholesale uplift of the plateau margin. Our new biostratigraphic data limit the age of uplifted marine sediments at the southwest plateau margin at 1.5 km elevation to <7.17 Ma, and regional lithostratigraphic correlations imply that the age is <6.7 Ma. Single-grain CA-TIMS U-Pb zircon analyses from a reworked ash within the marine sediments yield dates as young as 10.6 Ma, indicating a maximum age that is consistent with the biostratigraphy. Our structural measurements within the upl…

Dating of a Sediment Core by 210Pbex Method and Pb Pollution Chronology in the Palermo Gulf (Italy)

Within a more general study on marine sediments in the Gulf of Palermo (Sicily, Italy), the 210Pbex dating method (using a model with constant sedimentation rate) has been applied to one sediment core. The main goal of the research was to study the Pb pollution chronology. Dating of the core has allowed evaluating the time evolution of the gulf lead concentrations. Specific activities of 137Cs have also been measured in the sediment core sections as an independent confirmation of the chronology derived by the 210Pbex method. The time scale has then been used to correlate lead concentrations in core sections to estimated lead emissions in air due to gasoline combustion. A good correlation be…

ASTROCHRONOLOGY OF LATE MIDDLE MIOCENE MEDITERRANEAN SECTIONS

Parametri oceanografici ed ambientali delle acque marino-costiere del Golfo di Palermo

Relationship among anthropogenic pollution, benthic foraminifera assemblages and their morphological deformations from marine sediments of the Sicilian coast (Southern Italy)

New insights on the onset of the Messinian salinity crisis in Cyprus (East Mediterranean)

The geochemical riddle of “low-salinity gypsum” deposits

International audience; Gypsum makes up about one fifth of giant salt deposits formed by evaporation of seawater throughout Earth’s history. Although thermodynamic calculations and precipitation experiments predict that gypsum precipitates when the salinity of evaporating seawater attains about 110 g kg-1, gypsum deposits of the Mediterranean Salt Giant often bear the geochemical signature of precipitation from less saline water masses. Addressing this geochemical riddle is important because marine gypsum deposition and continental gypsum erosion affect the global carbon cycle. We investigated gypsum deposits formed in the marginal basins of the Mediterranean Sea during the Messinian Salini…

Carbonate deposition and diagenesis in evaporitic environments: The evaporative and sulphur-bearing limestones during the settlement of the Messinian Salinity Crisis in Sicily and Calabria

The depositional and diagenetic processes involved in the formation of carbonates in the evaporitic environment of the Messinian Salinity Crisis are investigated in Southern Italy (Sicily and Calabria). Strong differences are observed between the studied sections that reflect specific depositional and diagenetic evolution in the interconnected sub-basins resulting from the syn-sedimentary tectonic fragmentation of the Central Sicilian and Calabrian domains. These carbonates formed diachronously in restricted perched sub-basins between the Tripoli Formation and the hypersaline settings of the MSC. The Calcare di Base (CdB) that can be interbedded with gypsum layers occurs rhythmically at the…

Organic carbon composition and a new organic lipid paleotemperature proxy applied to the Messinian Tripoli Formation, Caltanissetta Basin, Sicily

Relazione tra le associazioni a foraminiferi bentonici e l'inquinamento da elementi in traccia nel Golfo di Milazzo, N-E Sicilia (Tirreno Meridionale)

Ricostruzione paleoambientale e paleoclimatica mediante foraminiferi bentonici di un settore dell'offshore di Capo Vaticano (Tirreno Meridionale)

Sedimentary and diagenetic markers of the restriction in a marine basin: the Lorca Basin (SE Spain) during the Messinian

Abstract The Lorca Basin (southeastern Spain) is part of a chain of small marginal Neogene basins located in the structurally active Betic area. The Upper Miocene (Messinian) sequence is composed of a thick diatomite-bearing series (Tripoli Unit) overlain by the Main Evaporites, analogous to the classical succession that records the main events during the Salinity Crisis in the Mediterranean region. The shallow restricted conditions of this region amplified the sedimentary responses to local and global forcings. An integrated approach using sedimentology, micropalaeontology, stable isotope geochemistry and organic geochemistry has been applied to the Tortonian/Messinian succession of the Lo…

Influenza degli inquinanti nella distribuzione dei foraminiferi nei sedimenti marini (Progetto Aspracoast)

Anthropogenic impact and environmental evolution of the last 55 years of the Gulf of Palermo (Sicily, Italy)

Benthic foraminifera as an innovative proxy for pollution monitoring, impact and risk assessment of marine ecosystems: experimental studies to evaluate the effect of trace element and oil pollutions

Carta Geologica d’Italia alla scala 1:50.000 del Foglio 608 “Caccamo”. Progetto CARG.