Search results for " paleontologia"

Preservation of modern and mis 5.5 erosional landforms and biological structures as sea level markers: A matter of luck?

2021

The Mediterranean Basin is characterized by a significant variability in tectonic behaviour, ranging from subsidence to uplifting. However, those coastal areas considered to be tectonically stable show coastal landforms at elevations consistent with eustatic and isostatic sea level change models. In particular, geomorphological indicators—such as tidal notches or shore platforms—are often used to define the tectonic stability of the Mediterranean coasts. We present the results of swim surveys in nine rocky coastal sectors in the central Mediterranean Sea using the Geoswim approach. The entire route was covered in 22 days for a total distance of 158.5 km. All surveyed sites are considered to…

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

2021

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…

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

2021

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…

Late Pleistocene-Holocene coastal adaptation in central Mediterranean: Snapshots from Grotta d’Oriente (NW Sicily)

2018

Marine faunal remains from Grotta d’Oriente (Favignana Island, NW Sicily) offer invaluable snapshots of human-coastal environment interaction in the central Mediterranean from the Late Pleistocene to the Middle Holocene. The long-term shellfish and fish records reflect human exploitation of coastal environments undergoing considerable reorganizations during the postglacial sea level rise and the progressive isolation of Favignana from mainland Sicily. We detected an intensification of marine resource exploitation between ∼9.6 ka and ∼7.8 ka BP, which corresponds with the isolation of Favignana Island and, later on, with the introduction of early agro-pastoral economy in this region. We sugg…

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

2006

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 …

ASTROCHRONOLOGY OF LATE MIDDLE MIOCENE MEDITERRANEAN SECTIONS

2004

The Grotta Grande of Scario (Salerno, Italy): Archaeology and environment during the last interglacial (MIS 5) of the Mediterranean region

2011

Abstract Archeological and paleo-environmental researches carried on the Grotta Grande site illustrate the importance of a multidisciplinary approach among archeologists, palynologists and paleontologists. The archaeology, fauna, pollen and micro-charcoal recovered in two short sedimentary successions (trenches A, F) located close to the entrance of the cave are discussed. The cave opens directly on the Tyrrhenian Sea, 2 km from Scario (Salerno, Campania, Southern Italy). The morphology of the cave and sedimentary processes were controlled by eustatic fluctuations during the late Middle Pleistocene and the early Late Pleistocene. The sea repeatedly occupied the cave. The cave was frequented…

Mediterranean Neogene planktonic foraminifer biozonation and biochronology

2019

Abstract Planktonic foraminifera are widely used for biostratigraphy and correlation of Mediterranean Neogene marine sediments, and are a fundamental component in the astronomical tuning of the Neogene Time Scale. Recent developments in high-resolution studies, focused on the astronomical calibration of cyclically marine sediments cropping out in land-based sections and recovered from deep-sea successions, increased the accuracy of stratigraphic ranges of planktonic foraminiferal species improving the biostratigraphic resolution and biochronology. The large amount of data on planktonic foraminifera obtained through quantitative/semiquantitative analyses, published in the recent years, allow…

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

2008

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 …

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

2014

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…