pliocene–pleistocene sequences bounded by subaerial unconformities within foramol ramp...

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Sedimentary Geology 166 (2004) 89–144

Pliocene–Pleistocene sequences bounded by subaerial

unconformities within foramol ramp calcarenites and

mixed deposits (Salento, SE Italy)

A. D’Alessandroa,*, F. Massarib, Eric Davaudc, Guido Ghibaudod

aDipartimento di Geologia e Geofisica, Universita di Bari, Campus Universitario, via Orabona 4, 70125, Bari, ItalybDipartimento di Geologia, Paleontologia e Geofisica, Universita di Padova, via Giotto 1, 35100 Padua, Italy

cDepartement de Geologie et Paleontologie, Universite de Geneve, 13 rue des Maraıchers, 1211 Geneva 4, SwitzerlanddDipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Universita di Torino, Via Accademia delle Scienze 5, 10123 Turin, Italy

Received 4 October 2002; received in revised form 25 September 2003; accepted 28 November 2003

Abstract

Nine discrete, metre-scale sequences, of Early Pliocene to Middle Pleistocene age, were deposited in the small Novoli

graben (Salento peninsula, Puglia, S-Italy). They consist of carbonate and mixed carbonate-siliciclastic sediments, deposited on

a slowly subsiding foreland ramp. Skeletal concentrations and intervening less fossiliferous intervals have been examined to

provide information on major environmental parameters and infer the dynamics of their changes. Taphonomic and

palaeoecological analyses indicate that storm-induced waves and currents, reduced sediment input, and settling behaviour of

components were the main factors controlling the features of the various shellbed types. The concentrations were formed below

fair-weather wave base in low-stress inner-to-outer shelf environments and are often associated with surfaces or intervals that

are characterized by sedimentary condensation. Vertical change in the fossil content within individual cycles indicates water

depth changes that were parallel to climatic fluctuations, hence may result from glacio-eustatic sea-level changes. Most

sequences are bounded by subaerial, karstic unconformities. Because of the regional setting of low subsidence rate, the record

of the relative sea-level fluctuations is incomplete. Episodes of subaerial exposure and concomitant effects of vadose diagenesis

are documented by: (i) diagenetic changes leading to hardening of unconformity horizons; (ii) local subvertical solution pits

developed in the vadose zone below unconformity surfaces; (iii) networks of polygonal cracks below unconformities; and (iv)

infilling of solution pits and polygonal cracks with vadose silt and marine sediment inwashed during transgressions following

the subaerial stages. Lower sequences are characterized by tighter cementation and significant increase in moldic and vuggy

porosity, due to superimposition of the diagenetic effects of repeated high-amplitude sea-level fluctuations.

D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Sequence stratigraphy; Sea level; Carbonate and mixed sediments; Pliocene; Pleistocene

0037-0738/$ - see front matter D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.sedgeo.2003.11.017

* Corresponding author.

E-mail addresses: [email protected] (A. D’Alessandro),

[email protected] (F. Massari).

1. Geologic and stratigraphic setting

The Salento peninsula (Puglia region, SE Italy) is

located in the southern part of the Apulian foreland of

the Apenninic chain. After gentle folding and faulting

A. D’Alessandro et al. / Sedimentary Geology 166 (2004) 89–14490

during the Late Cretaceous and the Palaeogene, as a

result of the convergence of African and Euro-Asiatic

plates, the Apulian foreland became an asymmetric

horst structure during the Miocene–Early Pleistocene

due to elastic bending of the Apulian plate resulting

from the converging migration of the Apenninic and

Dinaric chains (Ricchetti et al., 1992). During this

stage, the Apulian foreland was affected by tensional

or transtensional faulting (Tropeano et al., 1994; Pieri

et al., 1997) because of the oblique interaction of the

rigid and thick Apulian ridge with the Apennines and

Dinaric chains (Doglioni et al., 1994, 1996; Gambini

and Tozzi, 1996). As a result, the Upper Cretaceous

carbonate complex, which forms the stratigraphic

framework of the region, was dissected into a series

of graben or half-graben mostly of Apenninic (NW or

WNW) direction (inset in Fig. 1). Within this general

framework, a post-Miocene moderate block-faulting

phase (Martinis, 1962; Bossio et al., 1987; Ciaranfi et

al., 1992; Tozzi, 1993; D’Alessandro et al., 1994)

reactivated previous fault systems and generated ex-

tensional troughs onto which the sea could encroach.

The troughs were infilled by cyclical Pliocene and

Pleistocene deposits mostly shallow-water skeletal

carbonate deposits forming a thin cover up to about

20 m thick.

The Plio–Pleistocene succession dealt with in

this paper is located near the town of Lecce and is

confined within the small NW-trending Novoli

graben (Ambrosetti et al., 1987) which is limited

by low, fault-bounded ridges of Cretaceous and

Cenozoic carbonates (Fig. 1). Outcrops of Pliocene

and Pleistocene units are provided by numerous,

active and abandoned quarries. The deepest ones

expose the local stratigraphy down to the Tertiary

substrate. Depending on the slight regional SSW-

ward dip of the succession, older units are exposed

in NNE areas. The Plio–Pleistocene succession

(Fig. 2) is represented from the base upwards by

the following lithostratigraphic units: (1) shelly

carbonate deposits tentatively correlated to the S.

Maria di Leuca Fm. (Bossio et al., 1991); (2) fine-

grained bioclastic carbonate deposits partly showing

the distinctive features defined by Bossio et al.

(1991) for the ‘‘Uggiano La Chiesa’’ Fm.; (3)

‘‘Calcarenite di Gravina’’ (Azzaroli, 1968), consist-

ing of four unconformity-bounded units; (4) ‘‘Sab-

bie a Brachiopodi’’ (D’Alessandro and Palmentola,

1978); (5) a dominantly terrigenous complex infor-

mally named ‘‘Argilliti di San Pietro’’ by D’Ales-

sandro et al. (1994); and (6) a younger terrigenous-

carbonate complex, here informally named ‘‘C.

Papadeo’’ unit.

2. Methods

The study is primarily field-based. Most strati-

graphic information is provided by sections exposed

in a number of quarries (Fig. 1 for location) showing

different depth of exploitation and variably oriented

walls allowing three-dimensional observations. Addi-

tional information is provided by numerous small

digs and scarps along roads. Sediment composition

was determined in the field and confirmed by thin

sections. Macrofossil assemblages and taphonomic

features were qualitatively studied together with bio-

genic structures. The palaeocommunities identified in

this study have been tentatively compared to Recent

Mediterranean biocoenoses (Table 1) and in a few

cases to Atlantic communities. As discussed by Basso

and Corselli (2002), the conceptual framework based

on communities appears to oversimplify the picture of

the most important ecological units in the Mediterra-

nean benthos. The benthic bionomy that derives from

a qualitative approach (Peres and Picard, 1964) has

been successfully adopted for ecological, as well as

palaeoecological studies in the Mediterranean area

(e.g., Bernasconi and Robba, 1993; D’Alessandro

and Massari, 1997; Di Geronimo and La Perna,

1997; Basso and Corselli, 2002). The recent age of

the studied deposits allows to use the qualitative

approach for a more detailed reconstruction of palae-

oenvironments.

A list of the main taxa found with their ecolog-

ical significance and bathymetric preferences is giv-

en in Appendices A–E. The complete list of the

main taxa with their ecological significance and

bathymetric preferences is available from one of

the authors (A.D.) on request. For the calcareous

nannofossil biostratigraphy, we follow the distribu-

tion pattern proposed by Rio et al. (1990) for the

Mediterranean.

The main features of shell concentration are sum-

marized in Table 2 and the ichnofacies in Table 3. The

degree of bioturbation (Bioturbation Index =BI) is

Fig.1.Geological

map

ofstudyarea

withquarry

locations.

A. D’Alessandro et al. / Sedimentary Geology 166 (2004) 89–144 91

Table 1

Letter code of the Mediterranean biocoenoses mentioned in the text

and in Appendices A–E

LEE= biocoenosis of euryhaline and eurytherme lagoons,

SVMC= biocoenosis of superficial muddy sand in sheltered areas,

AP= biocoenosis of the photophilic algae,

HP= biocoenosis of the posidonia meadows,

SFS = biocoenosis of the fine sands in very shallow water,

SFBC= biocoenosis of fine well sorted sand,

SE =muddy facies of SFBC,

SGCF= biocoenosis of the coarse sands and fine gravels under

bottom currents,

DC= biocoenosis of the coastal detritic,

VTC= biocoenosis of the terrigenous mud,

DE= biocoenosis of the muddy detritic bottoms,

PE = heterogeneous community.


assessed using the scheme of Taylor and Goldring

(1993). For the terminology of shell concentrations,

we mainly refer to Kidwell et al. (1986) and Kidwell

(1991). The macrofossil content provides an age

constraint where the microfossils were not useful for

dating. Moreover, block diagrams showing the local

three-dimensional geometry of the different units and

their bounding unconformities have been constructed

for specific quarries (Figs. 3 and 5).

3. The Tertiary substrate

The basal contact of the local Plio–Pleistocene

succession is an erosional and commonly angular

unconformity of regional extent truncating the pre-

Pliocene substrate. This is represented by almost bar-

ren, pinkish limestones alternating with greenish clays

of presumed Oligocene age, or marine glauconitic

packstone of Langhian age (the ‘‘Pietra Leccese’’)

(Fig. 2). In Quarry L (Fig. 3A), the palaeotopography,

characterized by low-relief rounded hillocks and

depressions, is buried by Unit 1 with a stratal thinning

near the highs and thickening in lows, whereas in the

San Pietro in Lama quarry (Fig. 3B) the slightly

deformed substrate is bounded at the top by an ero-

sional, subhorizontal surface overlain by Unit 2. In

all quarries, negative epireliefs of Spongeliomorpha

iberica are exposed on the surface (the related net-

works affect the uppermost 10–15 cm of the substrate,

Fig. 4A).

In the San Pietro in Lama quarry, the upper part

of the Spongeliomorpha system is stained by a dark-

reddish film (Fig. 4B) and is encrusted by small

oysters and cirripeds that occupy the openings of the

galleries. The lowest parts of numerous Gastrochae-

nolites torpedo and Entobia borings postdating Spon-

geliomorpha are locally preserved. This polyhistory

trace fossil assemblage results from a complex series

of events. The first is represented by a colonization

of the top surface of the Oligocene substrate by

Spongeliomorpha-makers (Glossifungites ichnofa-

cies) during a transgressive episode pre-dating the

Pliocene transgressions. Later, after a lithification

stage, this bioeroded surface was exhumed, truncated

during the first Pliocene transgression and over-

printed by a Trypanites ichnofacies. The polyspecific

ichnoassemblage was then further truncated by a

second Pliocene transgression and finally buried by

the sediment of Unit 2. As a result of this complex

evolution, only the deeper bioerosion is partly pre-

served (Fig. 4C).

In all quarries, the top of the Tertiary substrate

shows evidence of subaerial exposure, which is

expressed by centimetric to decimetric karstic cavities.

In some exposures, it is clear that the dissolution was

driven by a pre-existing network of tectonic fractures.

The infill of cavities and open fractures consists of

subangular to subrounded, largely bioeroded frag-

ments of the substrate and leaked shells. Galleries

and bioerosions are infilled with Pliocene muddy

calcarenites including rare barnacle plates, small

shells of juvenile molluscs and some pteropods

reworked from the Miocene ‘‘Pietra Leccese’’.

4. The Plio–Pleistocene units

The succession is more complete in the depocentre

of the Novoli trough (quarries L, Segheria, San Pietro

in Lama and C. Papadeo, Fig. 1), some units being

absent in marginal areas. Unconformity surfaces

bounding the successive units are labelled S1 to S9

in ascending stratigraphic order.

The Plio–Pleistocene units consist predominantly

of bioclastic packstone and grainstone to fine-grained

rudstone. Only the upper units contain a significant

terrigenous fraction. Thin-section analysis shows that

dominant constituents are fragments of bivalves,

echinoderms, bryozoans, cirripeds, serpulids and for-

aminifers. Debris of coralline algae are present in the

Fig. 2. Selected sections of the Plio–Pleistocene succession. Units are numbered.

A. D’Alessandro et al. / Sedimentary Geology 166 (2004) 89–144 pp. 93–96

Table 2

Types of shell concentrations, biostratinomic attributes and sequence-stratigraphic context

Type Origin Geometry

thickness

Internal

complexity

Packing Size-sorting

matrix

Orientation Shell condition Sequence-

stratigraphic context

I. Event

concentrations

Ia.

Hydraulic

Pavement, lens,

pod, bed few

centimeters thick

Simple Dense to

loose

Sorted to poorly

sorted bioclastic

grainstone or

packstone

Mostly convex-up;

stacked, chaotic,

imbricated

Disarticulated and

articulated; rare

fragmentation or

abrasion

TST (su 1c, su 2b,

su 2d, su 4b, su 5j,(su 6j, su 8b)), HST

(U3, su 4d), FRST

(su 9c), RSME

(su 8c)

Ib.

Tsunami

Bed (up to

1.2 m), laterally

traceable

Complex Dense Unsorted,

bioclastic

packstone

Concordant to

chaotic

Bivalves mostly

articulated.

Commonly intact

shells bearing fine

details. Mixing of

faunas belonging

to different

communities.

Ic.

Biogenic

Pavement,

clump, bed

(4–15 cm thick)

Simple Dense to

disperse

Unsorted, fine

bioclastic

grainstone and

packstone

Life position,

concordant

Articulated shells

are predominant.

Moderately bored

TST, (U1 Segheria

Q.; su 8b lower part,

su 9a) MC (su 4c)

FRST (su 8d)

II. Composite

concentrations

IIa.

Amalgamation

or accretion of

event

concentrations

Bed

(up to 70 cm)

Complex,

simple

Dense to

disperse

Bimodal, poorly to

well sorted;

bioclastic

packstone to

grainstone

Large elements

mostly concordant,

smaller ones

chaotically oriented,

stacked, and filling

interstices

In fauna mostly

articulated; epifauna

unmatched.

Bioerosion

moderate, may be

high for epifauna

elements

Transgressive layer

(su 1a, laterally

grades to III), TST

(U1 Segheria Q.;

U3), HST (su 5b),

FRST (su 6b)

IIb. Hydraulic

concentrations

in karstic

cavities

Simple Disperse Unsorted,

bioclastic

packstone

Chaotic, edgewise

or crudely stratified

Mostly

disarticulated;

fragmentation

uncommon

TST (U2–U7)

III. Hiatal

concentrations

Amalgamation

or accretion

during periods

of slow net

sedimentation

Bed

(up to 50 cm)

Complex Loose to

dense

Bimodal, poorly

sorted, bioclastic

packstone

Large elements

concordant, small

ones filling up

interstices

Both articulated and

disarticulated.

Bioerosion

moderate to high,

rare encrustations.

Transgressive layer

(su 1j, su 2j,su 4j), TST (U1

Segheria Q., su 4j),MC (base su 7b)

shellbed on RSME

(su 9c)

IV. Hiatal-lag

concentrations

Combination of

condensation

and

exhumation

Bed (20 cm) Simple Loose to

dispersed

Poorly sorted

bioclastic

grainstone

Convex–up to

chaotic

Disarticulated, some

shells are fractured,

abraded; reworked

elements

Transgressive layer

(su 2a)

TST: transgressive systems tract, HST: highstand systems tract, MC: mid-cycle shellbed (Abbott, 1997), RSME= regressive surface of marine erosion, FRST= forced regressive

systems tract, su = subunit, U = unit.

A.D’Alessa

ndro

etal./Sedimentary

Geology166(2004)89–144

97

Table 3

Significant ichnofacies and characteristic ichnofossils

Ichnofacies Stratigraphic

context

Substrate consistency Unit and ichnofossils Code

Trypanites TS Hardground U1: Gastrochaenolites, Entobia;

U3: (locally): Gastrochaenolites

1ht

Skolithos RSME Softground Top of su 4d: Ophiomorpha 1st

Psilonichnus-to-

Glossifungites

Transgressive

layer

Soft-to-firmground Base of su 9a: J-U-traces connected

to Thalassinoides isp. dense boxwork

1pgt

Cruziana MF early HST

HST

Softground su 4c: minute, dense boxworks of

Thalassinoides (MF-early HST); U4

marginal facies (HST): Bichordites

2ct

Cruziana/Gyrolithes FRST Softground su 8d: Thalassinoides, Tasselia,

Gyrolithes-like, su 9c: compound

Gyrolithes–Thalassinoides

3st

Cruziana/Glossifungites FRST HST Soft/firmground su 7c: Thalassinoides cf. paradoxica

dense boxworks (FRST); su 9b: single

tier Thalassinoides systems (HST); su

9c: single tier Thalassinoides systems

(FRST); base of su 9c (RSME))

4frt

TS= transgressive surface, MF=maximum flooding, HST: highstand systems tract, FRST= forced regressive systems tract, RSME= regressive

surface of marine erosion, U = unit, su= subunit.


upper part of Unit 2 and in some younger units

(Units 3–6). Thus, carbonate deposits may be mostly

regarded as foramol-type calcarenites. Entire skele-

tons include the same taxa of the bioclasts and, in

addition, the brachiopods found in Unit 7. In the

Pliocene deposits, originally aragonitic skeletons are

recorded by mostly intact steinkerns and moulds

separated by empty spaces, while in the Pleistocene

calcarenites with fine-grained matrix most of these

skeletons exhibit a chalky texture. Only in the

terrigenous Unit 8 the aragonitic hardparts are pre-

served. On the other hand, the poorly fossiliferous

intervals are dominated by calcitic hardparts and

species diversity is low due to diagenetic bias.

Discrete biogenic structures include Thalassinoides,

Bichordites (sensu Uchman, 1995) and, restricted to

individual horizons, Ophiomorpha, Cylindrichnus,

Gyrolithes and Tasselia ( =Caudichnus, junior syno-

nym). Indistinct bioturbation is ubiquitous.

4.1. Unit 1

This unit is represented in two quarries and

presents some facies variability. In the microfacies

of Unit 1, a subtle upward-fining trend is manifested

by the upward change from a fine bioclastic grain-

stone to bioturbated bioclastic packstone. Concurrent-

ly, epiphytic foraminifers, such as miliolids and

Cibicides, decrease in abundance.

The quarry L (Figs. 2 and 3A)—the unit is 0.8–

2.3m thick and shows a complex internal microstra-

tigraphy, primarily resulting from the amalgamation

of at least three intervals (subunits) that are not easily

separable due to lack of obvious bedding.

4.1.1. Subunit 1a

The erosional surface truncates a Glossifungites

ichnofacies and is mantled by coarse bioclastic

sediments (about 10 cm thick) overlain at a sharp

contact by a polyspecific, densely packed shell

concentration up to 70 cm thick. The assemblage

is characterized by numerous mostly parautochtho-

nous shallow infaunal bivalves and some disarticu-

lated epifaunal elements (Appendix A). The bed

shows a crude fining-up trend in the fossil sizes,

and size bimodality especially in the lower part,

where chaotically oriented small shells contained in

a fine bioclastic grainstone matrix infill the inter-

stices between the large elements. The latter in turn

are mostly concordant to bedding. Bioerosion and

encrustation is high for both the infaunal and epi-

faunal remains. Sparsely occurring elements ex-

Fig. 3. Stereographic sketches. (A) Quarry L. (B) San Pietro in Lama quarry. Units are numbered. Key of symbols in Fig. 2. Vertical scale is the

same as horizontal.


Fig. 4. Bioeroded Oligocene substrate in San Pietro in Lama quarry; plane view. (A) Side view of S. iberica. The Trypanites ichnofacies in the

uppermost part of the polyhistory surface is reduced to a few millimetres. � 0.15. (B) Locally preserved Entobia ispp. and G. torpedo. � 0.37.

(C) Negative red-stained epirelief of S. iberica at the top of the Oligocene substrate (S. Pietro in Lama quarry).



humed from the substrate are represented by Mio-

cene phosphatized pteropods and subangular to sub-

rounded clasts, as well as bored fragments of

Oligocene and Upper Cretaceous limestone.

4.1.2. Subunit 1b

The overlying shell accumulation (up to 60 cm

thick) changes upwards from dense to loosely packed

and shows a complex organization. Bored and

encrusted epifaunal elements (mostly oyster shells)

are dominant in the basal 10 cm, and are replaced

upwards by shallow-infaunal remains showing poor

evidence of boring and encrustation. The uppermost

few centimetres consist of dispersed tiny fossils and

rare small lenses mainly composed of loosely packed

articulated cardiids. On the whole, the macrofauna is

dominated by shallow infaunal and epifaunal suspen-

sion feeders mainly related to soft bottoms, although

organisms dependent on small hard substrates are

occasionally present. Among the gastropods, the

grazers are locally abundant, suggesting presence of

seagrass meadows, while carnivores and particularly

detritus feeders are uncommon (Appendix A).

4.1.3. Subunit 1c

The last interval (up to 90 cm thick) is a homoge-

neous fine packstone containing highly dispersed

complete fossils commonly in life position except

for a few loosely packed thin lenses (Table 2, type I).

The S2 unconformity at the top of Unit 1 is

characterized by small, funnel-like karstic cavities

infilled with bored lithoclasts as well as shells from

the following Unit 2.

Segheria quarry (Figs. 2 and 5).—the above de-

fined subunits cannot de identified in this quarry, due

to a different stratigraphy. The lower contact is not

exposed. A fine biocalcarenite bed (70 cm thick) with

highly dispersed fossils is covered by a thick pave-

ment of loose-to-densely packed, randomly oriented

and largely disarticulated Flabellipecten and Ostrea

shells.

The pavement is covered by a loosely packed

concentration of small to medium-sized skeletons of

shallow-infaunal articulated bivalves and dispersed

single valves of the above mentioned epifaunal taxa

in a packstone matrix (50 cm thick). Closely spaced

clumps of thick-shelled oysters grown on a horizontal

surface form primary biogenic concentrations (up to

20 cm thick), which are mantled by fine calcarenites

(Table 2, type III).

The unit is topped by a strongly cemented shellbed

(35 cm thick) dominated by bivalves of variable sizes

in a packstone matrix (USB in Appendix A). The

medium- to large-sized specimens are commonly

concordant to bedding, the small ones randomly

infilling the interstices. Most fossils are middle-sized

infaunal bivalves, mainly still closed and virtually

intact. The minute, as well as the large, moderately

bored epifaunal bivalves, however, exhibit a high

degree of disarticulation.

The S2 unconformity appears as a wavy erosional

surface with a relief of 15–20 cm.

4.1.4. Interpretation

Composition of fossil assemblages, as well as

biofabric and preservation quality suggest a shallow

carbonate ramp setting, and deposition below the fair-

weather wave base, with a weak deepening trend.

The two shell concentrations of Quarry L (Subunits

1a and 1b) show evidence for multiple phases of

storm-wave reworking, which are responsible of re-

peated exhumation and post-mortem colonization of

the hardparts in connection with low net sedimenta-

tion rate, followed by an eventual severe reworking

episode, leading to amalgamation of the smaller-scale

concentrations (composite concentration of Kidwell,

1991). Particularly, the basal epifaunal-dominated

concentration of the upper complex shellbed (Subunit

1b) may have originally been a biogenic concentra-

tion, later obscured by multiple reworking. The lateral

thinning of the shell accumulations on the highs

suggests a grading towards condensed concentrations

(Table 2, type IIa, grading to type III).

The homogeneous fine-grained calcarenites (Sub-

bunit 1c) of the upper layer reflect the background

conditions and accumulation in a calm inner-shelf

environment.

Taphonomy and ecological requirements of the

faunal components suggest moderate transport of

organisms that belong to neighbouring, patchily dis-

tributed original communities comparable to modern

biocoenoses of moderately sheltered environments,

such as a bay. Organisms of a fossil SFBC and SVMC

facies predominate (below fair-weather wave base and

above the average storm wave base, Table 1). A slight

deepening trend from the infralittoral to shallow

Fig. 5. Stereographic sketch of the Segheria quarry. Units are numbered. Key of symbols in Fig. 2. Vertical scale is the same as horizontal.


circalittoral zone is suggested by the upward increase

of bivalves, which at present characterize the Medi-

terranean DC biocoenosis.

In the Segheria quarry depth variations are elusive.

Background conditions represented by fossiliferous

fine carbonate sands suggest deepening from near-

shore to inner-shelf environments affected by multi-

ple episodes of increased water motion that caused

the mixed biogenic-sedimentologic pavement (Table

2, III). The development of a shell-gravel bottom

should have favoured the blooming of the oyster

community (taphonomic feedback, Kidwell and

Jabloski, 1983) whose shells, this time preserved in

life position thanks to a burial event, represent a

primary biogenic concentration. Composition of the

top accumulation suggests within-habitat reworking

of species reported in literature as common in the

SFBC biocoenosis, mixed with a few exotic elements.

Taking also into account that the biofabric is not

indicative of a significant transport, the shellbed can

be interpreted as multiple storm-wave concentration

(Table 2, IIa).

The apparent lack of a regressive, upward shallow-

ing facies evolution should be noted.

4.1.5. Age

The age of Unit 1 is constrained by the presence of

mollusc species that disappeared from the Mediterra-


nean Pliocene at about 3.0 Ma (Raffi and Monegatti,

1993; Monegatti and Raffi, 2001). Consequently, in

the absence of biostratigraphically significant micro-

fossils, this unit is attributed to the Mediterranean

Pliocene Molluscan Unit 1 (MPMU1 of Raffi and

Monegatti, 1993) that includes the Zanclean and

Lower Piacenzian.

Unit 1 may represent a shallow-water facies of the

Lower Pliocene ‘‘S. Maria di Leuca’’ Fm., a strati-

graphic unit established by Bossio et al. (1991) in the

southern part of the Salento peninsula.

4.2. Unit 2

The unit (Figs. 2, 3 and 5), 1–5 m thick, is

bounded by the unconformities S2 and S3. In the

San Pietro in Lama quarry it directly overlies the

Oligocene substrate, the top of which represents a

compound S1 + S2 unconformity bored (Fig. 4B) and

encrusted by cirripeds and worm-tubes. In the other

outcrops the basal unconformity cuts Miocene or

Lower Pliocene deposits. From the base, a number

of subunits may be distinguished.

4.2.1. Subunit 2a (up to 50 cm)

This subunit shows some lateral variability. In San

Pietro in Lama quarry, the shell accumulation, verti-

cally changing from densely to loosely packed, is

composed of moderately bored and encrusted oyster

valves at the base that are almost completely replaced

by Flabellipecten shells in the upper part. These

shells, concordant to bedding, float in a ‘‘matrix’’ of

minute bivalves and sparse bored lithoclasts, thus

leading to bimodality or polymodality in grain size.

In Quarry L spaced clumps of a few large-sized

oysters carpet the S2 surface. In the Segheria quarry,

the unconformity is covered by a thin concentration of

loose to dispersed oyster valves with dominant con-

vex-up orientation, mixed to several subrounded and

bored coarse bioclasts, small lithoclasts and a few

fossils reworked from the substrate, immersed in a

matrix of comminuted bio-debris.

4.2.2. Subunit 2b (0.8–2.5 m)

Fine-grained packstones/wackestones containing

highly dispersed articulated shell (Kidwell terminolo-

gy, see Section 2). A few thin beds and/or some flat

lenses, of loosely packed bivalves (Appendix B)

mixed with rare allochthonous gastropods are interca-

lated in the lower part. The shells are randomly

oriented in plane-view and concordant in side-view

with commonly intact but mostly disarticulated and

preferentialy convex-up valves of Flabellipecten. In

the upper part, parautochthonous Flabellipecten float-

ing in a packstone matrix occur either dispersed in

lenses or as scattered specimens, some of which are in

life position and encrusted by cirripeds. Locally, loose

boxworks of Thalassinoides occupy the top part.

Textural and compositional changes in Subunits

2a and 2b are manifested by the upward transition

from bioclastic packstone with benthic foraminifers

(mainly Ammonia) into packstones/wackestones with

textularids, peloids and echinoid spines. Moldic

porosity is present throughout, but is particularly

high, together with a pronounced cementation, at

the top of Subunit 2b.

In the Segheria quarry, Subunit 2b consists of a

coarse, moderately sorted and poorly fossiliferous

calcarenite with gradational lower contact. A few thin

lenses of loose-to-dispersed large pectinids having

prevalently unmatched convex-up valves and dis-

placed lucinids are included in this calcarenite togeth-

er with highly dispersed disarticulated but not abraded

oyster and pectinid valves (among which P. benedic-

tus scratched by Gnathichnus-maker), globular rho-

doliths, large fragments of bryozoans and tests of

regular echinoids. Near the top, undeterminable

small-sized bivalves and a few scattered Clavagella

in life position occur in a bioclastic packstone.

In this quarry Subunits 2c and 2d are absent and a

network of vertical cracks as well as rare subcylin-

drical, vadose solution pits about 20 cm in diameter,

are seen to develop downwards from the top uncon-

formity. Their depth cannot be estimated, as their

terminations are hidden below the quarry bottom.

4.2.3. Subunit 2c

It is a densely packed shell concentration up to 1.2

m thick, with very distinctive features. It has been

identified in all sections except in the Segheria quarry.

It shows variable thickness due to a strongly erosional

base and local pinchout towards topographic highs of

the substrate (Quarry L). In thicker occurrences, it

consists of up to three sublayers, commonly showing

normal grading. The densely packed shell concentra-

tion is made up of a high-diversity macrobenthic


assemblage (BSB in Appendix B (bis)). A common

feature is the predominance of cardiids, which are

accompanied by other taxa showing strong lateral

variation in abundance (e.g., Glycymeris spp. and

Chama in the San Pietro in Lama quarry, tellinids

and trochids in Quarry L). Larger shells are chaoti-

cally arranged, locally nested and mostly articulated.

The interstices between them are infilled with small

bivalves resulting in a strongly bimodal biofabric.

Displaced large-sized deep burrowers (i.e., Panopaea,

Lutraria) with still closed valves are relatively com-

mon. Sparse subrounded and bored lithoclasts, phos-

phatic grains ( < 1 cm) as well as rare shark teeth

reworked from the Tertiary substrate are associated.

The microfacies is a bioclastic packstone, with

very high moldic porosity and a characteristic bimodal

fabric, due to the presence of silt-sized debris in the

interstices between larger bioclasts (Fig. 6A).

4.2.4. Subunit 2d

Medium- to coarse-grained calcarenite, 0–1.5 m

thick, with sparse valves of oysters and pectinids, and a

few thin lenses of loosely packed small-sized bivalves

(Table 2, Ia), grades upwards into fossil-poor sediment.

In thin section, it appears as a poorly sorted bioclastic

grainstone with equigranular isopachous calcite fringes

in the intragranular and intergranular interstices, indi-

cating phreatic fresh-water cementation.

The top unconformity surface (S3) shows variable,

and locally very strong cementation, and karstic

features infilled with sediments of the overlying Unit

3 (Figs. 2, 3B and 5). These consist of sparse,

subcylindrical, vadose solution pits up to 20 cm in

diameter and a large depression about 20 m wide (San

Pietro in Lama quarry). In addition, an irregular

network of subvertical fissures, from some millimeters

to 5 cm wide, are seen to develop downwards (for up

to 60 cm) from the unconformity, sometimes reaching

the topmost part of Subunit 2b. In plane view, the

fissures are seen to form a polygonal network with a

diameter of the polygons in the order of 12–15 cm.

Their side walls commonly appear irregular in vertical

sections, suggesting that some amount of sediment

has been mechanically or chemically removed, lead-

ing to local enlargement of the fissures. Lateral to the

fissures the sediment has been, in places, transformed

into a white, very fine chalky powder. The contacts of

the infills with the fissure walls are not sharp (bio-

clasts are not truncated), suggesting that the sediment

was not well consolidated at the time of fissure

development. Internal fills range from inwashed ma-

rine sediment to vadose silt. The former include both

bioclastic/foraminiferal packstones lacking sedimen-

tary structures, as evidence of rapid emplacement in a

single event, and banded and well sorted subhorizon-

tal laminae with erosional base and normal grading

from bioclastic/foraminiferal packstone to micrite,

suggesting repeated inwashing episodes. Micritic lam-

inae of microbial origin (endostromatolites) are ob-

served locally. Anastomosed subvertical polyphasic

fractures are seen both to cross the infills and to

locally follow their contacts with the host sediment.

Along the fractures, the original sediment has been

transformed into microspar showing different degrees

of neomorphism. Geotropic syntaxial cements within

the fracture infillings indicate a fresh-water early

diagenesis in the vadose zone. Furthermore, the pres-

ence of circumgranular and intergranular cracking

(Esteban and Klappa, 1983) within certain micritic

laminae and of a cryptocrystalline, anisopachous ce-

ment within the grainy infills are both regarded as the

record of a modification of the infilling sediments

during subaerial exposure.


The basal shell concentration may be regarded as an

early transgressive lag in the Segheria quarry (Table 2,

IV) and as a biogenic-sedimentologic concentration in

Quarry L. In the San Pietro in Lama quarry, the gradual

upward replacement of the oyster-dominated commu-

nity by the deeper-water pectinid-dominated commu-

nity (Subunit 2a) suggests a scenario of short-term

time-averaging of the shell accumulation, occurring

through an alternation of burial and winnowing events

in a background setting of low sedimentation rate

(hiatal concentration). Such epifaunal-dominated

assemblages typically occur during the transgressive

phase (i.e., Fursich et al., 1991). The deepening toward

the middle shelf zone (Subunit 2b) is highlighted by

palaeontological evidence that suggests a biotope

characterized by low to moderate water energy and

well oxygenated softground inhabited by Thalassi-

noides-makers, shallow-infaunal molluscs and free-

lying pectinids. Only episodically, it was affected by

storm-induced winnowing that produced the shell

concentrations. The general features of the Segheria

Fig. 6. (A) Wackestone from Subunit 2c of Unit 2 (Quarry L). The dissolution of most aragonitic shells leads to high moldic porosity (thin

section, polarized light). (B) Bioclastic grainstone from the top of Unit 3 (San Pietro in Lama quarry) showing grain skin cement surrounding

benthic foraminifers (Cibicididae) and other bioclastic particles. This kind of cement, frequent in Pleistocene eolianites, is considered as vadose

in origin and is commonly found associated with pedogenetic features (McKee and Ward, 1983). (C) Packstone with numerous echinoid

fragments and planktonic foraminifers (normal transmitted light). Unit 5, San Pietro in Lama quarry. (D) Bioclastic grainstone from the top of

Unit 3 (San Pietro in Lama quarry) showing calcite needle fiber cement partly infilling the interparticle pore space. This feature is considered by

Esteban and Klappa (1983) and McKee and Ward (1983) as indicative for subaerial exposure and pedogenesis. It is commonly found in

proximity to ancient weathered surfaces and rhizoconcretions (thin section, polarized light). (E) Microfacies from the base of Subunit 7b (San

Pietro in Lama quarry) showing abundant planktonic foraminifers (Globigerinoides, Turborotalia, Globorotalia) and glauconitic peloids

(normal polarized light). (F) Bioclastic grainstone from the top of Unit 3 (Quarry L), showing anisopachous syntaxial cement around echinoid

fragments. This clearly indicates that early lithification took place in the vadose zone (thin section, polarized light).


quarry succession suggest a somewhat higher-energy

environment of the deep inner shelf (SFBC fossil

facies). Microfacies analyses of Subunits 2a and 2b

are in agreement with this interpretation.

The fossil assemblages of Subunit 2c mostly con-

sist of admixtures of still extant species adapted to

strikingly different shallow-water environments. Bio-

fabric indicates stirring of the sea floor by highly


turbulent flows. Displacement of very deep burrowers

inhabiting the upper circalittoral zone implies that the

deposition was preceded by erosive events of excep-

tional intensity. The high proportion of displaced but

articulated valves suggests that most individuals were

buried alive. A very rapid deposition of the compo-

nent sublayers and an immediate and permanent burial

of skeletons is strongly suggested by the integrity of

the shells and the near lack of evidence of physical

damage and biological modification. The sedimento-

logic and stratinomic features of the subunit, including

deep erosion preceding deposition, mixing of faunas

and repeated normal grading of the sublayers, suggest

an event of exceptionally high energy, such as a train

of tsunami waves hitting a shallow-water area, active

in at least three distinct pulses. The assemblage

contains organisms having conservative strategy

(Kondo, 1998) that inhabit the middle shelf where

they are unlikely to be stirred up by storms.

Subunit 2d shows laterally variable features. It may

locally record the deposition during the waning stage

of the high-energy event. Elsewhere, particularly

where the subunit is thicker, its general features are

comparable to those of Subunit 2b.

The characteristics of the polygonal pattern of deep

fissures piping downwards from the S3 unconformity

suggest that it was produced by pedogenesis during a

stage of subaerial exposure and subsequently enlarged

by dissolution in the vadose zone. The subaerial stage

was then followed by a transgressive episode, only

recorded by the marine infills within the fissures. This

in turn was followed by a second stage of subaerial

exposure, and eventually by a ravinement process

during the transgressive stage at the base of Unit 3.

The resulting polyphasic surface bears the signature of

a complex sequence of events.

Considering also the large karstic features which

developed downwards from the S3 unconformity

surface, it is suggested that this composite unconfor-

mity represents a gap of longer duration when com-

pared to other unconformities of the succession.

4.2.6. Age

Unit 2 shows palaeontological features similar to

those described by Bossio et al. (1991) for the

transgressive part of ‘‘Uggiano la Chiesa’’ Fm. which,

according to the authors, should be not older than the

lower part of the Discoaster brouweri Zone (i.e., at

MPMU2/MPMU3 transition that occur at 2.5 Ma,

Monegatti and Raffi, 2001). However, in our study

area, several mollusc taxa of the MPMU1 faunistic

unit which are believed to disappear at the first

Pliocene extinction event, i.e., at about 3.0 Ma (Mon-

egatti and Raffi, 2001), do occur (Appendices A and

B). Furthermore, a re-examination of the nannofossil

content of the section described by Bossio et al.

(1991) did not yield any key species supporting their

chronological attribution (Maiorano, pers. comm.,

2002). Therefore, in absence of more precise con-

straining elements, we conclude for an attribution of

the Unit 2 to the MPMU1 faunistic unit.

The different facies of Unit 2 in the Segheria

quarry may cast some doubts on its precise strati-

graphic position. However, both the occurrence of

Pecten benedictus belonging to MPMU1 mollusc unit

and the sandwiching of the deposits between Units 1

and 3 supports the inferred correlation.

4.3. Unit 3

Units 3 and 4 have been concisely described by

Massari et al. (2001). Unit 3 (2–4 m thick) identified

in several quarries (Figs. 2, 3 and 5) mostly consists of

medium- to coarse-grained poorly fossiliferous bio-

clastic packstone/grainstone. The early transgressive

phase is represented by multiple hardgrounds in

Quarry L. In a segment of the quarry, the ravinement

surface (S3) cuts into Subunit 2c and displays com-

plete Gastrochaenolites lapidicus (BI = 2) borings

infilled with the coarse calcarenite of the Unit 3

(Fig. 2). In turn, S3 is overlain by two onlapping

layers 9–10 cm thick, themselves bored at the top.

Individual layers show small randomly oriented shells

concentrated at the bottom and scattered upwards.

In other quarries (e.g., San Pietro in Lama), the S3

surface is carpeted by thin lenses consisting of mostly

disarticulated and bored oyster shells concordant with

bedding, and locally mixed with large, bored Anomia

valves stacked with concave-up orientation (Fig. 7A),

and minute rounded bioclasts in a packstone matrix.

Alternatively (e.g., in the Segheria quarry), the S3

surface is overlain by a loose to densely packed fossil

concentration in grainstone matrix, up to 20 cm thick

(Table 2, IIa), consisting of numerous shells of epi-

faunal molluscs showing imbrication and convex-up

to high-angle orientation in side view, associated with

Fig. 7. (A) Unit 3, Subunit 3 in San Pietro in Lama quarry: stacked Anomia valves. Natural size. (B) Unit 4, Subunit 4c in Villa Convento

quarry: biogenic concentration of Modiolus adriaticus. Unit 9. (C) Cluster of Mya truncata in life position within a diagenetically thickened

Thalassinoides gallery (arrowed Mya steinkern 5.7 cm long).



rare shallow-infaunal organisms, rhodoliths, plus nu-

merous Spatangus tests commonly displaced and

deformed by burial compaction (Appendix C). In

some outcrops (Quarry L) where the unit is compara-

bly thicker, abundant Ditrupa tubes occur in the lower

part, particularly concentrated in a laminated thin bed

(Fig. 2). The upper part of the unit contains highly

dispersed steinkerns, rare pavements and thin lenses

of loose to dispersed, mostly convex-up shells, among

which a few Arctica in a matrix of bioclastic pack-

stone or grainstone.

In thin section benthic foraminifers, rhodoliths and

the usual content of biodebris have been identified.

Sparse lithoclasts, isolated planktonic foraminifers

and glauconite grains point to continuing erosion of

the Miocene substrate. Most part of Unit 3, except the

top layer, shows an intergranular, quite high porosity

and thin fringes of syntaxial and isopachous cements.

Significant hardening of the top layer, with vadose

dissolution, grain-skin and locally syntaxial stalactitic

cements document subaerial exposure (Fig. 6B,D,F).

The latter is also indicated by polygonal cracks (Fig.

8) and well-developed karstic features, particularly in

the Segheria and San Pietro in Lama quarries. Local

Fig. 8. Subvertical fissures at the top of Unit 3 (San Pietro in Lama

solution pits of subcylindrical shape, 23–40 cm in

diameter, pipe downwards from the S4 surface with a

minimum depth of up to 2 m, as their bases are not

visible. One of these pits in the Segheria quarry

merges downwards into a former pit developed in

the underlying unit from unconformity S3.


A significant cooling is testified by the immigra-

tion of boreal immigrants into the Mediterrarean in

this and overlying units. The multiple hardgrounds

document repeated events of early cementation fol-

lowed by bioerosion of the substrate and fast burial, as

suggested by the integrity of borings. In the Segheria

quarry, the taphonomic features of the basal accumu-

lation indicate a hiatal concentration. In the San Pietro

in Lama quarry orientation of the Anomia valves as

well as the intact nature of these fragile elements

suggest that gentle storm-generated waves lifted the

shells off the bottom and allowed resettling from

suspension (Brett and Allison, 1998).

The abrupt increase in abundance of Ditrupa in the

lower part may reflect high turbidity episodes. Up-

wards, macrofauna composition and abundance of

quarry, hammer for scale). The arrow indicates the S4 surface.


Spatangus suggest a soft seafloor located in the

shallow circalittoral zone (inner shelf) and swept by

permanent gentle bottom currents. The generally poor

preservational state and rarity of fossils hamper re-

fined palaecological inferences; however, a modern

equivalent of the original community could be the

SGCF biocoenosis. The rare pavements of shells in a

packstone matrix were emplaced by episodic storm-

driven flows (Table 2, Ia).

A poorly expressed transgressive to regressive

trend is suggested, with depositional setting evolving

from nearshore to inner/mid shelf and back towards

inner shelf.

4.3.2. Age

Due to the co-presence of Arctica islandica and

Pecten planariae the age of this unit is constrained

between the base of the Pleistocene and the top of the

‘‘large Gephyrocapsa’’ Zone (Maiorano, pers. comm.,

2001).

4.4. Unit 4

This unit (Fig. 2) is by far the thickest of the whole

Plio–Pleistocene succession, being up to 14 m thick in

the depocentral area of the Novoli graben. Near the

northeastern boundary of the Novoli trough the unit

shows a progradational pattern, with clinoforms dip-

ping towards 205j–230j, i.e., subperpendicular to thetrough axis, with maximum dip angles of 12j. Bycontrast, in the depocentral area (e.g., San Pietro in

Lama and Villa Convento areas), the lower and middle

parts of the unit show an aggradational, subhorizontal

stratal pattern, followed only in the uppermost part by a

low-angle downlapping stratal architecture.

The pits developed from the basal unconformity

(S4) are infilled with shells, commonly oriented

subparallel to the pit walls, among which are numer-

ous A. islandica, that had fallen down the karstic

cavities during the transgressive stage.

4.4.1. Depocentral succession

Four subunits may be identified:

4.4.1.1. Subunit 4a. The subunit consists of a poorly

fossiliferous packstone up to 1.5 m thick, lacking

figurative bioturbation. It contains two decimetric,

simple skeletal accumulations laterally persistent over

a few kilometres and characterized by an erosional

base, packstone matrix, dense to loose packing and

high preservation quality of the fossils. The lower

concentration (LSB in Appendix D) is dominated by

large, commonly closed and concordant A. islandica

shells mixed with mostly randomly oriented small

shells of deep infaunal bivalves. Some of the larger

shallow-infaunal or epifaunal shells show encrustation

and bioerosion but physical damage is insignificant.

The upper shellbed is thinner and differs from the

lower one in that it is less rich in Arctica shells, which

are also more disarticulated and preferentially convex-

up (USB in Appendix D). The interposed sediments

contain unworn steinkerns of small infaunal bivalves

commonly dispersed and in life position (among

which the well known, instability-indicator, Lucinoma

borealis, one of the PE characteristic species) or

concentrated in rare thin lenses. The uppermost inter-

val (ca. 50 cm) is characterized by scattered fossils in

life position (especially Lucinoma and Megaxinus).

4.4.1.2. Subunit 4b (6.5 m thick). It consists of

medium- to coarse-grained, moderately bioturbated

(Bichordites or Ophiomorpha, and loose Thalassi-

noides networks) bioclastic grainstone and packstone

containing scattered molluscs and sparse Spatangus

tests (Appendix D(bis)). Scattered discontinuous

pavements of mostly convex-up, virtually unworn

and partly encrusted bivalve shells (mostly epifaunal

forms), as well as subordinate, locally thick, lenses

rich in cardiid shells, densely packed and randomly

oriented, are intercalated. Relatively thin shellbeds

occur in the upper part of the subunit, e.g., at the

Villa Convento quarry, where a loosely packed, sharp-

based shellbed 5–6 cm thick is dominated by mainly

articulated valves of Glycymeris violacescens and

Callista chione concordant to bedding (Table 2, Ia).

In thin section, this subunit is made up of commi-

nuted biodebris and benthic foraminifers including

miliolids and Ammonia. Some bivalve fragments

show evidence of having been dissolved and resulting

hollows later infilled by a drusy cement, prior to the

final reworking and redeposition. These elements are

clearly reworked from an older unit.

4.4.1.3. Subunit 4c. This subunit, 4 m thick, is best

observable in the the Villa Convento quarry (Fig. 2). It

consists of thoroughly bioturbated (small Thalassi-


noides), almost barren calcarenite containing a char-

acteristic pavement made up of a monospecific bio-

genic concentration of Modiolus adriaticus (Fig. 7B)

in the lower part and a few dispersed clumps of Ostrea

lamellosa as well as rare Argobuccinum giganteum

cores in the upper part.

4.4.1.4. Subunit 4d. This subunit (up to 2m) shows

an increase in grain size up to granule calcarenite.

Small-sized concentrations (e.g., in the San Pietro in

Lama quarry) of mostly disarticulated convex-up

valves belonging to the same taxa as those dispersed

in the sediment occur in a grainstone matrix (pecti-

nids, Arctica, cardiids or ostreids) together with cur-

rent-related echinoids (Spatangus, Echinocyamus),

associated with low-angle cross-bedded sets. Biotur-

bation is intense, characterized by full relief spatan-

goid traces, commonly associated with long shafts of

Ophiomorpha and Cylindrichnus.

4.4.2. Marginal succession

Near the northeastern boundary of the Novoli

trough clinoform beds of the Unit 4 show a charac-

teristic laminated-to-bioturbated pattern, consisting of

an alternation of layers with current-related structures

Fig. 9. Large, broad scour at the base of U

and heavily bioturbated (Bichordites) interbeds. The

former are characterized by planar- or low-angle cross

lamination, and medium-scale, high-angle, dune-relat-

ed cross-lamination with dip direction approximately

coinciding with that of clinoforms; pavements of

convex-up valves are locally associated. Spatangus

is ubiquitous and common in these strata.

The grainstones of Unit 4 are characterized by high

intergranular and moldic porosity, with total porosity

ranging from 18% to 37.8%, with most common

values around 28%. They are poorly cemented by

thin isopachous rims of anhedral to subhedral equant

calcite crystals and syntaxial overgrowths around

echinoid plates. These features are characteristic of

phreatic fresh-water diagenesis.

The S5 surface at the top of Unit 4 is a submarine

unconformity in the axial area of the Novoli trough

(Fig. 2). Here, it ranges from planar (e.g., Villa

Convento quarry), to broadly erosional, i.e., marked

by shallow scours up to 1 m deep and tens of metres

wide. In the San Pietro in Lama quarry (Fig. 3B) the

scour is about 45 m wide and its axis is oriented

125jN, almost parallel to the axis of the Novoli

trough. A smaller but similar scour, oriented 155jNhas been observed in Quarry N (location in Fig. 1)

nit 5 (Quarry N, person for scale).

Fig. 10. Unit 4, Subunit 4d: Ophiomorpha shafts piping downwards from the base of Unit 5 (Villa Convento 2 quarry).


(Fig. 9). Closely spaced thick-walled Ophiomorpha

shafts (Fig. 10) and rare Cylindrichnus pipe down-

wards from both planar and concave-up scoured

surfaces (Table 3, code 1st), locally crossing Bichor-

dites. Although showing some truncation, the bur-

rows maintain the same length even in the deepest

parts of the scours, suggesting that their formation

postdates the scours.

Different stratigraphic relationships may be ob-

served in the marginal parts of the trough. In Quarry

H (Fig. 2), there are no Ophiomorpha burrows and the

S5 surface was subjected to subaerial exposure, as

shown by local presence of funnel-shaped solution

pits which developed downwards from the surface and

were infilled with Arctica-rich calcarenites during a

later transgression.

4.4.2.1. Interpretation. Unit 4 consists of unconfor-

mity-bounded inner- to shallow outer-shelf bioclastic

grainstone to wackestone. The onset of progradation,

with development of clinoforms dipping perpendicu-

larly to the trough axis, was probably induced by a

fault-controlled step-like nature of the margins. Al-

though marginal scarps may be at least partly

inherited from Pliocene tectonics, the thickness of

Unit 4, remarkably greater than that of underlying

units, suggests creation of accommodation space by

resumption of motion along the normal fault(s) at the

northeastern margin of the graben.

In Subunit 4a taphonomic data and macrobenthic

content of the basal hiatal shell accumulation suggest

short-term, within-habitat time-averaging of an origi-

nal community (phases of PE) inhabiting a protected

biotope on the inner shelf (at the transition between

infra- and circalittoral zones) characterized by fine-

grained softground and both low sedimentation rate

and low energy level. The upper, thinner shellbed of

this subunit may be produced by selective removal of

fine matrix during storm events (dynamic bypassing,

Kidwell, 1986).

In Subunit 4b gradually raised environmental en-

ergy, due to no-longer protected setting, and depth

increase may be inferred from the palaeocommunity,

interpreted as a shallow facies of the DC (Table 1).

This could thrive on loose coarse bottoms of the

middle shelf gently swept by persistent currents and

only occasionally affected by higher-energy episodes

producing concentrations of gregarious animal shells

in lenses or pavements by winnowing. More severe

events of lower frequency may have been responsible

for the biofabric of the thicker concentrations of

parautochthonous shells.

Fig. 11. Development of Units 4 and 5 in terms of relative sea-level

changes. For explanation, see text.


The biogenic concentration in the lower part of

Subunit 4c marks an environmental shift towards

decreased energy levels and sedimentation rates. It

may represent a mid-cycle shellbed (Abbott and

Carter, 1994; Abbott, 1997), inferred to mark the

condensed section. This is also suggested by the

gradual ichnofossil replacement indicating a change

from shifting to more cohesive substrate (middle-outer

shelf) (Table 3, code 2ct).

Subunit 4d shows evidence of an upward increasing

energy level and shallowing trend. The palaeocommun-

ities are laterally variable and are basically represented

by fossil facies of the SFBC and SGCF biocoenoses.

The facies characteristics of clinoform beds, in-

cluding (1) presence of current-related organisms, (2)

laminated-to-bioturbated pattern and (3) stratinomic

features, all indicate short-lived high-energy events,

probably storm-related, alternating with quiet periods

during which the physical structures were partly or

completely obliterated by spatangoid trace-makers.

The contrasting stratal architecture in different

parts of the Novoli trough suggests that the depocen-

tral area was the locus of preferred deposition in the

early, transgressive stage, leading to an aggrading

pattern. The northeastern marginal areas were pre-

sumably subject to sediment bypass in this stage. The

subsequent regressive stage is inferred to have been

characterized by a progradational wedge developing

from the marginal area basinwards, so that the depo-

central area was reached only in a later stage (Fig.

11). The clinoform wedge may be compared in

geometry and genesis to the calcarenite wedges de-

scribed among others by Pomar and Tropeano (2001)

and Vitale (1998) in the Mediterranean area. The S5

top-surface in the depocentral area implies a tempo-

rary increase in energy level and local erosion due to

a shallowing episode probably related to a minor

relative sea-level fall (regressive surface of marine

erosion). The thickness of Ophiomorpha walls indi-

cates that the burrows were built in shifting sedi-

ments. The trend of the scour axes subparallel to the

axis of the Novoli trough suggests that the shallowing

event led to narrowing of the seaway with emergence

of the bounding lateral highs, and consequent en-

hancement of flow due to the strait effect, leading to

local erosion. The scoured surface subsequently be-

came a flooding surface colonized by Ophiomorpha

makers and later covered by shelf deposits of Unit 5.

The development of Unit 4 in terms of relative sea-

level change and related modifications in basin mor-

phology is shown schematically in Fig. 11.

4.4.2.2. Age. The age cannot be precisely defined by

the palaeontologic content, as microfossil assemblages

are biostratigraphically insignificant. However, the

age of the unit is constrained by the Early Pleistocene

age of both the underlying Unit 3 and the younger

Unit 7, the latter being referred to the ‘‘small Gephyr-

ocapsa’’ Zone (Maiorano, pers. comm., 2001).

Fig. 12. Subvertical solution pits developing from unconformity S6

and infilled with a shell concentration including A. islandica (Villa

Convento 2 quarry).

entary Geology 166 (2004) 89–144 113

4.5. Unit 5

This unit (0–1.8 m thick) is discontinuous and

consists of bioclastic, intensely bioturbated packstone

(Fig. 2). In the axial part of the Novoli trough the

basal S5 surface is a subaqueous unconformity (Figs.

3B, 5 and 9), while in marginal areas (quarry H, Fig.

2) it is a surface of subaerial exposure, from which

funnel-shaped karstic pits locally pipe younger sedi-

ments downwards.

A basal storm-wave concentration, dominated by

mostly disarticulated, locally stacked Arctica shells

occur (e.g., Quarry H). In the axial part of the Novoli

trough Unit 5 is a fine/medium-grained, bioturbated

(generally Thalassinoides and a few Ophiomorpha,

piping downwards into Unit 4) packstone with benthic

foraminifers and comminuted biodebris (Fig. 6C),

grading locally into medium/coarse grainstone in the

top layer. The macrofossil content which is laterally

somewhat variable, is generally mollusc-dominated

except in the southeastern area (e.g., C. Papadeo and

C. Albanese quarries), where the assemblage is rich in

small rhodoliths associated with Mactra glauca and

Glycymeris bimaculatus (these taxa occur in the

Recent SGCF and in the ‘‘praline’’ facies of DC

biocoenoses). The fossils are found either dispersed

and randomly oriented (Thracia, Acanthocardia,

Pseudamussium septemradiatum, subordinately Arc-

tica, Glossus, Venerupis, plus Hinia, Dentalium rec-

tum and Xenophora), or in thin lenses made up of

parautochthonous and rare allochthonous elements

(fragments of rigid-erect bryozoan morphotype),

Ditrupa worm-tubes, rare stumpy-branched rhodo-

liths) in a loose to dense packing (Table 2, Ia). The

bivalves are mostly articulated.

A bed, about 30 cm thick, with abundant pelecy-

pods (mostly Arctica, Pitar, cardiids and pectinids

having both articulated and disarticulated valves con-

cordant to bedding in side view) and a few gastro-

pods, is locally present at the top of the unit. Shells of

shallow-infaunal and epifaunal molluscs are common-

ly bioeroded (xenomorphic Entobia casts) and

encrusted, but not physically damaged (Table 2, IIa).

Planktonic foraminifers are sparsely present in the

lower part of the unit and disappear in the top layer

which is dominated by shallow-water benthic fora-

minifers such as miliolids and Ammonia. The unit

shows high moldic and intergranular porosity.

A. D’Alessandro et al. / Sedim

Unit 5 is bounded at the top by the S6 unconfor-

mity surface locally marked by subvertical solution

pits (Fig. 12) infilled with marine sediments of the

next or younger Pleistocene units. The horizon under-

lying the unconformity shows an isopachous calcitic

cement in the San Pietro in Lama quarry and a needle-

fiber cement in the Villa Convento quarry.


The shellbed at the base of the cycle could have

originated from within-habitat storm-waves that

reworked elements belonging to a low-energy facies

of a fossil DC, settled in a shallow middle shelf. The

upward-shallowing trend, defined by the textural

change as well as fossil assemblages (equivalent to a

fossil SGCF), suggests a transition towards a higher-

energy inner-shelf environment. The upper shellbed


would record multiple-event concentrations that oc-

curred in this shallower setting.

The S6 top unconformity surface is thought to

represent a karstified subaerial surface. The character-

istics of the top layer indicate a phreatic fresh-water

diagenesis in the San Pietro in Lama quarry and the

imprint of pedogenic processes (Esteban and Klappa,

1983) in the Villa Convento quarry.

4.5.2. Age

No age constraining elements are present in Unit 5,

so it can be relatively dated due to its position

intermediate between the Early Pleistocene Unit 3

and the Early-to-Middle Pleistocene Unit 7.

4.6. Unit 6

Unit 6 was clearly recognized and defined only in

the Villa Convento quarry, where it is recorded both as

a bipartite stratiform unit disconformably overlying

Unit 5 and as infill of solution pits piping downwards

from the S6 unconformity (Fig. 2).

Subunit 6a (20–30 cm thick), which may be

locally missing, is made up of friable packstone

including thin lenses rich in celleporiform and rigid

erect bryozoan morphotypes and mostly concordant

Ditrupa tubes mixed to small rhodoliths (both stout-

and long-branched), Spatangus tests, and a few frag-

ments of Pecten jacobaeus. Highly dispersed Pseu-

damussium septemradiatum valves and small clusters

of Ditrupa tubes occur in the upper part.

This subunit is overlain, through an abrupt ero-

sional contact by a poorly cemented, amalgamated

shell concentration about 1 m thick (Subunit 6b)

containing in the lower part loosely packed, randomly

oriented, both fragmented and unworn fossil skele-

tons (mainly the same taxa as those in Subunit 6a).

The upper part consists of a densely packed shell

concentration, with fossils concordant in side view,

rich in mostly articulated A. islandica, plus some

single valves of shallow-water pectinids and rare

rhodoliths. In thin section, this subunit is a bioclastic

packstone.

In other outcrops Unit 6 is only present as infills of

solution pits piping downwards from the S6 uncon-

formity and is mostly recorded by Subunit 6b. In the

Villa Convento 2 quarry a downward tapering solu-

tion pit (Figs. 2 and 12), about 6 m deep and up to 40

cm wide, is infilled with densely packed shells show-

ing random orientation, except near the pit walls,

where they are subvertical. Shells include abundant

Arctica and pectinids, all with disarticulated valves,

and, subordinately, cardiids, Neopycnodonte, Isocar-

dia and Clavagella.

Solution pits up to 14 m deep pipe downwards

from the S7 unconformity bounding the Unit 6 at the

top. The pits infilled with fossiliferous deposits of

Unit 7 are generally subcylindrical (Fig. 13A) to

funnel-like (Fig. 13C), and tend to become irregular,

with subhorizontal pattern, in the deeper parts.


Unit 6 represents the local preservation of a thin

sequence bounded by subaerial unconformity surfaces

both at the base and top. The basal surface is not

apparently modified during the transgressive stage,

probably due to the rapidity of the transgression.

Actually, Subunit 6a records a rapid deepening to a

mid-outer shelf, characterized by episodic distal tem-

pestites (Table 2, Ia). Palaeontological features, as

well as the evidence of erosion at the base of Subunit

6b—locally leading to the complete removal of the

Subunit 6a—point to an abrupt shallowing to a

nearshore high-energy environment recorded by a

thick condensed shellbed formed by amalgamation

of event concentrations (Table 2, IIa). This apparent

downward shift of facies tracts is thought to reflect a

forced regression.

The deep subvertical solution pits which devel-

oped after the deposition of Unit 6 are karstic features

(Fig. 13A,C) thought to reflect a long-lasting phase

of subaerial exposure. They are significantly deeper

than any solution pits linked to other unconformities

of the studied succession. The lowermost subhori-

zontal segments of the karstic cavities probably

developed close to the water table, so that the

maximum depth of the solution pits may be regarded

as a proxy for the depth of the vadose zone and

consequently of the extent of base-level lowering

during the subaerial stage.

4.7. Unit 7 (Sabbie a Brachiopodi Fm.)

The ‘‘Sabbie a Brachiopodi’’ Fm. is a carbonate

unit with a silt-sized siliciclastic fraction, first de-

scribed for the western Salento (D’Alessandro and

Fig. 13. Villa Convento quarry: (A) cylindrical solution pit infilled with shell-rich sediments of Unit 7 (hammer for scale). (B) Conical solution

pit of recent formation, infilled with ‘‘terra rossa’’. (C) San Pietro in Lama quarry: large conical pit (person for scale).


Fig. 14. The stratigraphic organization of Unit 7 at the top of San

Pietro in Lama quarry.


Palmentola, 1978), but also widespread in southern

Salento, although with sligthly different features.

The unit (Figs. 14 and 15) is unconformably

transgressive on the ‘‘Calcarenite di Gravina’’ and

older formations through a bed of yellow-greenish,

slightly glauconitic silty limestone, that includes an

outer-shelf faunal association. In thin section most

common lithologies are bioturbated, fine bioclastic

packstones to wackestones with well-developed

moldic porosity, containing a silty siliciclastic frac-

tion and numerous planktonic foraminifers.

In the surroundings of the villages of Novoli and

S. Pietro in Lama, the deposits of the unit first

infilled solution pits of variable height (up to 14 m)

piping downwards from the S7 unconformity (Figs.

3B and 13A,C), and then formed a disconformable

blanket covering the older units with a variable

stratigraphic gap at the base. In the Novoli area

long-lasting differential weathering led in places to

a morphological inversion: where the pit-infilling

plugs are better cemented than host strata, they

appear as fingerlike vertical protrusions. Within the

plugs the deposits are commonly massive, locally

showing a rough festoon-like layering in the case of

larger infills, emphasized by the distribution of the

macrofaunal skeletons.

4.7.1. Subunit 7a

Subunit 7a occurs in the lowermost part of deeper

pit infills (Figs. 2 and 3B) and consists of a coarse-

grained bioclastic packstone with a porosity of 14%

and high moldic porosity. The macrobenthic content is

similar to that of Unit 4. This coarser facies grades

upwards, within the pit infills, into a facies similar to

that forming Subunit 7b out of the pit mouths.

4.7.2. Subunit 7b

Subunit 7b is a sedimentary blanket of fine bio-

clastic packstone (around 1.3 m thick) mantling the

S7 unconformity (Fig. 14). The loose-to-densely

packed basal shellbed is made up of a high-diversity

association characterized by Terebratula scillae to-

gether with Neopycnodonte cochlear clumps (primary

biogenic concentration), celleporiform bryozoans,

Pseudamussium septemradiatum and Nuculana com-

mutata. Spatangus purpureus, although generally

atypical in the ‘‘Sabbie a Brachiopodi’’ Fm., is here

a relatively common element. Above this decimetric

bed at least two other concentrations with high lateral

persistence are present. They consist of discontinuous,

loosely packed pavements in which autochthonous

components (grypheid clumps and brachiopods) are

mixed to disarticulated valves of the same taxa,

occasionally reoriented by bioturbation (Fig. 14). In

the intervening muddy sediment the same organisms

occur dispersed and in life position, and are associated

with Ditrupa tubes in the upper part. The upward

increasing muddiness of the sediment is accompanied

by the disappearance of the brachiopods and bryozo-

ans, followed by a reduction or loss of Neopycno-

donte, and concomitant gradual increase in abundance

of Pseudamussium septemradiatum. The microfacies

is characterized by abundant planktonic foraminifers

(Globigerinoides, Turborotalia, Globigerina, Globor-

otalia) and glauconitic peloids (Fig. 6E).

entary Geology 166 (2004) 89–144 117

4.7.3. Subunit 7c

The lowermost part of Subunit 7c (1.5 m thick)

contains widely scattered fossils in a poorly sorted

matrix, including articulated Ostrea edulis, Pecten

jacobaeus, Aequipecten opercularis, rare Pseudamus-

sium septemradiatum, A. islandica and, occasionally,

a few valves of Neopycnodonte cochlear clustered in

lenses. This interval shows a distinctive hardening in

the C. Albanese quarry, and is followed by two

distinct levels (Fig. 14) of pervasive burrow networks

displaying a positive relief due to differential ce-

mentation, surrounded by a very fine packstone/

wackestone matrix. The burrow systems recall Tha-

lassinoides paradoxica since they have an irregular

morphology due to numerous swellings of tightly

branched unlined galleries and, in addition, short,

stubby, downward-oriented branches. However, the

sharply defined burrow surfaces are apparently

smooth. The fill of the upper burrow network is

slightly more bioclastic than the surrounding sedi-

ment. The burrow systems, somewhat thickened by

concretionary growth, are emplaced in grey pelitic

sediments, pinkish and finely bioclastic in the upper

part, where wandering Palaeophycus (V 3 mm in

diameter) with thick red walls and grey fillings are

present (BI 3) together with sparse worm-tubes. The

highly dispersed fauna is represented by pectinids,

cardiids and turritellids, both complete and frag-

mented (occasionally included in the Thalassinoides

galleries) and rare Schizaster. In thin section, minute

Planolites galleries can be detected, together with

prevalently fragmented benthic (mostly Ammonia)

and planktonic foraminifers (Orbulina).

4.7.4. Subunit 7d

This subunit (50–60 cm) consists of silty bio-

clastic calcarenites showing a subtle planar to low-

angle bedding. Stratification is locally highlighted by

differential cementation leading to knobby hard grey

layers (wackestone/packstone), 6–7 cm thick, alter-

nating with grey to dark grey uncemented packstone.

The latter contains abundant minute biodebris (mac-

rofaunal fragments and benthic foraminifers), either

dispersed or concentrated in thin lenses and/or

laminae, and shows a pronounced mottling due to

the pink to reddish staining of Palaeophycus walls

(BI 4). Some unworn, but almost completely decal-

cified Cerastoderma gr. edule and Natica, them-


selves pinkish-stained, together with rare Nucula

and pectinid fragments, occur in a fine bioclastic

matrix.

The microfacies is a bioturbated wackestone/pack-

stone with dispersed benthic (Ammonia and textular-

ids) and a few planktonic (Orbulina) foraminifers, all

commonly fragmented, probably due to the activity of

deposit feeders. Numerous Planolites (BI = 4/5) dis-

play infills that are finer-grained than the surrounding

sediment.


The calcarenitic facies that locally occurs in the

lowermost parts of the plugs (Subunit 7a) records the

shallow environments of the early transgression, as

suggested by the faunal remains that, although dis-

placed, testify to the presence of a palaeocommunity

comparable to the facies of the Recent DC biocoe-

nosis. The upward deepening to an outer-shelf set-

ting is already recorded within the plugs of solution

pits. The overlying sheet-like package (Subunit 7b)

may be considered as somewhat condensed, because

it is thinner than nearby coeval deposits occurring in

neighbouring areas (D’Alessandro and Palmentola,

1978; D’Alessandro et al., 1994). The lowermost

layer of this subunit contains an association domi-

nated by sessile suspension-feeders, which is thought

to represent the mid-cycle shellbed (Abbott and

Carter, 1994; Abbott, 1997) inferred to mark the

condensed section. Some shells of the overlying

concentrations occasionally appear reoriented, disar-

ticulated and even dispersed, suggesting burial by a

thin sediment drape, thin enough to allow for easy

exhumation and disruption by bioturbators and/or

water motion.

The associations were inferred by D’Alessandro et

al. (1994) to represent a relatively shallow facies of

the DE biocoenosis and suggest palaeodepths in the

order of 80–100 m. However, in the study area, a

shallower water depth is more likely. The vertical

change in the fossil components towards an associ-

ation richer in vagile and free-lying organisms (DE-

VTC ecotone) indicates an increasing rate of sedi-

mentation in an aggradational regime and is thought

to record the transition from highstand to regressive

system tract. The composition of the highly dis-

persed fossils in the lowermost part of Subunit 7c

marks a significant change with respect to the

A. D’Alessandro et al. / Sedimentary118

underlying subunit, in terms of sudden reduction of

bathymetry and first appearance of boreal guests,

like A. islandica. Therefore, it is thought to mark the

onset of a forced regression.

The Thalassinoides aff. paradoxica horizons (Ta-

ble 3, code 4frt) suggest a cohesive almost firm

substrate whose firmness could be related to subma-

rine erosion in the context of forced regression.

Lowering of base-level presumably continued in Sub-

unit 7d characterized by muddy softground, inhabited

by a palaeocommunity dominated by soft-body infau-

nal organisms and tentatively compared to a ‘‘re-

duced’’ Macoma community (Fig. 15). Evidences of

erosion (cannibalization) related to the forced regres-

sion are also provided by the reworking of planktonic

foraminifers from previously deposited sediments.

Subunit 7d may be referred to a relatively protected

lower shoreface setting.

4.7.6. Age

A Lower-to-Middle Pleistocene age may be in-

ferred for Unit 7, as Subunits 7a and 7b are referable

to the Small Gephyrocapsa Zone, while Subunit 7c

may be attributed to the Pseudoemiliania lacunosa

Zone (Maiorano, pers. comm., 2001).

4.8. Unit 8 (‘‘Argilliti di San Pietro’’)

Unit 8 is mostly siliciclastic, unlike underlying

units, and shows laterally significant thickness varia-

tions, ranging from about 2 m (M. Pisello quarry) to

about 7 m. The description is mainly based on the

expanded succession of the C. Papadeo quarry.

4.8.1. Subunit 8a (0.4–0.6 m)

This subunit consists of poorly consolidated well-

sorted siltstone with well rounded quartz grains,

showing a gradual upward change in colour from

grey-pinkish to dark green, concomitantly with a

decrease in bioturbation intensity (BI from 4 to 1–

2). The macrofauna is represented by dispersed

remains, among which a few articulated Cerasto-

derma gr. edule, Abra nitida, Nucula, large naticids,

juvenile pectinids, Ditrupa worm-tubes and very rare

pristine Paracentrotus lividus tests. Microfossils in-

clude Ammonia, Elphidium and ostracods with

smooth carapaces. The top of this subunit is a planar

erosional surface.

4.8.2. Subunit 8b (about 2.5 m)

Silt to very fine sandy silt, grey-bluish if unaltered,

light-brown if weathered, characterized in the basal

layer (about 20 cm) by relatively abundant, dispersed,

Nucula in life position, a few Abra and sinuous

Palaeophycus (around 5 mm in diameter; BI 1–2)

replaced by large-sized Tasselia in the following

metre, where the same bivalves become very dis-

persed. This trace in the Salento area is common in

the fossil equivalent of the Atlantic Syndosmya com-

munity (D’Alessandro and Iannone, 1993). The upper

part of the subunit is coarser and includes two loosely

packed shell concentrations rich in Turritella which

also occurs scattered together with semelids, Venus

nux, a few Parvicardium minimum and rare naticids.

4.8.3. Subunit 8c (1.5 m)

It is bounded by minor erosional surfaces, the

basal one covered by a Turritella-dominated pave-

ment (Table 2, type Ia). The dispersed abundant

macrofauna (Appendix E) is composed of perfectly

preserved shells of mostly shallow-infaunal bivalves

still in life position and vagile gastropods, and

represents the remains of a high-diversity, soft-bot-

tom palaeocommunity.

4.8.4. Subunit 8d (around 3.5 m)

This subunit is bounded at the base by an erosional

surface covered by dark grey fine sandy silt (20–30

cm) rich in articulated Nucula (mostly in life posi-

tion), accompanied by some pristine Aphorrais and

Cerastoderma (Table 2(Ic), Appendix E). The over-

lying bluish mud (1.5 m) contains sparse macrofaunal

remains, that may also be found slightly more con-

centrated in horizons, and is characterized by scat-

tered, commonly elongated, potato-shaped carbonate

concretions (2–6 cm in diameter). Each of them

displays in polished sections a nucleus of a thinly

walled burrow (0.5–1 cm in diameter) surrounded by

a diagenetic halo with a radius of up to 3 cm.

Furthermore, some long tubular structures (1–2 cm

in diameter), rarely branched downwards and some-

what recalling root traces, are present. Thin section

analyses reveal that they are concretioned burrows

with thick walls made up of agglutinated quartz grains

and tiny bioclasts. In transverse section the burrow

walls show radial, irregularly spaced fractures infilled

with sparite or microspar, interpreted as contraction

Geology 166 (2004) 89–144

Fig. 15. Inferred sequence stratigraphy of the succession (syntetic log), with inferred depth changes. SB= sequence boundary, TS = transgressive

surface, FS = flooding surface, RSME= regressive surface of marine erosion; ecotones between biocoenoses are linked with slash mark (e.g.

SE/DC). * =Cold-water molluscs. Ichnofacies, concentration types and biocoenosis codes in Tables 1–3.


,

A. D’Alessandro et al. / Sedimentary120

features produced as a result of organic matter decay

during the diagenesis.

Thalassinoides galleries (BI = 1–2), some of them

radially fissured, and thin subhorizontal spiralled

traces (Gyrolithes-like) burrows resembling those of

Notomastus and rare Tasselia characterize the upper-

most part of the unit that gradually becomes a yel-

lowish silt. Among the fauna the appearance of rare

stenothermal cold-water molluscs (BG in Appendix

E) should be noted.


Subunit 8a is inferred to reflect a bay or estuarine

sheltered area inhabited by a fossil Syndosmia com-

munity. No evidence of subaerial exposure has been

found at the top of Unit 7. However, a discontinuity

must occur at this surface, as the inferred shoreface

deposits closing the Unit 7 are overlain by trans-

gressive, marginal-marine deposits of Subunit 8a.

The erosion surface at the top of this subunit may

represent a ravinement surface, marking the transi-

tion to inner shelf deposits represented in Subunit 8b.

Fossil content indicates a change from the Nucula

facies to the Turritella facies of the VTC biocoenosis

and hints at a softer bottom and higher sedimentation

rate, possibly related to fine-grained sediment supply

from a nearby river mouth. The fossil association of

the following Subunit 8c (muddy DC) records the

transition to a well-oxygenated shallow outer-shelf

environment and may include the deposits related to

the maximum flooding stage. The three subunits

could represent parasequences separated by marine

flooding surfaces across which there is evidence of

deepening and may reflect short-term, minor relative

fluctuations in sea level.

The basal erosional surface of Subunit 8d may

mark the onset of a forced regressive stage during

which a Nucula facies of VTC colonized the seafloor,

possibly under moderate hypoxic conditions. The

bluish mud indicates soft substrates relatively rich in

organic matter, inhabited by several soft-body organ-

isms recorded by their compactionally deformed gal-

leries. In the uppermost part, improved edaphic

conditions enable a shallow-water palaeocommunity,

comparable to the Atlantic ‘‘Syndosmia alba commu-

nity’’, to flourish in a soft muddy bottom located

above average storm wave base. This fossil commu-

nity testifies to a cooling trend.

4.8.6. Age

Unit 8 may be still attributed to the P. lacunosa

Zone.

4.9. Unit 9 (‘‘C. Papadeo unit’’)

4.9.1. Subunit 9a (around 2m)

The base is marked by a bioturbated horizon (40

cm thick) standing out on the weathering profile. In

the lower part, U- and J-shaped galleries, rarely

connected to each other, pipe into Unit 8, where their

limbs may be joined by tiny Gyrolithes-like coils and

are decorated by slender, sinuous burrows. These

galleries are connected upwards to the Thalassinoides

boxwork whose morphology is characterized by

closely spaced and swollen branching points. Further-

more, in the upper part, the galleries commonly are

diagenetically thickened and, occasionally, the system

shows stubby blind branches, variable in diameter,

bearing faint scratches. As a consequence of the heavy

bioturbation, physical features at the contact between

units 8 and 9 are obliterated.

Numerous Mya truncata shells, preserved in life

position, cross the higher part of the Thalassinoides

boxwork (Fig. 7C), whose infilling may include a few

Turritella, Ditrupa and Nucula. These also occur in

the surrounding and overlying sediments together

with steinkerns of Macoma obliqua (an extint taxon

closely related to the living M. calcarea), and disar-

ticulated small-sized Arctica. Directly above this ho-

rizon, Mya and Macoma rapidly disappear, whereas

Turritella increases in abundance.

The remaining part of Subunit 9a is a massive silty

fine sand with an evident upward-fining trend into

silts. The macrofauna (Turritella communis, Acantho-

cardia gr. echinata, Pitar rudis, Aequipecten opercu-

laris—the last mostly as single valves—and Ditrupa,

associated with a few still articulated plates of Sphaer-

echinus granularis and rare small rounded rhodoliths)

is commonly scattered, although locally forming small

lenticular concentrations.

4.9.2. Subunit 9b

This subunit is a package (about 2 m thick) of silty

sediment grading into increasingly carbonate-rich,

heavily bioturbated silty sand. Thalassinoides mazes

(two being more evident) having long (up to 40 cm in

length) subvertical shafts piping downwards, stand

Geology 166 (2004) 89–144


out on the weathering profile. The horizontal unlined

galleries are variable in diameter due to numerous

slightly flattened swellings. Between the mazes, abun-

dant echinoid burrows and other undeterminable

traces occur. Steinkerns of Acanthocardia gr. echinata

are common. To be noted is the reappearance of rare

A. islandica from the base of the subunit.

4.9.3. Subunit 9c (3 m thick)

This subunit is a bedset of carbonate-rich fine

siliciclastic sand yielding Arctica and locally Mya

and Macoma, and including in the upper part thin

knobby concretionary layers, probably resulting from

preferred cementation of Thalassinoides mazes. In the

lower 2 m, Thalassinoides mazes are cut and cast by

coarse sand containing chaotically arranged, poorly

sorted, predominantly disarticulated and locally

stacked valves of different sizes (Table 2, III). Fur-

thermore, mollusc hardparts (mostly Spisula, cardiids

and Arctica) are clustered in sparse lenses and gutter

casts or chaotically arranged in discontinuous, nor-

mally graded layers with scoured base.

At the M. Pisello quarry, the upper part of the

package is characterized by quite open Thalassinoides

mazes (BI 4) from which several Gyrolithes loose

spirals (around 1.5 cm in diameter, BI = 3) branch off,

leading to a horizontal system at a greater depth.

Compactional deformation is minimal.

The top of the unit has not been found in outcrop.


Although a top unconformity is unknown, Unit 9

shows a transgressive-regressive trend and may be

treated as a sequence, although incomplete. The U-

and J-shaped burrows, characteristic of intertidal set-

tings, took place in the cohesive but not firm sediment

of the Unit 8. These domichnia are connected to the

lower part of a Thalassinoides boxwork. The increase

in substrate consistency, inferred by the Thalassi-

noides morphology, suggests winnowing episodes

associated with somewhat intensified bottom-current

activity under marine sublittoral conditions. There-

fore, the ichnoassemblage may be regarded as a

composite Psilonichnus/Glossifungites ichnofacies

(Table 3, code 1pgt). Although detailed observation

of features at the contact is precluded due to burrow

density, the sharp coarsening across this surface and

biofacies change suggest an unconformity. A river

influence is suggested by the relatively high silici-

clastic sedimentation rate during the transgression.

The following deepening trend towards a muddy

inner/middle shelf is pointed out by the faunal

changes from an association paralleling the Atlantic

Macoma calcarea community to an equivalent of a

facies of the Mediterranean VTC biocoenosis, culmi-

nating in a DC/SFBC ecological unit during the

maximum flooding stage, reached in the upper part

of Subunit 9a. The changes in fossil composition

reflect concomitant increase in substratum consisten-

cy and reduction in sedimentation rate. Thalassi-

noides mazes appear at the beginning of the

regressive phase of Subunit 9b and persist in the

following Subunit 9c where features indicative of

event-disruption suggest a setting above the average

storm wave base, with strong episodical erosion due

to storm events. The quite sharp transition from

Subunit 9b to Subunit 9c suggests a downward shift

of facies tracts and the beginning of a forced regres-

sion. In the M. Pisello area lack in physical structures,

intense bioturbation and abundance of Gyrolithes

suggest a lower-energy environment and reduced

salinity.

4.9.5. Age

P. lacunosa Zone.

5. Sequence-stratigraphic interpretation

The above-described unconformity-bounded units

clearly represent the record of a cyclicity resulting

from high-frequency and high-amplitude relative sea-

level fluctuations (Fig. 15). Most units are bounded

by subaerial, karstic unconformities commonly blan-

keted by transgressive fossil concentrations. Most

unconformities are thus composite surfaces (se-

quence boundaries and transgressive surfaces) com-

bining the effect of subaerial exposure with that of

ravinement processes during the subsequent trans-

gressions, and provide stratigraphic horizons of crit-

ical importance for the reconstruction of the Plio–

Pleistocene history and sequence stratigraphy of the

area. From the above description it is clear that the

internal organization of the sequences is not uniform.

The sequences are dominantly subtidal transgres-

sive–regressive units, except Unit 1, which shows


a presumably truncated transgressive trend. Maxi-

mum flooding deposits mostly accumulated in a

shoreface to mid-outer shelf setting, less common-

ly—Units 7 and 8—in an outer-shelf setting. In Unit

2, a regressive trend above the transgressive stage

cannot be unambiguously recognized. Regressive

deposits overlie transgressive intervals by gradual

transitions in Units 3 and 5 (inferred highstand

deposits) and abrupt contacts in Units 6 to 9 (in-

ferred forced regressive deposits). In Unit 7, a poorly

developed Glossifungites ichnofacies marks the base

of the forced-regressive interval. Furthermore, a

probably minor transgressive event is apparently

recorded by the infills of fissures and solution pits,

which developed at unconformity S3 during a phase

of subaerial exposure.

Abundant cold-water stenothermal molluscs in the

Pleistocene sequences typically occur in the trans-

gressive facies tract (e.g., at the base of Units 4 and

9, and locally at the base of Unit 5), and in the

upper part, within deposits bearing evidence of an

either gradual regressive trend (Unit 5) or a sharp-

based forced regression (Units 6 to 9). These ecos-

tratigraphic data suggest that the molluscan associa-

tions of successive systems tracts have a consistent

relationship with corresponding segments of glacio-

eustatic sea-level oscillations (compare Beu and

Kitamura, 1998) and that identified sequences are

essentially the expression of glacio-eustatic sea-level

fluctuations. In any case, regional subsidence rates

are thought to have been much lower than the

known rates of high-amplitude sea-level changes at

the time of development of the studied succession.

Although extensional tectonics may have been mod-

erately active during the deposition of Unit 4, its

role was probably that of creating additional accom-

modation, without obliterating the glacio-eustatic

effects.

The local lack or limited thickness of highstand

deposits, compared to the larger development of

transgressive and forced-regressive deposits may

reflect erosion during relative sea-level falls. On

the other hand, the relatively limited accommodation

space available for sedimentation during relative sea-

level falls may reflect both the background of very

low subsidence rate and the fact that, during relative

falls, open-shelf areas may have acted as sites of

bypass or erosion. Furthermore, falling-stage depos-

its may have been subsequently modified and at least

partly destroyed by subaerial processes during the

emergence stage and erosional ravinement during the

next transgression. This led to development of com-

pound erosional unconformities at the top of the

sequences, resulting from the superimposition of

subaerial processes during falling-stage and lowstand

periods, and submarine shoreface erosional processes

during the subsequent transgression.

Due to the low resolution power of the available

biostratigraphic data, a correlation of the identified

sequences with the oxygen isotope stages is not

possible at the present stage of the investigation.

Given the low subsidence rate, an unknown number

of sea-level cycles may have not been recorded in

the succession, and thin sequences may have been

completely eroded. Furthermore, due to this setting,

and emergence during relative lowstands, individual

sequences retained only a partial record of the

relative sea level fluctuations.

6. Multiple karst events related to episodes of

subaerial exposure

6.1. The solution pits

As outlined above, karstic pits of variable geome-

try are associated with unconformity surfaces bound-

ing the depositional sequences (Fig. 13A,C). They are

invariably plugged by marine sediments of the ensu-

ing transgressions and have important implications for

palaeoenvironmental interpretation and sequence stra-

tigraphy, as they mark phases of low relative sea-level

stand.

The spatial distribution of the karstic pits is

irregular: they are concentrated in some sites, where-

as intervening areas fail to show evidence of signif-

icant karstification. Following the morphologic

terminology proposed by Vanstone (1998) the karstic

pits show vertical to subvertical axes, and most

commonly are funnel-shaped and conical, with cir-

cular to elliptical sections and sides flaring at the top

(Figs. 12 and 13C). Locally one or both sides show

stepped morphologies. Less commonly the pits are

cylindrical (Fig. 13A), showing tubular forms with

vertical or steeply inward inclined walls slightly

tapering downwards. In other cases, the cavities


narrow irregularly with depth. The highest relief is

shown by the pits related to the emergence phase

preceding the transgression of the ‘‘Sabbie a bra-

chiopodi’’. In this case the pits may extend to depths

of up to 14 m without a visible base, whereas in the

case of older pits the relief is significantly smaller,

not exceeding 3.5 m.

The diameter at the funnel-shaped mouth of simple

and more regular pits ranges from 0.6 to 3 m; larger

cavities, up to 6.5 m in diameter, are more irregular

(‘‘compound pits’’ of Vanstone, 1998) and result from

the lateral coalescence of two or more adjacent funnel-

type or conical pits. These larger pits show a more or

less complex geometry, with pendants and variously

inclined to overhanging walls. In the case of pits

showing greater relief, the deepest parts may become

subhorizontal. In addition of discrete monophasic

features, in a number of cases the pits cut into previ-

ously formed pits (Fig. 2, Villa Convento and Villa

Convento 2 sections; Fig. 3B), locally leaving rem-

nants preserved either below or lateral to the younger

cavity infills. In these cases two or more karstic phases

are superimposed, with younger features being con-

trolled in their location by earlier ones, and overprint-

ing them. Multiple phases of karstification (polyphase

palaeokarst), are thought to result from multiple

changes in relative sea level, producing stacked karst

systems (Wright, 1991; Molina et al., 1999).

The lowermost calcarenites unconformably man-

tling the Tertiary substrate locally show the effects of

horizontally oriented dissolution, resulting in the de-

velopment of subhorizontal caves. This effect was

probably driven by the lower permeability of the

substrate forcing the water to flow along the contact.

Present-day (active) karstic features located in the thin

cover of Tertiary and Quaternary formations of Sale-

nto are commonly controlled by, inherited from, and

connected with, the main buried karst system located

in the underlying Mesozoic carbonate complex (Guer-

ricchio and Zezza, 1982). Similar relationships cannot

be excluded for the described Plio–Pleistocene karstic

features.

Conical or conico-cylindrical solution pits akin to

those described, and commonly showing a plug of

‘‘terra rossa’’, are quite commonly seen to cross the

studied succession as recent features (Fig 13B), and

have also been reported in Quaternary calcarenites of

Morocco (Aberkan, 1989), Syria (Day, 1928), and in

Miocene calcarenites of SE Poland (Walsh and Mor-

awiecka-Zacharz, 2001). The Polish karstic pits are

regarded as an intraformational palaeokarst system

formed below a till cover. In all cases, the regular and

characteristic pit forms, with larger cavities commonly

resulting from the coalescence of a number of simple

forms, seem to be typical of marine or aeolian calcar-

enites characterized by high porosity, allowing unre-

stricted transmission of ground fluids in all directions.

Although remnants of palaeosols have never been

found in association with the karstic pits, the locally

observed decimetre-scale mamillated nature of the

karstified surface, and the lack of fretted and sculpted

karren forms, may reflect the development of the pits

beneath a soil cover and consequently a dissolution

promoted by the corrosivity of acidic meteoric waters

associated with soils, with initiation of pit develop-

ment possibly through stem-flow drainage from trees

(Vanstone, 1998). Walsh and Morawiecka-Zacharz

(2001) postulate the presence of an appreciable con-

tent of peat in the till cover at the time of pit

formation, which could have been the source of the

acidic groundwater. As deposition of carbonate sedi-

ments was interrupted by periods of emergence of

probably a few tens of thousands of years, kastifica-

tion most probably developed over geologically short

time periods. According to Mylroie and Carew (1995)

large pit caves on carbonate islands form within a

100-ky time frame.

To rapidly develop karstic features, though imma-

ture, high rates of carbonate dissolution are needed.

This is known to depend upon rainfall regime, tem-

perature, distribution of the soil cover, biological

activity and lithology of the carbonate substrate (Van-

stone, 1998). Plant respiration and the decay of plant

tissues are the dominant controls on the level of

carbon dioxide in the soil, which in turn plays an

important role in the rate of dissolution of carbonate.

As the content of aragonite was very low in the

described Pleistocene carbonate sediments, the impor-

tance of biological and climatic factors was probably

decisive in allowing a rapid development of the

karstic features.

The extensive development of moldic porosity and

karstic features, suggests that during times of subaer-

ial exposure, i.e during at least part of relative sea-

level falls/lowstands, the Salento area experienced

relatively humid climates.


The highest relief shown by the pits related to the

emergence phase preceding the transgression of the

‘‘Sabbie a Brachiopodi’’ suggests that a major drop of

the base level must have taken place during the

glacioeustatic fall preceding the transgression, leading

to a major lowering of the water table.

entary Geology 166 (2004) 89–144 125

6.2. The infills of solution pits

Within the marine infills of solution pits the fossil

orientation is quite irregular (Fig. 12) but, especially

in larger plugs, a tendency may be observed of

unmatched molluscan valves to lie subhorizontally

in the axial part of the plugs and with increasingly

steeper inclination, up to vertical arrangement, close

to the walls. This leads to a more or less evident

festooned pattern of the infill and may reflect both a

syndepositional adaptation to the wall morphology,

and a post-depositional adjustment of the plugging

sediments resulting from a differential compaction

with respect to the already lithified or semi-lithified

host calcarenites. Scattered angular to subangular

fragments of the enclosing calcarenites ranging in size

from a few centimetres to a pair of decimetres have

been locally observed in the plug sediments of Unit 7.

These plugs are rich in powdery to hard withish

carbonate nodules, the larger of which may show a

strong cementation and septaria-like internal fractures.

In the upper parts of these plugs the nodules com-

monly appear clustered in elongate, vertical structures.

These features are thought to record a stage of

pedogenesis of unknown age postdating the infills.

The pits do not preserve any trace of palaeosols or

internal continental deposits (see also Aberkan,

1989). These have been conceivably removed or

recycled during the transgression, either as a result

of the water table rise, or of high-energy eddies

developing during storm events accompanying the

shoreface retreat.


7. Diagenetic changes associated with subaerial

unconformities

Particular attention has been paid to the subaerial

unconformities as they represent stratigraphic hori-

zons of critical importance for a sequence stratigraph-

Fig. 16. (A) Close-up view of the sedimentary infilling of a vertical fissure

polarized light). The fill consists of millimetric subhorizontal micritic lamin

thin braided fissures, partly filled with micrite, cut the laminated facies.

vertical fissure cutting the top of Unit 2 (San Pietro in Lama quarry) (thin s

into subhorizontal bands locally showing normal grading from bioclastic

episodes. (C) Infiltration of wackestone with benthic foraminifers in the upp

with debris of red algae, echinoids and benthic foraminifers. The contact o

that the host sediment was not cemented when the infilling occurred. The

ic reconstruction. As expected, high-amplitude sea-

level changes left distinctive diagenetic records, and,

as noted by Read and Horbury (1995), the bulk of the

diagenesis is likely to occur during regional platform

emergence associated with lowered sea levels. Se-

quence tops are highly disconformable and in most

cases provide evidence of subaerial diagenesis.

The well-indurated nature of the sediments lying

immediately below the capping subaerial unconform-

ities results from the rapid and pervasive cementation

and concurrent loss of porosity in the uppermost

portions of freshly exposed sediment (Beach, 1995).

Polygonal cracks up to 1 m deep, probably similar in

genetic mechanism to those noted in the study area

(Fig. 8), are regarded by Longman et al. (1983) as a

good criterion for the recognition of a subaerial

unconformity. We do not share however their inter-

pretation of the cracks as due to compaction. They

affect calcarenitic deposits and cannot therefore be

regarded as simple desiccation cracks, known to

usually develop in fine-grained carbonate deposits.

Although no specific references were found by us for

this specific feature, we are inclined to regard them

as pedogenic in origin. Similar polygonal cracks

were found in Upper Permian semiarid palaeosols

of Southern Alps (Massari and Neri, 1997). Their

genesis may relate to tension stresses due to a

combination of processes active during the subaerial

exposure stage, including alternating thermal expan-

sion/contraction and desiccation/wetting (Assereto

and Kendall, 1977; Assereto and Folk, 1980). Once

formed, the polygonal cracks remained a zone of

weakness subject to refracturing, enlargement by

vadose diagenesis and internal erosion, and infill,

commonly leading to a polyphasic history. Repeated

fracturing is evidenced by lining of fissure walls by

irregularly laminated bands of micrite and microspar

(Fig. 16C). The infills comprise a variety of internal

mechanical sediments of mud to sand size (Fig.

16A,B,C), either structureless or laminated, related

cutting the top of Unit 2 (San Pietro in Lama quarry) (thin section,

ae with erosive bases emphasized by silty bioclastic fragments. Very

The host sediment is a bioclastic packstone. (B) Internal infill of a

ection, polarized light). The fill consists of marine sediment arranged

/foraminiferal packstone to micrite, suggesting repeated inwashing

er part of Unit 2 (San Pietro in Lama quarry) consisting of packstone

n the right between these two facies is poorly defined. This suggests

wackestone was later cut by polyphased and braided fissures.

Table 4

Diagenetic and depositional features associated with subaerial

unconformities

Macroscopic features Microscopic features

Local red staining Grain skin cement

(Fig. 6B)

Marked increase in

induration, gradually

decreasing downwards

Syntaxial stalactitic

cement (Fig. 6F)

Facies change across

unconformity surfaces

Needle-fiber cement

(Figure D)

Polygonal network of

subvertical fissures up to

0.6 m long, developed

downwards from the

unconformity surfaces

and locally enlarged by

dissolution. Surrounding

sediment in places

modified into a white

chalk-like powder

Vadose silt-laminated

micrite in secondary

cavities. Vadose

dissolution

Karstic pits extending

downwards from the

unconformity surfaces,

with walls locally lined

with speleothems

Sediment transformed

into microspar along

the network of fissures

Infilling of solution pits and

polygonal cracks with

marine sediment washed

onshore by storms or

transported into the cavities

by transgressive seas

Intense micritization

leading to almost

complete obliteration

of the bioclasts


to single or repeated episodes of inwashing, either

penecontemporaneously from adjacent environments

(flooding episodes are frequent in the supratidal

areas during spring tides or hurricanes) or later

during the period of subaerial exposure or transgres-

sion of the next cycle. No evidence of buckling,

displacement of sediment and formation of tepees

was found. We suggest that, due to the relatively

short duration of the periods of subaerial exposure,

the polygonal pattern represents an early, immature

stage of development of structures that, in a later,

more mature phase, should result in tepee antiform

structures following fabric expansion due to displa-

cive crystallization stresses (Assereto and Kendall,

1977). Similar polygonal cracks have been observed

by two of the authors in calcarenites of recent, low-

lying marine terraces.

There is however a problem with the interpreta-

tion of the climate: semiarid conditions are suggested

by the polygonal cracks, whereas a relatively humid

climate seems to be indicated by the freshwater

dissolution features. The apparent contradiction

may find an explanation in the characteritics of the

climate changes during the climatic cycles of the

Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene. In a palynolog-

ical study of Upper Pliocene (2.4–2.1 Ma) deposits

in Calabria (southern Italy) Combourieu-Nebout

(1993) noted that the complete temporal succession

from warm and humid interglaciation to cold and dry

glaciation is characterized by the evolution from

deciduous forest (rich in Quercus), followed by

subtropical humid forest (Taxodiaceae and Cathaya),

then cool-humid altitudinal coniferous forest (Tsuga,

Cedrus, Abies and Picea), and finally herbaceous

open vegetation (Graminae, Compositae and Arte-

misia). In addition, the cyclostratigraphic model of

Perlmutter and Matthews (1992) applied to the

latitude of Salento area, highlights that, except a

dry climate during insolation minimum, the region

may have experienced humid to subhumid conditions

during much of a climatic cycle (see also Kindler et

al., 1997). Thus, it is suggested that the dissolution

features and the polygonal cracks may represent the

record of the two successive climatic phases within

individual climatic/glacio-eustatic cycles.

The cementation is on the whole very scarce and

evidence is missing of the superimposition of different

types of cements attesting to successive phases of

flooding and emergence. In addition, the cementation

is significantly controlled by local factors such as the

shell concentration (being locally enhanced by the

dissolution of aragonitic shells) and textural character-

istics (finer-grained calcarenites commonly retaining

their primary intergranular porosity, especially in

presence of a silty matrix). In addition, due to reduced

thickness of the succession, changes in diagenetic

maturity with depth of burial (Beach, 1995) are of

limited importance. However, some changes are ap-

parent. Upper sequences are the most porous and

retain their primary intergranular porosity, whereas

deeper ones are characterized by stronger cementation

and significant increase in porosity inversion from

primary interparticle and intraparticle to moldic and

vuggy porosity due to superimposition of the diage-

netic effects of repeated high amplitude sea-level

fluctuations.


Subaerial exposures are mostly indicated by the

effects of vadose diagenesis (Table 4, Fig. 6B,D,F),

ending with development of surface case hardening

and localized vertical solution pits (Stage I of Beach,

1995). The effects of Stage II diagenesis of Beach

(1995) may be found only in the deepest sequences

where the inversion of porosity led to slight increase

in cementation due to repeated upward and downward

migration of marine phreatic, as well as meteoric

vadose and phreatic diagenetic environments during

repeated fluctuations of sea level (Beach, 1995; Read

and Horbury, 1995).

The case hardening of the unconformity surfaces

and their role of seals effectively controlling subse-

quent movement of groundwater are confirmed by the

common superimposition of two or more karstic

phases, with younger features being controlled in their

location by earlier ones, and overprinting them. This

clearly indicates that indurated horizons acted as

impermeable barriers or partial aquitards causing

perching of water tables, except for chance coinci-

dence with pre-existing dissolution pits.

8. Conclusions

The Salento peninsula (Puglia, SE Italy) has a thin

cover (up to about 20 m thick) of Lower Pliocene–

Middle Pleistocene deposits. The setting was a ramp

located in the slowly subsiding Apulian foreland area

dissected by shallow extensional troughs. The study

area is located in the small Novoli graben, where nine

stacked, unconformity-bounded sequences have been

identified, consisting of skeletal calcarenites except in

the case of the last two sequences which are predom-

inantly siliciclastic.

Skeletal concentrations and intervening less fos-

siliferous intervals have been examined to provide

information on major environmental parameters and

infer the dynamics of their changes. Taphonomic

and palaeoecological analyses indicate that storm-

induced waves and currents, reduced sediment in-

put, and settling behaviour of components were the

main factors controlling the features of the various

shellbed types. The concentrations were formed

below fair-weather wave base in low-stress inner-

to-outer shelf environments and are often associated

with surfaces or intervals that are characterized by

sedimentary condensation. Vertical change in the

fossil content within individual cycles indicates

water depth changes that were in parallel with

climatic fluctuations.

Biofacies of Units 1 and 2 (Lower Pliocene) are

basically different from those of the following Pleisto-

cene units, due to presence of molluscs indicative of a

relatively warm climate. Faunal assemblages of Units 3

to 9 (Lower to Middle Pleistocene) commonly include

cool-water species immigrated from the Northeast

Atlantic (called as ‘‘boreal guests’’ in the Mediterra-

nean literature). They are particularly concentrated in

the transgressive layers and in the upper part of the

regressive packages, suggesting that the sequence

stratigraphy and the internal organization of individual

sequences were controlled by high-frequency, high-

amplitude glacio-eustatic sea-level changes.

The bounding unconformity surfaces show in most

cases karstic features related to subaerial exposure and

are commonly blanketed by transgressive hiatal or

composite concentrations. These discontinuity surfa-

ces, thought to be the record of low relative sea-level

stands, provide stratigraphic horizons of critical im-

portance for the reconstruction of the Plio–Pleisto-

cene history and sequence stratigraphy of the area.

The recognized stratigraphic organization is much

more complex than hitherto suspected, particularly

considering the close spacing of unconformities.

Sequences are usually thin (metre-scale), except the

lower PleistoceneUnit 4, which is up to 14m thick. The

abnormal thickness of this sequence when compared to

the others may reflect a reactivation of the marginal

faults of the Novoli graben, as suggested by the

presence in this unit of large-scale clinoforms which

may have developed from marginal fault scarps.

The sequences are commonly incomplete and retain

only a partial record of the relative sea level fluctua-

tions, due to the interaction of a background of low

average subsidence rate with the effects of high-ampli-

tude sea-level fluctuations on a relatively shallow

foreland ramp. Specifically: (1) lack or limited thick-

ness of the HST are common; (2) regressive deposits

are mostly represented by sharp-based forced-regres-

sive units; (3) common top truncation may have

resulted from subaerial processes during the emergence

stage and erosional ravinement during the following

transgression, leading to development of compound

erosional unconformities.


Episodes of subaerial exposure, and concomitant

effects of vadose diagenesis are documented by a

number of aspects: (i) facies changes across uncon-

formity surfaces; (ii) diagenetic features recognized

by petrographic analysis (Fig. 6B,D,F), such as

presence of vadose silt, grain-skin cement, needle-

fiber cement and stalactitic syntaxial cements. These

changes usually lead to induration of unconformity

horizons; (iii) subvertical solution pits developed in

the vadose zone below unconformity surfaces. Mul-

tiple sea-level changes produced stacked karst sys-

tems, with common superimposition of two or more

karstic phases, younger features being controlled in

their location by earlier ones, and overprinting them;

(iv) local presence of a network of polygonal cracks

below unconformities; and (v) infilling of solution

pits and polygonal cracks with vadose silt or marine

sediment washed onshore by storms or transported

into the cavities by transgressive seas.

Some changes in diagenetic maturity with burial are

apparent. Upper sequences are the most porous and

retain the primary intergranular porosity, whereas low-

ermost ones are characterized by stronger cementation

and significant increase in moldic and vuggy porosity

due to superimposition of the diagenetic effects of

repeated high amplitude sea-level fluctuations.

Tracing of the identified units outside the study

area could greatly improve the potential of unravelling

the Plio–Pleistocene history of the Apulian foreland.

Key horizons marking major events and potentially

most useful in correlations are the S3 and S7 uncon-

formities. Particularly the change in faunal assemb-

lages across the S3 unconformity certainly bears the

indication of a significant climatic change. The large

scale and depth of karstic features linked to the S7

unconformity suggest a high amplitude of the related

sea-level fluctuation and perhaps quite a long-lasting

period of emergence.

Acknowledgements

P. Maiorano is gratefully acknowledged for

nannofossil determinations. This work took advantage

of careful field observations and comments by Fursich

and Brett. Useful suggestions by Strasser and Betzler

greatly improved the quality of the manuscript. We

also are indebted to B. Serafini for patient help in

preparing the drawings, and to N. Michelon and S.

Castelli for technical assistance.

E. Davaud was funded by Swiss National Science

Foundation through projet 20-55599-98. F. Massari

and A. D’Alessandro were funded by the Italian

‘‘Ministero dell’Universita e della Ricerca Scientifica

e Tecnologica’’ (MURST) (Programmi interuniversi-

tari di ricerca scientifica di rilevante interesse nazio-

nale) concerning the national projet coordinated by F.

Massari ‘‘Sedimentazione ciclica e variabilita climatica

nel Quaternario Italiano’’.

Appendix A

Unit 1—MPMU1 (Zanclean–Lower Piacenzian).

Abbreviations are: mould = internal or external

moulds of unmatched valves; core: moulds of artic-

ulated bivalves or gastropods. MPMU=Mediterra-

nean Pliocene Molluscan Unit (Raffi and Monegatti,

1993); TSB = topmost shellbed in Segheria quarry;

substrate: bd, gb = bioclastic or gravelly bottom;

shs = small hard substrate; mxd =mixed granulome-

try; rel. = related to; t = tolerant, applying to species

able to endure a small fraction of sediment other

than they are commonly related to; life-habit: epif =

epifauna; inf = infauna; si = semi-infaunal or very

shallow infauna; sh. inf = shallow infauna, d.-inf =

deep infauna; b = burrower; ATT attached form;

FRL= free lying; VAG= vagile; feeding-type: S = sus-

pension-feeder; D = deposit-and detritus-feeder; Br =

browser; Carn = carnivores; CHS = chemiosynbiotic;

depth range: sh = shallow; d = deep; eur = wide

bathymetric range; r. eur = no deeper than about

500 m (Carpine, 1970); Lit = littoral; M =mesolittoral;

sublitt = sublittoral; Infra = infralittoral; Circa = circa-

littoral; B = bathyal; ecological meaning: fc = facies

of a biocoenosis; ch = characteristic (preferential or

exclusive) of a specific biocoenosis; pr = taxa more

common in some biocoenoses; -rel = currently related

to one specific biocoenosis; a = accompanying in a

given biocoenosis; crt. rel = current related; t = toler-

ant; Lre =wide ecological range; Sspr: = no precise

ecological meaning; symbols: V = extinct or migrated

outside the Mediterranean; a =migrations into Medi-

terranean; # = re-immigrated into the Mediterranean

during the interglacial stages of Pleistocene; + = pres-

ent-day West African coast.

Appendix A

Taxa Life

habit

Feeding-

type

Depth

range

Substrate

preference

Ecological

meaning

Quarry L Segheria

Quarry

Pecten

flabelliformis V

MPMU3

FRL epif S Circa-Infra t-sand; SFBC SGCF ch

(Circa-facies)

Subunit 1b,

uncommon

shells

pavements, lenses;

TSB

Pecten

bosniasckii V

MPMU1

FRL epif S UNDET sand, bd? 1 specimen

with matched

valves

Chlamys latissima FRL epif S Infra,

sh.Circa

Lre SVMC very rare TSB: very rare

V MPMU1

Ostrea

lamellosa

ATT, FRL

epif

S Infra,

sh.Circa

stable

bottoms

SVMC rel commonly

unmatched,

bored valves

clumps,

pavements;

rare single valves

in TSB

V Emilian/Sicilian

Lucina

orbicularis

VAG d-.inf S Infra muddy-sd,

sand

cores locally

common

V MPMU1,

+ Kodakia leonina

VAG sh.inf S Lit, Infra t-sand very rare

cores

V MPMU1,

+ Acanthocardia

aculeata

VAG sh.inf S Infra,

sh.Circa

mixed,

sand

common in

SFBC

not rare,

large-sized

cores

few scattered

cores; rare in TSB

Acanthocardia

paucicostata

VAG sh.inf S Infra,

sh.Circa

t.mud-rel SFBC-SE ch

(V. gallina

community)

numerous

cores,

few moulds

Acanthocardia

tuberculata

VAG sh.inf S Infra sand-rel SFBC ch few cores

and moulds

few moulds

Spisula

subtruncata

FRL sh.inf

fast b

S Infra sand-rel SFBC ch abundant cores

and rare moulds

in TSB

Tellina planata VAG d-inf D Infra exc t-sand SFBC ch not rare

cores; rare

moulds

Arcopagia corbis V

Lower

Pleistocene

VAG d-inf

fast b

D low-tide to

< 100 m

t-sand,

mxd

DC, SGCF rare cores

and moulds

locally common

cores; few moulds

in TSB

Venus excentrica V

MPMU1;

? MPMU2

VAG sh.inf S Infra (V.

verrucosa)

sand HP, SGCF

(V. verrucosa)

1 mould of a

large-sized

shell

Circomphalus

foliaceolamellosus

VAG sh.inf S Infra t-sand SFBC ch

SFBC-VTC

rare cores Large-sized cores;

well represented

into the TSB

V MPMU1:

? MPMU2,

+ Chamelea

gallina

VAG sh.inf S Infra sand-rel SFBC ch uncommon;

small–medium-

sized cores

Large-sized cores;

common, in the

TSB

Callista italica

V MPMU1

VAG sh-inf S Infra m-sand SFBC very rare cores

Pelecyora gigas

V MPMU1

sh.inf

sluggish b

S Infra t-sand SFBC not rare cores

and moulds

Paphia vetula V

MPMU1;

? MPMU2

VAG d-inf S Infra sand-rel uncommon;

mostly cores

Venerupis astensis

V MPMU1

VAG d-inf S Very rare cores


(continued on next page)

Taxa Life

habit

Feeding-

type

Depth

range

Substrate

preference

Ecological

meaning

Quarry L Segheria

Quarry

Diloma patulum V

Emilian

VAG epif Browser Infra t.sand-rel;

hard,

covered by

seaweeds

AP, SVMC locally abundant

in clusters: cores

not rare, in

the TSB

Strombus

coronatus V

MPMU1

VAG epif Browser Infra sand,

sandy-mud

SVMC ch

AP/HP

1 bored shell,

rare cores

Conus spp. VAG epif Carn not rare, small-

sized cores

Balanus concavus V

Pleistocene

ATT epif S Infra,

sh.Circa

h, shs Lre Few complete

specimens

encrusting

oysters

Quarry L Segheria Quarry

Caulostrepsis taeniola Rare; pebbles, oysters

Entobia gigantea Pebbles (15 cm long)

Entobia megastoma Rare, pebbles

Entobia ovula Pebbles, surrounding G. lapidicus;

Entobia ispp. ind Pebbles; natural casts of xenomorphic

entobians replace numerous aragonitic shells; oysters

Ostrea and large sized pectinid valves

Gastrochaenolites torpedo Rare; in a few pebbles with numerous M. decipiens

Gastrochaenolites lapidicus Not rare in pebbles; few naturali casts in Xenophora

infundibulum

Maeandropolydora decipiens With G. torpedo

Trypanites solitarius Rare, in pebbles

Appendix A (continued)


Appendix B

Unit 2—MPMU1 (Zanclean–Lower Piacenzian).

Abbreviations: U2 =Unit 2; BSB = basal shell bed; su2b = subunit 2b; su2d = subunit 2d.

Taxa Life-habit Feeding-

type

Depth

range

Substrate

preference

Ecological

meaning

Quarry L San Pietro in

Lama Quarry

Pecten

bosniasckii V

MPMU1

FRL epif S UNDET sand, bd ? su2b—few matched

specimens

Pecten

flabelliformis V

MPMU3;

? Lower

Pleistocene

FRL epif S Circa-Infra t-sand; SFBC

SGCF ch

(Circa facies)

su2b—some scattered

shells, with oysters,

in a bioclastic

supported pavement.

su2b—upper part,

common in

discontinuous

pavements.

BSB—single and

matched valves;

su2b—few

matched valves

in cardiids-rich

thin lenses;

upwards, lenses of

loosely packed,

mostly articulated,

valves


type

Depth

range

Substrate

preference

Ecological

meaning


Lama Quarry

Chlamys

latissima V

MPMU1

FRL epif S Infra-sh.

Circa

Lre SVMC pr su2b—1 articulated

specimen.

BSB—1 bored

valve.

Ostrea

lamellosa V

Emilian/Sicilian

ATT epif S Infra-sh.

Circa

stable bottoms

(hard, firm,

soft),

SVMC rel BSB—loosely

packed, single

and articulated

shells, in a matrix-

supported pavement;

fissure fills. su2b—

dispersed.

BSB—patchily

abundant,

mostly single,

bored, shells

Lucinoma

borealis

Sedentary

d-inf

S r.eur mud-rel

(stenoecious)

PE ch su2b—widely

dispersed and

in life position,

cores in few thin

intervals

Chama placentina

V Lower

Pleistocene;+?

ATT epif S Infra hard, shs on

soft to firm

bottoms

AP, SVMC su2b—rare cores

Cardium hians VAG sh.inf S Infra-sh.

Circa

mud, muddy-

sand

su2b—rare, large-

sized cores

su2b—scattered

cores in the

upper part

Acanthocardia

aculeata

VAG sh.inf S Infra-

sh.Circa

mxd, sand SFBC su2b—rare

cores with

relative moulds.

su2b—rare cores

with relative

moulds.

Acanthocardia

gr. echinatum

VAG sh.inf S Circa

(d-Infra)

mxd, muddy-

sand

DC-DE pr a

SFBC

U2—in small

lenses

su2b—in small

lenses; su2d—

rare, dispersed

Cardiids VAG sh.inf S su2b—dispersed in

small lenses;

su2d—some

cores in small lenses

su2b—loosely

packed in

small lenses and

discontinuous

pavements

Tellina planata VAG d-inf D Infra t-sand SFBC ch su2b—rare cores

Gastrana

lacunosa V

MPMU1; #, +

VAG d-inf D Infra-

Circa

fine sand SFBC-SVMC

pr ?

su2b—few cores

Callista italica

V MPMU1

VAG sh.inf

fast b

S Infra sand SFBC su2b—very rare

moulds

Pelecyora

gigas V

MPMU1

sh.inf

sluggish b

S Infra t-sand SFBC su2b—few cores

Diloma

patulum V

Emilian


hard bottom

covered by

seaweed

AP, SVMC ?

sh.DC

su2b—small clusters

in the lower part

Strombus

coronatus V

MPMU1

VAG epif Browser Infra t-sand ? SVMC ch su2b—1 core

in a lens of

loosely packed

cardiids and

Pecten

flabelliformis

Appendix B (continued)




type

Depth

range

Substrate

preference

Ecological

meaning


Lama Quarry

Balanus

spongicola

ATT epif S su2b—ATT on

Pecten flabelliformis

su2b—few

ATT on

P. flabelliformis

Quarry L San Pietro in Lama Quarry

Caulostrepsis isp. su2b—common in Ostrea shells

Entopia issp BSB-clasts su2b—uncommon in Ostrea shells

Gnathichnus pentax su2b—internal side of Ostrea shells

Appendix B (continued)


Appendix B bis

Unit 2—subunit 2c.

Reworked: Megalodon charcarodon teeth.


type

Depth range Substrate pref-

erence

Ecological

meaning


Lama Quarry

Glycymeris

insubrica

Sedentary si S Infra sand-rel; SFBC ch closed or slightly

shifted cores

locally common;

rare moulds

Pecten benedictus

V MPMU1

FRL epif S Circa mxd DC ? rare; 1 encrusted

valve

Pecten flabelliformis

V MPMU3; ?

Lower

Pleistocene

FRL epif S Circa-Infra t-sand; SFBC

SGCF ch

(Circa fc)

single and

matched valves;

uncommon

Chlamys latissima

V MPMU1

FRL epif S Infra-sh.

Circa

Lre SVMC pr few bioeroded

large fragments

Ostrea lamellosa

V Emilian/

Sicilian

ATT epif S Infra-sh.

Circa

stable

bottoms

(hard, firm,

soft),

SVMC rel locally common,

single, bioeroded,

valves

few single shells

(mostly left ones)

Lucina orbicularis

V MPMU1

VAG d-inf S Infra very rare cores 1 mould

Loripes lacteus VAG d-inf S Infra sand, mud LEE, SVMC

a SFBC

rare cores rare cores

Chama placentina

V Lower

Pleistocene, ? +

ATT epif S Infra hard, shs,

firm

bottoms,

AP, SVMC few cores numerous cores

and few moulds

in the lower part

Acanthocardia

aculeata

VAG sh.inf S Infra-sh.

Circa

mxd, sand common in

SFBC

common, mostly

cores.

common cores

of small-to large-

sized, few moulds.

Acanthocardia

gr. echinata

VAG sh.inf S Circa,

d-Infra

mxd,

muddy-sand

f. mucronata

DC-DE pr, a

SFBC

very common,

mostly cores

numerous cores

Acanthocardia

paucicostata

VAG sh.inf S Infra, sh.Circa t.mud-rel SFBC-SE ch.

(V. gallina

community)

numerous cores

Appendix B bis (continued)


type

Depth range Substrate pref-

erence

Ecological

meaning


Lama Quarry

Acanthocardia

tuberculata

VAG sh.inf S Infra sand-rel SFBC ch some cores and

moulds, few

bearing entobian

natural casts

Cardiids VAG sh.inf S numerous cores numerous cores

Spisula subtruncata VAG sh.inf

fast b

S Infra sand-rel; SFBC ch cores and moulds,

common

Lutraria lutraria VAG d-inf S Infra-sh.

Circa

sand-rel SFBC, SGCF,

DC

rare cores, 1

slightly shifted

Tellina nitida VAG d-inf D Infra sand SFBC some cores, rare

moulds

Tellina planata VAG d-inf D Infra rel t-sand SFBC ch cores and moulds,

locally common

mainly in the

upper part of CB

Arcopagia corbis

V Lower

Pleistocene

VAG inf fast b D Low-tide to

< 100 m

t-sand; mxd; DC, SGCF not rare, medium-

and large-sized

cores

uncommon;

medium- and

large-sized cores

and moulds

Gastrana lacunosa

V MPMU1; #, +

VAG d-inf D Infra-Circa fine sand SFBC-SVMC

pr ?

relatively common

cores in the upper

part of CB

Venus libellus

V MPMU4; +

VAG sh.inf S Infra sand, mud cores in small

clusters

cores in small

clusters mixed to

Ostrea

Circomphalus

foliaceolamellosus

V MPMU1;

? MPMU2; +

VAG sh.inf S Infra t-sand SFBC ch

SFBC/VTC

few moulds and

cores

not rare, large-

sized cores

Chamelea gallina VAG sh.inf S Infra, sh.

Circa

sand-rel; SFBC ch

(V. gallina

community)

not rare cores uncommon,

middle-sized cores

Clausinella fasciata VAG sh.inf S Infra,

sh.Circa

sand-rel, grav-

el-rel

SGCF ch

SFBC

not rare cores

Callista italica

V MPMU1

VAG sh.inf

fast b

S Infra sand SFBC rare cores, 1

bored mould

Pelecyora gigas

V MPMU1

sh.inf

sluggish b

S Infra t-sand SFBC well represented,

cores and rare

moulds

infrequent cores,

1 bored mould

Pelecyora

islandicoides

V MPMU3;

VAG sh.inf S Circa mud very rare cores

Paphia vetula

V MPMU1;

? MPMU2

VAG d.inf S Infra sand-rel very rare cores

Panopaea

glycymeris

d-inf,

sedentary

S Infra pref

sh.Circa

t.sd-rel, SFBC-SFBC/

DC pr

some cores, few

with shifted

valves; concordant

to bedding, one is

oblique with the

posterior gap

downward

oriented

very rare cores



Appendix B bis (continued)


type

Depth range Substrate

preference

Ecological

meaning


Lama Quarry

Gibbula magus VAG epif Browser Infra-Circa mxd, mud

sand

DC-SGCF ch very rare moulds very rare moulds

Diloma patulum

V Emilian


hard

bottom

covered by

seaweed

AP, SVMC locally abundant

cores and moulds

locally abundant

cores and moulds

Strombus coronatus

V MPMU1

VAG epif Browser Infra t-sand ? SVMC ch few cores, 1 bored

shell

Coniids ind. VAG epif Carn some small-sized

cores

Balanus sp. ATT epif S small-sized, ATT

on Ostrea

Quarry L San Pietro in Lama Quarry

Caulostrepsis ispp. Ostrea shells

Caulostrepsis cretacea Strombus (natural casts)

Conchotrema canna Ostrea shells

Entobia ispp Strombus (natural casts) Acanthocardia (natural casts)

Entobia ispp, xenomorphic Strombus (natural casts) Murex, Conus (natural casts),

Gastrochaenolites lapidicus natural casts in a dissolved clast

Gnathichnus pentax P. benedictus shell

Maeandropolydora isp. Chama (natural casts)


Appendix C

Unit 3 (Lower Pleistocene).

Abbreviations: U3=unit 3; LL=laminated layer; BSB=basal concentration; BG=stenothermal cold-water

mollusc.

Reworked: Terebratula siracusana (1 specimen); in BSB: Vaginella austriaca (1 phosphatized

specimen), Clavagella (few siphonal fragments), O. lamellosa (some rounded fragments).


type

Depth

range

Substr.

pref.

Ecological

meaning


Lama Quarry

Segheria

Quarry

Arcoperna

sericea

V Siciliano

ATT si S bd, mxd? very rare

cores

very rare cores BSB—1

specimen with

shifted valves

Modiola

mytiloides

V Lower

Pleistocene

ATT si S Infra,

Circa

bd, h 1 convex-up

valve in a

thin lens

BSB—few

convex-up

stacked valves

Pecten

jacobaeus

FRL

epif

S Circa mxd-rel DC ch U3—dispersed

single shells

upward

increasing;

LL—few

convex-up

BSB—few

single shells;

U3—some single,

mostly encrusted

scattered valves;

a pavement of

loose-to-dispersed,

convex-up valves

BSB—numerous,

mostly

convex-up;

U3—dispersed,

single valves,

in pavements


type

Depth

range

Substr.

pref.

Ecological

meaning


Lama Quarry

Segheria

Quarry

Pecten

planariae

V Emilian

FRL epif S sh.Circa silty-sd DC/SFBC BSB—rare

valves;

convex-up

BSB—some,

convex up,

slightly

encrusted

right and

leftvalves

Aequipecten

opercularis

FRL epif

(adult)

S eur mxd, cb Sspr DC rel

(fc a grandes

petoncles)

BSB—numerous,

chaotically

oriented U3—

some convex-up

in a loosely

packed lens

U3—few

dispersed

single valves

Chlamys

inaequicos-

talis

V Lower

Pleistocene

ATT epif S eur ? sand,

muddy-sd

BSB—rare

unmatched

Anomia

ephippium

ATT epif S sh-sublitt

pr

hard, shs,

bd

Lre BSB—numerous,

chaotically

oriented, locally

stacking, large-

sized bored valves

Ostrea

lamellosa

V Lower

Pleistocene

ATT,

FRL epif

S Infra,

sh.Circa

stable

bottoms

SVMC rel a pavement,

with Pecten

jacobaeus, of

mostly convex-

up loose

valves; rarely

in nests

BSB—single

bored flat valves

of small/medium-

sized; rare

matched valves

BSB—bioeroded

coarse fragments;

U3—few single

valves dispersed

in a pavement

Megaxinus

transversus

sedentaryd-

inf

S Infra mxd,

sd-mud

as fossil is

reported in

littoral facies:

HP ch

few dispersed

cores

relatively frequent

cores

Cardiids VAG sh.inf S rare cores and

moulds

few small-sized

cores and moulds

rare cores and

moulds

Arctica

islandica

BG; a: base

Pleistocene

sedentary si S Infra-

sh.Circa

t.sd-rel Lre, SFBC

(muddy-fc)

t-hypoxia

very rare moulds BSB—uncom-

mon, cores and

rare convex-up

moulds of single

valves

Dosinia

lupinus

d-inf S sublitt t.sand-rel; SFBC ch

SFHN

common, mostly

cores

Spatangus

purpureus

VAG sh.inf D Circa mxt,

coarse-sand

SGCF ch

crt-rel.

dispersed,

rarely with

oyster shells

dispersed

specimens

BSB: common,

randomly

oriented, mostly

complete

specimens

Echinocyamus

pusillus

VAG sh.inf D Circa,

Infra

mxt, c-sand SGCF

ch crt.rel

few specimens in

a lens

Ditrupa

arietina

si S Circa sandy-mud,

muddy-sand

PE pr, rel to

water

turbidity

U3: dispersed,

upward-

decreasing LL:

numerous

BSB: numerous

in lenses

BSB: few

dispersed

Appendix C (continued)



Appendix C (continued)


type

Depth

range

Substr.

pref.

Ecological

meaning


Lama Quarry

Segheria

Quarry

Calcareous

algae

rare, small-sized

rhodoliths

few scattered

small-sized

rhodoliths

Quarry L San Pietro in Lama Quarry Segheria Quarry

Caulostrepsis contorta BSB—Ostrea,

rare

Caulostrepsis isp. BSB—few in

Ostrea

Entobia laquea BSB—Ostrea

Entobia ovula BSB—Ostrea

Entobia ispp few in

Callista

BSB—Ostrea

and Anomia

BSB—Ostrea

Gastrochaenolites lapidicus On the

hardgrounds

Gnathichnus pentax BSB—common

on Anomia

Maeandropolydora sulcans BSB—Ostrea BSB—Ostrea


Appendix D

Unit 4—subunit 4a (Lower Pleistocene).

Abbreviations: LSB = lower shellbed; USB: upper shellbed; BG= stenothermal cold-water mollusc.


type


pref.

Ecological

meaning


Lama Quarry

Segheria Quarry

(fill of karstic

cavities)

Pecten

jacobaeus

FRL epif S Circa mxd-rel DC ch LSB, USB:

few single

valves

Some single valves Few single

valves

Aequipecten

opercularis

FRL epif

(adult)

S eur mxd, cb Sspr DC rel

(fc a

grandes

petoncles)

LSB, USB:

relatively

frequent,

unmatched

LSB: common Common, a

few bored

Ostrea

edulis

ATT,

FRL epif

S Infra,

sh.Circa

h to soft

stable

bottoms

Lre

SVMC-AP

rel

LSB: very

rare, few

scattered

juv. valves

LSB: rare

encrusted and

bored valves

Megaxinus

transversus

sedentary

d-inf

S Infra Mxd,

sd-mud

fossil: in

littoral fc:

HP ch

USB: few

closed, rather

decalcified

valves

LSB: few

closed, rather

decalcified

valves

Rare

Lucinoma

borealis

sedentary

d-inf

S r.eur mud-rel PE ch more frequent

in the upper

part of the

subunit and

in USB

LSB, USB:

closed, rather

decalcified

matched valves,

common

Well

represented


type


pref.

Ecological

meaning


Lama Quarry

Segheria Quarry

(fill of karstic

cavities)

Diplodonta

rotundata

sedentary

sh-inf

S Circa-

Infra

mud-rel DE, VTC LSB: rare

closed

specimens

LSB, USB:

closed, rather

decalcified valves,

relatively

common

Arctica

islandica BG;

a: base

Pleistocene

si

sedentary

S Infra-sh.

Circa

t.sd-rel Lre SFBC

rel

(muddy-fc)

t-hypoxia

LSB: common

both

single and

closed

valves USB:

uncommon

LSB: loosely

packed, more

commonly

single valves

USB:

uncommon

Rare, single

valves

Chamelea

gallina

VAG sh.inf S Infra,

sh.Circa

sd-rel SFBC ch

(V. gallina

community)

Numerous

cores

Timoclea ovata VAG sh.inf S w.eur.

common

>30-40 m

mxd-rel Lre DC/

DE-PE pr

USB: not

rare, mainly

single valves,

LSB: not rare,

single valves

USB: single

and closed

valves,

common

Rare cores

Callista chione VAG sh.inf

fast b

S Infra,

sh.Circa

sand-rel; SFBC ch

SGCF ch

Numerous mostly

disarticulated,

decalcified valves

Dosinia

lupinus

VAG d-inf S M, Infra,

Circa

t.sd-rel SFBC ch

SFHN ch

USB: some

cores of

both closed

and single

valves

LSB:

relatively

common, mostly

closed USB: few

single valves

One core

Xenophora

crispa

VAG. epif D In the

Recent:

d.Circa (B)

m, mxd DC-DE pr LSB: 2 cores

Nassarius cf.

prysmaticus V

Pleistocene

VAG epif Carn eur the Recent

species is t.

mud-rel

Sspr LSB: few

cores

LSB: few cores

Calyptrea

chinensis

epif.

sedentary

D (S) Circa, Infra db-rel,

shells

SGCF-DC

rel

LSB: uncommon 1 core

Spatangus

purpureus

VAG sh.inf. D Circa, Infra crt-rel SGCF ch LSB: rare LSB: rare

USB: few

corona encrusted

by polychaetes

Quarry L San Pietro in Lama Quarry Segheria Quarry

Caulostrepsis isp. Ostrea

Entobia paradoxa LSB: in some Arctica

Entobia ispp LSB: numerous natural

casts in Arctica

numerous natural

casts in Arctica

Maeandropolydora

isp.

LSB: numerous natural

casts in Arctica

Ae.

opercularis,

Ostrea, numerous

natural casts in

Arctica

Appendix D (continued)



Appendix D bis

Unit 4—subunit 4b–4d (Lower Pleistocene).


type


preference

Ecological

meaning


Lama Quarry

Glycymeris

insubrica

sedentary

si

S Infra sand-rel; SFBC ch U4b: both

single and

articulated,

lower part,

in lenses

Modiolus

adriaticus

ATT si S sh. Circa,

deep Infra

mxd DC ch U4c:

discontinuous

pavements,

both single and

articulated.

Pecten

jacobaeus

FRL epif S Circa mxd-rel DC ch U4b: single

valves not rare

Aequipecten

opercularis

FRL epif

(adult)

S eur mxd, cb Sspr DC

rel (fc a

grandes

petoncles)

few

unmatched

U4b: locally

common

single valves,

some encrusted

(lower–middle

part)

Ostrea edulis ATT, FRL

epif

S Infra,

sh.Circa

hard to

soft stable

bottoms

Lre SVMC-

AP rel

U4d: small

clumps, mainly

in the upper

part

Megaxinus

transversus

sedentary

d-inf

S Infra mxd,

sd-mud

as fossil is

reported in

littoral facies:

HP ch

U4b: locally

common in

the middle part

Lucinoma

borealis

sedentary

d-inf

S eur mud-rel

stenoecious

PE ch U4b: relatively

frequent in the

lower part

Lucinids d-inf S locally

numerous

cores

U4b: dispersed

cores, lower

part

Chama

placentina V

Lower

Pleistocene

ATT

epif

S Infra h, shs,

firm,

AP,

SGCF fc

U4d, rare

moulds of

entire and

disarticulated

valves

Acanthocardia

aculeata

VAG

sh.inf

S Infra-

sh.Circa

mxd, sand SFBC U4b: not rare

Acanthocardia

gr. echinata

VAG

sh.inf

S Circa

d-Infra

mxd,

m-sand

f.mucronata

DC-DE

pr a SFBC

dispersed

moulds

U4b: moulds

and cores,

dispersed and

in lenses

Acanthocardia

tuberculata

VAG

sh.inf

S Infra sand-rel SFBC ch U4b: rare

moulds middle-

lower part;

U4d: few

molds in lenses


type


preference

Ecological

meaning


Lama Quarry

Cardiids VAG

sh.inf

S commonly

in lenses

U4b: dispersed

cores and

moulds, and in

lenses

Arctica islandica

BG;a: base

Pleistocene

sedentary

si

S Infra-sh.

Circa

t.sd-rel Lre SFBC

rel

(muddy-fc)

t-hypoxia

base: very

rare

U4b, lower–

middle part:

uncommon,

few bored

Timoclea ovata VAG

sh.inf

S eur.

common

>30–40 m

mxd-rel Lre DC/

DE-PE pr

a few

cores

U4b: dispersed

cores

Venerids VAG

sh.inf

S numerous

cores

Callista chione VAG

sh.inf

fast b

S Infra, Circa sand-rel SFBC ch

SGCF ch

U4c: rare cores

U4b: not rare in

the middle-

lower part,

dispersed and

in horizons

Dosinia lupinus VAG

d-inf

S M, Infra,

Circa

t.sand-rel SFBC ch

SFHN ch

U4b: not rare

in middle and

lower part

Thracia convexa sedentary

d.inf

S r.eur mud-rel Lre U4b: not rare

cores in lower

part

Panopaea

glycymeris

sedentary

d.inf

S Infra pref,

sh.Circa

t.sand-rel SFBC-

SFBC/

DC pr

few cores

in life

position

Spatangus

purpureus

VAG

sh.inf

D Circa mxt-coarse

sand

SGCF

ch crt-rel

fragments

and few

skeletons

randomly

oriented

U4b: not rare

in the middle

part

San Pietro in Lama Quarry Villa Convento Quarry

Entobia ispp natural casts in Arctica In oysters

Bichordites isp. U4b, U4c: BI 2-3 U4b: locally BI 3-4

Thalassinoides isp U4b:middle-upper part BI = 2;

U4c: BI= 3/4:

U4b:middle-upper part BI 2;

4Uc, BI 5-6 to 3)

Ophiomorpha

nodosa

U4d: BI 3, crossing

Thalassinoides and

Bichordites; (some piping

from the Unit 5)

U4d: BI–3, crossing

Thalassinoides systems;

(some piping from the Unit 5)

Cylindrichnus

concentricus

U4d: BI: 1-2

Appendix D bis (continued)



Appendix E

Unit 8—subunit 8c and 8d (Middle Pleistocene).

Abbreviations: B, M, U= basal, middle and upper part of subunit; BG = stenothermal cold-water mollusc.

Taxa Life- Feeding- Depth Substrate Ecological Subunit 8c Subunit 8d

habit type range preference meaningU B M–U

Nucula

nucleus

si D sublitt mixed-rel Lre

D-VTC

pr

relatively

common,

articulated

numerous,

articulated

scattered,

articulated

Nucula

placentina

V Middle

Pleistocene

si D sublitt t.mud-rel Lre not rare,

articulated

Nuculana

commutata

si D eur

(>20/30m)

mixed-rel Lre rel

VTC,

DE

some,

articulated

Aequipecten

opercularis

FRL

epif

(adult)

S eur mixed, cb Sspr

Atlantic :

DC rel

(fc a

grandes

petoncles)

few, single

Myrtea

spinifera

VAG

inf

S Circa mixed,

mud

DC, a

PE

rare

Lucinoma

borealis

Seden-

tary,

d-inf

S r-eur mud-rel

stenoecious

PE ch some,

articulated,

large-size

Astarte

sulcata

VAG

si

S Circa mxd DE-DL

ch

few

Acanthocardia

mucronata

VAG

si

S Circa,

d-Infra

mixed,

m-sand

DC-DE

pr,

a SFBC

articulated,

common

Parvicardium

minimum

VAG

si

S Circa

populations

>30 m

mixed Lre

DC-DE

pr

locally

common

Plagiocardium

papillosum

VAG

si

S Infra,

Circa

populations

< 80 m

mixed Lre HP-

DC-

SGCF pr

uncommon common

Cerastoderma

edule

VAG

si

S M, Infra t-mud LEE rel few scattered relatively

common

Macoma

obliqua

BG V

Pleistocene?,

a: Emilian

VAF

d-inf

D Infra,

Circa

m-sand Macoma

community

sensitive

to hypoxia

few

articulated

steinkerns

Abra nitida VAG

d-inf

D r.eur t.mud-rel VTC

t-hypoxia

uncommon relatively

common,

different

size,

uncommon

upwards

Taxa Life- Feeding- Depth Substrate Ecological Subunit 8c Subunit 8d

habit type range preference meaningU B M–U

Abra alba VAG

d-inf

D Infra,

Circa

t-mud Lre

t-moderate

hypoxia

less than

Abra

niitidaa

common

upwards

Azorinus

chamasolen

VAG

d-inf

S r.eur mixed Lre DC rel,

DE

articulated,

uncommon

Venus nux VAG

sh.inf

S r.eur t.mud VTC Articulated,

relatively

common

Mya truncata

BG V

Wurmian,

a: Emilian,

seden-tary

d-inf

S Infra,

sh-Circa

m-sand Macoma

community

rare

Cochlodesma

praetenue

BG

V Wurmian,

a: Emilian,

Vag

sh.inf

S Circa mud rare

Gibbula

magus

VAG

epif

B Infra,

sh.Circa

muddy-sand,

mixed

DC rel rare

Jujubinus

clelandi

VAG

epif

B W.eur

>30 m

mud, h

covered

by mud

Sspr

DE pr

common

(large size)

Bittium

reticulatum

VAG

epif

D Infra,

Circa

soft bottom

with weeds,

under stones

Lre a

AP/HP

locally

common

Turritella

pliorecens

VAG

si

S r.eur t.mud rel VTC ch

(Turritella fc)

disperse,

uncommon

rare

Turritella

mediterranea

VAG

si

S Circa mixed,

t.mud

DC ch few

specimens

Alvania testae VAG

epif

D d-Circa, B DE-VP pr not rare

Aporrhais

pespelecani

VAG si

sluggish b

D

(vegetal

detritus)

Infra,

Circa

mixed,

soft

bottoms

DC rel,

SFBC pr t.

moderate

hypoxia

relatively

common

rare

Calyptraea

chinensis

sedentary

epif

D Infra,

Circa

bd rel Lre DC rel uncommon

Xenophora

crispa

VAG epif D d-Circa,

(B) in the

Present

mud,

mixed

DC-DE pr uncommon

Natica

stercusmus-

carum

VAG inf C eur m, silty-

sand

Lre relatively

common

Euspira

montagui

VAG inf C Circa soft

bottoms

Lre not rare

Fusinus

rostratus

VAG epif C r.eur mixed,

muddy

bottoms pr

DC-DE pr few (can

be encrusted

by bryozoans)

Nassarius

limatus

VAG epif,

-si

C, D eur t.mud rel DC-DE-

VTC pr

common uncommon

Appendix E (continued)



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