Quaternary marine and continental unconformity-bounded stratigraphic units of the NW Sicily coastal belt

Abstract

ABSTRACT\ud In the coastal sector of NW Sicily, the regional correlation of relevant unconformities recognised\ud within the Quaternary sedimentary successions allowed the mapping of seven unconformitybounded\ud stratigraphic units (UBSUs). The regional unconformities are marine or subaerial\ud erosional surfaces, as well as non-depositional surfaces, locally marked by paleosoils. The\ud erosional surfaces were produced from marine abrasion, surface water overland/\ud concentrated flow, river erosion, karst solution, mass movement, or wind erosion. The main\ud lithofacies of the Quaternary UBSUs consist of: (a) marine and coastal bioclastic calcarenites,\ud (b) aeolian sandstones, (c) river deposits, (d) colluvial deposits, (e) talus slope deposits, (f)\ud landslide deposits, and (g) chemical carbonates (travertines and speleothems). Quaternary\ud environmental changes, due to tectonics, climate, and sea-level oscillations, are the causes\ud that favoured the development of erosion/deposition processes responsible for the genesis\ud of unconformities and deposits. As a result, through the UBSU map of the NW Sicilian coastal\ud belt, it is possible to: (i) recognise stratigraphic units controlled by tectonic, climatic, and\ud environmental processes (and their interplay) and (ii) detect Quaternary sedimentary evolution

Geomorphology of the urban area of Palermo (Italy)

“…A very slight dipping wedge of Calabrian-Ionian coastal and shallow water clastic, mostly carbonate deposits from few to tens of meters thick crops out in the Conca d'Oro plain (Incarbona et al, 2016). These deposits, assembled in the Marsala synthem, lie on the older Meso-Cenozoic units with strong angular unconformities (Agate et al, 2017;Basilone & Di Maggio, 2016;Di Maggio et al, 2009;ISPRA, 2013aISPRA, , 2013b.…”

“…Large talus slopes bound the scarps at their base and younger deposits occur in the Conca d'Oro plain. They are formed by Middle Pleistocene-Holocene successions (Figure 4; Agate et al, 2017;Agnesi et al, 2007;Basilone & Di Maggio, 2016;Di Maggio et al, 2009;ISPRA, 2013aISPRA, , 2013bMartorana et al, 2018) constitute of coastal conglomerates (Buonfornello-Campofelice synthem), aeolian arenites (Polisano synthem, BLT), coastal and colluvial cemented deposits (Barcarello synthem, SIT), talus screes (Raffo Rosso synthem, RFR), and coastal, aeolian, river, colluvial, and landslide deposits (Capo Plaia synthem AFL).…”

Pliocene-Pleistocene stratigraphic paleobiology at Altavilla Milicia (Palermo, Sicily): tectonic, climatic and eustatic forcing

“…2) can be tentatively ascribed to the Middle Pleistocene (Chibanian) based on correlation with nearby outcrops (Garilli, 2011). This unit is referred to as "Imera synthem" in recent literature (Incarbona et al, 2016;Agate et al, 2017;Basilone, 2018).…”

“…III, p. 135), an interval of intense climate change, amplified oceanographic events and sea-level fluctuations at the onset of Northern Hemisphere glaciation. Neglected by recent reviews on the Quaternary of NW Sicily (Agate et al, 2017;Basilone, 2018), the Altavilla succession offers the possibility to integrate physical stratigraphy with paleobiological patterns (stratigraphic paleobiology: Patzkowsky & Holland, 2012;Dominici & Scarponi, 2020), understand what factors control the distribution of fossils and distinguish the relative role of tectonics, climate and eustatism on deposition at a crucial time of Earth's history. The time interval covers in fact the cooling after the Mid-Piacenzian Warm Period (MPWP; De Schepper et al, 2014), with 100-to 400-kyr eccentricity maxima starting from 3.1 Ma being recorded in the Mediterranean by calcarenites and sapropel clusters (oxygen isotope stages 100-110; Lourens et al, 1996Lourens et al, , 2004; see Roveri & Taviani, 2003), and the more intense cooling events of the Quaternary (isotope stages 96-100; Lisieki & Raymo, 2005;Gibbard & Cohen, 2016), corresponding to three consecutive global bathymetric variations estimated to be around -70 m each (Naish, 1997;Miller et al, 2011).…”

Settlement performance of the Mediterranean reef-builders Dendropoma cristatum (Biondi 1859) in response to natural bacterial films

“…The settlement rate of Dendropoma cristatum was surveyed in situ using limestone blocks (5 × 5x2 cm) as a substrate. This limestone belonged to the Marsala Synthem, a Lower Pleistocene marine/coastal deposit along the Palermo plain (Sicily) and was a cemented bioclastic calcarenite rich in invertebrate fossils, including vermetids (Di Maggio et al, 2009;Basilone and Di Maggio, 2016;Agate et al, 2017). Before running the settlement-choice experiment, freshly cut limestone blocks were autoclave sterilised and conditioned either by exposure to bacterial isolates in the laboratory or by exposure to natural conditions in the field.…”