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In this paper, we present new sedimentological, biostratigraphic and paleoecological data from th... more In this paper, we present new sedimentological, biostratigraphic and paleoecological data from the area near San Giuliano Lake (Matera-Italy), located between the Apulia Foreland and the Bradanic Trough domains of the Southern Apennines. Combining the sedimentological and paleontological information coming from a borehole (Giuli 1) and from an outcropping section (Assiolo), we build the San Giuliano Lake composite section to reconstruct the evolution of the depositional system of the argille subappennine, an informal lithostratigraphic unit. The occurrence of the following calcareous nannoplankton bioevents: Top of Helicosphaera sellii, Base common of Reticulofenestra asanoi, Top of Reticulofenestra asanoi and the presence of regionally extinct tree taxa as Tsuga, Cedrus, Pterocarya, and Zelkova constrain the age of the composite section to the Early Pleistocene, spanning from 1.256 to 0.879 Ma and corresponding to the late Calabrian (MIS 38-MIS 23). The benthic foraminifera and ostracod assemblages documented a depositional environment characterised by repeated events of relatively high organic matter and low oxygen contents of the bottom water masses. The high percentages of small Gephyrocapsa, Globigerina bulloides, G. glutinata, and Turborotalita quinqueloba indicate an environment characterised by up-welling currents and strong river input. An increase in temperatures and salinity and a strong water column stratification occur from about 1090 ka upwards. The hypothesised stratigraphic architecture points towards a tectonic subsidence signature greater than the sea level change, at the base of the succession, with a subsiding basin formation. During the deposition of the Giuli 1 borehole sediments, the sea level change and tectonic activity acted together, giving rise to a progradation of the coastline. The sediments at the top of the borehole are interpreted as the Apennine peripheral bulge deposited during the Calabrian. At the Assiolo section, which represents the upper part of the San Giuliano Lake succession, the paleo depth through the parasequence increases progressively upwards, and this part of the San Giuliano Lake succession represents a slope and a ramp flexuring toward the chain with active subsidence phenomena. The coarsening upward trend, shown by the Assiolo parasequence set, indicates that the tectonic subsidence and the sea level change interacted to give the coarsening upward stratigraphic architecture.
Geological map of the San Giuliano Lake (Southern Italy): new stratigraphic and sedimentological data
Italian Journal of Geosciences, Jun 1, 2024
A detailed field survey has been conducted with the aim to establish the stratigraphic framework ... more A detailed field survey has been conducted with the aim to establish the stratigraphic framework of the San Giuliano area, located 10 km southwest of Matera, Basilicata Region, southern Italy, in the Apennines foredeep. This area is part of the foreland (Apulia Foreland) and the foredeep (Bradanic Trough) domains of the Apennines orogenic system in southern Italy and is well-known in the literature. However, no detailed stratigraphic and sedimentological analyses on the exposed stratigraphy have been presented so far. Beyond the field survey, a section, the Assiolo vertical section, and a borehole (Giuli 1) were sampled for sedimentological analysis to reconstruct the evolution of the depositional environment through the argille subappennine. The local succession is represented by olive grey pelitic sediments of shelf environment that, in the upper part of the succession, show the presence of silty-sandy sediments interpreted as the result of a change from the shelf to the lower shoreface/ shelf transition environments. Furthermore, these coarser deposits, named “Giuliana beds”, are notable because, in 2006, a well-fossilised whale, classified as Balaenoptera cf. musculus, and named “Giuliana” was discovered. The whale is dated between 1.20 and 1.45 Ma, and has an estimated length of about 26 m. A renewed deepening of the basin was affirmed by the occurrence of clayey-silty sediments overlying the whale-bearing sandy facies. Furthermore, it was observed that it is possible to define the stratigraphic architecture of the San Giuliano Lake area as the drowning from nearshore to open sea environment. This framework represents a recurring trend in the in foreland/foredeep contexts in the southern Apennines.
Here, we explore the complex seabed morphologies of the Gulf of Taranto in southern Italy includi... more Here, we explore the complex seabed morphologies of the Gulf of Taranto in southern Italy including their connection to the geodynamic evolution of the region that began during the Neogene period when the Adria plate started subducting beneath the retreating Calabrian arc. We compiled the first Maps of the Geohazard Features of the Gulf of Taranto through comprehensive and collaborative high-resolution seabed surveys, integrating regional highresolution multibeam sonar and sub-bottom profiling. Our findings indicate that the most significant marine geohazards identified are (i) the headwall of the shelf-indenting retrogressive canyon near Cirò Marina, situated close to the harbour, (ii) multiple landslide scarps on the steep slopes of intra-slope basins, along with buried stacked debris flow deposits at their base, indicating repeated mass movements, (iii) large-scale landslide scarps eroding the Apulian slopes (some controlled by faults). We propose that seismicity and tectonic tremor associated with slow slip events, represent potential triggers for geohazards in the Gulf of Taranto. The distinctive physiography of the Gulf creates a natural laboratory for studying and monitoring coastal and marine geohazards. Our study offers a resource for improving the understanding of marine geohazards along the Ionian Calabrian and Apulian margins in the Gulf of Taranto crucial for safeguarding coastal communities and marine infrastructures.
The Neapolitan Yellow Tuff caldera-forming eruption (ca. 15 kyr) is a large event that occurred a... more The Neapolitan Yellow Tuff caldera-forming eruption (ca. 15 kyr) is a large event that occurred at Phlegrean Fields during the Late Glacial-Holocene time span. The eruptive products represent a widespread isochronous marker that links the marine and terrestrial stratigraphic record of the central Mediterranean and Northern Europe sequences. In this research, we describe the stratigraphic signature of the NYT deposits in the Late Glacial-Holocene shelf sequence of the Gulf of Gaeta (northern Campania region, southern Tyrrhenian Sea) throughout the seismo-stratigraphic interpretation of a grid of high and very high-resolution Chirp seismic profiles. The seismo-stratigraphic data allowed to individuate in the Upper Pleistocene-Holocene stratigraphic architecture a continental shelf characterized by an offlap prograding succession followed by a very thick transgressive onlapping unit, and by an upper highstand unit mainly characterized by undulations probably linked to gas-prone sediment. The NYT reflector observed was parallel and with a high amplitude. It was continuously detected from the shelf to the slope within transgressive deposits. On the inner shelf, its continuity was interrupted by shallow gas pockets. The NYT depths ranges from 2 m b.s.f. on the slope to 38 m b.s.f. on the continental shelf. The NYT event appeared to have played a key role in controlling the stratigraphic architecture of the studied area during the last transgression, acting as a trigger for the formation of the aggradational sedimentary successions fed by pyroclastic and volcaniclastic deposits.
Pompeii and Herculaneum
Springer eBooks, 2022
Comparazione tra i depositi plio-pleistocenici del Bacino di Gallipoli (Golfo di Taranto) e la successione miocenica del Flysch di Faeto (Unità Irpine, Monti della Daunia): Confronto tra l'avanfossa attuale e quella miocenica dell'Appennino Meridionale (Italia)
Pompeii and Herculaneum
Encyclopedia of earth sciences, Aug 12, 2016
The Neogene tectonic phases in Southern Italy: their significance in relation to the foredeep sedimentation
Geological map of the San Giuliano Lake (Southern Italy): new stratigraphic and sedimentological data
Italian Journal of Geosciences , 2024
A detailed field survey has been conducted with the aim to establish the stratigraphic framework ... more A detailed field survey has been conducted with the aim to establish the stratigraphic framework of the San Giuliano area, located 10 km southwest of Matera, Basilicata Region, southern Italy, in the Apennines foredeep. This area is part of the foreland (Apulia Foreland) and the foredeep (Bradanic Trough) domains of the Apennines orogenic system in southern Italy and is well-known in the literature. However, no detailed stratigraphic and sedimentological analyses on the exposed stratigraphy have been presented so far. Beyond the field survey, a section, the Assiolo vertical section, and a borehole (Giuli 1) were sampled for sedimentological analysis to reconstruct the evolution of the depositional environment through the argille subappennine. The local succession is represented by olive grey pelitic sediments of shelf environment that, in the upper part of the succession, show the presence of silty-sandy sediments interpreted as the result of a change from the shelf to the lower shoreface/ shelf transition environments. Furthermore, these coarser deposits, named “Giuliana beds”, are notable because, in 2006, a well-fossilised whale, classified as Balaenoptera cf. musculus, and named “Giuliana” was discovered. The whale is dated between 1.20 and 1.45 Ma, and has an estimated length of about 26 m. A renewed deepening of the basin was affirmed by the occurrence of clayey-silty sediments overlying the whale-bearing sandy facies. Furthermore, it was observed that it is possible to define the stratigraphic architecture of the San Giuliano Lake area as the drowning from nearshore to open sea environment. This framework represents a recurring trend in the in foreland/foredeep contexts in the southern Apennines.
Core-top sediments from eastern Mediterranean (Gulf of Taranto): Sedimentological and micropaleontological characterization
Megatorbiditi marnose nelle successioni flyscioidi dei Carpazi settentrionali e dell'Appennino meridionale
Deep-sea clastic sediments and associated megaturbidites and olistostromes (Cenozoic, Cilento, Southern Italy)
Interpretation of reflection high resolution seismic profiles through the Gulf of Taranto (Ionian Sea, Eastern Mediterranean). The structure of Apennine and Apulia deposits
Il territorio vesuviano nel 79 d.C
Geoarchaeology-an International Journal, Nov 19, 2013
This study records that Pompeii, long before its final devastation by the 79 A.D. Vesuvius erupti... more This study records that Pompeii, long before its final devastation by the 79 A.D. Vesuvius eruption in southern Italy, was damaged by several mass gravity flows. Composition of the deposits indicates that they were derived from volcaniclastic cover of carbonate highlands positioned 14 km NE of the city. Stratigraphic and petrologic analyses of sections in excavations and drill cores in and near Pompeii record the presence of three downslope-directed debris flows dated between 8th and 2nd century B.C. Some of these deposits were channelized via a stream bed that once extended from high reliefs to Pompeii. It is proposed that one of these events may have been partially responsible for urban decline during the 4th century B.C. These mass flows are interpreted as having been triggered primarily by intense rains in a manner similar to those that have occurred and destroyed towns in this region during the past 50 years. Our investigation shows that Pompeii and adjacent areas in the past, much as in recent time, have likely been most frequently susceptible to episodic damage by avalanches and mass flows of volcaniclastic material resulting from hydrological effects rather than from volcanic events, earthquake tremors, and societal disruptions such as wars.
Carta Geologica dell'Appennino Meridionale alla scala 1:250.000 - Fogli 173 e 174
A Comparison between a Present-Day (Taranto Gulf) and a Miocene (Irpinian Basin) Foredeep of the Southern Apennines (Italy)
Blackwell Publishing Ltd eBooks, May 5, 2009
Cicli deposizionali del Pleistocene Superiore-Olocene sulla piattaforma continentale del golfo di Salerno (Tierreno Meridionale)
Bollettino Della Societa Geologica Italiana, 1994
Abstract High-resolution seismic reflection profiles (Uniboom 300 J) carried out on the southern ... more Abstract High-resolution seismic reflection profiles (Uniboom 300 J) carried out on the southern continental shelf of the Gulf of Salerno, have been interpreted using the sequence stratigraphy as tool and model. They allowed to reconstruct the environmental evolution ...
Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, May 1, 2004
A geological study based on seismic profiles and sediment cores has been accomplished on the Gulf... more A geological study based on seismic profiles and sediment cores has been accomplished on the Gulf of Pozzuoli, the marine sector of the Campi Flegrei, an active volcanic area located west of the city of Naples (Italy). Detailed seismo-stratigraphic analysis led to the correlation between marine units and the on-land volcanic deposits. The absence of primary pyroclastic beds in cores highlights the role of the shallow marine environment in the reworking of the volcani-clastic sediments. The evolution of the area during the last 39 ka evidences the role of the eustatic change and volcano-tectonic phenomena in the development of the local sedimentary record. Four main phases in the geological evolution have been distinguished. In a first phase the emplacement of two volcanic units V1 (between 60 and 39 ka) and CI (39 ka) took place; a second phase developed between 39 and 15 ka and led to the formation of regressive depositional wedges (FW and LW sedimentary bodies) in the external sectors of the area (outer shelf); the eruption of the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff (15 ka), and the following eruptions that occurred up to 11 ka, constitute the third phase; during the fourth phase (11 ka to Present) generalized marine conditions were established in the area. Distribution and thickness of the sedimentary bodies formed during the latter time span are highly variable and constitute the result of a complex interplay between volcano-tectonic movements and sea-level change.
Frontiers in Earth Science, May 31, 2023
The Taranto Landslide Complex (TLC) is a large submarine landslide area located along the contine... more The Taranto Landslide Complex (TLC) is a large submarine landslide area located along the continental margin of the Puglia Region, in the Gulf of Taranto (North Ionian Sea), between 200 and 800 m water depth. Based on very high-resolution multibeam data, a morphological analysis was performed by measuring different physical and spatial parameters (i.e., surface, headwall height and length, slope in the source area, and blocks in the accumulation zone). In addition, we use nine high-resolution sub-bottom CHIRP profiles to reconstruct the stratigraphic architecture. The main results show five phases of Quaternary mass transport deposits (MTDs) in the study area. The oldest to the youngest are MTD1, with a volume of about 0.032 km 3 and an area of about 4 km 2 ; MTD2, which is the largest of the identified deposits, covering an area of~26 km 2 and having an estimated volume of~0.35 km 3 ; and MTD3 and MTD4, with volumes of about 0.033 km 3 and 0.035 km 3 and an area of 7 km 2 and 5 km 2 , respectively. The final submarine landslide is represented by MTD5, which has a volume of 0.02 km 3. The deposits are internally characterized by chaotic acoustic facies with reflectors with moderate amplitude and laterally continuous in time, showing likely erosive characteristics defined as "bounding surfaces". The main transport direction of the MTDs is from north/northeast to south/southwest. This represents the trend of the continental slope, but there is also slope failure evidence coming from west/ northwest to east/southeast (MTD5). The correlation between topographic and seismo-stratigraphic features allows the documentation of the characteristics, distributions, sources, and the triggering mechanisms of the Late Quaternary MTDs in the area. We suggest that still the unknown trigger mechanisms could be based on the performed analysis, related to the anomalously high sedimentation rates and/or sea level fluctuation.
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