Papers by RODOLFO COCCIONI
Japan Geoscience Union, Mar 14, 2018
Biotic evolution was the consequence of repeated extinction and following diversification in the ... more Biotic evolution was the consequence of repeated extinction and following diversification in the past, which was caused by large-scale environmental changes, in particular, by extremely rapid and drastic forcing that changed the environments of the biosphere. Irreversible and episodic changes in material cycling on the planet and in galactic cosmic radiation are nominated as major driving mechanism for the alleged rapid, large-scale environmental perturbations. The biodiversity change in the fossiliferous Phanerozoic record is characterized by 5 major mass extinctions within the long-term trend of diversity increase. Nonetheless, each extinction event has been explained rather in ad hoc manner, without any universal explanation. This session discusses the Phanerozoic biodiversity change under a new light of the recent progress in geology.
Communications Earth & Environment
Ocean acidification causes biocalcification stress. The calcium isotope composition of carbonate ... more Ocean acidification causes biocalcification stress. The calcium isotope composition of carbonate producers can archive such stress because calcium isotope fractionation is sensitive to precipitation rate. Here, we synthesize morphometric observations of planktic foraminifera with multi-archive calcium isotope records from Gubbio, Italy and the Western Interior Seaway spanning Cretaceous Ocean Anoxic Event 2 (~94 million years ago). Calcium isotope ratios increase ~60 thousand years prior to the event. The increase coincides with foraminiferal abnormalities and correlates with existing proxy records for carbon dioxide release during large igneous province volcanism. The results highlight Ocean Anoxic Event 2 as a geologic ocean acidification analog. Moreover, decreasing calcium isotope ratios during the event provide evidence for ocean alkalinization, which could have shifted air-sea carbon dioxide partitioning. These data offer an explanation for the Plenus Cold Event and further ha...
Chemical-Nutritional Composition, Microbiological Analysis and Volatile Compound Content of Fossa Cheese Ripened in Different Pits
Italian Journal of Food Science, Nov 29, 2019
Journal of Advanced Health Care, 2022
Medical geology is defined as the science that deals with the relationship between geology and he... more Medical geology is defined as the science that deals with the relationship between geology and health in humans, animals, and plants (Skinner and Berger, 2003; Selinus et al., 2005, 2010; Florinsky 2010; Centeno et al., 2016). While medical geology can be recognized as having distinct links to geomedicine, an emerging field that focuses on geographic location and environment into account when studying individual and public health, and should be distinguished from medical geography, which has slightly different meaning and application. Medical geography is concerned solely with the geographic distribution of disease without focusing on the underlying geological basis of health factors; it examines the causal associations between specific diseases and physical and social environments (Foster, 2002). Medical geology, a complex and emerging field, requires a multidisciplinary approach using a wide variety of specialists ranging from geologists, health specialists, physicians, veterinari...
Nature Communications, 2022
During the mid-Cretaceous, the Earth experienced several environmental perturbations, including a... more During the mid-Cretaceous, the Earth experienced several environmental perturbations, including an extremely warm climate and Oceanic Anoxic Events (OAEs). Submarine volcanic episodes associated with formation of large igneous provinces (LIPs) may have triggered these perturbations. The osmium isotopic ratio (187Os/188Os) is a suitable proxy for tracing hydrothermal activity associated with the LIPs formation, but 187Os/188Os data from the mid-Cretaceous are limited to short time intervals. Here we provide a continuous high-resolution marine 187Os/188Os record covering all mid-Cretaceous OAEs. Several OAEs (OAE1a, Wezel and Fallot events, and OAE2) correspond to unradiogenic 187Os/188Os shifts, suggesting that they were triggered by massive submarine volcanic episodes. However, minor OAEs (OAE1c and OAE1d), which do not show pronounced unradiogenic 187Os/188Os shifts, were likely caused by enhanced monsoonal activity. Because the subaerial LIPs volcanic episodes and Circum-Pacific v...
Rivista Italiana Di Paleontologia E Stratigrafia, 1996
FABRIZIO CECCA(1), sIMoNE GALEOTTI(1), RoDoLFo coccloNl(1) & ELISABETTA ERBA (') . Key<uords: Str... more FABRIZIO CECCA(1), sIMoNE GALEOTTI(1), RoDoLFo coccloNl(1) & ELISABETTA ERBA (') . Key<uords: Stratigraphy, Lower Cretaceous, Hauterivian, Am_ monites, Planktonic foraminifers, Venetian Southern Alps. .. --.Riassunto. Nei pressi di Feltre (Alpi Meridionali, Veneto), ne_ gli affioramenti di Cismon e pian del V"s.o,ro, è srato nconoscluro nella formazione del Biancone un equivalente del Livello Faraoni. originariamente descritto come Livello repere regionale nell,Appenni- no Umbro-Marchigiano. In particolare, lo strato contenente una ricca fauna ad Ammoniti della sotrozona a p catulloi (l{auteriviano termi_ nale) ed i sottili "black shales" che nella sezìone àer cismon ro orece- dono sono correlabili con 1a pane inferiore del Livello Fr."orri d._ scritto in Umbria-Marche. Nello strato ad Ammoniti si osserva, come rn Appennino, una abbondanza di Foraminiferi planctonici pri_ mitivi di tipo globigerinide identificabili come Gorbarchikella sp[. Il rinvenimenro su una vasra area della Tetide Mediterranea di analoghi litotipi, ed in panicolare dr uno straro ricco in Ammoniti con identi- co tipo di conservazione, deve essere messa in relazione a variazioni paleoceanografiche che interessarono lo zooplankton e le Ammoniti. . -. A,bstract. An equivalent of the Faraoni Level, originally descri_ bed in the Umbria-Marche Apennines as a regional lithostratigraphic marker, was recognized near Feltre (Venetian Southern Alp$ irthe Biancone formation of the Cismon and pian del Vescovo secrlons.
Oceanic Anoxic Event 1b: insights and new data from the Poggio le Guaine section (Umbria-Marche Basin)
(Table 1) Pb isotopic ratios, concentrations of Pb, Th, and U of sediments from Gorgo a Cerbara
Global and Planetary Change, 2021
Large igneous province (LIP) volcanism has been proposed as a key trigger of several major climat... more Large igneous province (LIP) volcanism has been proposed as a key trigger of several major climate and environmental perturbations during the Phanerozoic Aeon. Large-scale carbon emissions associated with one or both of magmatic degassing from the Greater Ontong-Java Plateau (G-OJP) and intrusion of organic-rich sediments by High Arctic LIP (HALIP) sills have been widely suggested as the trigger of the Early Aptian Oceanic Anoxic Event (OAE 1a: ~120 Ma). However, the respective roles of the two LIPs and associated carbon sources in causing this crisis remain debated. Here, six records of OAE 1a from the Pacific, Tethyan, Arctic, and South Atlantic realms are investigated, combining mercury (Hg) concentrations and osmium-(Os-) isotope ratios as proxies of LIP activity. Together with previously published datasets, the results indicate globally consistent Os-isotope evidence for LIP activity during OAE 1a, but geographically variable stratigraphic Hg trends. Clear mercury enrichments that match Osisotope evidence of LIP activity, and suggest a Hg-cycle perturbation during the onset of OAE 1a, are documented at one Pacific site extremely proximal to the G-OJP, but not in Arctic, Tethyan or Atlantic records. This pattern highlights significant G-OJP volcanism during the onset of OAE 1a, and re-emphasises the limited potential for submarine LIP eruptions to cause Hg-cycle perturbations except in areas very proximal to source. The absence of clear Hg peaks in basal OAE 1a strata from the Arctic (or anywhere outside of the Pacific) does not support intense HALIP activity at that time, suggesting that the G-OJP was the more volcanically active LIP when OAE 1a commenced. Thus, G-OJP emissions of mantle carbon were more likely to have played a major role in initiating OAE 1a than thermogenic volatiles associated with the HALIP. A transient pulse of HALIP-related subaerial eruptions and/or thermogenic volatile emissions during the early-middle part of OAE 1a, potentially evidenced by more widespread Hg enrichments in strata from that time (including in the Arctic), might have prolonged the event. However, a non-volcanic cause of these later Hg influxes cannot be excluded. These findings challenge previous suggestions that magmatic CO2 emissions from LIPs were incapable of causing major carbon-cycle perturbations alone, and highlight the need for further investigations to establish whether the high volume/emplacement rate of the G-OJP (potentially an order of magnitude greater than other LIPs) made it a unique case that stands in contrast to other provinces where the role of thermogenic volatiles was likely more crucial. Episodes of abrupt environmental perturbation occurred frequently throughout the Mesozoic Era, punctuating and/or superimposed upon longer term changes in climate (e.g., Jenkyns, 2010). The Early Aptian Oceanic Anoxic Event (OAE 1a, ~120 Ma) represented one of the most severe of these crises. Lasting ~1-1.4 Myr , the event was characterized by the development of oxygen-depleted water columns across large parts of the global ocean and epicontinental shelf seas (e.g.
Scientific Reports, 2019
The adverse effects of engineered nanomaterials (ENM) in marine environments have recently attrac... more The adverse effects of engineered nanomaterials (ENM) in marine environments have recently attracted great attention although their effects on marine benthic organisms such as foraminifera are still largely overlooked. Here we document the effects of three negatively charged ENM, different in size and composition, titanium dioxide (TiO2), polystyrene (PS) and silicon dioxide (SiO2), on a microbial eukaryote (the benthic foraminifera Ammonia parkinsoniana) using multiple approaches. This research clearly shows the presence, within the foraminiferal cytoplasm, of metallic (Ti) and organic (PS) ENM that promote physiological stress. Specifically, marked increases in the accumulation of neutral lipids and enhanced reactive oxygen species production occurred in ENM-treated specimens regardless of ENM type. This study indicates that ENM represent ecotoxicological risks for this microbial eukaryote and presents a new model for the neglected marine benthos by which to assess natural exposur...
Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 2019
Microscopy techniques have been widely applied to observe cellular ultrastructure. Most of these ... more Microscopy techniques have been widely applied to observe cellular ultrastructure. Most of these techniques, such as transmission electron microscopy, produce high‐resolution images, but they may require extensive preparation, hampering their application for in vivo examination. Other approaches, such as fluorescent and fluorogenic probes, can be applied not only to fixed specimens but also to living cells when the probes are nontoxic. Fluorescence‐based methods, which are generally relatively easy to use, allow visual and (semi)quantitative studies of the ultrastructural organization and processes of the cell under natural as well as manipulated conditions. To date, there are relatively few published studies on the nearly ubiquitous marine protistan group Foraminifera that have used fluorescent and fluorogenic probes, despite their huge potential. The aim of the present contribution is to document the feasible application of a wide array of these probes to foraminiferal biology. Mo...
Mediterranean Geoscience Reviews, 2019
The Baskil section, located to the west of Elazığ in eastern Turkey, represents deep-marine facie... more The Baskil section, located to the west of Elazığ in eastern Turkey, represents deep-marine facies of the Eocene Kırkgeçit Formation, deposited in a wide spectrum of environmental conditions ranging from shelf to basin. The 390-m-thick sequence was deposited at bathyal depths in the Tethys, at the edge of the subsiding Anatolide-Tauride plate and is highly promising for an integrated study of Bartonian to earliest Priabonian mid-latitude neritic and deep-marine biota. The section contains numerous allochthonous limestone beds, characterized either by turbidites or debris flows with resedimented larger benthic foraminifera (LBF). The section spans the planktonic foraminiferal Zones E10/11 to E14, the calcareous nannofossil zones NP15-NP18, shallow benthic zones (SBZ) SBZ16/17 to SBZ18A, including orthophragminid (OZ) zones OZ12-OZ14. The Bartonian-Priabonian boundary is placed at NP17/18 boundary by the lowest occurrence of Chiasmolithus oamaruensis, which lies within Subchron C17n.1n and Zone SBZ18A. The LBF, obtained as loose specimens from 17 turbiditic and debris flow beds, are characterized predominantly by 21 orthophragminid lineages and 13 nummulitid species as well as some other stratigraphically diagnostic genera. Most of the orthophragminid lineages straddle the Bartonian-Priabonian boundary, whereas Orbitoclypeus douvillei and Discocyclina pulcra appear to be the only orthophragminids confined to SBZ17 at its upper range. The Nummulites fabianii-lineage first appearing in zones E12 and NP16 in the Bartonian shows a well-documented evolution of the embryon, and is referred to Nummulites garganicus in the Bartonian, whereas its successor Nummulites hormoensis straddles the Bartonian/Priabonian boundary. The first appearances of N. hormoensis and Heterostegina armenica as well as the last occurrences of Nummulites ptukhiani and Assilina exponens in the section are almost coeval and are utilized to mark SBZ17-18 boundary. The first appearance of the H. armenica-lineage is recorded in zones E14 and upper part of NP17. Two important species, Chapmanina gassinensis and Silvestriella tetraedra, have been first recorded in SBZ18A just above the Bartonian-Priabonian boundary. Thus, the transition of N. garganicus to N. hormoensis, the first appearances of H. armenica, C. gassinensis and S. tetraedra as well as the last occurrences of N. ptukhiani, Assilina exponens, Discocyclina pulcra and Orbitoclypeus douvillei, all across the SBZ17-18 boundary or within the SBZ18A, appear to be the most useful bioevents in the transition from the Bartonian to the Priabonian in shallow-marine realms.
Scientific Reports, 2019
The Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO) is a global warming event that occurred at about 40 Ma.... more The Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO) is a global warming event that occurred at about 40 Ma. In comparison to the most known global warming events of the Paleogene, the MECO has some peculiar features that make its interpretation controversial. The main peculiarities of the MECO are a duration of ~500 kyr and a carbon isotope signature that varies from site to site. Here we present new carbon and oxygen stable isotopes records (δ13C and δ18O) from three foraminiferal genera dwelling at different depths throughout the water column and the sea bottom during the middle Eocene, from eastern Turkey. We document that the MECO is related to major oceanographic and climatic changes in the Neo-Tethys and also in other oceanic basins. The carbon isotope signature of the MECO is difficult to interpret because it is highly variable from site to site. We hypothesize that such δ13C signature indicates highly unstable oceanographic and carbon cycle conditions, which may have been forced by th...
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 2019
Sedimentary records of the Early Cenozoic indicate a series of events with climatic and carbon cy... more Sedimentary records of the Early Cenozoic indicate a series of events with climatic and carbon cycle variability known as hyperthermals. A ~350-kyr-long event of environmental disruption during the Paleocene, not described before and here named Selandian-Thanetian Transition Event (STTE), has been recognized and well constrained in the western Tethys Contessa Road section (Gubbio, Italy) through high-resolution biostratigraphic, geochemical, and rock-magnetic data. The STTE exhibits peculiar stressed ecological responses among calcareous nannofossils and foraminifera, which highlight marked environmental perturbation affecting the biosphere. The environmental instability is not confined within the photic zone but extends to the seafloor leading to little more trophic conditions of the sea surface waters with an enhanced, but of short measure, nutrient availability on the seafloor conditions and marked rise of lysocline. Magnetic Susceptibly (MS) is dominantly controlled by the balance between carbonate productivity and detrital supply, as evidenced by the strong correlation between MS and CaCO3 (%) (r2 = -0.72). However, we also document two components in the isothermal remanent magnetization (IRM) and first-order reversal curves (FORC) diagrams that prove the occurrence of biogenic magnetite throughout the STTE. Systematic variations in bio-geochemical and magnetic parameters show the relative abundance of carbonate production (or inversely dissolution of carbonate) versus detrital supply during the STTE, which induced higher populations of magnetotactic bacteria through increased terrigenous input and, therefore, increased nutrient supply. Noteworthy, the uppermost part of the STTE includes the equivalent of the suspected hyperthermal, short-lived Early Late Paleocene Event (ELPE). The ELPE event shows an episode of increase in magnetic properties of the sediments, including an increase in magnetofossil concentration, as indicated by IRM components and FORC diagrams. The comparison of biotic and abiotic records throughout the STTE at Contessa Road section with available data across the ELPE from former investigated ocean and land-based sites provides lines of evidence that this latter event might be indeed only the terminal part of a long-lasting environmental change than hitherto supposed.
Episodes, 2017
Following the unanimous approval of the Executive Committee on the International Union of Geologi... more Following the unanimous approval of the Executive Committee on the International Union of Geological Sciences as notified on April 8, 2016, the Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the base of the Albian Stage of the Cretaceous is defined at the first occurrence datum of the planktonic foraminiferan Microhedbergella renilaevis Huber and Leckie, 2011 at a level 37.4 meters above the base of the Marnes Bleues Formation and 40 cm above the base of the Niveau Kilian marker bed in the section SSE of the Col de Pré-Guittard, Arnayon, Drôme, France. The first occurrence of Microhedbergella renilaevis is placed within a 100-m section of argillaceous sediments with 28 secondary markers including calcareous nannofossils, planktonic foraminifera, an inoceramid bivalve, ammonites, stable carbon isotopes, and local marker beds.
Geological Society of America Special Papers
We studied a high-resolution multiproxy data set, including magnetic susceptibility (MS), CaCO 3 ... more We studied a high-resolution multiproxy data set, including magnetic susceptibility (MS), CaCO 3 content, and stable isotopes (δ 18 O and δ 13 C), from the stratigraphic interval covering the uppermost Maastrichtian and the lower Danian, represented by the pelagic limestones of the Scaglia Rossa Formation continuously exposed in the classic sections of the Bottaccione Gorge and the Contessa Highway near Gubbio, Italy. Variations in all the proxy series are periodic and refl ect astronomically forced climate changes (i.e., Milankovitch cycles). In particular, the MS proxy refl ects variations in the terrigenous dust input in this pelagic, deep-marine environment. We speculate that the dust is mainly eolian in origin and that the availability and transport of dust are infl uenced by variations in the vegetation cover on the Maastrichtian-Paleocene African or Asian zone, which were respectively located at tropical to subtropical latitudes to the south or far to the east of the western Tethyan Umbria-Marche Basin, and were characterized by monsoonal circulation. The dynamics of monsoonal circulation are known to be strongly dependent on precession-driven and obliquity-driven changes in insolation. We propose that a threshold mechanism in the vegetation coverage may explain eccentricity-related periodicities in the terrigenous eolian dust input. Other mechanisms, both oceanic and terrestrial, that depend on the precession amplitude modulated by eccentricity, can be evoked together with the variation of dust infl ux in the western Tethys to explain the detected eccentricity periodicity in the δ 13 C record. Our interpretations of the δ 18 O and MS records suggest a warming event ~400 k.y. prior to the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary, and a period of climatic and environmental instability in the earliest Danian. Based on these multiproxy phase relationships, we propose an astronomical tuning for these sections; this leads us to an estimate of the timing and duration of several late Maastrichtian and Danian biostratigraphic and magnetostratigraphic events. * + CP1a -CC25c Ellipsolithus macellus Ellipsolithus macellus C. Tenuis P. dimorph C. primus B. s. C. edwardsii C. p. Micula murus -Micula prinsii Pu. hantk Pseudotextularia elegans Pseudo. hariaensis
Newsletters on Stratigraphy, 1991
Results from litho-, bio-, magnetostratigraphic, geochronologic, and Sr isotope analyses across t... more Results from litho-, bio-, magnetostratigraphic, geochronologic, and Sr isotope analyses across the Oligocene-Miocene boundary in the classic marine sedimentary section of the Contessa Valley, near Gubbio (Italy), show a stratigraphic discontinuity immediately below the contact between the Scaglia Cinerea formation and the overlying Bisciaro formation. However, no lithostratigraphic breaks are evi dent throughout the rather uniform and well bedded Scaglia Cinerea, and the bottom of the Bisciaro is marked here, as well as in other complete sections throughout the Umbria-Marche Apennines, by a thin layer of volcanic bentonite known as "Livello Raffaello". Thus, the sharp lithologic change between the two formations may not represent a major stratigraphic hiatus; rather to top of the Scaglia Cinerea is probably a condensed sequence representing a period of slow sedimentation, and may contain multiple lesser hiatusus. In this paper we document the following observations: 1) In the uniform pelagic sequence of the Valle della Contessa, sedimentation rate changes abruptly in the mid Chattian, at a stratigraphic level represented by Chron 7 (i.e. -25.5 Ma); 2) Due to contamination of diagenetically recrystallized biogenic calcite, and/or the recycling of older carbonates following a major global sea-level drop in Late Oligocene, the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios in the condensed interval including the top of the Scaglia Cinerea and lower part of the Bisciaro, are significantly lower than the values expected from the rather monotonic and linear trend that characterizes the upper Eocene to Oligocene Sr itotope evolution curve; 3) The normal polarity intervals of Chrons 6C and 6B, and possibly of the lower part of Chron 6A, are not represented in this section probably due to stratigraphic condensation and/or the presence of lesser hiatuses; 4) In the Contessa sequence, the condensed stratigraphic interval includes the top of Zone P22, and the upper part of Zone N4 (sensu BLOW, 1969). Therefore, it is difficult, if not imposible, to accurately define the Oligocene-Miocene boundary. In the Mediterranean area, this time interval is represented by hiatuses and stratigraphic discontinuities probably related to the great Late Oligocene sea level fall and/or to the inception of regional orogenic tectonism; 5) The Aquitanian-Burdigalian boundary, defined in the Contessa CT section by the apparently coincident first occurences of Globigerinoides trilobus S.s. and Globigerinoides altiaperturus (top of Glo-
L’événement anoxique fini-Hauterivien (Niveau Faraoni) est-il enregistré dans la Zone Sub-Bétique et en dehors de la Téthys méditerranéenne
Baudin François, Cecca Fabrizio, Gardin Silvia, Rafélis Saint Sauveur Marc de, Renard Maurice, Co... more Baudin François, Cecca Fabrizio, Gardin Silvia, Rafélis Saint Sauveur Marc de, Renard Maurice, Coccioni Rodolfo. L’événement anoxique fini-Hauterivien (niveau Faraoni) est-il enregistré dans la zone sub-Bétique et en dehors de la Téthys méditerranéenne ?. In: Documents des Laboratoires de Géologie, Lyon, n°156, 2002. STRATI 2002. 3ème congrès français de stratigraphie. Lyon, 8-10 juillet 2002. pp. 30-31
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Papers by RODOLFO COCCIONI