1. Biostratigraphy, Chronostratigraphy and Paleonvironmental Reconstruction of the Palermo Historical Centre Quaternary succession
- Author
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Rodolfo Sprovieri, Mauro Agate, Maria Stella Giammarinaro, Federico Calvi, Alessandro Incarbona, Sergio Bonomo, Enrico Di Stefano, Attilio Priulla, Antonio Contino, Incarbona, A, Contino, A, Agate, M, Bonomo, S, Calvi, F, Di Stefano, E, Giammarinaro, MS, Priulla, A, and Sprovieri, R
- Subjects
010506 paleontology ,calcareous nannofossils ,Flysch ,Pleistocene ,biology ,Geology ,Biostratigraphy ,010502 geochemistry & geophysics ,biology.organism_classification ,01 natural sciences ,Foraminifera ,Sedimentary depositional environment ,Paleontology ,Stage (stratigraphy) ,Quaternary ,General Earth and Planetary Sciences ,biostratigraphy ,Chronostratigraphy ,Palermo historical centre, calcareous nannofossils, biostratigraphy, Quaternary ,Palermo historical centre ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences - Abstract
Marine deposits from the Palermo Plain were historically relevant for the Quaternary Period definition. Here we show lithostratigraphic, biostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic data collected on three boreholes in the Palermo historical centre that recovered 36.8, 42.0 and 52.0 metres of sediments overlaying the Numidian Flysch. Marine sedimentary sequences span from the Calabrian Stage (calcareous nannofossil Zone MNN 19d) to the Middle Pleistocene (dominance of medium-sized gephyrocapsids within the MNN 19f Zone) and also include a short Holocene depositional event. Calcareous nannofossil, benthic and planktonic foraminifera assemblages point to a shallow coastal environment, possibly < 50 m deep. This study highlights the need of a modern and reliable stratigraphic interpretation of lithotypes, to identify stratigraphic gaps and to draw deep geological structures in an area extremely vulnerable to seismic and hydrogeological hazard.
- Published
- 2015
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