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Tectonics, sea-level changes and palaeoenvironments in the early Pleistocene of Rome (Italy)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Domenico Cosentino ,
Paola Cipollari ,
Letizia Di Bella ,
Alessandra Esposito ,
Costanza Faranda ,
Guido Giordano ,
Elsa Gliozzi ,
Massimo Mattei ,
Ilaria Mazzini  and
Massimiliano Porreca
...Show all authors
Domenico Cosentino*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche – Università degli Studi Roma Tre,L.go S. Leonardo Murialdo, 1, I-00146 Roma, Italy
Paola Cipollari
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche – Università degli Studi Roma Tre,L.go S. Leonardo Murialdo, 1, I-00146 Roma, Italy
Letizia Di Bella
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra – Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”, P.le Aldo Moro, 5, I-00185 Roma, Italy
Alessandra Esposito
Affiliation:
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Via di Vigna Murata, 605, I-00143 Roma, Italy
Costanza Faranda
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche – Università degli Studi Roma Tre,L.go S. Leonardo Murialdo, 1, I-00146 Roma, Italy
Guido Giordano
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche – Università degli Studi Roma Tre,L.go S. Leonardo Murialdo, 1, I-00146 Roma, Italy
Elsa Gliozzi
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche – Università degli Studi Roma Tre,L.go S. Leonardo Murialdo, 1, I-00146 Roma, Italy IGAG CNR, Via Bolognola, 7, I-00138 Roma, Italy
Massimo Mattei
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche – Università degli Studi Roma Tre,L.go S. Leonardo Murialdo, 1, I-00146 Roma, Italy
Ilaria Mazzini
Affiliation:
IGAG CNR, Via Bolognola, 7, I-00138 Roma, Italy
Massimiliano Porreca
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche – Università degli Studi Roma Tre,L.go S. Leonardo Murialdo, 1, I-00146 Roma, Italy
Renato Funiciello
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche – Università degli Studi Roma Tre,L.go S. Leonardo Murialdo, 1, I-00146 Roma, Italy
*
⁎Corresponding author. Fax: +39 0654888201.

E-mail address:cosentin@uniroma3.it (D. Cosentino).

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Abstract

The historical site of the Monte Mario lower Pleistocene succession (Rome, Italy) is an important marker of the Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary. Recently, the Monte Mario site was excavated and restudied. A spectacular angular unconformity characterizes the contact between the Monte Vaticano and the Monte Mario formations, which marks the Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary. Biostratigraphical analyses carried out on ostracod, foraminifer, and calcareous nannofossil assemblages indicate an Early Pliocene age (topmost Zanclean, 3.81–3.70 Ma) for the underlying Monte Vaticano Formation, whereas the Monte Mario Formation has been dated as early Pleistocene (Santernian, 1.66–1.59 Ma). Palaeomagnetic analyses point to C2Ar and C1r2r polarity chrons for the Monte Vaticano and the Monte Mario formations, respectively. The Monte Mario Formation consists of two obliquity-forced depositional sequences (MM1 and MM2) characterized by transgressive systems tracts of littoral marine environments at depths, respectively, of 40–80 m and 15–20 m. The data obtained from foraminifer and ostracod assemblages allow us to reconstruct early Pleistocene relative sea-level changes near Rome. At the Plio/Pleistocene transition, a relative sea-level drop of at least 260 m occurred, as a result of both tectonic uplift of the central Tyrrhenian margin and glacio-eustatic changes linked to early Pleistocene glaciation (Marine Isotope Stage 58).

Keywords

StratigraphySequence stratigraphyBiostratigraphyPaleoecologyPaleomagnetismTectonicsPlio-PleistoceneGeology of urbanized areasCentral ItalyRome
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 72 , Issue 1 , July 2009 , pp. 143 - 155
Copyright
University of Washington

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