Elsa Gliozzi

Late Miocene surface uplift of the southern margin of the Central Anatolian Plateau, Central Taurides, Turkey

The timing and pattern of surface uplift of Miocene marine sediments capping the southern margin of the Central Anatolian Plateau in southern Turkey provide a first-order constraint on possible mechanisms of regional uplift. Nannofossil, ostracod, and planktic foraminifera biostratigraphy of the Basyayla section (Mut-Ermenek Basin) within the Mut and Koselerli Formations suggests a Tortonian age for marine sediments unconformably capping basement rocks at ∼2 km elevation. The identification of biozone MMi 12a (7.81–8.35 Ma) from planktic foraminifera in the upper part of the section provides the tightest constraint on the age, which is further limited to 8.35–8.108 Ma as a result of the reverse polarity of the collected samples (chron 4r.1r or 4r.2r). This provides a limiting age for the onset of surface uplift at the margin of one of the world’s major orogenic plateaus, from which an average uplift rate of 0.24–0.25 mm/yr can be calculated. Subhorizontal beds of the uppermost marine sediments exposed throughout the Mut-Ermenek Basin suggest minimal localized deformation, with just minor faulting at the basin margin and broad antiformal deformation across the basin. This implies that the post–8 Ma uplift mechanism must be rooted deep within the crust or in the upper mantle. Published Pn-wave velocity data for the region are compatible with topography compensated by asthenosphere across the southern margin of the plateau, showing a close match to the highest topography when elevations are filtered with a 100-km-wide smoothing window. Uplift along the southern margin of the Central Anatolian Plateau is also reflected by the pattern of Miocene marine sediments capping the margin, which form an asymmetric drape fold over the topography. These observations, together with tomographic evidence for slab steepening and break-off beneath the Eastern Anatolian Plateau, suggest that at least some of the ∼2 km of post–8 Ma uplift of the southern Central Anatolian Plateau margin is compensated by low-density asthenospheric mantle that upwelled following slab break-off.

Sr/Ca, Mg/Ca ratios and Sr and stable isotopes of biogenic carbonates from the Late Miocene Velona Basin (central Apennines, Italy) provide evidence of unusual non-marine Messinian conditions

Abstract The Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca ratios of fossil ostracod and mollusc shells from a Late Miocene (Early Messinian) lacustrine sequence in the Velona Basin (central Apennines, Italy) were used to calculate the Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca of waters in which these taxa lived. Sr/Ca of these waters were always higher than the Sr/Ca calculated for the Messinian seawater, despite the broad salinity ranges (fresh water-oligo/mesohaline) inferred from the paleontological analyses. The estimated Mg/Ca water from the Velona samples are below the Mg/Ca value for coeval seawater even though they represent relatively high values when compared with many non-marine waters. The salinity variations of the Velona lacustrine system, recorded by changes in faunal assemblages, are linked to variable inputs of Na–Cl from deep groundwaters and are not reflected in significant changes in Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca of the waters calculated from shell chemistry. The combination of δ 18 O signatures and Sr isotopic ratios from molluscs from the Velona Basin suggests a non-marine environment. During some episodes of the lake history, given the saline inputs, the waters in the lake would attain a large solute concentration (oligo to mesohaline), although they retained the meteoric δ 18 O signature. We compare the paleohydrochemical inferences from the studied sequence with other Messinian records, and we show the importance of combining paleoecological and geochemical proxies to obtain consistent paleoenvironmental reconstructions.

Brittle deformations in the Upper Pleistocene deposits of the Crotone Peninsula, Calabria, southern Italy

Abstract The structural setting of the Crotone Peninsula (Calabria, southern Italy) is discussed in this paper. Structural analyses were carried out both on a regional and an outcrop scale to detect the main structural systems and the stress field which affected the area during the Late Pleistocene. The tectonic features observed in the area are represented by normal faults and extensional joints: the regional-scale faults are arranged in five main systems striking ENE-WSW, NNE-SSW, E-W, NW-SE and NNW-SSE. They are responsible for the dislocation of four marine depositional units (Cutro Terrace, correlatable with the isotopic stage 7; S. Leonardo-Campolongo-Isola di Capo Rizzuto Terrace, correlatable with the isotopic substage 5e; Le Castella-Capo Rizzuto Terrace, correlatable with the isotopic substage 5c and Capo Colonne Terrace, correlatable with the isotopic substage 5a) in several distinct terraces. From the studies carried out on a mesostructural scale it is possible to conclude that for the last 200,000 yrs the Crotone Peninsula was affected by an extensional stress field. The comparison between the average uplift rates calculated for the Crotone Peninsula terraces and those computed for several Upper Pleistocene deposits located in Sicily, Calabria and Campania suggests that the intense tectonics which affected the Crotone Peninsula can be related to the geodynamic activity of the Calabrian Arc.

Orbitally forced paleoenvironmental and paleoclimate changes in the late postevaporitic Messinian of the central Mediterranean Basin

Paleoenvironmental and paleoclimate changes that occurred during the late postevaporitic stage of the Mediterranean Basin in the Messinian foreland domain of the Adriatic region offer a new perspective on the relationship between orbital forcing and climate response. The magnetic susceptibility record of the Fonte dei Pulcini A section (Maiella Mountains, Italy) allows us to orbitally tune the record between 5.394 and 5.336 Ma and to temporally constrain the paleoenvironmental and paleoclimate changes evidenced by quantitative paleontological (palynomorphs, ostracods, and calcareous nannofossils), stable isotope (δ 18 O and δ 13 C), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses. The base of the Fonte dei Pulcini A section is characterized by Paratethyan ostracods and dinocysts, which point to the late Messinian Lago-Mare biofacies ( Loxocorniculina djafarovi zone) of the Mediterranean Messinian stratigraphy. From paleontological and geochemical (δ 18 O) analyses, there is no evidence of a marine incursion in the Fonte dei Pulcini A section. The major changes in terms of paleodepth, paleosalinity, evaporation versus precipitation, aridity versus humidity, and reworking processes occurred in the upper part of the Fonte dei Pulcini A section, during the last Messinian insolation cycle (i-cycle 511/512), which is characterized by high-amplitude oscillations. In contrast, the lower part of the Fonte dei Pulcini A section, which was deposited during relatively low-amplitude insolation cycles, is characterized by more stable environmental conditions. Comparing summer insolation with the paleoenvironmental changes at the Fonte dei Pulcini A section, we identify delays of several thousands of years between orbital forcing and climate response.

Vegetation, climate and environmental history of the last 4500 years at lake Shkodra (Albania/Montenegro):

Three parallel overlapping cores have been taken in the Albanian side of Lake Shkodra (Albania/Montenegro). The chronological frame of the record, spanning approximately the last 4500 years, has been assessed using four radiocarbon dates and four well-known tephra layers of Italian volcanoes. Multidisciplinary analyses turned out to be decisive to understand environmental, climatic changes and human impact. Here, we focus on palynology. The humidity at Shkodra was always enough to allow the developing of a luxuriant arboreal vegetation. The pollen percentage diagram does not record important changes in terrestrial plants percentages. Arboreal pollen (AP) shows only a rather slight decrease, with ‘natural forests’ replaced by intensive cultivation of chestnut and walnut in the last seven/eight centuries. The rather minimal changes in composition and dominance are because of the fact that the pollen rain comes from different vegetation belts, from the Mediterranean to the alpine one. Two major periods of humidity are found, one at the base of the pollen concentration and influx diagram, before 4100 yr BP, the other at 1300 yr BP. Minima in pollen influx and concentration occurred soon before 4000, at ca. 2900 and at ca. 1450 yr BP These minima, interpreted as aridity crises, show a temporal coincidence with the so-called Bond events 1-3 already found in other central and eastern Mediterranean records. The minimum in AP occurring after 500 yr BP could represent the record of the ‘Little Ice Age’, even if it could be the effect of a strong land use.

Easternmost Mediterranean evidence of the Zanclean flooding event and subsequent surface uplift: Adana Basin, southern Turkey

Abstract According to the literature, the Adana Basin, at the easternmost part of the Mediterranean Basin in southern Turkey, records the Pliocene stage with shallow-marine to fluvial deposits. Our micropalaeontological analysis of samples from the Adana Basin reveal Late Lago–Mare biofacies with Paratethyan ostracod assemblages pertaining to the Loxocorniculina djafarovi zone. Grey clays rich in planktonic foraminifera lie above the Lago–Mare deposits. Within the grey clays, the continuous occurrence of the calcareous nannofossil Reticulofenestra zancleana and the base of the Reticulofenestra pseudoumbilicus paracme points to an Early Zanclean age (5.332–5.199 Ma). Both ostracod and benthic foraminifera indicate epibathyal and bathyal environments. 87Sr/86Sr measurements on planktonic and benthic foraminifera fall below the mean global ocean value for the Early Zanclean, indicating potentially insufficient mixing of low 87Sr/86Sr Mediterranean brackish ‘Lago–Mare’ water with the global ocean in the earliest Pliocene. We utilize the ages and palaeodepths of the marine sediments together with their modern elevations to determine uplift rates of the Adana Basin of 0.06 to 0.13 mm a−1 since 5.2–5.3 Ma (total uplift of 350–650 m) from surface data, and 0.02–0.13 mm a−1 since c. 1.8 Ma (total uplift of 30–230 m) from subsurface data. Supplementary material: Microphotographs of foraminifers, ostracods, and calcareous nannofossils, plots of the calcareous nannofossil frequencies, occurrence of foraminifers and ostracods in the study sections, results of Sr isotopic analysis, and a complete list of fossils are available at www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18535.

Geochemical and Palaeoecological Analyses of Mid Pleistocene to Holocene Ostracod Assemblages from Valle di Castiglione (Italy): Palaeoenvironmental and Palaeoclimatic Assessment

Abstract Sediments from Valle di Castiglione in Italy provide a reference sequence for Middle Pleistocene to Holocene palaeoclimate reconstruction of the Mediterranean area. Stable isotope and trace element signals from ostracod valves, as well as palaeoenvironmental analyses (autoecology, community analysis and mutual ostracod temperature range), provided results that cannot be correlated with those derived from pollen and other proxy records. The lack of correlation is attributed to the peculiar geological, hydrogeological and hydrochemical setting of the Valle di Castiglione maar lake. The main trigger for the hydrochemical changes in the waterbody and, therefore, in the ostracod isotopic and trace element signatures, is likely the volcano-tectonic activity in the area. This illustrates how ostracod trace element and isotopic analyses are not the most appropriate tools for palaeoclimate reconstructions from lakes with complex hydrological features, such as some crater lakes, and demonstrates the need for care in selecting lacustrine sequences for such studies.

Occurrence of Vestalenula (Darwinuloidea, Ostracoda) in the Neogene of Italy, Crete and Serbia, with the description of three new species

The morphology of fossil remains of Vestalenula (Darwinuloidea, Ostracoda) from Crete (Greece), Serbia and Italy were analysed using morphometric valve variability analysis. Three new species were distinguished and described, Vestalenula angulata n. sp., Vestalenula longissima n. sp. and Vestalenula pliocenica n. sp., and represent the first record of this genus in the Neogene of Italy and Serbia. Vestalenula angulata n. sp. was recorded from the early Messinian of Tuscany, Italy (Baccinello and Velona Basins), Vestalenula longissima n. sp. was collected in the Upper Pliocene (Gelasian) sediment core drilled in the Sabina area (Latium, Italy), and Vestalenula pliocenica n. sp. was collected from the Early Tortonian of Vrysses (Rethymnon Basin, Crete), from the lower Messinian deposits of the Velona Basin (Tuscany, Italy), in the Late Pliocene of the Paludinian Beds (Middle Danube Plain) and Mazgoš deposits (Serbia), and in the Upper Pliocene deposits of the Sabina area (Latium, Italy). Despite the freshwater character of most living species of Vestalenula, the fossil species here analysed were found associated with halotolerant forms, showing they could also withstand oligohaline conditions.

Occurrence of fossil and recent Microceratina Swanson 1980 (Ostracoda, Eucytherurinae) in the Mediterranean

The systematics and distribution of Microceratina Swanson 1980 are studied. Five species have been referred to this genus: Microceratina quadrata Swanson 1980 (type species), Microceratina foveolata (Colalongo and Pasini 1980) nov. comb., Microceratina poligonia (Colalongo and Pasini 1980), Microceratina pseudoamfibola (Barbeito-Gonzalez 1971) nov. comb. and Microceratina reticulata (Bonaduce, Ciampo and Masoli 1975). With the exceptions of the type species, which have been found in littoral sediments in Southern New Zealand and Southeastern Australia, and of M. poligonia, recovered in two sites of the North Atlantic, the genus Microceratina seems to be mainly distributed in the Mediterranean area, from the Tortonian to Recent.

Is the occurrence of a sigmoidal ventral border in Cyprideis torosa (Jones) valves linked to salinity? A morphometrical analysis approach

The living euryhaline species Cyprideis torosa (Jones) undergoes morphometric variations in size, noding and sieve-pore shape linked to environmental parameters. In particular it is known that salinity values around 8–9‰ represent the osmoregulation threshold and the turning point between smaller and greater valves and prevailingly noded as opposed to un-noded valves. Here, a character never studied before is analysed: the relationship between salinity and the C. torosa valve outlines, especially the morphology of the ventral border. Geometric–morphometric analysis was carried out on different populations of C. torosa collected in oligohaline (Massaciuccoli marsh, Tuscany, and Lake Trasimeno, Umbria) and hyperhaline waterbodies (Trapani–Paceco salt pans, Sicily). The results indicate that the species displays two morphotypes: a dominant one, characterized by a straight ventral border; and a morphotype with a sigmoidal profile ventral border. This latter morphotype seems to be related to higher salinity: the oligohaline waters are characterized only by C. torosa individuals with straight ventral outline, while the hyperhaline environments are marked by the occurrence of 17.6% of sigmoidal individuals. Furthermore, the sigmoidal ventral border is more emphasized in males than in females.