Giuseppe Aiello

Magma transfer at Campi Flegrei caldera (Italy) before the 1538 AD eruption

Calderas are collapse structures related to the emptying of magmatic reservoirs, often associated with large eruptions from long-lived magmatic systems. Understanding how magma is transferred from a magma reservoir to the surface before eruptions is a major challenge. Here we exploit the historical, archaeological and geological record of Campi Flegrei caldera to estimate the surface deformation preceding the Monte Nuovo eruption and investigate the shallow magma transfer. Our data suggest a progressive magma accumulation from ~1251 to 1536 in a 4.6 ± 0.9 km deep source below the caldera centre, and its transfer, between 1536 and 1538, to a 3.8 ± 0.6 km deep magmatic source ~4 km NW of the caldera centre, below Monte Nuovo; this peripheral source fed the eruption through a shallower source, 0.4 ± 0.3 km deep. This is the first reconstruction of pre-eruptive magma transfer at Campi Flegrei and corroborates the existence of a stationary oblate source, below the caldera centre, that has been feeding lateral eruptions for the last ~5 ka. Our results suggest: 1) repeated emplacement of magma through intrusions below the caldera centre; 2) occasional lateral transfer of magma feeding non-central eruptions within the caldera. Comparison with historical unrest at calderas worldwide suggests that this behavior is common.

The genus Cytherella (Ostracoda) in the Italian Tortonian-Recent

Abstract Italian species of the genus Cytherella Jones , 1849 are studied from the Tortonian to Recent interval. Thirteen species are treated, 12 of which are illustrated. The lectotype and a paralectotype of Cythere? serratula Brady , 1880 are also illustrated for comparison. Three species, Cytherella cercinata, C. gibba and C. vulgatella are described as new.

The genus Cytheropteron Sars, 1866 (Crustacea: Ostracoda) in the Pliocene-early Pleistocene of the Mount San Nicola section (Gela, Sicily)

The systematics and the distribution of the genus Cytheropteron Sars 1866 is studied in the Plio-Pleistocene Section of Monte San Nicola. Fifteen taxa have been identified, 7 of which are described as new: Cytheropteron (Aversovalva) denticulatum, C. fraudulentum, C. omega, C. (A.) pinarense gillesi, C. scalprum, C. sulcifer, C. vanharten

Effects of anthropogenic activities in a Mediterranean coastland: the case study of the Falerno-Domitio littoral in Campania, Tyrrhenian Sea (southern Italy)

The environmental status of the Falerno-Domitio littoral, a sector of the Italian south coast (Campania region) locally affected by an extensive anthropic pressure and pollution, was assessed by a multi-disciplinary approach, consisting of geological vs. biological studies. Geochemical abundance of potentially hazardous trace metals in beach sands is mainly constrained by the nature of the source rocks. Geochemical data of marine sediment quality with regards to possible heavy metal pollution and the enrichment factors of selected potentially toxic metals show that Cr and V values are higher in marine samples than in natural sources, suggesting that they are, at least in part, of anthropic derivation. A relationship between meiobenthos and heavy metals (Cr, Co, and V) has been also observed, providing a valuable biological marker to human-deriving chemical pollution. Ecotoxicological analyses confirm a relationship between enrichment in selected metals and moderate toxicity of some sea-bottom sediments closer to the coastline.

A multidisciplinary approach for the characterization of the coastal marine ecosystems of Monte Di Procida (Campania, Italy)

A multidisciplinary survey was carried out on the quality of water and sediments of a coastal protected marine area, embedded between the inputs from Bagnoli steel plant to the south and a sewage plant, Volturno River and Regi Lagni channel to the north. The study integrated chemical-sedimentological data with biological and ecotoxicological analyses to assess anthropogenic pressures and natural variability. Data reveal marked differences in anthropogenic pollution between southeastern and northwestern zone, with the north affected by both inorganic and organic flows and the south influenced by levels of As, Pb and Zn in the sediments above law limits, deriving from inputs of the Bagnoli brownfield site. Meiobenthic data revealed at south higher relative abundance of sensitive species to pollution and environmental stress to the south, i.e. Lobatula lobatula and Rosalina bradyi, whereas to the north relative abundance of stress tolerant Quinqueloculina lata, Quinqueloculina pygmaea and Cribroelphidium cuvilleri were determined.

PLIOCENE PARALIC ENVIRONMENTS OF IRPINIA-DAUNIA BASIN (BARONIA MOUNTAINS, SOUTHERN APENNINES, ITALY)

This report describes and interprets two stratigraphic sections across the regressive part of Baronia Synthem, located near the villages of Flumeri and Vallesaccarda (Ariano Irpino area, Southern Italy). Four different depositional environments have been recognized: fluvial, lagoon, foreshore and shoreface. Fluvial deposits, occurring in the Flumeri section, consist of clast-supported conglomerates, horizontal laminated sands and muddy silts with freshwater ostracod assemblages, indicating deposition in braided river low-sinuosity channels. In the Flumeri section lagoonal deposits are generally represented by structureless layers of dark clay including ostracods of brackish coastal lagoon connected with shallow-marine waters. In the Vallesaccarda section lagoonal sediments only occur as muddy clasts. Foreshore deposits are represented by well sorted yellow sands with low-angle cross lamination; a horizontal layer of stratified gravels outcrops in Vallesaccarda section. The shoreface deposits consist of poorly sorted sands with trough cross stratification formed in a bar and trough system, of symmetric ripples layers, and of abundant mollusc shell debris; in the Vallesaccarda section a tempestite interval generated by storm activity has been found. In Flumeri section littoral and lagoonal facies assemblages alternate; in Vallesaccarda section only nearshore sediments crop out. Nearshore deposits denote a wave-dominated coastal marine environments. These data contribute to a better knowledge of the distribution of paralic facies on the Western margin of the Pliocene Irpinia-Daunia Basin.

Morphological and palaeoenvironmental evolution of the Lagoon of Papas, southwestern Greece, during the Holocene (*)

Geomorphological, stratigraphic and palaeoecological surveys have been carried out along the coastland of the Lagoon of Papas (Kalogria) since 1994, with the aim of depicting its morphodynamic and palaeoenvironmental evolution during the Holocene, until the present. The coast was previously affected by tectonic activity which exerted a morphologic control, interacting with the Quaternary sea-level changes. These processes resulted in subsidence during the MIS 7, followed by the MIS 5 transgression with marine and lagoon sediment deposition. The subsequent regression caused the deposition of alluvial covers and fans, later dislocated by the differential uplift which formed a terrace and a coastal plain at its base, tilted towards the northwest. This plain was dissected and uplifted by recent tectonics which has developed a new terrace, separated from the former by a post-Tyrrhenian fault scarp. Particularly, during the Holocene the coastal plain was characterized by the deposition of alluvial sediments eroded from the southwestern hills, increase of fluvial meanders, westward deviation of watercourses, development of ponds, swamps and finally of a lagoon. Multidisciplinary studies, including examination of historical cartography, bathymetric map, microfossil analysis and geomorphological surveys, have shed light on the gradual genesis of the lagoon. The lagoon developed during the Holocene in a pre-existing wide bay, starting from a sequence of a few littoral spits elongated from southeast to northwest. Palaeoecological analysis confirmed the alternation of brackish to marine environments, through the recognition of different groups of microfossil assemblages. Morphological and sedimentological study of the lagoon bottom showed some hummocks and facies related to buried relict spit and overwash structures. This morphodynamic evolution is analogous to that described for some Tyrrhenian and Adriatic lagoons from Italy, as well as for other Mediterranean lagoons.

Appearance of the genus Elofsonia (Loxoconchidae: Ostracoda) in the middle miocene of central paratethys

Abstract A new species assigned to the genus Elofsonia Wagner, 1957 , is described from the Upper Badenian (Serravallian) of Gliwice, Fore-Carpathian Depression, southern Poland. E. hornei n. sp. is the first species of Elofsonia recorded from the Paratethys and the first Miocene representative of the genus. The features of the carapace of E. hornei n. sp., compared with the descriptions of the previously known species of Elofsonia, confirm an unusually wide intrageneric variability of the genus Elofsonia.

The Montalbano Jonico Section (Southern Italy): A Candidate for the GSSP of the Ionian Stage (Lower–Middle Pleistocene Boundary)

The Lower–Middle Pleistocene Subseries boundary and the Ionian Stage still lack formal ratification. The use of the name “Ionian” as a stage of the Middle Pleistocene follows Cita et al. (2006, 2008) and Gibbard et al. (2009). The GSSP of the Ionian Stage should be defined at a point close to the Matuyama–Brunhes (M–B) reversal, in a marine section exposed on land. However, magnetic reversal is considered as only one of multiple criteria that may be used for the definition of a GSSP (Head et al. 2008). The Montalbano Jonico section (Southern Italy) is a continuous marly–clayey marine succession, well exposed and astronomically calibrated, which extends from 1.24 to 0.645 Ma (Ciaranfi et al. 2009). It spans the interval from Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 37 to 17/16 and covers, together with the Vrica section, the sedimentary record of the entire Calabrian Stage. The section encompasses MIS 19, whose base corresponds closely to the M–B boundary (Lisiecki and Raymo 2005); unfortunately, the M–B palaeomagnetic reversal was not identified in the Montalbano sediments (Sagnotti et al. 2010). The isotopic signals are considered acceptable for the definition of a boundary stratotype (Remane et al. 1996) and the practice has been recently adopted for the definition of the GSSP of the Serravallian Stage (Hilgen et al. 2010). The interval including MIS 19 is chronologically well constrained and is a maximum flooding surface, as shown by the occurrence of the Neopycnodonte palaeocommunity, and the mesopelagic tropical–subtropical Atlantic teleostean Bonapartia pedaliota marks the base of the interglacial. Evidence of glacio-eustatic sea level rise, correlated with MIS 19 and the M–B boundary, are well known in several geographical areas, supporting the wide traceability of this oxygen isotope shift. The onset of MIS 19 in the Montalbano Jonico section may represent an appropriate stratigraphic horizon for the definition of the GSSP of the Ionian Stage, also fulfilling the additional criteria of Remane et al. (1996) for boundary stratotype definition, such as continuous sedimentation, a high sedimentation rate, an absence of synsedimentary disturbance, and good preservation and protection of the section.

The genus Paracythere G.W. (Ostracoda): a re-examination from a paleontological viewpoint

Abstract The genus Paracythere G.W. Muller, 1894 is re-described on the basis of the characters of the valves. The topotypes of P. minima Muller, 1894 , type species of the genus, are studied by means of SEM micrographs and drawings in transmitted light. The correct definition of the features of the carapace allows to include in the family Paracytheridae Puri, 1974 also the genus Chejudocythere Ishizaki, 1981 . The affinity of the Paracytheridae with the family Cytheridae Baird, 1850 , is evidenced.