Luigi Spalluto

Stratigraphy of the mid-Cretaceous shallow-water limestones of the Apulia Carbonate Platform (Murge, Apulia, southern Italy)

The geological mapping of the 438 Sheet «Bari» (scale 1:50.000), located in the northern part of the Murge area (Apulia, southern Italy), offered the opportunity to revise the local stratigraphy of the mid-Cretaceous carbonate succession belonging to the Calcare di Bari Fm. Despite the flat topography, the strong urbanization and a widespread cover of «terra rossa» soils prevented the study of a continuous and undisturbed succession, several fragmentary lithostratigraphic and biostratigraphic data have been collected and correlated along many stratigraphic sections. This correlation allowed us to reconstruct a 470 m-thick composite section mostly made up of mud-supported shallow-water limestones and dolomites. This thickness is considerably lower than about 1000 m estimated before in the same area for the same time interval. In agreement with the previous edition of the Geologic Map of Italy few stratigraphic intervals showing a rich content in rudist assemblages and an interval of dolomitic breccias have been used as reference layers and successfully used for lithostratigraphic correlations. New biostratigraphic data show the first record of «primitive» orbitolinid assemblages and other important index taxa which refer the lower and the middle part of the studied succession to the Albian in disagreement with the previous attribution to the Cenomanian.

Geology of the middle and upper Pleistocene marine and continental terraces of the northern Tavoliere di Puglia plain (Apulia, southern Italy)

The Tavoliere di Puglia is a large alluvial plain located in southern Italy (Foggia Province, Apulia Region). From a geological perspective view, it represents the northern part of the Bradanic trough located between the southern Apennine Chain and the Apulian Foreland. A detailed geological survey of the middle-late Pleistocene terraces has been performed in this area and a new geologic map, at 1:150,000 scale, is here described. Criteria to distinguish these units are based on the recognition of basal unconformity surfaces: seven different synthems (UBSU, Unconformity-bounded Stratigraphic Units) have been discriminated. The data are presented in a synthesis map in which the geometrical relationships between the different sedimentary units are shown. New results for this sector of the Bradanic trough are significantly different from previous literature data. Furthermore, the map allows a reliable reconstruction of the Tavoliere di Puglia paleogeography during the Late Quaternary. Moreover, a detailed map of the Pleistocene terraces is fundamental to analyze and solve environmental problems associated with soil loss and desertification processes and river flood events.

Fluvial landforms in relation to the geological setting in the “Murge Basse” karst of Apulia (Bari Metropolitan Area, Southern Italy)

Abstract Please click here to download the map associated with this article. An integrated geological and geomorphological study was performed in order to describe the landform-features of the Bari Metropolitan Area (“Città Metropolitana di Bari”, Apulia, Southern Italy). The study is focused on the coastal sector of the “Murge Basse” area. This latter is characterized by alow-relief carbonate landscape gently dipping toward the Adriatic Sea, and represents the eastern and lowermost part of “Murge”, a karstic region belonging to the South Apennines foreland. Results coming from field survey, aerial-photo interpretation, and digital terrain model analysis were summarized in a 1:50,000 scale map which can contribute to land management and to assessment of flood hazards in a metropolitan area. In fact, although the “Murge” area shows some features typical of karst landscapes, it exhibits a well developed drainage-network, formed by a dense dendritic pattern in the headwater zone (“Murge Alte”) which evolves into regularly spaced, incised valleys cutting through a staircase of marine terraces moving towards the coastal area (“Murge Basse”). Some of these valleys are joined to sub-horizontal areas (corresponding to some marine terraces), and represent relict landforms related to ancient sea-level changes that occurred during middle and late Pleistocene times. These surfaces located downstream of incised valleys may represent sectors of high flooding hazard in the Bari Metropolitan Area.

Sedimentological and morpho-evolution maps of the ‘Bosco Pantano di Policoro’ coastal system (Gulf of Taranto, southern Italy)

This paper presents the results of a sedimentological study performed to characterize the ‘Bosco Pantano di Policoro e Costa Ionica Foce Sinni’ coastal system, in Basilicata (southern Italy), as part of the PROVIDUNE LIFE Project. The study was focused on the morpho-sedimentological characterization of both the emerged and submerged sectors of the beach system developed along a 3.5 km-long segment of the Ionian coast. A multitemporal comparison of historical aerial photos of the studied coastline concerning the last 100 years was executed. A geomorphological survey was carried out along 36 topographic profiles (each up to 200-m long); these were coupled with bathymetric profiles, reaching a depth of −13 m. Both topographic and bathymetric profiles were measured on three occasions (July, October, December 2010). Textural and compositional analyses of sediments were also performed. The results of this study were synthesized in a series of maps illustrating a schematic geological outline of the study area, a reconstruction of the Sinni river course and shoreline changes from 1908 to 2010 (1:2,400 scale), significant topographic (1:1,300 scale) and bathymetric (1:5,000 scale) profiles, three bathymetric charts (1:31,000 scale) and morpho-sedimentological features of both the coastal and nearshore sectors (1:15,000 scale). This study provides a geological background that is crucial for any intervention planning, as well as for any coastal zone management projects. The results should be also used in order to protect coastal habitats, which is the ultimate goal of the LIFE project.

High-resolution δ13C stratigraphy through the Selli Oceanic Anoxic Event (OAE1a) in the Apulia carbonate platform: the Borgo Celano section (western Gargano Promontory, Southern Italy)

We show that the global-scale environmental perturbations leading to the Selli OAE1a were clearly recorded in the middle Bedoulian Apulia carbonate platform at Borgo Celano, in the western Gargano Promontory (Southern Italy). The studied section (Bari Limestones), which is 72.45 m thick and spans the Late Barremian p.p. -latest Early Aptian time interval, has been logged with an average resolution of 3 samples per metre for chemostratigraphic analyses and up to 7 samples per metre for facies analysis in the aim of detailed paleocologic and paleoceanographic investigation. It contains the complete biosedimentary and chemostratigraphic record across the Selli OAE1a, as suggested by a consistent match of the observed isotope excursions with those documented in the Cismon pelagic reference section and the lack of significant non-depositional or erosional hiatuses within the chemostratigraphic Selli level: biostratigraphic and sedimentary-diagenetic analyses document a continuous record of fully subtidal conditions. Furthermore, the Borgo Celano section allows correlation of the shallow- and deep-water records without intervening stratigraphic breaks. Upper Barremian-Lower Bedoulian, chlorozoan-type carbonates showing subtidal-intertidal Milankovitch-type cyclicities characterize the lower part of the Borgo Celano section (C2 pro parte isotopic segment). Starting from the latest C2 segment, a remarkable Crisis Interval (CI) about 4 m thick shows an increasing frequency of bivalves ( Chondrodonta and requieniids), the disappearance of green algae and a reduced diversity of foraminiferal assemblages (foramol-type carbonates). This interval is sharply overlain by an interval, about 3.70 m thick, that is largely dominated by “out-of-balance” microbial limestones almost devoid of metazoans, apart from sparse, small-sized requieniids and Chondrodonta , which accompanies the C3-middle C4 isotope segment. It is interpreted to reflect a sharp hyperthermal and acidification event induced by excess p CO 2 . Starting from the upper C4 segment, less severe but still threatening environmental conditions permitted the deposition throughout the lower C5 segment of peculiar shallow-water tropical-like carbonates, which are dominated by oncoidal floatstones and microbial wackestone/packstone emphasizing the enduring influence of benthic cyanobacteria during the Selli OAE1a. Upsection guilds are dominated by foraminiferal and peloidal wackestones/packstones with sparse bivalves and green algae (upper C5-lowermost C7 isotope segments). Similarly to other carbonate platforms of the central Tethyan Realm (e.g., Apennine and Adriatic), the resilience of the Apulia carbonate platform inner shelf to the environmental perturbations that led to the coeval drowning of its margin, the starvation of its slope and to the deposition of black shales in the bounding Ionian basin is a striking supraregional feature. The inception of the resilience of the Apulia carbonate platform inner shelf is coincident with the lithostratigraphic boundary in between the Borgo Celano and Chondrodonta and requieniids members of the Bari Limestones and physically corresponds in the field with the base of a significant, 1 m thick, Chondrodonta -rich marker bed. These observations confirm the value of routinely applied field and laboratory studies for precise chemostratigraphic and bio-chronostratigraphic correlations on a regional scale. Furthermore, chemostratigraphic data presented here corroborate recent paleoceanographic and stratigraphic models proposed for the Lower Aptian across the transition between the Apulia carbonate platform and the bounding Ionian basin, and provide further elements for regional reconstructions of historical patterns.

Studio sedimentologico e dinamica marino-costiera del sistema litorale di Bosco Pantano di Policoro (Basilicata, Italia meridionale)

Sedimentological study and coastal-marine dynamics of the Bosco Pantano di Policoro littoral system (Basilicata, Southern Italy).The PROVIDUNE LIFE project is a multi-disciplinary research task funded by the European Community and designed to outline the framework of the natural habitats of the dune fields that occur along the coasts of Cagliari (southern Sardinia), Caserta (northwestern Campania) and Policoro (eastern Basilicata) in southern Italy. The project consists of a number of interconnected studies programmed to evaluate all the environmental features that the coastal dune fields exhibit along these coasts of the central Mediterranean area. This paper shows the result of the sedimentological study performed to characterize the Bosco Pantano di Policoro e Costa Ionica Foce Sinni coastal system, in Basilicata (southern Italy). This system, developing along a 3 km-long segment of the Ionian coast, shows an up to 100 m-wide, mixed (gravelly-sandy) beach, which is wave-dominated and subjected to persistent NNW-directed waves. The study has been focused on the morpho-sedimentological characterization of both the emerged and the submerged sectors of the beach system. Accordingly, 36 topographic and bathymetric profiles have been measured, and analyses to obtain compositional and textural features of deposits were carried out. Furthermore, an evolutive model of the shoreline changes during the last 100 years has been depicted on the base of a multitemporal comparison of historical aerial photos. Finally, in order to achieve a series of prediction models on the impact of the dominant wave and the resulting hydrodynamics of the coastal area, the more frequent and of greater energy events have been identifi ed and, thanks to the Delft3D software, the effects they can have on coastal systems have been evaluated.This kind of study provides all the geological elements that must be taken into account for any planning of interventions as well as for their management; in any case, the result should be used for the purpose to protect coastal habitat, that is the ultimate goal of this LIFE project.

Note illustrative della carta geologica dell'area urbana di Bari in scala 1:25.000

Notes to the geological map of the urban area of Bari (southern Italy) 1:25.000 scale.This paper shows the results coming from the detailed geological mapping performed on the urban area of the city of Bari (Puglia region, southern Italy). It is a large area (about 50 km2), with many inhabited places, and intensely urbanized. For this reason a geological map that could provide an up-to-date and useful tool for professional geologists daily working on the region, was realized.The area represented in the geologic map of the urban area of the city of Bari, at the scale 1:25.000, lies on the eastern Murge, which represents the central part of the Apulian foreland, the south-Apennines foreland. In the Murge area, the foreland is characterized by a thick Mesozoic sedimentary succession overlain by relatively thin and discontinuous Quaternary deposits. Locally, the exposed Mesozoic succession is about 150 m thick, and is represented by a part of the Calcare di Bari Fm, made up of biopeloidal and peloidal wackestones/packstones alternated with stromatolitic bindstones with frequent intercalations of dolomitic limestones and grey dolostones. Depositional environments are related to a low-energy inner-platform depositional system and biostratigraphic data allowed us to refer the age of the succession cropping out in the city of Bari to the Late Albian-Early Cenomanian.The lower Pleistocene Calcarenite di Gravina Fm unconformably lies on the Calcare di Bari Fm. The lower boundary is transgressive and is locally marked by reddish residual deposits (terra rossa) and/or by brackish silty deposits passing upward to shallow-water calcarenites rich in bioclasts. Basically this formation is made up of litho-bioclastic calcarenites and calcirudites with packstone/grainstone texture, rich in mollusks, red algae, serpulids, echinoids and benthic foraminifers. The thickness of this unit ranges from few metres up to 20 m, and its depositional environments are related to alluvial or offshore systems. The age is early Pleistocene (Gelasian?-Calabrian). Regionally, the Calcarenite di Gravina Fm represents the record of the lower Pleistocene subsidence of the Apulia foreland.The Murge supersynthem groups all the marine terraced deposits unconformably lying on all older units and consists of a heterogeneous assemblage of mixed silicoclastic and carbonate sediments formed in shallow-marine and transitional environments. The thickness of the three synthems forming the supersynthem is usually few metres thick and the age ranges from middle to late Pleistocene. These synthems record a phase of regional uplift which started at least from middle Pleistocene; this uplift, in combination with the Pleistocene glacioeustatic oscillations, produced several relative sea-level changes which caused the distribution of these synthems to different altitudes above sea level.The lame delle Murge supersynthem groups all the terraced alluvial deposits cropping out in the studied area. These deposits unconformably lie on the previous units and are placed at different heights inside little canyons, characterizing the area and locally named lame. These deposits consist of either well cemented or poorly cemented carbonate conglomerates with a reddish silty-sandy matrix. The thickness of these deposits ranges from few metres up to 10 m and the age is middle Pleistocene-late Pleistocene.The picture is completed by upper Pleistocene-Holocene actual and present-day alluvial deposits, made up of carbonate gravels with reddish fine-grained matrix.

Tectonics versus Karst Relationships in the Salento Peninsula (Apulia, Southern Italy): Implications for a Comprehensive Land-Use Planning

The relationships between brittle deformations and development of karst phenomena in the Salento peninsula of Apulia (S Italy) are the object of this study. Different datasets were taken into account at this aim, critically reviewed and analyzed by means of Geographic Information System (GIS). The preliminary outcomes indicate that the surface karst landforms are significantly controlled by tectonic discontinuities in Salento, and provide important clues to identify those zones where comprehensive geognostic investigations are necessary, aimed at the most correct land-use planning.

The use of aerial and close-range photogrammetry in the study of dinosaur tracksites: Lower Cretaceous (upper Aptian/lower Albian) Molfetta ichnosite (Apulia, southern Italy)

Accurate mapping and three-dimensional models are crucial for studying dinosaur tracks and tracksites at different scales. The use of small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for mapping and three-dimensional modelling is becoming increasingly common, allowing the capture of high-resolution images comparable to those obtained by terrestrial laser scanners and manned aerial photogrammetry, but with reduced working costs and rapid execution times. The Lower Cretaceous (upper Aptian/lower Albian) Molfetta dinosaur tracksite (Apulia, southern Italy), was used as a test area to evaluate the results of UAV based photogrammetry. We used two different drones having different technical features and for which we set different flight parameters. Ground-based photogrammetry on single footprints was also performed, in the light of the recent introduction of high-resolution digital cameras and powerful processing software, with the aim to evaluate its impact on ichnological, ichnotaxonomical, and ichnosystematic analyses. The accuracy of three-dimensional models, digital elevation models, and orthophotos generated by UAV images is extremely high and allows for rapid mapping and description of vast and/or hardly accessible tracksites with higher accuracy than that obtained from traditional field data or from digital airphotos. By coupling groundand aerial-based photogrammetry, ichnologists can rapidly obtain consistent and affordable digital models useful to study dinosaur tracksites both at the meso(track) and macroscale (ichnosite). The adoption of aerial and close-range photogrammetry will allow for the rapid production of data with sustainable costs that can be used both by specialists and as a means of conservation and dissemination of knowledge to the public. Petti, Fabio Massimo, Petruzzelli, Marco, Conti, Jacopo, Spalluto, Luigi, Wagensommer, Alexander, Lamendola, Massimiliano, Francioso, Roberto, Montrone, Giovanni, Sabato, Luisa, and Tropeano, Marcello. 2018. The use of aerial and close-range photogrammetry in the study of dinosaur tracksites: Lower Cretaceous (upper Aptian/lower Albian) Molfetta ichnosite (Apulia, southern Italy). Palaeontologia Electronica 21.3.3T 1-18. https://doi.org/10.26879/845 palaeo-electronica.org/content/2018/2317-uavs-and-dinosaur-tracksites Copyright: September 2018 Paleontological Society. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), which permits users to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, provided it is not used for commercial purposes and the original author and source are credited, with indications if any changes are made. creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ PETTI ET AL.: UAVS AND DINOSAUR TRACKSITES Fabio Massimo Petti. MUSE Museo delle Scienze di Trento, Corso del Lavoro e della Scienza 3, 38122 Trento, Italy; fabio.petti@muse.it and PaleoFactory, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Sapienza Università di Roma, Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5, I-00185 Rome, Italy Marco Petruzzelli. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e Geoambientali, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Via Orabona, 4 70125 Bari, Italy. marco.petruzzelli@uniba.it Jacopo Conti. PaleoFactory, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Sapienza Università di Roma, Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5, I-00185 Rome, Italy and Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Sapienza Università di Roma, Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5, I-00185 Rome, Italy. jacopo.conti@uniroma1.it Luigi Spalluto. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e Geoambientali, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Via Orabona, 4 70125 Bari, Italy, and Autorità di Bacino Della Puglia – Distretto dell’Appennino Meridionale c/o INNOVAPUGLIA (Ex Tecnopolis CSATA) Str. Prov. per Casamassima, Km 3 – 70010 Valenzano (Bari), Italy. luigi.spalluto@adb.puglia.it Alexander Wagensommer. GRID (Gruppo di Ricerca sulle Impronte di Dinosauro), San Giovanni Rotondo, Foggia, Italy. wagensommer@tiscali.it Massimiliano Lamendola. Autorità di Bacino Della Puglia – Distretto dell’Appennino Meridionale c/o INNOVAPUGLIA (Ex Tecnopolis CSATA) Str. Prov. per Casamassima, Km 3 – 70010 Valenzano (Bari), Italy. massimiliano.lamendola@adb.puglia.it Roberto Francioso. Autorità di Bacino Della Puglia – Distretto dell’Appennino Meridionale c/o INNOVAPUGLIA (Ex Tecnopolis CSATA) Str. Prov. per Casamassima, Km 3 – 70010 Valenzano (Bari), Italy. roberto.francioso@adb.puglia.it Giovanni Montrone. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e Geoambientali, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Via Orabona, 4 70125 Bari, Italy. giovanni.montrone@uniba.it Luisa Sabato. Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Via Orabona, 4 70125 Bari, Italy and Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e Geoambientali, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Via Orabona, 4 70125 Bari, Italy. luisa.sabato@uniba.it Marcello Tropeano. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e Geoambientali, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Via Orabona, 4 70125 Bari, Italy. marcello.tropeano@uniba.it

Integrated Geological and Digital Surveys to Know, Preserve and Promote a Geoheritage: the Sea Cliff of Vignanotica Bay (Gargano Promontory, Southern Italy)

The sea cliff of Vignanotica Bay (Gargano Promontory, Southern Italy) is a site that, for its peculiar geological features, can be considered a witness of geodiversity and that, as such, should be evaluated as geosite. Since it is necessary to first know, then enhance, and finally protect a geosite, here we propose a modern method of study aimed at the understanding and dissemination of geological knowledge to a wide audience of non-experts. The cliff, located in the Gargano National Park, was investigated using both stratigraphic-sedimentological and digital methods. The former method, realised using macrofacies and microfacies analysis, allowed us to study features of a deep-marine environment, characterised by subaqueous slides (slumpings). The latter method allowed us to achieve a virtual 3D model of the entire sea cliff, highlighting many geological features, often difficult to observe since they are exposed along high vertical walls. The combined use of these methods led to a complete characterisation of the cliff, useful both to promote geological knowledge and to preserve the site.