The anatomy of mesozoic carbonate platform-margins, southern Appenines, Italy

Thesis



The stratigraphy and sedimentology of Mesozoic carbonate platform-margins cropping out in southern Italy are investigated. New strati graphic data are presented from northern and eastern slopes of the Apennine carbonate platform, based on locallycorrelated field sections. Thin-section petrography is used to demonstrate the spatial and temporal distribution of derived lithoclasts. Results indicate that southern Apennine platforms underwent repeated erosion during Cretaceous time and possible reasons for this are discussed. Petrographic studies also provided outline sediment parageneses for slopes and platforms, with special reference to the detailed geochemistry of secondary dolomite formation on the eastern margin of the Apulian platform, whose growth is indicated by proton microprobe microanalysis to have been influenced by redox changes.

The sedimentary facies and sediment geometries of Upper Cretaceous to Lower Tertiary slope sediments mapped in the Frosolone area are discussed in a case-study. Cross-sections showing geometries of key beds are presented, and depositional controls are discussed. Outcrop data suggest an Early to Middle Jurassic age of basin formation of this sector of the Lagonegro-Molise basin. A further case study from the Mesozoic slope in the Gran Sasso shows sediment geometries at reflection seismic scale, and relates them to possible depositional control by relative sea-level fluctuations.

Finally, data from southern Apennine platforms and basins are combined in a tentative sequence stratigraphic framework for the Middle Cretaceous. The results of onedimensional subsidence modelling are presented in order to separate and describe the signals of local tectonics and relative sea-level fluctuations affecting the southern passive-margin of Mesozoic Tethys.

Authors: Whiteman, M; Whiteman, Mark Ian

• Publication date: 1989
• DOI: 10.5287/ora-qaby6n70p
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Subjects: Italy; Carbonate rocks; Geology, Stratigraphic; Apennines (Italy); Sedimentology; Mesozoic; Appenines