The Apulia

Carbonate Platform A carbonate platform is a sedimentary body which possesses topographic relief, and is composed of autochthonic calcareous deposits. Platform growth is mediated by sessile organisms whose skeletons build up the reef or by organisms (usually microb ...

Apulia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, was a major palaeogeographic element of the southern margin of the

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceo ...

Tethys Ocean The Tethys Ocean ( el, Τηθύς ''Tēthús''), also called the Tethys Sea or the Neo-Tethys, was a prehistoric ocean that covered most of the Earth during much of the Mesozoic Era and early Cenozoic Era, located between the ancient continents ...

. It is one of the so-called peri-

Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) ...

platforms, which are comparable to the

Bahama Banks The Bahama Banks are the submerged carbonate platforms that make up much of the Bahama Archipelago. The term is usually applied in referring to either the Great Bahama Bank around Andros Island, or the Little Bahama Bank of Grand Bahama Island ...

in their carbonate

facies In geology, a facies ( , ; same pronunciation and spelling in the plural) is a body of rock with specified characteristics, which can be any observable attribute of rocks (such as their overall appearance, composition, or condition of formatio ...

, shape, size, and

subsidence Subsidence is a general term for downward vertical movement of the Earth's surface, which can be caused by both natural processes and human activities. Subsidence involves little or no horizontal movement, which distinguishes it from slope move ...

rate and, also, in the internal architecture.D'Argenio B. (1976). Le piattaforme carbonatiche periadriatiche. Una rassegna di problemi nel quadro geodinamico mesozoico dell'area mediterranea. ''Società Geologica Italiana, Memorie'' 13 (1974): 137–159.Eberli (1991)Eberli G.P., Bernoulli D., Sanders D., Vecsei A. (1993). ''From aggradation to progradation: the Maiella Platform, Abruzzi, Italy''. In: Simo T., Scott R.W., Masse J.P. (eds). Cretaceous Carbonate Platforms: American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Memoir 56, pp. 213–232.Morsilli M. (1998). ''Stratigrafia e sedimentologia del margine della Piattaforma Apula nel Gargano (Giurassico superiore-Cretaceo inferiore)''. Tesi di Dottorato di Ricerca, Università di Bologna, 203 pp. Librerie Nazionali di Roma e Firenze.Bosellini A., Morsilli M., Neri C. (1999). Long-term event stratigraphy of the Apulia Platform margin: Upper Jurassic to Eocene, Gargano, southern Italy. ''Journal of Sedimentary Research'' 69: 1241–1252. Tulsa.Bosellini A., Morsilli M., Neri C. (2000). ''The eastern margin of the Apulia Platform: the Gargano transect. Excursion guide-book.'' In: A. Bosellini, M. Morsilli & C. Neri (eds). "Quantitative Models on Cretaceous Carbonate", S.E.P.M Cretaceous Resource Events and Rhythms, WG4 meeting, field trip guide book, 46 pp. Vieste.Bosellini A., Morsilli M. (2001). Il Promontorio del Gargano: cenni di geologia e itinerari geologici. ''Quaderni del Parco Nazionale del Gargano'', 48 pp., Foggia. The Apulia Platform, which is part of the stable and relatively undeformed foreland of the Apennine thrust belt, is bounded on both sides by basinal deposits; westward the margin is buried under the Apennine thrust sheets, to the east the adjacent paleogeographic domains are the vast Ionian Basin to the south and the

Umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...

Marche Marche ( , ) is one of the twenty regions of Italy. In English, the region is sometimes referred to as The Marches ( ). The region is located in the central area of the country, bordered by Emilia-Romagna and the republic of San Marino to the ...

Basin to the north. To the west, the Apulia Platform plunges downfaulted underneath the

terrigenous In oceanography, terrigenous sediments are those derived from the erosion of rocks on land; that is, they are derived from ''terrestrial'' (as opposed to marine) environments. Consisting of sand, mud, and silt carried to sea by rivers, their ...

sediments of the Apennine foredeep; to the southeast, the

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

–

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma. Geology Pro ...

margin lies 20–30 km offshore from the present Apulia coastline.

Gargano Promontory

The

Gargano Gargano (, Gargano Apulian Italo-Romance arˈgæːnə is a historical and geographical sub-region in the province of Foggia, Apulia, southeast Italy, consisting of a wide isolated mountain massif made of highland and several peaks and forming ...

Promontory is an area of the Apulia Platform.Conti M.A., Morsilli M., Nicosia U., Sacchi E., Savino V., Wagensommer A., Di Maggio L., Gianolla P. (2005). Jurassic Dinosaur Footprints from Southern Italy: Footprints as Indicators of Constraints in Paleogeographic Interpretation. ''Palaios'' 20 (6): 534–550. The Gargano Promontory and the Maiella Mountain, which now is part of the external Apennine thrust belt, are the only areas where the transition from platform facies to basin facies is exposed on land. In the Gargano area this transition has been investigated extensively in the last decade.Luperto Sinni and Masse (1987)Masse and Luperto Sinni (1989)Bosellini and Ferioli (1988)Bosellini A., Neri C., Luciani V. (1993). Guida ai carbonati cretaceo-eocenici di scarpata e bacino del Gargano (Italia meridionale). ''Università di Ferrara, Annali: Sezione Scienze della Terra, supplemento'' 4: 1–77.Bosellini A., Neri C., Luciani V. (1993). Platform margin collapses and sequence stratigraphic organization of carbonate slopes: Cretaceous-Eocene, Gargano Promontory, southern Italy. ''Terra Nova'' 5: 282–297.Bosellini A., Morsilli M. (1997). A Lower Cretaceous drowning unconformity on the eastern flank of the Apulia Platform (Gargano Promontory, southern Italy). ''Cretaceous Research'' 18: 51–61. Belfast.Morsilli M., Bosellini, A. (1997). Carbonate facies zonation of the Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous Apulia Platform margin (Gargano Promontory, southern Italy). ''Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia'' 103: 193–206. Since the mid-1960s

AGIP Agip (''Azienda Generale Italiana Petroli'', en, General Italian Oil Company) is an Italian automotive gasoline, diesel, LPG, lubricants, fuel oil, and bitumen retailer established in 1926. It has been a subsidiary of the multinational petroleu ...

geologists and the Italian Geological SurveyMartinis and Pavan (1967)Cremonini ''et al.''. (1971) recognized that the western part of the promontory is part of the shallow-water Apulia Platform, whereas the eastern part is characterized by slope and basinal deposits. The backbone of the Gargano Promontory consists of a thick pile (3000–3500 m) of Jurassic and Cretaceous shallow-water carbonates. A small outcrop of

Upper Triassic The Late Triassic is the third and final epoch of the Triassic Period in the geologic time scale, spanning the time between Ma and Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by the Middle Triassic Epoch and followed by the Early Jurassic Epoch. Th ...

evaporite An evaporite () is a water-soluble sedimentary mineral deposit that results from concentration and crystallization by evaporation from an aqueous solution. There are two types of evaporite deposits: marine, which can also be described as ocea ...

(Anidriti di

Burano Burano is an island in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy, near Torcello at the northern end of the lagoon, known for its lace work and brightly coloured homes. The primary economy is tourism. Geography Burano is from Venice, a 45-minute tr ...

) and black

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

is present on the northern seashore (Punta delle Pietre Nere). These rocks have been encountered also by wells Gargano-1 (G.1 -

Conoco Conoco Inc. ( ) was an American oil and gas company that operated from 1875 until 2002, when it merged with Phillips Petroleum to form ConocoPhillips. Founded by Isaac Elder Blake in 1875 as the "Continental Oil and Transportation Company". Curr ...

) and

Foresta Umbra Gargano (, Gargano Apulian Italo-Romance arˈgæːnə is a historical and geographical sub-region in the province of Foggia, Apulia, southeast Italy, consisting of a wide isolated mountain massif made of highland and several peaks and forming ...

-1 (F.U. - AGIP). The outcropping succession comprises

Upper Jurassic The Late Jurassic is the third epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time from 163.5 ± 1.0 to 145.0 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic strata.Owen 1987. In European lithostratigraphy, the name ...

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...

carbonate rocks representing platform-to-basin settings. Minor scattered outcrops of

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

sediments, unconformably overlying the Cretaceous and Jurassic platform, are present in many parts of the promontory, mainly along the lowland border zones (

Cagnano Varano Cagnano Varano ( Pugliese: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Foggia in the Apulia region of southeast Italy. It occupies a commanding position above the Lago di Varano, and is part of the Gargano National Park. The economy is mostly b ...

, Sannicandro,

Apricena Apricena ( Foggiano: ) is an Apulian town in the province of Foggia. It is from its provincial capital, Foggia, Italy and a few kilometres inland from the Adriatic Sea. This territory is mainly plain, cultivated with olives, cereals and wine. Th ...

Manfredonia Manfredonia is a town and commune of Apulia, Italy, in the province of Foggia, from which it is northeast by rail. Manfredonia is situated on the coast, facing east, to the south of Monte Gargano, and gives its name to the gulf to the east of i ...

), and also one site inland near

San Giovanni Rotondo San Giovanni Rotondo is the name of a town and ''comune'' in the province of Foggia and region of Apulia, in southern Italy. San Giovanni Rotondo was the home of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina from 28 July 1916 until his death on 23 September 1968. T ...

. On the basis of physical

stratigraphic Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithostrati ...

relationships and of the presence of evident bounding surfaces, the Jurassic-Eocene succession can be subdivided into six major packages of sediments, which can be classified as second-order depositional sequences. The lower three sequences (

Callovian In the geologic timescale, the Callovian is an age and stage in the Middle Jurassic, lasting between 166.1 ± 4.0 Ma (million years ago) and 163.5 ± 4.0 Ma. It is the last stage of the Middle Jurassic, following the Bathonian and preceding the ...

Albian The Albian is both an age of the geologic timescale and a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early/Lower Cretaceous Epoch/Series. Its approximate time range is 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma to 100.5 ± 0.9 M ...

) are represented by the entire spectrum of sediments from platform to slope and basin, and the younger ones (

Cenomanian The Cenomanian is, in the ICS' geological timescale, the oldest or earliest age of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or the lowest stage of the Upper Cretaceous Series. An age is a unit of geochronology; it is a unit of time; the stage is a unit in the s ...

Lutetian The Lutetian is, in the geologic timescale, a stage or age in the Eocene. It spans the time between . The Lutetian is preceded by the Ypresian and is followed by the Bartonian. Together with the Bartonian it is sometimes referred to as the Midd ...

) largely by slope and basin deposits. Probably the most typical and significant feature of the Gargano slope and basin setting is the presence of huge mega

breccia Breccia () is a rock composed of large angular broken fragments of minerals or rocks cemented together by a fine-grained matrix. The word has its origins in the Italian language, in which it means "rubble". A breccia may have a variety of di ...

bodies which, in terms of sequence stratigraphic terminology, can be interpreted as typical lowstand wedges.Sarg (1988)

Notes

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References

* Bracco Gartner G., Morsilli M., Schlager W., Bosellini A. (2002). Toe-of-slope of a Cretaceous carbonate platform in outcrop, seismic model and offshore seismic data (Apulia, Italy). ''International Journal of Earth Science (Geologische Rundschau)'' 91: 315–330. Berlin. * Luciani V., Cobianchi M., Jenkyns H.C. (2004). Albian high-resolution biostratigraphy and isotope stratigraphy: The Coppa della Nuvola pelagic succession of the Gargano Promontory (Southern Italy). ''Eclogae geol. Helv.'' 97: 77–92. Basel. * Morsilli M., de Cosmo P.D., Luciani V., Bosellini A. (2003). ''Late Santonian partial drowning of the Apulia Carbonate Platform (Gargano Promontory, southern Italy): new data for paleogeographic reconstructions''. 22nd I.A.S. Regional Meeting. Opatija, Croatia. Abstract Book, 135. * Morsilli M., Rusciadelli G., Bosellini A. (2004). ''The Apulia carbonate platform-margin and slope, Late Jurassic to Eocene of the Maiella Mt. and Gargano Promontory: physical stratigraphy and architecture. Field Trip Guide Book'' - P18. 32nd International Geological Congress, Florence, Italy; 44 pp. A.P.A.T, Roma. Geography of Apulia