UNIPA Springer Series Luca Basilone Lithostratigraphy of Sicily UNIPA Springer Series Editor-in-chief Carlo Amenta, Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy Series editors Sebastiano Bavetta, Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy Calogero Caruso, Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy Gioacchino Lavanco, Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy Bruno Maresca, Università di Salerno, Fisciano, Italy AndreasÖchsner,GriffithSchoolofEngineering,SouthportQueensland,Australia Mariacristina Piva, Università Cattolica Sacro Cuore, Piacenza, Italy Roberto Pozzi Mucelli, Policlinico G.B.Rossi, Verona, Italy Antonio Restivo, Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy Norbert M. Seel, University of Freiburg, Germany, Germany Gaspare Viviani, Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13175 Luca Basilone Lithostratigraphy of Sicily 123 Luca Basilone University of Palermo Palermo Italy ISSN 2366-7516 ISSN 2366-7524 (electronic) UNIPA SpringerSeries ISBN978-3-319-73941-0 ISBN978-3-319-73942-7 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73942-7 LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2017963855 ©SpringerInternationalPublishingAG,partofSpringerNature2018 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpart of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission orinformationstorageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilar methodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped. 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Printedonacid-freepaper ThisSpringerimprintispublishedbytheregisteredcompanySpringerInternationalPublishingAGpart ofSpringerNature Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:Gewerbestrasse11,6330Cham,Switzerland Foreword The extended, well-documented and richly illustrated monograph dedicated to Lithostratigraphy of Sicily, written by Luca Basilone from the University of Palermo,deservesaspecialpresentation.Itdisplaystheresultsofovertenyearsof fieldworkcarriedoutunder theexpert andcareful guidanceofRaimondoCatalano and from related detailed sedimentologic, micropaleontologic and microfacies analysis.Theworkispertinentinparticulartoseveralgeologicalsheetsofthenew geologic map at the scale 1:50,000 of the Italian CARG project, but it has a much broader context, that extends well beyond the sheets boundaries. Indeed, Sicily, the largest island of the Mediterranean, is situated just in the middle of this small ocean basin that is surrounded and crossed by a series of mountain ranges created during the Alpine orogeny. In terms of plate tectonics, Sicily is dissected by a W-E-directed plate boundary that separates the two major plates Eurasia and Africa, the latter subject to a counterclockwise rotation. Collisional mountain ranges are developed on the northern border of the island and terminate towards ENE with the Peloritani Mountains (Calabrian arc with a metamorphicbasalunit).Westward,thecomplexchainisSSEvergentanddisplays a thickness of up to 15 km. Three units are distinguished, as follows: Peloritani units, Sicilidi units and Maghrebian units. The collision is related to the Alpine orogeny and is Paleogene–Miocene in age. The western Mediterranean (remnant of the Mesozoic Tethys) was entirely consumed (“lost ocean”) after the Alpine orogeny,andtheBalearicbasinwascreatedbythecounterclockwiserotationofthe Corsica/Sardinia block. This happened in late Oligocene/early Miocene time. The counterclockwise rotation of the Italian peninsula initiated during the Messinian salinity crisis and is still active today. But well before the conceptual model of plate tectonics was formulated in the late 1960s of last century, the rich fossil faunas of various ages attracted the attention of local palaeontologists, first of all Gemmellaro (from 1872). The exis- tenceofthehighestactivevolcanoinEuropewasanotherstrongattractionofSicily v vi Foreword forgeologistsandvolcanologistsevenintheearlydaysofscience.Finally,mining geology with special reference to the exploitation of the Gessoso–Solfifera Formation played an important role starting from the second half of the eighteenth century(Mottura,1871,Baldacci,1886)and,morerecently,aredocumentedbythe prominent work of Ogniben (1957) and Decima (1975). Oil exploration started in Sicily during World War II, soon after the American troopsdisembarkednearGelaon10July1943.Gelaprovedtobeanimportantoil field, and the influence of Hollis Hedberg, who was vice-chair of Gulf Oil Co. at that time, is strongly felt in the modern, practical approach to lithostratigraphy (Schmidt di Friedberg, 1964–65), predating the publication of the International Guide of Stratigraphic Nomenclature. Meanwhile, structural geologists concen- trated their efforts in deciphering the northern chains (Broquet, Mascle, Caflisch) where richly fossiliferous Mesozoic successions are exposed and document important facies changes. A new interest in Sicilian geology derived from the first deep-sea exploration of the Mediterranean by the R/V GLOMAR CHALLENGER in 1970 and the unexpected discovery that evaporites quite similar to those outcropping in Sicily (Gessoso–Solfifera Formation) were present in the sub-bottom of the Balearic, Tyrrhenian,IonianandLevantinebasin,directlyunderlyingtheTrubiformation.As afollow-up ofthediscovery,aconceptualmodel fora deep-seadesiccation model was formulated and the “Messinian salinity crisis” became a major subject of multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, high-resolution multinational researches that greatly contributed to improve the late Neogene stratigraphy notwithstanding the inherent difficulties deriving from the complicated geodynamic situation. Indeed, the investigations carried out on the outcrops bordering the Sicily channel from Capo Bianco through Capo Rossello to Falconara and Gela originated astrocy- clostratigraphy (of Hilgen, 1991 and the Utrecht school) and are considered the template for the Pliocene timescale (MB. Cita and colleagues). But some aspects of the model (s) are still controversial, after over forty years and over 1000 pub- lications, as the role and precise location of the sills separating the various sub- basins,thetimingofthedesiccationphase,thespeedofthefinalfilling,thesource of the “lago mare”. In the monograph compiled by Luca Basilone 71 formations are described, of which43havealreadybeenformalized.Tenareemendedinthepresentpaper,and ten more are proposed as new. The seven sinthems follow the usage adopted by CARG for the sediments that represent the youngest deposits that cover the sub- strate,arenon-marineinorigin,areusuallyunfossiliferousandthusdifficulttodate (as alluvial fan, beach rock, cemented debris, eluvial deposits). Sinthems in prin- ciple should be bounded by erosional surfaces of regional significance. Foreword vii The lithostratigraphy of the Sicilian rocks described by Luca Basilone is based onoutcropsandalsoonsubsurfacedataderivedbyboreholestratigraphycalibrated by the interpretation of seismic reflection profiles. The monograph is open to new and future integrations useful to improve our knowledge of the Sicilian geology. Milan, Italy Maria Bianca Cita Emeritus Professor of Geology, University of Milan; President of the Italian Commission on Stratigraphy (CIS) References BaldacciL(1886)Descrizionegeologicadell’IsoladiSicilia.MemDescr,CartaGeolD’Ital,1:408 pp(10tavv,37figg,1cartaGeol1:100.000,Roma) DecimaA(1975)ConsiderazionipreliminarisulladistribuzionedelbromonellaformazioneSalina dellaSiciliameridionale.Abstractin:MessinianSeminar,Oct1975,Erice,Sicily GemmellaroGG(1872–82)SopraalcunefaunegiuresieliassichedellaSicilia.AttiAccad.Lincei, 12:451–472 Gemmellaro GG (1878) Sui fossili del calcare cristallino delle Montagne del Casale e di BellolamponellaProvinciadiPalermo.Palermo1872–1882 Gemellaro GG (1880) Sul Trias della regione occidentale di Sicilia. Atti R Acc dei Lincei XII (III):25inTav.Roma GemmellaroGG(1886)SuglistraticonLeptaenanelLiassuperiorediSicilia.BollRComGeol d’Id,annoXVII,ser.II,vol7,n56:pp.156–170;n9–10,pp341–159(tav2,figg.2,Roma) Gemmellaro GG (1887–99) La fauna dei calcari con Fusulina della valle del fiume Sosio nella provinciadiPalermo(1888).GiornScNatEcon20:26,Palermo;(1888),ibid,v.20,85pp.; (1892), Boll Soc Sc.Nat Econ,n. 1, Palermo; (1892), ibid,, n. 2; (1892), ibid, n. 3; (1893), ibid,,n.1,(1894),ibid,n.1;(1895),GiornSc.NatEton,v.21,47pp,Palermo;(1896),ibid, v.21,9pp.;(1898),AttiR.Acc.Lincei,Rend.Cl.Sc.Fis.Mat.Nat,s,5,v.7,3pp,Roma; (1899),GiornSc.NatEcon,v.22:117pp,Palermo GemmellaroGG(1902)SulrinvenimentodiunteschiodiSquadolontenelcalcarebituminosodi Ragusa.AttiRAccdeiLinceiRendClScFisMatNatXI(Ser5),fasc.1,2sem.Roma Gemmellaro GG (1904) I cefalopodi del Trias superiore nella regione occidentale della Sicilia. GiornSciNatEcon24:314pp Hilgen FJ (1991) Extension of the astronomically calibrated (polarity) time scale to the Miocene/Plioceneboundary.EarthPlanSciLett107:349–368(Amsterdam) MotturaS(1871)SullaformazioneterziariadellazonasolfiferadellaSicilia.Memperservirealla descr.dellaCartaGeologicad’Italia,MemR.Com.Geold’ItalI:50–140,4tavv.Firenze Ogniben L (1957) Petrografia della serie solfifera siciliana e considerazioni geologiche relative. MemDescrCartaGeold’Ital33:1–276,100figg,Roma SchmidtdiFriedbergP(1964–65)LitostratigrafiapetroliferadellaSicilia.RivMinSicn°88–90, n°91–93:80pp,Palermo Preface ThepaperintroducesthefundamentalsofthelithostratigraphyofSicily,asacquired from recent researches. This note aimsatillustrating stratigraphic terminology, the geological lexicon and the main stratigraphic subdivisions that are not familiar to Sicilian geologists. Theworkcarriedoutconsistsinaseriesofsheetsdescribingthemainfeaturesof Sicilianlithostratigraphicunits.Eachofthe77worksheetsdescribesthelithological characteristics, sedimentological and laboratory features, thickness, depositional environments and regional geographic distribution of the Sicilian formations according to the standard stratigraphic procedure and nomenclature rules provided by the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). Most of the many previously defined formations are revised and amended here, andseveralnewformationsareproposedfortheirformalization.Thesevensystems follow the usage adopted by Carg for the sediments that represent the youngest continental and marine deposits that cover the substrate that are bounded by ero- sional surfaces of regional significance. The description of the units is based on data collected during recent years through the analysis of several sedimentary successions outcropping in Sicily and by the reinterpretation of hydrocarbon exploration well logs. Lithostratigraphic methods, facies analysis and physical stratigraphy accompanied by biostratigraphy and numerical age-dating coming from the literature have been used to define the outcroppingcarbonateandterrigenousrockbodies.Theacquisitionandelaboration ofthestratigraphicdatahavebeenalsointegratedwithinformationobtainedfroma carefulreviewofliteratureexistingonstratigraphy,lithostratigraphy,palaeontology and tectonics since the late nineteenth century. In the present paper, the rocks outcropping along the large belt extending from theNorthtotheSouthofSicily,asrepresentedinthelarge-scalefieldmapprovided in Fig. 1.1, are schematically illustrated. A general background feature has been summarized based on the recently available stratigraphy of the Sicilian Fold and Thrust Belt (FTB) and its foreland and is illustrated in the schematic diagrams of Figs. 1.6, 1.7, 2.1, 2.2, 2.7, 2.22 and 2.72, which show the lateral (heteropic)- to-vertical relationships of the Permo-Triassic clastics, the Mesozoic–Paleogene ix x Preface carbonates and the Miocene–Pleistocene clastic–evaporite–carbonate deposits. These schemes are supported by recent biostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic studies developed in Sicily. Furthermore, a conceptual scheme (Fig. 2.97) that shows the geometric relationships of the Quaternary marine and continental deposits,recentlydefinedasunconformity-boundedstratigraphicunits(UBSUs),is also presented. Sicilian successions consist of carbonate and clastic deposits spanning the Permian-to-Quaternary time interval and can be subdivided into two main rock assemblages. The Palaeozoic-to-Palaeogene clastics and carbonates represent the sedimentary cover of the original ancient passive continental margin (i.e. African margin) of the “Mesozoic Tethyan realm”. After the detachment from their base- ment, the geological bodies were deformed and are, at present, exposed in the Sicilian FTB to form a stack of tectonic units. The Miocene-to-Pleistocene rocks assemblage, consisting of clastic, evaporite and carbonate deposits, represent the sedimentary cover of the thrust-top basins developing during the orogeny phases and forming the present Alpine collisional continental margin. Finally, the Pleistocene–Holocene rocks assemblage, consisting of marine and continental deposits, fills the basins that are mostly located in the northern Sicily coastal belt anditsoffshore.Theywereformedinanextensionalregimerelatedtotheopening of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Palermo, Italy Luca Basilone