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ARTICLE IN PRESS 33

L. Ferranti et al. / Quaternary International 145– 146 (2006) 30–54

Uncertainty surrounds the biostratigraphic duration The lithologic setting of the coast controls the
of S. bubonius in the Western Mediterranean (e.g. development and preservation of the MIS 5.5 markers.
Hillaire-Marcel et al., 1996; Zazo et al., 1999), but in The Tyrrhenian, Sardinian and southern Adriatic coasts
the central Mediterranean the fossil was only attributed are mostly rocky promontories (Fig. 3), where erosio-
to the MIS 5.5 highstand. In Italy, the occurrence of nal\chemical markers (notches, Table 1) were preserved.
S. bubonius is restricted to the coasts of the Tyrrhenian Loose or weakly cemented Neogene rocks form the
and Jonian ( ¼ Ionian in English language publications) central-northern Adriatic coastline and the coastal
Sea to the east and southwest, whereas it was not found plains of the Tyrrhenian Sea, and, consequently, MIS
at the Adriatic Sea coast (Fig. 3). Thus, different 5.5 markers are poorly preserved.
palaeoceanographic conditions occurred between the
Adriatic and the Tyrrhenian–Jonian Sea (e.g. Selli et al., The determination of the sea-level position during the
1979) involving either one or a combination of SST Last Interglacial is not straightforward. Due to different
(Capotondi, 2004), deep cool water production and effects of glacio and hydro-isostasy associated with
upwelling. water volume transfer between ice sheets and oceanic
waters (Esat et al., 1999; Potter and Lambeck, 2004), the

Fig. 3. Distribution of MIS 5.5 marine deposits bearing S. bubonius LMK, or Senegalaise fauna plotted on a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of
Italy. A qualitative estimation of the site abundance of Strombus bubonius specimens is indicated by the different dot fill. The black and pink lines
indicate the present-day and the MIS 5.5 highstand shoreline, respectively.