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2. Mart´ın et al. (2004) investigated temperate carbonate sedimentation in an embayment in Spain.
Storm-related winds provided sediments transported by longshore currents. The steep slope of the
basin, together with the rising sea level of the Lower Pliocene resulted in large longitudinal foresets.
In this case however the system builds out towards the centre of the embayment, and not towards
the open sea.

3. Hansen (1999) describes comparable bioclastic sequences in the Lower Pleistocene of Rhodes, Greece.
This research interpreted the units as being deposited during a relative sea level fall. Again, roughly
the same depositional system as suggested by Massari & Chiocci (2006) is given.

4. In the strait of Messina (northeastern Sicily), a mixture of siliciclastic and bioclastic sediments is
deposited on the shelf (Di Stefano & Longhitano, 2009). Like on Favignana, Lower and Middle
Pleistocene sediments are deposited on top of the Trubi Formation. They provide two depositional
models, both showing a system that builds out towards the sea. Similarities to Favignana that are
not addressed by the other research projects are the erosive channels that are observed here. They
are interpreted as being caused by downwelling storm-driven currents.

5. Pedley & Grasso (2002) describe the interaction between sea level and cool-water carbonate sediments.
There are similarities between this research and an investigation by D’Angelo & Vernuccio (1996),
which will be used later to elaborate on the influence of eustatic and tectonic processes on the
area of Favignana and western Sicily. These sediments are also uplifted considerably since their
deposition.

6. Pomar & Tropeano (2001) investigated the calcarenite di Gravina in the Basilicata region, southern
Italy. Again, storm-driven currents are interpreted as the cause for sediment avalanches to occur on
the depositional slope. Different terraces are deposited on top of each other as a result of sea level
fluctuations.

Almost all the bioclastic systems of the Plio- and Pleistocene as described above build out towards
the open sea, with the exception of the system investigated by Mart´ın et al. (2004). The Favignana
calcarenite prograded to the south-southeast, which is more or less towards the mainland of Sicily. In the
Mediterranean this has not yet been reported, making eastern Favignana unique for this area. The reason
for this different behaviour of the calcarenite deposition compared to the rest of the Mediterranean is
unknown. A possible explanation is the existence of a topographic low — like a channel — in which a
system can prograde.

The thickness of the Lower Pleistocene between the islands of Favignana and Levanzo — locally 600
milliseconds in a seismic survey (D’Angelo et al., 2005) — suggests the presence of a channel or depression
in which a wedge can build out. Figure 7.2 shows an isopach map of the part of the archipelago just west
of the fieldwork area. The channel mentioned before is clearly visible on the map, with an orientation of
the longest axis that corresponds more or less to the main transport direction to the south-southeast. At

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