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Facies (2007) 53:389–400
DOI 10.1007/s10347-007-0115-3
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Depositional environment and biofacies characterisation
of the Triassic (Carnian to Rhaetian) carbonate succession
of Punta Bassano (Marettimo Island, Sicily)
Rossana Martini · Simonetta Cirilli · Céline Saurer ·
Benedetto Abate · Gaetano Ferruzza ·
Giovanna Lo Cicero
Received: 26 October 2006 / Accepted: 24 May 2007 / Published online: 15 June 2007
© Springer-Verlag 2007
Abstract The aims of this study are to reconstruct the ern margin of the European Plate, displaced over a longer
geological setting of the Punta Bassano series (Marettimo distance to become part of the other Egadi Islands, when
Island, Egadi Archipelago, western Sicily) and its palaeog- the Corso-Sarde block made its rotation and successive
eographic evolution. The reference section for the Upper collision with the North African Margin.
Triassic of Marettimo shows an alternation of marl and
limestone beds together with brecciated levels. The lime- Keywords Upper Triassic · Sedimentology ·
stones are both homogeneous mudstones with evaporite Foraminifers · Ostracods · Palynomorphs ·
pseudomorphs and laminated with fenestrae. Foraminiferal, Palaeogeography · Sicily · Marettimo Island
palynomorph, and ostracod associations constrain the Punta
Bassano sequence to the Carnian-Rhaetian interval. The Introduction and geological setting
Punta Bassano succession represents a shallow inner ramp,
ranging from open-marine environment with good water The Egadi Archipelago, and thus Marettimo Island (west-
circulation to lagoonal and peritidal protected environ- ern Sicily), are located on the mega-suture between the
ments. Freshwater input from rivers or groundwater on the African and the European lithospheric plates and represent
carbonate ramp is indicated by the ostracod microfauna. remnants of an old submarine orogenic belt linking the
The comparison of facies and microfauna with those from Apennine-Maghrebian and the Sicilian mountain chains
other sequences of the Mediterranean Upper Triassic (Pyre- (Fig. 1). The Apennine-Maghrebide chain, as a whole, is
nees, Corsica, Sardinia, and Tunisia) allows us to conWne characterised by the superposition of two major units that
the Punta Bassano sedimentation to the northern margin of conWgured a regional west-dipping thrust system with an
the Tethys, between the Corsican and the Pyrenean deposi- east-verging duplex structure, separated by a low angle
tional setting. These new results indicate that Marettimo fault.
Island, which is considered a single structural element
being formed by four tectonic units, is a piece of the south- The Sicilian chain, of which Marettimo represents the
westernmost area, includes the Trapani, Palermo, and
R. Martini (&) · C. Saurer Peloritani Mountains, from west to east, respectively.
Department of Geology and Palaeontology, These mountains are composed of a Meso-Cenozoic
University of Geneva, 13, Rue des Maraîchers, stratigraphic succession belonging to the external domain,
1205 Geneva, Switzerland mainly accumulated along the Adria-Africa passive conti-
e-mail: Rossana.Martini@terre.unige.ch nental margin. The oldest deposits, representing a long
Late Triassic depositional phase of evaporitic to restricted-
S. Cirilli marine environments, directly onlap Permian continental
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, University of Perugia, deposits (Elter et al. 2003). The marked deformation
Piazza Università, 06100 Perugia, Italy which aVected this succession began during the Middle to
Late Miocene. From the Late Miocene, the geometry of
B. Abate · G. Ferruzza · G. Lo Cicero the thrust belt was strongly modiWed by several processes
Dipartimento di Geologia e Geodesia, University of Palermo,
Via ArchiraW 22, 90123 Palermo, Italy
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