Pliocene-pleistocene foraminiferal assemblages of north-eastern Sicily: analysis of recent data.

An analysis of the last data on Pliocene-Pleistocene Foraminifera from north-eastern Sicilian sections is here presented. The sedimentary succession is characterized by gaps and reworking mainly during the Late Pliocene and seems strongly controlled by tectonic activity. Foraminiferal assemblages deposited in the upper epibathyal paleoenvironment during the MP1 2 Zone (Globorotalia margaritae) of Early Pliocene age. Open marine conditions can be detected at Serro, Rometta area and Villafranca (Trubi marls), whereas at Capo Milazzo more terrigenous, coarse marls suggest a paleoenvironment closer to the coast. Erosional processes and reworking of older Pliocene sediments are dated to the Late Pliocene MP1 5 zonal interval (Globigerinoides elongatus): yellow epibathyal marls with Globorotalia bononiensis and abundant reworked faunas outcrop in the surrounding of Rometta and at Capo Milazzo. Different paleoenvironments and facies characterize the upperrmost Pliocene and the lower Pleistocene; debris-flows, sands and biocalcarenites seem related to a tectonic uplift of the eastern localities (Serro, Rometta, Villafranca), Upper epibathyal marls end the marine succession in this area. On the contrary, the epibathyal sedimentation seems to be continue in the northern part of Capo Milazzo from Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene. There, the depth shallowing seems to begin only later and Tyrrhenian inner neritic sediments are preserved in the upper pan of the outcrops