Stratigraphy of the mid-Cretaceous shallow-water limestones of the Apulia Carbonate Platform (Murge, Apulia, southern Italy)

The geological mapping of the 438 Sheet «Bari» (scale 1:50.000),located in the northern part of the Murge area (Apulia, southern Italy), offered the opportunity to revise the local stratigraphy of the mid-Cretaceous carbonate succession belonging to the Calcare di Bari Fm. Despite the flat topography, the strong urbanization and a widespread cover of «terra rossa» soils prevented the study of a continuous and undisturbed succession, several fragmentary lithostratigraphic and biostratigraphic data have been collected and correlated along many stratigraphic sections. This correlation allowed us to reconstruct a 470 m-thick composite section mostly made up of mud-supported shallow-water limestones and dolomites. This thickness is considerably lower than about 1000 m estimated before in the same area for the same time interval. In agreement with the previous edition of the Geologic Map of Italy few stratigraphic intervals showing a rich content in rudist assemblages and an interval of dolomitic breccias have been used as reference layers and successfully used for lithostratigraphic correlations. New biostratigraphic data show the first record of «primitive» orbitolinid assemblages and other important index taxa which refer the lower and the middle part of the studied succession to the Albian in disagreement with the previous attribution to the Cenomania