| 1. |
- Coccioni, Rodolfo, et al.
(author)
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Integrated stratigraphy of the Lutetian-Priabonian pelagic section at Bottaccione (Gubbio, central Italy) : A proposal for defining and positioning the Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the base of the Bartonian Stage (Paleogene System, Eocene Series)
- 2022
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In: From the Guajira Desert to the Apennines, and from Mediterranean Microplates to the Mexican Killer Asteroid : Honoring the Career of Walter Alvarez - Honoring the Career of Walter Alvarez. - : Geological Society of America. - 0072-1077. - 9780813795577 - 9780813725574 ; 557
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- At present, the Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the base of the Bartonian remains the only GSSP of the Paleogene System to be defined by the International Subcommission on Paleogene Stratigraphy (ISPS) and the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). Here, we present the results of an integrated, high-resolution study of calcareous plankton and benthic foraminifera biostratigraphy and a detailed magneto-, chemo-, and cyclostratigraphic analyses carried out through the upper Lutetian to the upper Priabonian pelagic sediments of the Bottaccione Gorge section near Gubbio, central Italy, to check its stratigraphic completeness and constrain in time the optimal interval for defining and positioning the GSSP for the base of the Bartonian Stage. The high-resolution and solid integrated stratigraphic framework established at Bottaccione confirmed the completeness of the section, which meets the ICS recommendations for a potential designation as a GSSP for the base of the Bartonian Stage. Thus, the Bottaccione section was compared with the parastratotype section of the Bartonian in its type area, Alum Bay, UK. On this basis, two reliable criteria for defining and positioning the Bartonian GSSP at Bottaccione are provided: (1) the base of magnetic polarity chronozone C18r as the primary correlation criterion and (2) the base of the calcareous nannofossil Dictyococcites bisectus, which defines the CNE14/CNE15 zonal boundary as a secondary correlation criterion.
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| 2. |
- Aguirre-Palafox, Erick Luis, et al.
(author)
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Zircon provenance analysis from Lower Paleocene pelagic limestones of the Bottaccione section at Gubbio (Umbria-Marche basin, Italy)
- 2019
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In: Geological Society of America. Special Papers. - : Geological Society of America. - 0072-1077. ; 542
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Dating detrital zircon grains from sands and sandstones has become an important geological technique for determining sediment provenance and dispersal patterns. Here, we report what we believe to be the first provenance study of zircon grains extracted by dissolving large samples of pelagic limestone. Our samples come from the Paleocene section of the Umbria-Marche Apennines, Italy. Recovery of these zircon grains was a fortunate by-product of a study on chromite grains aimed to determine the kinds of meteorites that have fallen on Earth through time. The zircons we recovered included both euhedral crystals interpreted as airborne ash from volcanic eruptions of the same age as the sediment in which they were found, and rounded grains interpreted as windblown detrital material with a history of sediment transport, probably derived from desert regions. This study focuses on the rounded grains, to provide constraints on the source region from which they came.Samples from five levels in the 12 m immediately above the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary at Gubbio, Italy, yielded detrital zircon grains with ages clustered in eight bands extending back to the Neoarchean. A previous study of this outcrop using proxies for the noncarbonate detrital content had suggested a source region for this dust either in North Africa or in Central Asia. A comparison of our dates from the actual dust grains to geochronological studies from the literature suggests source regions in North Africa and/or the Iberian Peninsula, rather than in Central Asia. In reaching this conclusion, we considered the orogenic events that may have produced each of the eight age bands, the specific source regions that may have supplied zircons from each age group, and the implications for paleoclimate (especially aridity) and paleowind conditions for the few million years just after the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Boschi, Samuele, et al.
(author)
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Distribution of chrome-spinel grains across the 3He anomaly of the Tortonian Stage at the Monte dei Corvi section, Italy
- 2019
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In: 250 Million Years of Earth History in Central Italy: Celebrating 25 Years of the Geological Observatory of Coldigioco. - : Geological Society of America. - 0072-1077. ; 542, s. 383-391
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Book chapter (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The present-day ocean-climate system configuration took shape during the Miocene Epoch. Toward the end of the epoch, in the late Tortonian at ca. 8.5 Ma, there was an exceptional event: collisional disruption of an >150-km-diameter asteroid, which created the Veritas family of asteroids in the asteroid belt. This event increased the flux of interplanetary dust particles rich in 3He to Earth and probably caused a period of increased dust in the atmosphere, with consequent alteration of global and local environmental conditions. A late Miocene 3He anomaly likely related to the Veritas event has been registered in deep-sea sediments from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 926 (Atlantic Ocean), ODP Site 757 (Indian Ocean), and in the late Tortonian–early Messinian Monte dei Corvi section near Ancona, Italy. Here, we report the results of a study in the Monte dei Corvi section aimed to recover extraterrestrial chrome-spinel grains across the 3He anomaly interval, as has been done for the similar late Eocene 3He anomaly in the nearby Massignano section. In this study, three ~100 kg samples were collected from the Monte dei Corvi section: two within the 3He peak interval and one outside the anomaly interval as a background reference sample. In total, 1151 chrome-spinel grains (>63 µm) were recovered, but based on chemical composition, none of the grains has a clear extraterrestrial origin. This supports the inference that the 3He anomaly is indeed related to the Veritas event and not to an approximately coeval breakup of a smaller H-chondritic body in the asteroid belt, an event registered in meteoritic cosmic-ray exposure ages. Spectral studies of the Veritas asteroids indicate that they are made up of carbonaceous chondritic material. Such meteorites generally have very low chrome-spinel concentrations in the grain-size range considered here, contrary to the very chromite-rich ordinary chondrites. The terrestrial grains recovered were classified, and their composition showed that all the grains have an ophiolitic origin with no substantial compositional and distributional change through the section. The source area of the terrestrial grains was probably the Dinarides orogen.
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| 5. |
- Boschi, Samuele, et al.
(author)
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Popigai impact ejecta layer and extraterrestrial spinels recovered in a new Italian location—The Monte Vaccaro section (Marche Apennines, Italy)
- 2019
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In: 250 Million Years of Earth History in Central Italy: Celebrating 25 Years of the Geological Observatory of Coldigioco. - : Geological Society of America. - 0072-1077. ; 542, s. 355-367
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Book chapter (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The Popigai (100 km in diameter) and the Chesapeake Bay (40–85 km diameter) impact structures formed within ~10–20 k.y. in the late Eocene during a 2 m.y. period with enhanced flux of 3He-rich interplanetary dust to Earth. Ejecta from the Siberian Popigai impact structure have been found in late Eocene marine sediments at numerous deep-sea drilling sites around the globe and also in a few marine sections outcropped on land, like the Massignano section near Ancona in Italy. In the Massignano section, the Popigai layer is associated with an iridium anomaly, shocked quartz, and abundant clinopyroxene-bearing (cpx) spherules, altered to smectite and flattened to “pancake spherules.” The ejecta are also associated with a significant enrichment of H-chondritic chromite grains (>63 µm), likely representing unmelted fragments of the impactor. The Massignano section also contains abundant terrestrial chrome-spinel grains, making reconstructions of the micrometeorite flux very difficult. We therefore searched for an alternative section that would be more useful for these types of studies. Here, we report the discovery of such a section, and also the first discovery of the Popigai ejecta in another locality in Italy, the Monte Vaccaro section, 90 km west of Ancona. The Monte Vaccaro section biostratigraphy was established based on calcareous nannoplankton, which allowed the identification of a sequence of distinct bioevents showing a good correlation with the Massignano section. In both the Monte Vaccaro and Massignano sections, the Popigai ejecta layer occurs in calcareous nannofossil zone CNE 19. The ejecta layer in the Monte Vaccaro section contains shocked quartz, abundant pancake spherules, and an iridium anomaly of 700 ppt, which is three times higher than the peak Ir measured in the ejecta layer at Massignano. In a 105-kg-size sample from just above the ejecta layer at Monte Vaccaro, we also found an enrichment of H-chondritic chromite grains. Because of its condensed nature and low content of terrestrial spinel grains, the Monte Vaccaro section holds great potential for reconstructions of the micrometeorite flux to Earth during the late Eocene using spinels.
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| 6. |
- DeVries-Zimmerman, Suzanne, et al.
(author)
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Sand in lakes and bogs in Allegan County, Michigan, as a proxy for eolian sand transport
- 2014
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In: Geological Society of America. Special Papers. - : Geological Society of America. - 0072-1077. ; 508, s. 111-131
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Accurately reconstructing the rate of movement and extent of eolian dunes over thousands of years is a challenging endeavor. In this paper, we refine the methodology for utilizing lakes and bogs downwind of dune fields as precise recorders of past eolian activity. Sediment cores from two Allegan County lakes and one bog associated with dunes were studied to evaluate the importance of the various sand transport pathways into lakes and bogs. Goshorn Lake's western edge directly abuts a large parabolic dune. Sand concentrations decrease in cores away from the dunes, possibly reflecting avalanching into the lake followed by sediment gravity flows along the lake bottom. Sand input from stream flow was minor. The Allegan Bog core records a fenemergent bog transition coincident with a decrease in the sand influx. Poorly understood shoreline processes may have contributed sand to the basin's center before the bog's emergence. Sand in Gilligan Lake cores is texturally similar to adjacent dune sand and the eolian activity history derived from this sand is nearly identical to the history derived from the dune's paleosols and optically stimulated luminescence ages. A proposed lake and bog sampling strategy includes choosing sites in the lee of large dunes edged with emergent vegetation and away from steep slopes or stream inlets. The lake's bathymetry should also be considered. Distinguishing between grain fall sedimentary structures and mass movement or sediment gravity flows is important. This strategy provides relatively high resolution, continuous eolian activity histories that can be correlated with paleoenvironmental proxies from the same cores.
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| 7. |
- Egenhoff, Sven O., et al.
(author)
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Sedimentology of SPICE (Steptoean positive carbon isotope excursion): A high-resolution trace fossil and microfabric analysis of the middle to late Cambrian Alum Shale Formation, southern Sweden
- 2015
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In: Geological Society of America. Special Papers. - : Geological Society of America. - 0072-1077. ; 515, s. 87-102
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Cambrian Alum Shale Formation in the Andrarum-3 core from Scania,southern Sweden, consists of black siliciclastic mudstone with minor carbonate intercalations. Four facies comprise three siliciclastic mudstones and one fine-grained carbonate. The facies reflect deposition along a transect from deep ramp to basin on a Cambrian shelf. The three mudstone facies contain abundant clay clasts and laterally variable siltstone laminae. Bed-load transport processes seem to have dominated deposition on this deep shelf. These sedimentary rocks record mainly event deposition, and only relatively few, thin laminae probably resulted from suspension settling. The Alum Shale Formation deep shelf did not show a bioturbation gradient, but fecal strings are common and Planolites burrows are rare in all mudstone facies. Evidence for biotic colonization indicates that this mudstone environment was not persistently anoxic, but rather was most likely intermittently dysoxic. The Alum Shale Formation in the Andrarum-3 core shows an overall decrease of grain size, preserved energy indicators, and carbonate content upsection interpreted to reflect a deepeningupward. The succession can also be divided into four small-scale fining-upwardcycles that represent deepening, and four overlying coarsening-upward cycles that represent upward shallowing.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Herrmann, Maria, et al.
(author)
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40Ar/39Ar age evidence for an impact-generated hydrothermal system in the Devonian Siljan crater, Sweden
- 2021
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In: Large Meteorite Impacts and Planetary Evolution VI. - : Geological Society of America. - 0072-1077. - 9780813795508 ; 550, s. 569-583
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Crater-forming events are generally followed by the development of hydrothermal systems due to the rapid heating of the target rock. Such hydrothermal systems are a feature of nearly all large terrestrial impact structures. For the Siljan impact structure in Sweden, there is evidence for such a fossil hydrothermal system, possibly triggered by the impact event ca. 380 Ma. To investigate the thermal regime of the near-surface hydrothermal activity of the Siljan crater, biotite and amphibole grains extracted from samples collected in a transect across the high-pressure regime recorded by the central uplift, as well as from distal localities outside the central uplift of the crater, were dated using the 40Ar/39Ar laser step-heating technique. Our results show that biotite from inside the central uplift, which was strongly altered to chlorite by low-temperature (200-340°C) hydrothermal reactions, yields strongly disturbed age spectra. The first and second (low laser power) step ages range from ca. 1300 to 190 Ma. In contrast, biotite from outside the central uplift and amphibole, irrespective of location inside or outside of the central uplift, are much less altered, which is reflected in less disturbed, near-flat age spectra. This result indicates that the hydrothermal temperatures inside the central uplift were >200°C, sufficient to disturb the K-Ar system of biotite during its chloritization, but too low to affect the amphibole (closure temperature of 480-580°C). In contrast, the temperature of the hydrothermal system outside of the central uplift was <200°C, as no significant reset of the K-Ar system can be observed in either biotite or amphibole. Our results are consistent with estimated trapping temperatures from fluid inclusion studies, which show a decrease from 327-342°C within the central uplift to 40-225°C toward outside the central uplift. We conclude that the near-surface hydrothermal system in the Siljan impact structure was an impact-triggered system. This system was strongly active, with its highest temperature inside the central uplift and decreasing rapidly toward the outlying part of the crater.
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| 10. |
- Lenaz, Davide, et al.
(author)
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Terrestrial Cr-spinels in the Maiolica limestone : Where are they from?
- 2019
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In: 250 Million Years of Earth History in Central Italy: Celebrating 25 Years of the Geological Observatory of Coldigioco. - : Geological Society of America. - 0072-1077. ; 542, s. 121-131
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In total, 33 and 65 chrome-spinel (Cr-spinel) grains in the >63 and 32–63 µm size fractions, respectively, were recovered from 12 beds in two stratigraphically separated groups along the 240-m-thick Monte Acuto section of the Maiolica limestone in central Italy, spanning from the Berriasian to the early Hauterivian. The chemistry of these detrital spinels suggests they may represent windblown ophiolitic detritus, showing the evolution of an ophiolite evolving from a mid-ocean-ridge basalt setting (Bosso section) to a suprasubduction-zone setting, including a backarc and an arc setting (Monte Acuto section). The source of the Maiolica detrital minerals may have been the obducting ophiolites of the Albanides and/or the Hellenides, which show a similar evolution. In this case, it is particularly important to note how the Cr-spinel detritus in the Maiolica limestone records this evolution over a relatively short period of time, lasting ~10 m.y.
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