Preliminary ichnological observations on the Trubi Formation (Lower–Middle Pliocene) near the village of Palizzi Marina (southern Ionian Calabria)

Caruso C. (*), Sonnino M. (*) & Uchman A. (**)
(*) Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi della Calabria, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende (CS), Italy. E-mail: claudia.caruso@unical.it; m.sonnino@unical.it (**) Institute of Geological Sciences, Jagiellonian University, 30-063 Kraków, Poland. E-mail: alfred.uchman@uj.edu.pl

Alongside the central and southern Ionian Calabria, a Pliocene (Zanclean – Piacenzian) sedimentary succession crops out more or less continuously. This succession, assimilated to the Sicilian Trubi Formation, is constituted by a rhythmic alternation of marls and limestones, these last very rich in planktonic and benthic foraminifers and in coccoliths. Near the village of Palizzi Marina (RC) one of the fairly well known Calabrian outcrops of this formation occurs. This paper describes the fi rst observations on the trace fossils recognized in the middle part of this sedimentary succession. The ichnoassemblage belongs to the Zoophycos ichnofacies, confirming previous studies which proposed an open marine slope-basin depositional paleoenvironment, at a depth of 800-1000 m, inferred on the basis of planktonic and benthic foraminifers.

ichnofossils, Trubi Fm, Pliocene, Calabria