Diana Barra

The environmental status of the Falerno-Domitio littoral, a sector of the Italian south coast (Campania region) locally affected by an extensive anthropic pressure and pollution, was assessed by a multi-disciplinary approach, consisting of geological vs. biological studies. Geochemical abundance of potentially hazardous trace metals in beach sands is mainly constrained by the nature of the source rocks. Geochemical data of marine sediment quality with regards to possible heavy metal pollution and the enrichment factors of selected potentially toxic metals show that Cr and V values are higher in marine samples than in natural sources, suggesting that they are, at least in part, of anthropic derivation. A relationship between meiobenthos and heavy metals (Cr, Co, and V) has been also observed, providing a valuable biological marker to human-deriving chemical pollution. Ecotoxicological analyses confirm a relationship between enrichment in selected metals and moderate toxicity of some sea-bottom sediments closer to the coastline.

A multidisciplinary survey was carried out on the quality of water and sediments of a coastal protected marine area, embedded between the inputs from Bagnoli steel plant to the south and a sewage plant, Volturno River and Regi Lagni channel to the north. The study integrated chemical-sedimentological data with biological and ecotoxicological analyses to assess anthropogenic pressures and natural variability. Data reveal marked differences in anthropogenic pollution between southeastern and northwestern zone, with the north affected by both inorganic and organic flows and the south influenced by levels of As, Pb and Zn in the sediments above law limits, deriving from inputs of the Bagnoli brownfield site. Meiobenthic data revealed at south higher relative abundance of sensitive species to pollution and environmental stress to the south, i.e. Lobatula lobatula and Rosalina bradyi, whereas to the north relative abundance of stress tolerant Quinqueloculina lata, Quinqueloculina pygmaea and Cribroelphidium cuvilleri were determined.

Detailed micropalaeontological and petrochemical analyses of rock samples from two boreholes drilled at the archaeological excavations of Herculaneum, ~7km west of the Somma–Vesuvius crater, allowed reconstruction of the Late Quaternary palaeoenvironmental evolution of the site. The data provide clear evidence for ground uplift movements involving the studied area. The Holocenic sedimentary sequence on which the archaeological remains of Herculaneum rest

The shallow marine new genus Gerdella (type species Elofsonella perpignanensis Carbonnel 1982) pertaining to the family Hemicytheridae, subfamily Hemicytherinae, is described and illustrated from Recent sediments of Gabés (Tunisia). Two other species pertain to the proposed new genus: G. perfecta (Maybury & Whatley, 1986) fron the same sample and ?Mutilus sp. 1 Nascimento, 1988 from the Serravallian of Portugal.

The occurrence of the genus Tanzanicythere Ahmad, 1977, represented by T. levantina n. sp. here described and illustrated, is cited for the first time from the Mediterranean basin. The new species has been found in the Upper Tortonian sediments of Greece, from a shallow marine environments, not deeper than 30-40 m.

The systematics and distribution of the genus Argilloecia Sars, 1866 has been studied in the Pliocene - Early Pleistocene Section of M. San Nicola (Gela, Sicily). The genus is represented by 10 species, 7 of which are proposed as new, that is Argilloecia bensoni sp. nov., A. fatua sp. nov., A. gonzalezi sp. nov., A. pseudoreticulata sp. nov., A. spissa sp. nov., A. subtilis sp. nov., and A. trapezium sp. nov.

Anchistrocheles interrupta n. sp. is described and illustrated. The generic attribution is discussed with the comparison of the characters of the carapace with those of the closely related genera Bythocypris Brady, 1880, Zabythocypris Maddocks, 1969 and Pussella Danielopol, 1973. The new species shows a stratigraphic distribution restricted to the Plio-Pleistocene of the Mediterranean. In Atlantic its first occurrence is recorded in the Late Tortonian.

The genus Krithe has been studied in the section of Monte S. Nicola (Sicily) represented by the top few meters of the Trubi and the overlying Monte Narbone Formations. The section represents the Pliocene from M Pl 3 up to the Early Pleistocene. Thirteen species of Krithe have been identified, 7 of which are described as new.

ABSTRACT - The results of palaeontological analyses carried out on foraminifers, molluscs and ostracods from a 15 m thick core (MBS3), drilled offshore in the Trigno River mouth area (northern sector of the Molise Adriatic coast), ca. 200 m from the present coastline, are reported. Four main lithostratigraphic units were recognised in the core. At the bottom, 1.8 m thick, barren gravels (unit A), are present. Grey clays (unit B), 1.5 m thick, containing freshwater and terrestrial molluscs, freshwater ostracods and reworked marine foraminifers and ostracods, overlay unit A. Brown silty clays (unit C), 2.7 m thick, containing marine foraminifers and ostracods, rare marine molluscs, and subordinate freshwater ostracods, follow. The core is closed up by brown sands (unit D), 9 m thick, recording the dominance of marine foraminifers, molluscs and ostracods. Chronological constraints for the studied sedimentary succession are based on AMS (Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) radiocarbon dating...

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An integrated micropaleontological, geochemical and mineralogical study has been performed across the mid-Pleistocene sapropel 19 (i-cycle 90) from the Montalbano Jonico land section (southern Italy), to reconstruct the paleoenvironmental conditions at time of its formation. The sapropel interval is characterized by two oxygen depletion phases (phase A and C) interrupted by a temporary re-oxygenation interval (phase B). The beginning and the end of sapropel deposition are dated at 957±0.81 kyr and 950±0.86 kyr respectively. The ...