The late Pleistocene marine deposits of Torre Castiglione (Southern Italy)

Abstract

Three distinct late-Pleistocene marine levels, two of which previously dated with the Th²³⁰/U²³⁴ ratio, are described. They are located at 40° 17' northern latitude along the Ionian coast of the Salentine Peninsula (Puglia). The oldest level consists of bioclastic algal limestone, grading laterally into yellowish calcarenites with Cladocora coespitosa in growth position. They date back to more than 350,000 years B.P. Transgressively over the jellowish calcarenites lies a thin deposit of organogenic limestone, with a rich fauna where Strombus bubonius, aged 156,000 years B.P., is also found. This level is attributed to the Eutyrrhenian. The latest marine sediment, overlying the limestones with Strombus, represents the Neotyrrhenian. It consists of a breccia with coarse elements of the preceding units, cemented through calcarenite or coquina of a reddish colour. Post-Eutyrrhenian tectonics result from the differences in heights of the maximum transgression, both of the pre-Eu and of the Eutyrrhenian deposits, along the stretch from Taranto to Torre Castiglione.