The Toarcian Stage of the Early Jurassic experienced extreme global warming, marine anoxia, hydrological intensification, and enhanced continental weathering driven by carbon emissions. Low-latitude silicate weathering, a key climate regulator, is highly sensitive to climatic shifts, yet its response to Toarcian warming remains poorly understood. We present magnesium isotopes (δ26Mg) from carbonate-hosted silicates (acid-insoluble residues) in two geographically distinct, low-latitude carbonate platforms. Positive δ26Mg excursions, indicative of intensified continental weathering, are observed immediately following the Pliensbachian−Toarcian (Pl−To) boundary, temporally coincident with Karoo large igneous province (LIP) emplacement. δ26Mg values reached maxima during the onset interval of the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (T-OAE) negative carbon-isotope excursion (NCIE), temporally coincident with Ferrar LIP activity. The δ26Mg pattern suggests that carbon emissions around the Pl−To boundary time did not immediately induce maximum weathering. Rather, cumulative carbon emissions were required to surpass a critical tipping point just above the Pl−To NCIE, triggering a weathering intensification that culminated during the T-OAE NCIE onset interval. Our data, coupled with climate simulations using the Community Earth System Model, indicate that in tectonically inactive regions, elevated temperatures and extreme runoff caused severe soil stripping, exposing the underlying bedrock to intense chemical weathering.

Hydrogen is a fundamental electron donor in diverse microbial metabolisms and it is considered the energetic currency exchanged within microbial communities in anaerobic environments. Hydrogen is also the major actor in the transition to alternative low-carbon energy sources, primarily due to its dual role as energy source and energy carrier and to the production of water as a byproduct of its combustion. The geological storage of hydrogen gas produced from diverse sources in stable terrestrial reservoirs, known also as Underground Hydrogen Storage (UHS), is a key prerequisite to decouple production from utilization. UHS targets include depleted porous natural gas reservoirs, salt caverns and deep aquifers. Studies carried out in the past 30 years have unveiled a large subsurface ecosystem able to interact with the geochemical cycles and volatiles present in Earth’s crust. When hydrogen is stored underground, the microbial communities present in situ can interact with it, consuming it as electron donor, potentially producing undesired metabolic byproducts capable of affecting the success of UHS operations. Additionally, subsurface microbial communities might impact the geological production, migration and accumulation of hydrogen in natural reservoirs. Here, we review the current state of knowledge in hydrogenotrophic metabolisms capable of affecting UHS operations and natural hydrogen prospecting, and discuss how the microbiology of natural hydrogen-rich springs can be used as analog to model the state space of hydrogen operations. We discuss our current knowledge of the limits of life in the context of hydrogen economy, and the complex trophic network that hydrogen might sustain in the subsurface. While energy demands increase globally, the ability to effectively operate geological hydrogen storage and identify natural hydrogen deposits will become a key prerequisite to reduce the global carbon footprint. Understanding the potential for microbes to interact with hydrogen in the subsurface is therefore at the forefront of the ecological transition.

Following the end-Triassic biotic crisis, the first larger benthic foraminifera (LBF) emerged in shallow-water carbonate platforms of the Early Jurassic Tethys, during the Hettangian and Sinemurian. In inner-platform settings, these LBF frequently coexisted with large aberrant bivalves of the Lithiotis Facies, characterized by thick, gregarious accumulations. This study re-assesses the biostratigraphy of LBF and lithiotid bivalve faunas in a c. 200 m-thick Pliensbachian shallow-water sedimentary succession of the Rotzo Formation in the Trento Platform (Southern Alps, Italy). By integrating carbon and strontium isotope stratigraphy, we refine the chronostratigraphical framework for key LBF taxa that are widely used in Lower Jurassic carbonate platform biostratigraphy. Strontium isotope stratigraphy reveals that Orbitopsella primaeva first occurs in the lowermost Pliensbachian Jamesoni Zone, younger than the late Sinemurian age typically cited. Similarly, the last occurrence of Orbitopsella praecursor is in the lowermost upper Pliensbachian (early Margaritatus Zone), later than the traditionally accepted uppermost lower Pliensbachian. This study also constrains the timing of the appearance, development and demise of lithiotid bivalve associations in the Trento Platform. Lithioperna first appears in the lowermost Pliensbachian Jamesoni Zone, followed by Opisoma near the boundary between the Jamesoni and Ibex zones. Higher in the succession, Lithiotis becomes prominent near the Davoei-Margaritatus zone boundary, forming thick accumulations intercalated with brachiopod-rich beds. The final phase of the Lithiotis Facies is marked by Cochlearites-Lithioperna mounds, starting from the Subnodosus Subzone of the Margaritatus Zone. The disappearance of the lithiotid bivalves coincides with the onset of relatively deeper water conditions at the Rotzo Formation-Misone Limestone boundary in the uppermost Pliensbachian Spinatum Zone.

During the Cretaceous, the Berriasian-Aptian interval witnessed a transition from a relatively cool climate with intermittent polar ice to a greenhouse state that persisted throughout the Late Cretaceous. These palaeoclimatic changes were associated with the construction of Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs), which significantly perturbed the ocean-atmosphere system by introducing large amounts of CO 2 , trace metals, and micronutrients, thereby impacting the biosphere. Our study focused on the Tethyan Ocean during the Early Cretaceous, examining the resilience of planktonic and shallow-water benthic calcifying algae to environmental changes. We observed their adaptation, recovery dynamics, and the influence of palaeo CO 2 levels on their resilience. Calcification patterns of calcareous nannoplankton served as a proxy for ecological and engineering resilience. While calcareous nannoplankton as a whole showed high resistance, individual taxa exhibited varying levels of resilience. Nannoconids, particularly narrow-canal ones, were highly sensitive and had low resistance. In contrast, Watznaueria barnesiae showed the least sensitivity and highest resistance, likely due to its adaptive strategies and long lifespan. Nannoplankton calcification recovery (engineering resilience) from the Weissert Event took approximately 3 million years. After OAE1a, instead, nannoplankton did not return to pre-perturbation conditions. In shallow-water platforms, Dasycladales, aragonitic benthic calcifiers, exhibited lower resilience compared to nannofossils. They experienced a decline in species diversity across both the Weissert Event and the OAE 1a, which could indicate higher sensitivity to reduced carbonate saturation under high p CO 2 conditions. After the Valanginian Weissert Event, Dasycladales were able to recover, albeit they show a much lower engineering resilience compared to nannoconids, as it took nearly 10 million years to revert to pre-disturbance diversity. The OAE 1a represented a more intense perturbation: their decrease of species diversity was much more drastic and permanent, and Dasycladales were unable to recover, losing their dominant role as carbonate platform biocalcifiers for the remainder of the Cretaceous. Our study provides an assessment of the resilience of Tethyan phytoplanktonic and shallow-water benthic calcifying algae to disturbances during the Early Cretaceous, with implications for tipping points associated with palaeo-CO 2 levels. The differential responses in terms of timing and magnitude and the recovery dynamics contribute to the understanding of the potential impacts of current and future global changes on the resilience of marine ecosystems and the thresholds that may lead to ecological crises.

This paper addresses the long-standing taxonomic issue of the supra-species classification of Mesozoic taxa with an agglutinated wall originally included in the genus Tetrataxis, the type species of which, Tetrataxis conica, ranges into the Palaeozoic and has a different wall texture. Our investigation is based on the re-examination of the types of Mesozoic species assigned to Tetrataxis, and to the co-occurring genus Duotaxis. Moreover, we document their morphological variability and occurrences in different lithofacies types of two Tethyan carbonate platform sections, Mt Messapion (Pelagonian Platform, Greece) and Valle Agricola (Apennine Platform, Italy), encompassing the interval of the end-Triassic extinction (ETE). Our taxonomic investigation supports the validity of the genus Duotaxis and the necessity to erect a new genus named Kristanita to accommodate Mesozoic species incorrectly assigned to Tetrataxis. Duotaxis and Kristanita represent the only known genera of the family Duotaxidae (Class Spirillinata). This group possesses a well-developed umbilical cavity, a keeled periphery and supplementary structures on the umbilical side. Our study suggests that the Duotaxidae lived clinging or attached to rock or biogenic substrates in carbonate platform environments characterized by water turbulence and tolerated a high nutrient supply and sharp environmental changes. Both genera survived the ETE and were among the first colonizers of carbonate platforms long after the biotic crisis (Lazarus taxa). The eurytopic ecology and resilience to one of the big five extinctions in Earth's history may explain the long evolutionary history of Spirillinata and highlight their important role in the post-crisis recovery of benthic ecosystems.

Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 (OAE 2), spanning the Cenomanian/Turonian boundary (93.9 Ma), was an episode of major perturbation of the global carbon cycle. Its geochemical signature is a synchronous positive delta 13C excursion in both carbonates and organic matter that resulted from the net burial of large amounts of organic carbon in deep-sea and hemipelagic settings. Causes for OAE 2 are still the subject of investigations; however, several studies postulate that massive submarine volcanic activity emitted greenhouse gases and provided biolimiting metals in marine ecosystems, leading to the onset of the Cenomanian-Turonian thermal maximum and to the enhancement of ocean fertility. Ocean temperature, sea-surface stratification, nutrient availability, and carbonate ion saturation were subject to variations during OAE 2 that resulted in fluctuations in diversity abundance and calcification of species. We analyzed the record of the main biocalcifiers of pelagic-hemipelagic settings (planktonic foraminifera and calcareous nannofossils) and of low-latitude carbonate platforms (larger benthic foraminifera and rudist bivalves) by looking at well-dated sections. Carbon isotope stratigraphy allowed precise correlation from shallow to deep water and tied the biotic response to the record of geochemical proxies of paleoenvironmental changes. The main extinction event, severely affecting the shallow-water benthic biocalcifiers and to a minor extent the calcareous plankton, occurred within and after the Plenus Cold Event. Fluctuations in surface seawater temperature and extreme warming were probably the main cause of extinction, with contributions from decreased seawater carbonate saturation and disruption of ocean stratification. Overall, calcareous plankton fared much better, showing a greater resilience than carbonate-platform biocalcifiers to paleoenvironmental perturbations across OAE 2.

The crucial role of hydrogen in future energy systems, particularly in balancing fluctuations in electricity generation, underscores the need for effective storage solutions. For the underground storage of chemical energy carriers such as hydrogen, the underground salt cavern is the sole underground space that has been successfully used as storage facilities. This study explores the potential of underground salt caverns for storing hydrogen. Salt caverns offer advantages such as low investment costs, high sealing potential, and minimal cushion gas requirements. Geological considerations, including a salt top depth of 400-600 m, >95% pure halite, a deposit thickness of 200-300 m, and a diapiric salt bank or internally homogeneous lenses, are necessary for successful cavern exploitation. From a microbial point of view, during the water evaporation process leading to the underground salt cavern formation, small parts of the in-situ brine become trapped in the salt and end up as fluid inclusions, potentially including halophilic microorganisms subsequently freed during the process of solution mining. Autotrophic microbial life is feasible under salt cavern circumstances, especially if a suitable electron donor like H2 is introduced. The study focuses on a salt mine in Realmonte, Sicily and explores the geology, geochemistry, geomechanics and microbiology properties of the halite section. The mine, extracting 97% pure rock salt, serves as a natural laboratory for geochemical and geo-mechanical studies. It is characterized by four depositional units. Unit A comprises laminated gray halite (50 m); Unit B (100 m) features massive gray halite with kainite laminae up to 18m thick; Unit C (70-80m), consists of white halite layers separated by dark mud laminae and Unit D (60m) which includes anhydritic mudstone transitioning to an anhydrite laminite sequence. Utilizing well log data and a 3D geological subsurface model, the study reveals a salt bank with an average thickness of 500 m (of which only the upper 220 m b.s.l. is exploited) and defines the top and bottom of the halite subunits. Pore-perm analysis on 28 rock salt and kainite cores, including XRF analysis and Mercury Intrusion Porosity, provides insights into geochemical and porosity characteristics. Pore network model was obtained from the processing and interpretation of the micro-tomographic images collected on 10 rock salt and 1 kainite sample. A hydrogen injection test under varying conditions simulates cyclic storage under both static and dynamic conditions and a geochemical model of the internal conditions of a cavern has been produced using PHREEQC model. Results indicate limited diffusion under relatively high pressure. Microbiology and the linked geochemistry of two salt cores, both from the Realmonte mine but of different composition, is being investigated. The integrated geochemical, geomechanical, microbiological and experimental data support the feasibility of storing hydrogen in a stratified salt geological context, particularly where pure rock salt and kainite interlayers are present. Finally, we explore the potential for a large-scale project, envisioning coexistence of traditional mining activities up to 200 m b.s.l. and hydrogen storage activities at greater depths (Units B and A) between 300 and 600 m.

Over the past two decades, sequence stratigraphy has proven to be a valuable tool in addressing challenges arising from the inconsistent application of lithostratigraphic nomenclature across diverse geological provinces. It has been particularly successful in achieving regional correlations within the Cretaceous deposits of the Arabian Plate. The key sequence stratigraphic surface in the currently adopted standard sequence stratigraphic scheme is the K150 SB, marking the transition from a passive to an active margin along the eastern edge of the Arabian plate. Despite its importance, the chronostratigraphic age of this surface is poorly constrained. In the Zagros FTB, the uppermost part of the Sarvak Formation, just below the K150 SB, was recently assigned to the upper part of middle Turonian to upper Turonian, based on the presence of Reticulinella? kaeveri. Our research reveals that the range of R.? kaeveri extends above the K150 SB as this species is also present in the Laffan and base of Ilam formations. The Last Occurrence of this taxon provides a new chronostratigraphic marker of the upper Turonian within the Ilam Formation. This finding proves that more Turonian deposit are present in the study area than was previously recognized. We have studied the deposits enclosing the K150 SB in outcrop sections and wells along a transect from basin to platform margin to inner platform setting. Based on planktonic foraminifera and calcareous nannofossils biostratigraphy of basinal sections and sequence stratigraphic correlation to carbonate platform sections, the age of the uppermost part of the Sarvak Formation, immediately below the K150 SB, is firmly constrained within the interval lower Turonian–lower part of middle Turonian. Sequence stratigraphic correlation from basin to platform interior reveals also that the oldest deposits above the K150 SB are not younger than late Turonian. Our new data represents a significant improvement in the chronostratigraphic calibration of sequence stratigraphy in the Cretaceous of the Zagros fold-and-thrust belt.

During the end-Triassic extinction (ETE), carbonate platform biocalcifiers suffered high extinction rates that have been linked to volcanically-induced global changes in climate and carbon cycle. Most studies have been focused on the classical sections of the Northern Calcareous Alps (NCA, Austria) and Lombardy Basin (Italy), where the extinction of the aragonitic Dachstein-type biota (involutinid foraminifera and megalodontid bivalves) coincides with the demise of the carbonate platform and with the initial negative carbon isotope excursion (CIE) of the reference sections for the Triassic/Jurassic Boundary (TJB).In this study, we present a detailed facies analysis, bio- and carbon-isotope stratigraphy of three Southern Tethyan carbonate platform sections, Mt. Messapion (Greece), Valle Agricola and Mt. Sparagio (southern Italy) that instead show persisting carbonate productivity across the TJB and potentially preserve the most detailed record of timing and patterns of the ETE in these ecosystems.In the studied sections, the disappearance of the Dachstein-type biota is observed within a positive δ13Ccarb excursion that, according to our study, correlates with that documented in the Schattwald beds (NCA) and Malanotte Fm (Lombardy Basin) above the initial CIE. This level represents the true extinction of the Dachstein-type biota, while the disappearance in Northern Tethyan represents a pseudoextinction coinciding with the carbonate platform demise. Above the ETE, most Tethyan carbonate platform sections are characterized either by microbial laminites or ooid and oncoid limestones and low-diversity associations.This study reveals a possible paleogeographic and/or latitudinal control on the response of biocalcifiers and carbonate platform ecosystems during the ETE. The Dachstein-type biota was initially more resilient in Southern Tethys, but probably failed to survive prolonged stress. Despite extinctions, Southern Tethyan carbonate platforms adapted to environmental disturbances through a shift from the dominant carbonate production style from aragonitic biocalcification to chemical and microbially-mediated CaCO3 precipitation. The ecosystem recovery was slow and aragonitic biocalcifiers (dasycladacean algae) reappeared during the early Sinemurian.

The Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (T-OAE; ~183 Mya) was a globally significant carbon-cycle perturbation linked to widespread deposition of organic-rich sediments, massive volcanic CO 2 release, marine faunal extinction, sea-level rise, a crisis in carbonate production related to ocean acidification, and elevated seawater temperatures. Despite recognition of the T-OAE as a potential analog for future ocean deoxygenation, current knowledge on the severity of global ocean anoxia is limited largely to studies of the trace element and isotopic composition of black shales, which are commonly affected by local processes. Here, we present the first carbonate-based uranium isotope (δ 238 U) record of the T-OAE from open marine platform limestones of the southeastern Tethys Ocean as a proxy for global seawater redox conditions. A significant negative δ 238 U excursion (~0.4‰) is recorded just prior to the onset of the negative carbon isotope excursion comprised within the T-OAE, followed by a long-lived recovery of δ 238 U values, thus confirming that the T-OAE represents a global expansion of marine anoxia. Using a Bayesian inverse isotopic mass balance model, we estimate that anoxic waters covered ~6 to 8% of the global seafloor during the peak of the T-OAE, which represents 28 to 38 times the extent of anoxia in the modern ocean. These data, combined with δ 238 U-based estimates of seafloor anoxic area for other CO 2 -driven Phanerozoic OAEs, suggest a common response of ocean anoxia to carbon release, thus improving prediction of future anthropogenically induced ocean deoxygenation.

The latest Jurassic-earliest Cretaceous was a period dominated by greenhouse conditions, only interrupted by the Tithonian cooling event and was characterized by remarkable expansion of pelagic carbonate production. In order to investigate the response of the neritic carbonates during this transition, biostratigraphic and facies analyses were conducted on a carbonate platform succession, the Petina section, latest Kimmeridgian-earliest Berriasian in age, cropping out in the Alburni Mountains (southern Apennines, Italy). Four informal biostratigraphic units, falling within the Clypeina jurassica (= Aloisalthella sulcata) ) and Campbelliella striata biozones of De Castro (1991), were identified. The evolution of the Petina section was reconstructed by also integrating cyclo- and sequence-stratigraphic approaches. Cyclic variations of lithofacies as well as of emersion-related features evidenced high-frequency sea-level changes. The chronostratigraphic calibration of the biotic and sedimentary events was preliminarily achieved through the correlation of the Petina depositional sequences (T/RFTs, Transgressive/Regressive Facies Trends), which represent the lower-frequency cycles, with the global sequences revisited by Haq (2018) and anchored to the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous eustatic curve. Consequently, the shallow-marine biotic events have been related to the distribution of the Tethyan ammonite and nannofossil bioevents, the long-term eustatic oscillations and the polarity chrons.

Shallow-water carbonate platforms host a precious record of carbonate-associated proxies of palaeoceanographic conditions. The Apennine section of San Lorenzello, Valanginian-Barremian in age, exhibits interesting variations of geochemical, palaeontological and sedimentological proxies in the time interval after the Weissert and before the Selli OAEs. The C-isotope correlation, performed across a transect going from the Urgonian platform in the Subalpine Chains to the Apennine Carbonate Platform in the southern Apennines and to the Adriatic Platform in the Dinarides shows that the d13C profile of the studied section potentially preserves the global marine C-isotope signature, but the above carbonate platforms show lateral thickness variations of time equivalent discrete stratal intervals and a not strictly synchronous distribution of some biomarkers. Biostratigraphy, carbon isotopes and sequence stratigraphy allow a chronostratigraphic calibration of the studied section and the interpretation of its depositional sequences (superbundles) and biotic events in the framework of global sequences and eustatic cycles. A recovery of the neritic biota is observed at the end of the Weissert OAE, coinciding with the Valanginian-Hauterivian sea-level rise and with a return to warmer temperatures after the late Valanginian cooling. The superbundles, considered also as expression of 400-kyr orbital cycles, can contribute to create a floating orbital time scale which quantifies the durations of the Hauterivian and Barremian stages.

During the late Early Cretaceous, at the beginning of the Africa-Europe convergence, some portions of Adria experienced an enigmatic post-rift subsidence acceleration. According to many, this event is likely associated with extensional tectonics, which, however, hardly fits the Aptian-Cenomanian convergent framework of the central Mediterranean area and suffers from the apparent lack of coeval faults unquestionably linked to crustal stretching. Here we reconcile the tectonic and geodynamic records of Adria by introducing a syn-sedimentary extensional fault system exposed in the Lattari Mts. (southern Italy), currently forming the largest exposed Aptian-Cenomanian extensional system of Adria. Our structural reconstruction shows that the extensional displacement of the main fault is 2 km, at least 0.7 km of which was acquired during the Cretaceous. Radiometric dating indicates that reactivation and further growth of the fault occurred at 12.8 +/- 0.5 Ma and 5.8 +/- 3.4 Ma. To explain extensional tectonics in the framework of Africa-Europe convergence, we propose a slab pull mechanism, in which the traction exerted by the subducting Neotethys Ocean was responsible for the stretching of continental ribbons of Adria.

We have compiled stratigraphic ranges of genera of calcareous nannofossils, calcispheres, planktonic foramini-fers, larger benthic foraminifers, corals and rudists bivalves, and species of dasycladalean green algae. These taxa comprise the main planktonic and benthic carbonate producers of the Cretaceous, a period of exceptionally high sea level and palaeotemperatures that was characterized by unique assemblages of benthic carbonate producers and the significant rise in pelagic carbonate sedimentation. The autecology, physiological control on calcifica-tion, and carbonate-production potential of these groups is summarized. The observed diversity patterns are compared with proxy data of Cretaceous climate and seawater chemistry to elucidate the effect of environmental change on carbonate production and sedimentation.Two characteristic patterns are recognized. Diversity of calcareous nannofossils, calcispheres, planktonic foraminifers and corals trace the evolution of Cretaceous sea-level, while the diversity of dasycladalean algae, larger benthic foraminifers, corals and rudist bivalves show significant reductions at the level of oceanic anoxic events (OAEs). Benthic carbonate producers except for corals thus appear to have been more vulnerable to environmental change, and these general patterns appear to be unrelated to the autecology of the taxa inves-tigated. The expansion of suitable habitats during episodes of high sea level and high temperatures appears to have been a more important control of diversity in calcareous nannofossils, planktonic foraminifers, and corals than changes in seawater chemistry. Aragonitic or aragonite-dominated benthic carbonate producers are most affected during extinction events related to OAEs, and there is a general trend of decreasing aragonite dominance throughout the Cretaceous. This is compensated by the extensive formation of calcitic hemipelagic chalk since the Cenomanian. The trend of decreasing aragonite dominance is independent of the level of biological control on calcification in the different taxa affected. The demise of aragonitic or aragonite-dominated carbonate pro-ducers at OAE1a (early Aptian) and OAE2 (Cenomanian-Turonian boundary interval) may be related to short episodes of reduced seawater carbonate-saturation caused by short-lived injections of CO2 from large igneous provinces that initiated OAEs. For OAE1a, this scenario also explains the retreat of carbonate platforms to low latitudes in the early Aptian, as sea-surface water typically has a higher carbonate saturation in warm, lower than in cooler, higher latitude waters. The gradual decrease of aragonite throughout the Cretaceous matches model simulations of seawater carbonate-saturation. An increase in the relative number of azooxanthellate coral genera following OAE1a and OAE2 suggests a disruption of photosymbiosis in the course of these global events due to high temperatures. However, the relative numbers of azooxanthellate genera continued to increase during the Late Cretaceous, when global temperatures declined. Due to the short residence time of major nutrients in seawater, these may have affected carbonate-producing ecosystems regionally. The recent patterns of benthic carbonate production being highest in oligotrophic environments cannot confidently be extrapolated to the Cretaceous.Our database records ranges of genera at the substage level. Higher-resolution stratigraphical studies of neritic carbonate sequences are required to understand what aspect of environmental change in the sequence of events that unfolded in the context of OAEs caused the demise of benthic carbonate producers.

In this work, we present the results of a rockfall trajectory study performed on the south-western slope of Mt. Catiello (Sorrento Peninsula, southern Italy). Such a study develops within a multi-methodological approach which integrates different types of remote sensing data and techniques. Specifically, ground-truth data (e.g., rock mass geo-structural information, rock block inventory) were generated by geologically-supervised interpretations of high-resolution virtual outcrop models (VOMs). These data were then used for reconstructing the in-situ fractured rock mass attributes of the Mt. Catiello peak, as provided by a Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) model, and to prepare the subsequent numerical simulations of rockfall trajectories. The resulting rockfall scenarios are consistent with the ground-truth data, both in terms of size and spatial distribution. Thus, we believe that the proposed approach can be effectively applied to other areas, characterized by similar geological features but higher levels of exposure and vulnerability.

The End Triassic Extinction (ETE), one of the “big five” of the Phanerozoic, caused a severe loss of biodiversity both in the continental and in the marine realm. The ETE has been linked with enhanced volcanism of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP), which injected a large amount of CO2 in the ocean-atmosphere system, triggering major paleoenvironmental perturbations including climate change, ocean acidification and marine anoxia. In the marine realm, shallow-water benthic biocalcifiers of subtropical carbonate platforms were severely affected, with reef-building scleractinian corals and calcisponges, large megalodontid bivalves, involutinid benthic foraminifers and dasycladalean algae being among the most famous victims. In the classical localities of the Northern Calcareous Alps and Transdanubian Range, the ETE coincides with the demise of the Dachstein-type carbonate platform, which is generally sharply overlain by relatively deep-water facies of outer ramp to basinal environment. This stratigraphy has been interpreted as recording subaerial exposure of the carbonate platform, associated to a sea-level drop in the late Rhaetian that generated a hiatus of variable and generally poorly constrained duration, followed by drowning during transgression in the Early Jurassic. A different stratigraphic evolution is recorded in some areas of the southern Tethyan margin (i.e., the southern Apennines and Sicily in southern Italy, Greece, the United Arab Emirates and Oman) where carbonate platform facies persist across the Triassic/Jurassic boundary. Stratigraphic sections in these areas are particularly significant to document the evolution of biodiversity of shallow-water benthic biocalcifiers across the ETE interval. In this study we present new data on the stratigraphic distribution and changes in abundance of benthic foraminifers in two latest Triassic–earliest Jurassic carbonate platform sections of the southern Apennines (Italy) and Pelagonian domain (Greece). We document a decline in diversity and abundance of involutinid benthic foraminifers predating the extinction of several genera in the latest Rhaetian. Carbon isotope profiles of the studied sections show a complicated pattern of repetitive high-frequency negative excursions, seemingly related to local paleoenvironmental and/or early diagenetic features. However, by integrating bio- and carbon isotope stratigraphy we are able to correlate the studied sections with other persistent carbonate platform sections and with reference sections of the Lombardy Basin and of the Northern Calcareous Alps.

The Apennine Carbonate Platform of southern Italy witnesses nearly 150 Myr (Late Triassic to Late Cretaceous) of shallow-water carbonate sedimentation in the subtropical central Tethys. During this field trip, you will have a look at the stratigraphy and facies across some key intervals of global palaeoenvironmental perturbation and at some important stratigraphic discontinuities in the history of the platform.During the first day, you will visit three localities of the Matese Mts. At San Lorenzello you will look at Milankovitch cyclicity expressed in Lower Cretaceous (Valanginian-Hauterivian) peritidal carbonates. At Pietraroja you will have a look at the foramol facies of the Cusano formation, marking the Early Miocene transgression on top of the eroded Cretaceous substrate. Moving north, at the Regiapiana you will see the abandoned mines that exploited the mid-Cretaceous karst bauxites, which mark a prolonged subaerial exposure. Moreover, you will walk through the Middle Miocene synorogenic history of the platform, from its exposure and erosion in the forebulge to its incipient flexural subsidence, highlighted by the Lower Miocene carbonates of the Cusano formation, to its drowning below the photic zone, marked by a phosphatic hardground overlain by the "Orbulina marls" of the Longano formation.During the second day, you will head south toward Salerno. In a quarry at Mercato San Severino, you will look at the record of the early Toarcian oceanic anoxic event, marked by the abrupt demise of lithiotid bivalves and dasycladalean algae, the major carbonate producers of the Lower Jurassic carbonate platforms. At the base of Mt Tobenna, you will look at the Aptian Orbitolina level: a marker bed whose palaeoenvironmental meaning has been long debated. From Mt Tobenna you will move south toward Monteforte Cilento where you will look at the record of the Cenomanian-Turonian OAE2 in the Apennine Carbonate Platform.

Massive release of volcanic gases into the ocean-atmosphere system during geologically short periods of time is often invoked as the main trigger of episodes of global paleoenvironmental perturbations, and a link has been proposed between some mass extinction events, OAEs and the activity of Large Igneous Provinces. However, establishing a precise correlation between sections where the volcanic deposits of LIPs are preserved and marine sections, which hold the key records of global biotic and paleoenvironmental changes, is not a trivial effort. During the past 15 years, mercury concentration in sedimentary rocks has emerged as a useful proxy for bracketing intervals of LIPs activity, because Hg is primarily introduced into the atmosphere, and from there into the sedimentary record, through volcanic inputs. The end-Triassic extinction (ETE), one of the big five mass extinction of the Phanerozoic, has been linked to the volcanic activity of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP). Correlation by radiochronologic dating of CAMP basalts has been further supported in recent years by detection of mercury anomalies in marine deposits of key sections recording the ETE, including the Kuhjoch GSSP in the Northern Calcareous Alps (Austria), St Audrie’s Bay (UK) and the New York Canyon (Nevada, USA). However, as the Hg proxy is investigated in more and more sections, a complicated pattern is emerging, which indicates that depositional and diagenetic processes can produce Hg anomalies unrelated to LIP magmatism. For this reason, it is important to test the proxy across a wide range of depositional environments. In this study, we present a high-resolution record of Hg concentration in an uppermost Triassic-Lower Jurassic carbonate platform section of the Pelagonian Domain (Greece). In this section the ETE is marked by the abrupt disappearance of megalodontid bivalves and involutinid benthic foraminifers. By integrating bio- and high-resolution carbon isotope stratigraphy, we correlate the studied section with reference sections for which a record of Hg concentration across the ETE has been published. Furthermore, we use facies analysis and geochemistry to unravel the role of local depositional and diagenetic processes in overprinting the global signal of volcanism on Hg concentration.

Stack1, J.F. Mustard3, A.H.D. Koeppel4, K.H. Williford1, F.P. Seelos5, E.A. Cloutis6, P.B. Kelemen7, R.E. Arvidson8, D. Flannery9, K.R. Moore1, A.J. Brown10, K.R. Frizzell11 1Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 2University of Massachusetts at Amherst Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 3Brown University Dept. of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, 4Northern Arizona University Dept. of Astronomy and Planetary Science, 5Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, 6University of Winnipeg Dept. of Geography, 7Columbia University Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, 8Washington University in St. Louis Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 9Queensland University of Technology School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, 10Plancius Research, Severna Park, MD, 11Rutgers University Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences.

The Apennines form an active fold and thrust belt that develops as part of the W-Mediterranean subduction zone. The evolution of the collisional system is driven by the retreating subduction of the alpine Tethys, which has caused the migration of compressive fronts and the opening of the Liguro-Provençal and Tyrrhenian back-arc basins, along with the rotation and translation of the Sardinia-Corsica and Calabria blocks. The Apennines make the northern limb of the Apennines-Calabria-Sicily orocline, developed due to the differential SE-ward retreat of the subduction system. In such a context, the central-southern Apennine system develops a foreland basin floored by a subaerial forebulge unconformity followed by a trinity of diachronous lithostratigraphic units: (i) shallow-water carbonates, (ii) hemipelagic marls, and (iii) siliciclastic turbidites. Previous studies have used the following datasets for reconstructing the evolution of the orogenic-foreland basin system: paleomagnetic data; the age of the siliciclastic syn-orogenic deposits filling the foredeep and wedge-top depozones; the age of the late-orogenic extensional basins. In this study, we highlight the importance of dating with high precision the onset of the Apennine orogenesis by means of Sr-isotope stratigraphy applied to the first carbonate sediments overlying the forebulge unconformity. In this regard, we have investigated a transect of the Apennine belt, extending from inner to outer sectors, in order to constrain the timing and style of migration of the belt and foreland basin. Our results show progressive rejuvenation of the forebulge unconformity toward the outer portions of the belt. More importantly, we highlight a time delay between the onset of syn-orogenic shallow-water carbonate deposition and the onset of siliciclastic turbidite deposition that ranges between 1 and 11 myr. In detail, the trends in the delay point at three main evolutive steps: 1) rapid evolution from forebulge to foredeep during the Burdigalian, 2) higher delays from the Serravallian until the latest Miocene, and 3) progressive decrease of the delay from the Zanclean. We associate the different velocity of migration with the differential slab retreat and spreading of the back-arc basins.