Magnetostratigraphy of Mio-Pliocene Italian Land Sections

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Stratigraphic correlation of marine sediments is the cornerstone of marine geology. Magnetostratigraphy provides a unique method of global correlation that is independent of depositional environment. The need to provide a time-frame for investigating rapid paleoenvironmental changes, the need to correlate diverse biozonations and to investigate the synchroneity of biostratigraphic events, has enhanced the importance of magnetostratigraphy. The Late Miocene to Pliocene interval is still problematic for biomagnetostratigraphic correlations. These correlations have not been well established either in the open ocean or in the Mediterranean region, where the Mio-Pliocene stratotype sections are located. The PI will derive magnetostratigraphies from specific land sections in Italy, and in so doing correlate Mio-Pliocene stratotype sections to the geomagnetic reversal time scale and provide a first link between Mediterranean and open ocean biozonations. This will also allow the correlation of paleoclimatic events between the Mediterranean and the open ocean, and shed light on the cause of the Mediterranean salinity crisis. The acquisition of magnetostratigraphies in the Mediterranean Neogene has been an elusive goal, and the lithologies are not ideal for magnetostratigraphy. However, initial studies demonstrate that the sections which will be sampled will provide biomagnetostratigraphic correlations from the Serravallian (Middle Miocene) to the Plio-Pleistocene boundary.