Rosanna Maniscalco

University of Catania | UNICT · Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences (BIOMLG)

The geoheritage housed in the historical collections of the University of Messina dates back to the 1880s. These historical collections comprise a thousand specimens of minerals, gemstones, ores, rocks, and macro- to microfossils. Most of them are provided of scientific, didactic, and cultural values and consequently have to be preserved and enhanc...

Tectonic, paleoenvironmental, and paleoclimatic unstable conditions preceding the onset of the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) highly affected marine life. Changes in calcareous plankton association are overall registered in the Mediterranean. They consist of a general transition from abundant and well-diversified planktonic associations to strictl...

grande scala e conse-guenti fenomeni gravitativi: l'esempio del versante orientale dell'Etna. (IT ISSN 0394-3356, 2005). Nell'ambito di un generale sollevamento che interessa la costa orientale della Sicilia, un settore dell'edificio vulcanico etneo è caratte-rizzato da fenomeni di abbassamento; le zone interessate dai due fenomeni contrastanti son...

In Sicily, in the municipal area of Ragusa, a curious stone of considerable industrial interest is the “Pietra pece”, or the asphaltic rock. The mineralized asphalt deposits were exploited during the 19th-20th century and several wells were drilled before World War II. The lithotypes are platform carbonates, originally depo- sited in the time inter...

Pre-evaporitic Messinian deposits, consisting of a cyclic alternation of diatomites with lime mudstones, and laminated marls, crop out all over the Mediterranean area, representing important archives of deteriorating environmental conditions. The peculiar section of Torrente Vaccarizzo (Sicily) shows several intervals of organic-rich shales, except...

The petroleum industry has always been pursuing highly exploitable gas fields, which are often hosted in carbonate rocks. However, carbonates are highly heterogeneous and show different fabrics and structures as the result of sedimentation in various environments, and subsequent diagenesis and deformation. In this study, a multi-scale and multidisc...

Welcome to ‘Waiting for Yorsget’ web conference (21-22 June 2021) YORSGET (Young Researchers in Structural Geology and Tectonics) is a TecTask (IUGS) conference aimed primarily at MSc/PhD students, postdocs, and early career researchers in the broad field of structural geology and tectonics. The conference provides a platform for networking and re...

As is well known, the possible paths of Roman road tracks often have as their confirmation the land and sea routes reported on the Itinerarium Provinciarum Antonini Augusti (Parthey and Pinder, 1848) and those reported of the Tabula Peutingeriana (Miller, 1964). A recent monograph on the archaeological area of the city of Morgantina (Bruno, 2017),...

Using satellite-based remote sensing to investigate volcanic eruptions is a common approach for preliminary research, chiefly because a great amount of freely available data can be effectively accessed. Here, Landsat 4-5TM, 7ETM+, and 8OLI night-time satellite images are used to estimate lava flow temperatures and radiation heat fluxes from selecte...

As turbidity currents are sensitive to the geometry of the substrate across which they flow, the sedimentology of turbidites can chart the development of submarine structures and reveal regional palaeobathymetric connections. This rationale is applied to understand the tectonic evolution of the central Mediterranean in the early Miocene, using the...

The Cenozoic deformation of SE Asia is classically related to India-Asia collision and Tibet Plateau rise, supposedly resulting in the southeastward drift of lithospheric blocks bounded by strike-slip faults with displacements in the order of 1,000 km. Here we report on the paleomagnetism of 44 Triassic-Cretaceous red bed sites from the northern Si...

Structural evolution of thrust wedges is influenced by syn-kinematic deposition ahead and upon them. It dampens uplift of synclines and promotes amplification of anticlines. High-resolution marine seismic images and analogue experiments indicate that emergent thrusts only form upper thrust flats (detachments, required to form far-travelled tectonic...

The thick evaporitic deposits cropping out widely in central Sicily are subdivided into First and Second Cycle Evaporites, separated by a regional unconformity, and are spectacularly exposed in the Balza Soletta section of the Corvillo Basin, one of the main depocenters of the Caltanissetta Basin. Here, the evaporitic succession mainly consists of...

Deformation bands, usually recognized in association with faults, are here analyzed in relation to a tight synclinal fold developed in the Miocene Numidian turbidites of Sicily. Deposited above a growing thrust-wedge and then buckled during continued deformation, the porous Numidian sandstones form subsurface gas reservoirs elsewhere in the region...

A wealth of paleomagnetic data from Yunnan (China) showed in the past a predominant post-Cretaceous clockwise (CW) rotation pattern, mostly explained invoking huge (hundreds of kilometer wide) blocks, laterally escaping (and/or rotating) due to India-Asia collision, separated by major strike-slip shear zones. Here we report on the paleomagnetism of...

Understanding ancient deep-water sedimentary systems that accumulated at complex plate boundaries requires confronting the stratigraphic record of deformed sedimentary successions by tracking sand-fairways and identifying original relationships in later deformed sequences. Here, we investigate the Numidian turbidite system (early to mid-Miocene) of...

Here we consider the Numidian turbidite system (Miocene) of Sicily as analogue for a variety of deepwater hydrocarbons reservoirs. In particular, we carried out a detailed petrographic-structural investigation on sandstones cropping out near the village of Sperlinga (central Sicily-Italy). The main outcrop consists of a roughly NW-SE trending km-sc...

Here we consider the Numidian turbidite system (Miocene) of Sicily as analogue for a variety of deepwater hydrocarbons reservoirs. In particular, we carried out a detailed petrographic structural investigation on sandstones cropping out near the village of Sperlinga (central Sicily - Italy). The main outcrop consists of a roughly NW-SE trending km-...

Understanding whether a system was unconfined, and deposited on a relatively unstructured basin-floor, or was confined by actively deforming substrate is important for the prediction of turbidite stratigraphy. Here we consider the Numidian turbidite system (Oligocene-Miocene) of Sicily - for many the type example of thick structureless submarine sa...

Continental Asia SE of the Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis is a zone of SE-ward escape characterized since early Tertiary times by a clockwise rotation and crustal flow around the northern edge of India (Tapponnier et al., 1982). The SE-ward directed crustal drift is accommodated by major strike-slip shear zones, which bound elongated continental blocks...

The present paper has two aims: first, to re-evaluate the rotation of the Hyblean Plateau with respect to Africa in the light of updated African paleopoles; second, to obtain information about the block rotation pattern, possibly associated with the Scicli-Ragusa strike-slip fault zone. Our results complement pre-existing data and firmly indicate t...

New bio-magnetostratigraphic data have been acquired from the Burdigalian part of the Moria section in the Umbria–Marche Apennine (Central Italy). The investigated sedimentary sequence is 55 meters thick and comprises the transition between the Bisciaro and the Schlier formations (Auctorum), composed of five meters of indurated marly limestones, fo...

Faunistic associations of the Lower Pleistocene sediments, out-cropping at Cartiera Molino along the true right bank of the Ippari River (Vittoria, SE Sicily), have been investigated. This study integrates data obtained from the analysis of ostracods, foraminifers, bryozoans and serpulids found within a six metre thick sedimentary section. This mul...

A geologic and geodetic integrated analysis of the northern margin of the Hyblean Plateau (SE Sicily) has been carried out in order to test the relationship between the active deformation, recorded by GPS data, and the long-term tectonic evolution, reconstructed by the interpretation of structural and morphological data. Our study revealed the acti...

Three-dimensional seismic data are increasingly resolving original compositional heterogeneity and structural complexity in evaporitic successions within sedimentary basins. The relationship between basin structure, evaporite composition and its influence on subsequent deformation are investigated here using Messinian examples from the Maghrebian t...

An Early Pleistocene benthic community, discovered inside the Rumena Cave in NW Sicily, Italy, was studied. Analysis of the community led to the recognition of several encrusting species – notably scleractinians, bryozoans, serpuloideans, cirripeds, foraminifera and brachiopods – and borings mostly referable to the ichnogenus Gastrochaenolites. All...

A geologic and geodetic integrated analysis of the northern margin of the Hyblean Plateau (SE Sicily) has been carried out in order to test the relation of the active deformation, recorded by GPS data, and the long-term tectonic evolution, recorded by structural and morphological data, with potential seismogenic sources of the region, where high le...

An extensive dataset of vitrinite reflectance, FTIR parameters on organic matter, illite content in mixed layers illite-smectite, apatite fission tracks and U-Th/He dating has been used to reconstruct the stepwise propagation of the Eastern Sicily fold-and-thrust belt during Late Paleogene and Neogene times. The results indicate that the fold-and-t...

The upper Messinian to lower Zanclean succession of the Crotone Basin, a forearc basin located along the Ionian side of the Calabrian Arc (southern Italy), consists of a turbidite-bearing succession (the Petilia Policastro Formation) overlying evaporites and abruptly passing upward into coarse-grained continental deposits (the Carvane Conglomerate)...

The Messinian succession of the Crotone Basin, a forearc basin located along the Ionian side of the Calabrian Arc (southern Italy), is composed of resedimented gypsum, halite and siliciclastic subaqueous to continental deposits that are overlain by Lower Pliocene deep-marine marls. Integrated seismic and well data analysis have allowed the recognit...

We report on a paleomagnetic study of the southern sector of the Olevano-Antrodoco-Sibillini (OAS) thrust front, which corresponds to the southern limb of the Northern Apennines (Italy) orogenic salient. A lively debate has developed regarding the oroclinal/progressive-arc versus non-rotational nature of the OAS, which has been alternatively interp...

The Crotone Basin is the exposed part of a larger Neogene forearc basin developed in the Ionian Sea in the frame of the SE-ward migration of the Calabrian Arc, which led to the subduction of the Ionian lithosphere and the spreading of the Tyrrhenian back-arc Basin (central Mediterranean). Taking into account the geologic context that accompanied it...

An extensive dataset of vitrinite reflectance, FTIR parameters on organic matter, illite content in mixed layers illite-smec-tite, apatite fission tracks and U-Th/He dating has been used to reconstruct the stepwise propagation of the Eastern Sicily fold-and-thrust belt during Late Palaeogene and Neogene times. The results indicate that the fold-and...

An Early Pleistocene benthic community, discovered inside the Rumena Cave in NW Sicily, Italy, was studied. Analysis of the community led to the recognition of several encrusting species – notably scleractinians, bryozoans, serpuloideans, cirripeds, foraminifera and brachiopods – and borings mostly referable to the ichnogenus Gastrochaenolites. All...

Mount Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe, grown by accumulation of lavas and pyroclastics erupted by numerous vents during the last 180 kyr. It is located along the Ionian coast of Sicily, on the margin of two main structural domains: the Apennine-Maghrebian Chain to the north and the Hyblaean Foreland to the south. While eastern Sicily i...

Results of high-resolution integrated stratigraphic studies (calcareous plankton and magnetostratigraphy) of three Mediterranean sections (La Vedova in Central Italy, Contrada Pesciarello in Sicily and St. Peter's Pool in Malta) and one deep-sea core from the mid-latitude North Atlantic (DSDP Hole 608) are here synthesized. They are compared with t...

We used vitrinite refl ectance and mixed-layered clay minerals to investigate levels of diagenesis of the Oligocene-Miocene basin developed on the nappes of the Alpine oro-gen exposed in the Peloritani Mountains (NE Sicily). Paleothermal indicators were integrated with stratigraphic and structural analyses and published apatite fi ssion-track and (...

The results of a high-resolution multidisciplinary stratigraphic study of a lower Langhian succession, located in the Hyblean Plateau (SE Sicily, southern Italy), are here presented. The about 33m thick succession, which belongs to the "Ragusa Fm" (Auct.), has been recovered through a continuous coring survey and highly-spaced sampled. A total amou...

We used vitrinite refl ectance and mixed-layered clay minerals to investigate levels of diagenesis of the Oligocene-Miocene basin developed on the nappes of the Alpine oro-gen exposed in the Peloritani Mountains (NE Sicily). Paleothermal indicators were integrated with stratigraphic and structural analyses and published apatite fi ssion-track and (...

In Sicily, the imbrication of the Apenninic thrust belt above the African foreland determined the progressive southward migration of marine basins that were shortened from the Middle Miocene until the Pleistocene. The area studied in detail is located in the Caltanissetta Basin, which was in fact, during Neogene times, a series of thrust-top basins...

We used vitrinite reflectance and mixed layered clay minerals to investigate levels of diagenesis of the Oligocene-Miocene basin developed on the nappes of the Alpine orogen in the Peloritani Mts. (NE Sicily). Paleothermal indicators were integrated with stratigraphic-structural analyses and apatite fission-track and (U-Th-Sm)/He ages to define the...

Temperature-dependent clay-mineral as semblages, vitrinite reflectance, and apatite fissiontrack data have been used to investigate levels of diagenesis and time of exhumation of the double-verging Sicilide-Antisicilide accretionary wedge in Eastern Sicily. The integration of organic and inorganic thermal indicators allowed us to distinguish parts...

The Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto Basin of northeastern Sicily, central Mediterranean, is a Plio-Pleistocene peri-Tyrrhenian shelf embayment that formed by the collapse and marine inundation of bedrock fault-blocks in response to regional tectonic extension. The study focuses on the well-developed transgressive systems tract of the lower bay-fill seque...

A little known marine Miocene (Messinian) succession in the Hyblean region of south eastern Sicily preserves a carbonate ramp sequence which developed on the tectonically stable foreland margins of the African Plate (Pelagian Block). The ramp (Monte Carrubba Formation) was distally steepened and contained a shoalwater barrier and lagoonal inner ram...

Globorotalia puncticulata and Globorotalia margaritae are critical species that define internationally recognized planktonic foraminiferal biozones in the Pliocene. These biozones are defined from stratotype sections on Sicily and their fauna are commonly considered to have been introduced to the Mediterranean after an influx of Atlantic water that...

Temperature-dependent clay mineral assemblages and vitrinite reflectance data have been used to investigate levels of diagenesis from the Apenninic-Maghrebian fold-and-thrust belt in eastern Sicily at the footwall of the Peloritani-Calabride Arc. Data are from units sampled along a regional transect between the Nebrodi Mountains to the north and Mo...

The Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto Basin of northeastern Sicily, central Mediterranean, is a Plio-Pleistocene peri-Tyrrhenian shelf embayment that formed by the collapse and marine inundation of bedrock fault-blocks in response to regional tectonic extension. The study focuses on the well-developed transgressive systems tract of the lower bay-fill seque...

Evolution of a mud volcano and of a marsh are reconstructed in this paper; mud volcano (named Salsa di Fondachello) and marsh (named Gurna di Fondachello) were located on the farthest north-eastern periphery of Mt. Etna volcanic edifice, near the Ionian coast. Activity of mud volcano started on 1693, 11th January, during a disastrous earthquake; it...

New biostratigraphic, petrographic and sedimentological investigations on Saf Lahmame marly-arenaceous succession of the External Tanger Unit (Intra-Rif sub-Domain, External Domain) indicate an age not older than Burdigalian-Serravallian. The medium- to fine-grained sandstones of the Saf Lahmame succession show mainly graded and massive amalgamated...

Mt. Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe; it is a volcanic complex, formed by products of several eruptive centres, which were active in different times. It is located on the margin of two main structural domains of Eastern Sicily: The Hyblaean Foreland and the Apennine-Maghrebian Chain. The Hyblaean Foreland belongs to the northern part of...

Mount Etna lies in a structurally highly complex setting, close to the boundary between the Malta-Hyblean Platform and the Ionian Basin and at the intersection of the Malta Escarpment and the Messina-Giardini fault zone. Thus, volcanism and tectonics at Etna are clearly interacting and exerting a strong control on morphology. The studied area is lo...