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The “calcari aLucina” macrofauna reconsidered: Deep-sea faunal oases from Miocene-age cold vents in the Romagna Apennine, Italy

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Abstract

Recent suggestions that the Miocene-age “calcari aLucina” blocks scattered in the Apennine chain of the Italian peninsula are methanogenic in nature (paleo cold vents) calls for a reexamination of their macrofauna. Two Tortonian-age outcrops of such limestones (Case Rovereti and Montepetra) have been analyzed for their mollusk content and shown to host a diverse vent fauna. The paleoassemblages show remarkable similarities with modern counterparts associated with hydrocarbon venting on the Gulf of Mexico continental slope. Faunal data from both sites lend support to the hypothesis that methane/hydrocarbon venting was active during the Miocene and sustained specialized bathyal chemosynthetic communities in the ancient Mediterranean.

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  1. Istituto per la Geologia Marina, C.N.R., Via Gobetti 101, 1-40129, Bologna, Italy

    M. Taviani

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  1. M. Taviani
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Taviani, M. The “calcari aLucina” macrofauna reconsidered: Deep-sea faunal oases from Miocene-age cold vents in the Romagna Apennine, Italy. Geo-Marine Letters 14, 185–191 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01203730

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01203730

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