Palaeobio Palaeoenv DOI 10.1007/s12549-017-0306-z ORIGINAL PAPER A palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the Middle Jurassic of Sardinia (Italy) based on integrated palaeobotanical, palynological and lithofacies data assessment Luca Giacomo Costamagna1 & Evelyn Kustatscher2,3 & Giovanni Giuseppe Scanu1 & Myriam Del Rio1 & Paola Pittau1 & Johanna H. A. van Konijnenburg-van Cittert4,5 Received: 15 May 2017 /Accepted: 19 September 2017 # The Author(s) 2017. This article is an open access publication Abstract During the Jurassic, Sardinia was close to con- diverse landscape with a variety of habitats. Collection- tinental Europe. Emerged lands started from a single is- and literature-based palaeobotanical, palynological and land forming in time a progressively sinking archipelago. lithofacies studies were carried out on the Genna Selole This complex palaeogeographic situation gave origin to a Formation for palaeoenvironmental interpretations. They evidence a generally warm and humid climate, affected occasionally by drier periods. Several distinct ecosystems can be discerned in this climate, including alluvial fans This article is a contribution to the special issue BJurassic biodiversity and with braided streams (Laconi-Gadoni lithofacies), paralic ^ terrestrial environments . swamps and coasts (Nurri-Escalaplano lithofacies), and lagoons and shallow marine environments (Ussassai- * Evelyn Kustatscher
[email protected] Perdasdefogu lithofacies). The non-marine environments were covered by extensive lowland and a reduced coastal Luca Giacomo Costamagna and tidally influenced environment. Both the river and the
[email protected] upland/hinterland environments are of limited impact for Giovanni Giuseppe Scanu the reconstruction. The difference between the composi-
[email protected] tion of the palynological and palaeobotanical associations evidence the discrepancies obtained using only one of those Myriam Del Rio
[email protected] proxies.