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Pliocene-Lower Pleistocene Chronostratigraphy: a Re-Evaluation of Mediterranean Type Sections

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Pliocene-Lower Pleistocene Chronostratigraphy: a Re-Evaluation of Mediterranean Type Sections Pliocene-lower Pleistocene chronostratigraphy: A re-evaluation of Mediterranean type sections D. RIO Dipartimento di Geologia, Paleontologia e Geofísica, Universita degli Studi di Padova, 35137 Padova, Italia R. SPROVIERI Dipartimento di Geologia e Geofísica, Universita degli Studi di Palermo, 90134 Palermo, Italia R. THUNELL Department of Geological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 29208 ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION Numerous regional stage sequences have been established for the Neogene (for example, Cali- The Pliocene-Pleistocene stages defined for Chronostratigraphic units are rock units fornia, New Zealand, USSR), but the stages for the Mediterranean region are generally used which represent specific intervals of geologic the Mediterranean Neogene are commonly used as the standard chronostratigraphic units for time, and when taken together, form a compos- as the "standard stages" in most geologic time the upper Neogene and Quaternary. The re- ite stratigraphic sequence representing all of scales (Berggren and Van Couvering, 1974; Har- cently developed calcareous plankton bio- Earth history. Recognition of chronostratigraph- land and others, 1982; Berggren and others, chronology based on results from Ocean ic units, both regionally and globally, is a 1985; Haq and others, 1987). All of the Medi- Drilling Program Leg 107 and numerous out- fundamental step in establishing time correla- terranean Pliocene-Pleistocene stages and the crop sections provides the necessary time tions. Within the hierarchy of chronostratigraph- relative stratotype sections have been established control for evaluating the ages and strati- ic units, the "stage" represents a relatively in Italy (Fig. 1). The only formally defined graphic relationships for the various Plio- short interval of geologic time; the stage has chronostratigraphic boundary, however, is the cene-Pleistocene stages and their associated been referred to as "the basic working unit of Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary (Aguirre and stratotypes. Our results indicate that the cur- chronostratigraphy" (Hedberg, 1976, p. 71). Pasini, 1985). rently accepted stratotypes do not provide a continuous stratigraphic representation for all of Pliocene-early Pleistocene time. On the basis of these findings, we propose a revised chronostratigraphic scheme for this time period. A tripartite subdivision is proposed for the Pliocene Series. The Zanclean Stage is retained for the lower Pliocene, represent- 44° N ing the interval from the Miocene/Pliocene boundary (ca. 4.93 Ma) to ca. 3.5 Ma. The middle Pliocene is represented by the Piacen- zian Stage, and it incorporates strata depos- ited from ca. 3.5 to 2.5 Ma. None of the currently used Pliocene stages fully repre- sents the upper Pliocene (ca. 2.5 to 1.6 Ma). As a result, late Pliocene time lacks an ade- 40° N quately defined chronostratigraphic unit. The Selinuntian Stage appears to be the most appropriate stage for the lower Pleisto- cene (ca. 1.6 to 0.8 Ma). It can be divided into three stratigraphically continuous substages (Santernian, Emilian, and Sicilian). The Cala- brian Stage, which is commonly used to des- 36° N ignate the lowest part of the Pleistocene, 5°E 10°E 15° E 20° E should be abandoned because its stratotype does not include a record of the first 500,000 Figure 1. Map showing locations of the Pliocene-Pleistocene stage type sections and ODP yr of Pleistocene time. sites discussed in this paper. Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 103, p. 1049-1058, 6 figs., 2 tables, August 1991. 1049 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/103/8/1049/3381324/i0016-7606-103-8-1049.pdf by guest on 26 September 2021 Figure 2. Polarity stratigraphy for ODP Sites 652 and 654 (Channel! and others, 1990), the MAGNETIC BI0Z0NES Vrica section (Tauxe and others, 1983), the Capo Spartivento section (Channell and others, 1988), and the Gela section (Channell and others, in press). The stratigraphie positions of the bioevents POLARITY S n TIME listed in Table 1 are shown for each ODP site and land section. SCALE Ma WAMW FORAM acme E E Ö CO hux. O} o H G. oc. 0.5. ë -Ê p. •S—S CJ3 lacunosa 1.0_ S {,. in C/O e fi CD o Larg o Gephyr. tì Ö co 1.5_ col "Ö CO CJ ig I ÖÜ sa. S 2.0_ - <<<d cri ^ e -o LO eu <=3 S sa. s M 3.0_ I • Ci 1 5 -+-S I cC 3.5_ s Os CJ co », 3 I 4.0_ V) P M ^ g, ë C\i ci 51] ^ 4.5_ ™ S o •o <~ > s- 1 I MP1 5.0_ Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/103/8/1049/3381324/i0016-7606-103-8-1049.pdf by guest on 26 September 2021 MEDITERRANEAN PLIOCENE-LOWER PLEISTOCENE CHRONOSTRATIGRAPHY 1051 In principle, it should be possible to recognize TABLE 1. CALCAREOUS PLANKTON BIOSTRATIGRAPHIC EVENTS AND ESTIMATED AGES the Mediterranean Pliocene-Pleistocene stages Bioevent Estimated age (Ma) Reference globally and in all depositional settings. Unfor- tunately, such correlation has been hampered by 1. Beginning of Emitíanla huxleyi acme 0.085 Rio and others (1990a) 2. Emiliania huxleyi LO 0.26 several factors. First, many of the Italian strato- 3. Pseudoemilianìa lacunosa HO 0.46 type sections were proposed in shallow to mar- 4. Gephyrocapsa sp. 3 LO (S2) 0.95 Rio and others (in press) 5a. Gephyrocapsa spp. >5.5 ti HO (SI) 1.10 ginal marine sequences and were selected on the 5b. Halicosphaera sellii HO (SI) 1.10 6. Gephyrocapsa spp. >5.5 fi LO (LG) 1.32 basis of major changes in lithofacies and/or mac- 7. Cyclococcolithus macintyrei HO (CM) 1.49 Rio and others (1990a) rofossil assemblages (Carloni and others, 1971). 8. Gephyrocapsa oceanica s.l. LO (Go) 1.62 Rio and others (in press) 9. Discoaster brouweri HO (Db) 1.85 Rio and others (1990a) Second, provinciality of the Mediterranean 10. Globorotaíia ínflala LO (Gì) 1.99 Hilgen (1988) 11. Globorotaíia bononiensis HO 2.33 fauna and flora has created problems in biostrat- 12. Discoasler pentaradiatus HO (Dp) 2.41 Rio and others (1990a) igraphically correlating the Mediterranean re- 13. Discoasler tamalis HO (Dt) 2.60 14. Sphacrmtlim'l!op*L\ spp. HO (Sph) 3.07 Zachariasse and others (1989) gion and the open ocean (Cita, 1973; Thunell, 15. Globorotaíia bononiensis LO 3.16 1979; Berggren, 1981; Rio and others, 1984). 16. Globorotaíia puncticulala HO (Gp) 3.38 17. Globorotaíia margarilae HO (Gm) 3.71 Langereis and Hilgen (1990) Finally, the inability to acquire good magneto- 18. Reticulofenestra pseudoumbilicus HO 3.58 Rio and others (1990a) 19. Discoasler asymmelricus LO (Da) 3.84 Channell and others (1990) stratigraphic data from most of the stratotypes 20. Globorotaíia puncticulala LO (Gp) 4.15 Channell and others (1988) has complicated the assignment of numerical 21. Globorolalia margarilae LO (Gm) 4.64 ages to the individual stages and has further im- LO = lowest occurrence; HO = highest occurrence. peded their correlation to extra-Mediterranean marine sequences (Rio and others, 1984). These problems have led to the conflicting use of some stage names (for example, Calabrian) and to the (Channell and others, 1990). The magnetostra- been reviewed in detail by Berggren (1971), development of disparate chronostratigraphic tigraphy presented in Figure 2 provides the abso- Berggren and Van Couvering (1974), and Cita scales (Harland and others, 1982; Rio and Spro- lute time control for the biochronology used in (1975b). In the following sections, we briefly vieri, 1986; Haq and others, 1987). our study. discuss only those stages which are frequently The goal of this paper is to discuss problems One of the objectives of Ocean Drilling Pro- used in the literature (Table 2). With the excep- with the currently accepted stage subdivisions of gram (ODP) Leg 107 in the Tyrrhenian Sea was tion of the Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary the Mediterranean Pliocene-lower Pleistocene to collect a continuous Pliocene-Pleistocene pe- (Aguirre and Pasini, 1985; Pasini and others, in (and its associated stratotypes) and to propose lagic sequence that would serve as a "deep-sea press), none of the Pliocene or Pleistocene stages an alternative chronostratigraphic scheme. To type section" and allow for direct correlation and their associated boundaries has been for- achieve this, a magnetobiochronology is pre- between the open-ocean record and the land- mally defined by the International Commission sented for the Mediterranean region that allows based marine sections in Italy (Kastens, Mascle, on Stratigraphy. As a result, the actual time both correlation of the Italian stratotype sections and others, 1987). Site 653 (40°15'N, 11°26'E) period represented by these stages is debated to the deep-sea record and estimation of the ab- was hydraulically piston-cored with this ob- due to different philosophical approaches to solute time represented by the various stratotype jective in mind. This site contains an excellent stratigraphy. sections. Our results clearly indicate that all of calcareous plankton biostratigraphy (Fig. 2) Pliocene-early Pleistocene time is not repre- (Glacon and others, 1990; Rio and others, 1. Miocene/Pliocene Boundary sented by the currently used stages and that 1990), but unfortunately the magnetic properties major revisions are needed to improve the of the sediments were such that a polarity stra- The Miocene/Pliocene boundary has tradi- chronostratigraphic resolution of this time tigraphy could not be resolved (Channell and tionally been considered to be coincident with interval. others, 1990). Fortunately, Sites 652 (40°21'N, the restoration of open-marine conditions in the 12°08'E) and 654 (40°34'N, 10°41'E), which Mediterranean following the Messinian salinity MAGNETOBIOCHRONOLOGY were rotary-drilled, yielded good magnetostra- crisis. Accordingly, Cita (1975b) proposed the tigraphy and biostratigraphy, particularly for the establishment of the boundary stratotype at For the present study, we have used the Pliocene (Fig.
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