Paleoenvironmental significance of Messinian post-evaporitic lacustrine carbonates in the northern Apennines, Italy

The post-evaporitic Messinian in the northern sector of the Adriatic foredeep is characterized by the occurrence of abundant terrigenous deposits which have been subdivided into two allostratigraphic units (p-ev(1), p-ev(2)) separated by an erosional unconformity of regional importance. The p-ev(1) consists of basal complex of resedimented evaporites overlain by monotonous succession of mudstone/siltstone alternations (thin bedded turbidites) with an overall coarsening and shallowing upwards trend. It is possibly related to the rapid basin infill after the end of the salinity crisis. The upper unit (p-ev(2)) shows, in the most marginal areas, a clear cyclical stacking pattern made up of three fining-up sequences with fan-delta conglomerates at the base of each cycle. Here, a peculiar feature of the p-evz deposits is the occurrence of three distinct laminated limestone horizons (termed colombacci) interbedded with fine grained, varved mudstones. These limestones are abiotic, despite the occurrence of abundant Ostracod assemblages (Lago-Mare fauna) in the interbedding pelites, and are interpreted as inorganically precipitated, deposited in a relatively deep-water environment, possibly anoxic and related to permanent stratification of water mass events during periods of lake level maxima. The combination of petrographical and geochemical observations on carbonate layers reveals that they correspond to events characterized by significant variations of environmental conditions. However, delta(18)O (-5.30/+0.2) and delta(13)C (-9.28/ +1.68) signatures suggest that the precipitation of low-Mg calcite often occurred in a non-marine environment and that meteoric water input had a considerable influence on late Messinian sedimentation. Moreover, the limestones have a uniform Sr-87/Sr-86 composition (0.70864-0.70875) in the range of other Lago-Mare sediments from elsewhere in the Mediterranean, suggesting that some of the major Mediterranean basins were likely interconnected during the Lago-Mare phase. A strongly reduced rate of hydrological exchange with the ocean is also possible, but the possibility of marine influence during this stage is not completely excluded. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.