Abstract Upper Pliocene-lower Pleistocene shallow-marine temperate-water carbonates of the Calcarenite di Gravina Formation crop out in the Murge area of Puglia, SE Italy, and record a regional subsidence-driven transgression that was punctuated by higher-frequency forced regressions. Sedimentation occurred during the drowning of a complexly faulted island archipelago whose bedrock was exclusively composed of deformed Cretaceous platform carbonates. High-energy temperate-water bioclastic carbonate systems dominated marine environments, but bioclasts were locally mixed with carbonate lithoclasts derived from the Cretaceous limestones bedrock and supplied to the shoreline via ephemeral rivers. This setting allows us to compare the depositional response of bioclastic-dominated and mixed bioclastic-lithoclastic temperate-water carbonate systems to relative sea-level changes, and in particular to forced regressions within a long-term transgressive sequence set. Bioclastic dominated temperate-water carbonate systems are comprised of a nearshore non-depositional abrasion zone and an offshore accumulation zone; long-term subsidence led to erosional transgression through nearshore abrasion and bioerosion of the drowning archipelago. The bioclastic-dominated carbonate system was best developed during relative sea-level rises and highstands, with offshore cyclic subtidal carbonate successions interpreted to record higher-frequency relative sea-level fluctuations. Forced regressions and lowstands were associated with basinward migration of the abrasion zone and development of a subaerial exposure surface that passed basinward into marine rock- and softgrounds on the shelf; little additional sediment was supplied from updip karstic areas of the island archipelago where superficial drainage was limited. In contrast, mixed bioclastic-lithoclastic carbonate systems are characterized by reciprocal sedimentation, developed where ephemeral rivers supplied carbonate lithoclasts to the shoreline. In these systems, bioclastic sedimentation typified relative sea-level rises and highstands whereas forced regressions and lowstands were associated with the development of coarse lithoclastic deposits. Forced regressive-lowstand deposits are represented by narrow progradational gravel beaches in ramp settings whereas small coarse-grained deltas formed against steep fault-bounded coastlines; both lack an aggradational component. Lower surfaces of the forced regressive-lowstand units are sharp and record abrupt basinward facies shifts. However, these basal surfaces were largely inherited, formed in the nearshore abrasion zone of the preceding transgressive-highstand bioclastic-dominated carbonate system. Rockgrounds formed in this way were not substantially modified by marine shoreface erosion during sea-level fall. The upper bounding surfaces of the forced regressive/lowstand deposits are also marine in origin and developed in response to rapid sea-level rise and landward translation of the shoreline. These surfaces were associated with nearshore abrasion and ravinement so that subaerial exposure surfaces were reworked in the marine environment and have very low preservation potential. Accordingly, the forced regression/lowstand sediment bodies are bounded by marine erosion surfaces and enclosed within sediments and/or surfaces formed in offshore environments.

Abstract The Bradanic Trough (southern Italy) is the Pliocene-present-day south Apennines foredeep. It is a foreland basin as subsidence due to westward subduction of the Adria Plate involves the continental crust of the Apulian domain. The infill succession of the Bradanic Trough is characterised by the presence of a long thrust sheet system (the so called ‘allochthon’) that occupied part of the accommodation space created on the foreland by subduction. The upper part of the infilling succession crops out along numerous sections. About 600 m of the 3-4 km basin-fill succession is exposed as the Bradanic Trough has experienced uplift during Quaternary times. Outcropping successions are mainly characterized by shallow-marine deposits comprising carbonates of the Calcarenite di Gravina Formation, silty clay hemipelagites of the Argille subappennine Formation and coarse-grained bodies of the ‘Regressive coastal deposits’. The Calcarenite di Gravina Formation (Middle-Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene in age) crops out in a backstepping configuration onto the flanks of the Apulian Foreland highs. It displays evidence of strong transgression onto a karstic region previously dissected in a complex horst and graben system. The Argille subappennine Formation (Late Pliocene-Middle Pleistocene in age) succeeds the carbonate sedimentation on the foreland side of the basin and represents the shallowing of the basin in the other sectors of the Bradanic Trough. Toward the Apennines chain, in the wedge-top area of the foredeep, the Argille subappennine Formation covers the allochthon, while in the depocentre (in the foredeep sensu stricto) the same formation overlays turbidite deposits. The latter characterize the

Abstract This paper brings a comprehensive review of the main petrophysical and mechanical properties of calcarenite rocks used from time immemorial in Apulia (south Italy), with load-bearing and decorative functions both in constructions of specific historic and architectonic interest and in more common buildings. These soft and porous rocks show a reduced ability to maintain their characteristics of strength, appearance and resistance to decay over a considerable period of time. Even more than other sedimentary rocks, calcarenites belonging to the same formation can change considerably in terms of physical properties and mechanical behaviour due to the complex spatial arrangement of facies strongly conditioned by depositional fabric and diagenetic processes. A number of calcarenite varieties belonging to the Calcarenite di Gravina Fm. and Pietra Leccese Fm. was selected from different parts of Apulia and characterized according to petrographical, physical and mechanical properties. These included porosity, pore size distribution, density, water absorption, degree of saturation, permeability, thermal properties as well as compressive strength and flexural strength. Particular attention was given to the relationships between rock fabric features and physico-mechanical behaviour of the calcarenites. In addition, a comparison of data for the examined varieties was also discussed. A classification of the Apulian calcarenites based on rock fabric features and uniaxial compressive strength was proposed. Critical observations regarding the durability of the Apulian calcarenites were made, taking into account other data from literature.

Abstract The results of a study of the effect of marine salt crystallization on the physical and mechanical properties of Plio-Pleistocene calcarenites cropping out in southern Italy are presented here. Owing to their workability, aesthetic appeal and availability, the calcarenites have been widely used as building stones in many historic monuments. Samples of medium-grained packstones and fine-grained packstones-wackestones were prepared for the salt crystallization test defined by EN 12370, using sea water instead of a 14% solution of Na 2 SO 4 · 10H 2 O. To determine the effect of imbibition alone on the performance of the calcarenites, the same procedure was followed with distilled water without soluble salts. Microfabric analysis, evaluation of index parameters and grain-size distribution were carried out as well. Particular attention was given to pore-size distribution by mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), loss of weight and uniaxial compressive strength determined before and after the tests, and after every five cycles of complete immersion in sea water and distilled water. The results suggest that detailed information on fabric and pore network are indispensable to predicting the weatherability of rocks. Crystallization tests that involve the complete immersion of the samples in a saline solution are not effective for an understanding of the real importance of salt damage on soft and porous calcarenites owing to a significant incidence of imbibition in accelerating deterioration rates and in influencing patterns and intensity of weathering.