From the Guajira Desert to the Apennines, and from Mediterranean Microplates to the Mexican Killer Asteroid: Honoring the Career of Walter Alvarez

This volume pays tribute to the great career and extensive and varied scientific accomplishments of Walter Alvarez, on the occasion of his 80th birthday in 2020, with a series of papers related to the many topics he covered in the past 60 years: Tectonics of microplates, structural geology, paleomagnetics, Apennine sedimentary sequences, geoarchaeology and Roman volcanics, Big History, and most famously the discovery of evidence for a large asteroidal impact event at the Cretaceous–Tertiary (now Cretaceous–Paleogene) boundary site in Gubbio, Italy, 40 years ago, which started a debate about the connection between meteorite impact and mass extinction. The manuscripts in this special volume were written by many of Walter’s close collaborators and friends, who have worked with him over the years and participated in many projects he carried out. The papers highlight specific aspects of the research and/or provide a summary of the current advances in the field.
Integrated stratigraphy of the Lutetian–Priabonian pelagic section at Bottaccione (Gubbio, central Italy): A proposal for defining and positioning the Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the base of the Bartonian Stage (Paleogene System, Eocene Series)
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Published:June 21, 2022
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CiteCitation
Rodolfo Coccioni*, Alessandro Montanari, Samuele Boschi, Rita Catanzariti, Fabrizio Frontalini, Luigi Jovane, Marcus Vinicius Lermen Kochhann, Nicola Pelosi, Nadia Sabatino, Jairo F. Savian, Mario Sprovieri, 2022. "Integrated stratigraphy of the Lutetian–Priabonian pelagic section at Bottaccione (Gubbio, central Italy): A proposal for defining and positioning the Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the base of the Bartonian Stage (Paleogene System, Eocene Series)", From the Guajira Desert to the Apennines, and from Mediterranean Microplates to the Mexican Killer Asteroid: Honoring the Career of Walter Alvarez, Christian Koeberl, Philippe Claeys, Alessandro Montanari
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ABSTRACT
At present, the Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the base of the Bartonian remains the only GSSP of the Paleogene System to be defined by the International Subcommission on Paleogene Stratigraphy (ISPS) and the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). Here, we present the results of an integrated, high-resolution study of calcareous plankton and benthic foraminifera biostratigraphy and a detailed magneto-, chemo-, and cyclostratigraphic analyses carried out through the upper Lutetian to the upper Priabonian pelagic sediments of the Bottaccione Gorge section near Gubbio, central Italy, to check its stratigraphic completeness and constrain in time the optimal interval for defining and positioning the GSSP for the base of the Bartonian Stage. The high-resolution and solid integrated stratigraphic framework established at Bottaccione confirmed the completeness of the section, which meets the ICS recommendations for a potential designation as a GSSP for the base of the Bartonian Stage. Thus, the Bottaccione section was compared with the parastratotype section of the Bartonian in its type area, Alum Bay, UK. On this basis, two reliable criteria for defining and positioning the Bartonian GSSP at Bottaccione are provided: (1) the base of magnetic polarity chronozone C18r as the primary correlation criterion and (2) the base of the calcareous nannofossil Dictyococcites bisectus, which defines the CNE14/CNE15 zonal boundary as a secondary correlation criterion.
- Bartonian
- benthic taxa
- biostratigraphy
- Cenozoic
- chemostratigraphy
- cyclostratigraphy
- Eocene
- Europe
- Foraminifera
- Gubbio Italy
- Italy
- Lutetian
- magnetostratigraphy
- microfossils
- middle Eocene
- Paleogene
- Perugia Italy
- planktonic taxa
- Priabonian
- Southern Europe
- stratigraphic boundary
- stratigraphy
- stratotypes
- Tertiary
- Umbria Italy
- upper Eocene
- Dictyococcites
- Bottaccione Italy
- GSSPs