INTRODUCTION

Numerous studies have been performed on geologyand paleontology of Cessaniti area (e.g. Nicotera, 1959;

Barbera & Tavernier, 1987,1990; Grasso et al., 1996;Papazzoni & Sirotti, 1999; Ferretti et al., 2001, 2003;Rook et al., 2006; Carone & Domning, 2007). The site is

THE PALEONTOLOGICAL SITE OF CESSANITI: A WINDOW ONA COASTALMARINE ENVIRONMENT OF SEVEN MILLION YEARS AGO

(SOUTHERN CALABRIA, ITALY)

Pierparide Gramigna, Adriano Guido, Adelaide Mastandrea & Franco Russo

Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università della Calabria, via P. Bucci, Cubo 15b, I - 87036 Rende (Cosenza), Italypierparide.gramigna@unical.it

ABSTRACT - The paleontological site of Cessaniti is situated in the inland of Vibo Valentia area and it isfamous for the excellent preservation and relevance of its fossil content together with the wonderful panoramas ofTyrrhenian sea. The locality is well known since nineteenth century for the richness of the fauna and flora preser-ved in the sediments. The fossil assemblages contain invertebrate (corals, bivalve, gastropods, brachiopods, echi-noids such as Clypeaster ssp., benthic and planktonic foraminifers) and vertebrate faunas (proboscideans, rhino-ceroses, giraffids, bovids, sirenids, marine turtles and fish remains). Unfortunately the access to the outcrops isstrongly limited due to their locations in cultivated quarries. The fossils are preserved in calcarenites which nowdays are loose through diagenetic processes. This makes the fossil collection quite easy due to the low degree ofcementation. The succession is constituted of a paralic system that evolves toward an open marine environmentrecording the Tortonian transgression. The fossils of Cessaniti site bear a relevant role in earth science researchparticularly in phylogenetic studies and paleogeographic reconstructions; they have also great importance for thepopular scientific divulgation and museology.

Calabria, Italy.

RIASSUNTO - Il sito di Cessaniti, posto nell’entroterra del comprensorio di Vibo Valentia (Calabria meridio-nale), coniuga la rilevanza paleontologica dei suoi reperti con i meravigliosi aspetti paesaggistici delle coste chelo contornano.

Il sito è noto sin dall’Ottocento per la straordinaria ricchezza e l’ottimo stato di conservazione dei suoi fossi-li. Attualmente, gran parte dell’area è coltivata per l’estrazione di materiali inerti.

I fossili sono conservati in calcareniti rese incoerenti dai processi diagenetici e quindi facilmente estraibili dallamatrice. Tale facilità del recupero, inusuale in sedimenti così antichi, rappresenta un tratto di eccezionalità delsito. La successione di Cessaniti registra la fase di trasgressione marina avvenuta circa 7 milioni di anni fa(Tortoniano superiore). L’arretramento della linea di costa, verso l’altipiano del M.te Poro causò una forte varia-zione del paleoambiente che venne trasformato da un sistema lagunare ad un sistema francamente marino.

Cessaniti ha fornito migliaia di fossili, tra cui splendidi esemplari di echinidi (principalmente Clypeaster),grandi molluschi (tra cui Glycimeris, Chlamys, Pecten, Conus, Buccinum e Ancilla) e numerosi e ben preservatibrachiopodi (Terebratula sinuosa).

Da questo sito provengono numerosi resti di mammiferi marini e terrestri, ben conservati ma disarticolati e dis-persi. Tra i vertebrati marini sono stati rinvenuti sirenidi (Metaxytherium serresii), tartarughe (Trionix sp.), pescimarini tropicali (oltre venti specie di tetraodontiformi), razze (Myliobatis sp.) e denti di squalo (Carcharodon sp.).Tra i mammiferi terrestri sono presenti: proboscidati (Stegotetrabelodon cf. syrticus), rinoceronti (Diceros primae-vus), bovidi e giraffidi (Samotherium).

I fossili di Cessanti, oltre all’importanza che rivestono nelle indagini filogenetiche e nelle ricostruzioni paleo-geografiche e paleoecologiche, hanno una grande valenza museologico-divulgativa. Si tratta di reperti in un cosìperfetto stato di conservazione che li rende testimonianze uniche della vita nel Miocene superiore nel bacinoMediterraneo.

Cessanti apre una finestra su un ambiente costiero di 7 milioni di anni fa: fondali pieni di vita, mari abitati dasquali e dugonghi, terre popolate da grandi mammiferi ormai scomparsi. Queste caratteristiche fanno di Cessanitiun “unicum” nel panorama geo-paleontologico calabrese di valore scientifico nazionale ed internazionale, dapreservare e proporre come geosito.

Geologica Romana 41 (2008), 25-34

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Calabria, Italia.PAROLE CHIAVE : sito paleontologico, fossili di invertebrati e vertebrati, paleoambienti, Miocene superiore, Cessaniti,

KEY WORDS: paleontological site, vertebrate and invertebrate fossils, paleoenvironment, upper Miocene, Cessaniti,

Geologica Romana 41 (2008), 25-3426 GRAMIGNA et al.

located in some quarries (Cava Brunia, Cava Forcone)along the road that connects the Vibo Valentia airportwith the Cessaniti village (Fig. 1, 2).A geological mapping of the Cessaniti area has been

carried out by Nicotera (1959), allowing an accuratereconstruction of the stratigraphy of the Northern sectorof Monte Poro area. The Author also recognized themain regional events of the Upper Miocene stratigraphy:(a) the widespread occurrence of shallow marine arenitesrich in molluscan and echinoid remains duringTortonian; (b) the onset of the pelagic tripolaceous sedi-mentation at the beginning of Messinian; (c) the occur-rence of the so-called “Calcare di Base ”, witnessing theonset of the evaporitic sedimentation.These events, well documented in the literature of

Middle - Upper Miocene of Mediterranean area (Selli,1957; Ogniben, 1973), are easily recognizable in thestudy site.The stratigraphic succession, established by Nicotera

(1959), has been used as reference section in several

paleontological - paleoecological research (i.e., Barbera& Tavernier, 1987,1990). It comprises the following

Fig. 1 - Geological scheme of Cessaniti area.- Schema geologico dell’area di Cessaniti.

Fig. 2 - Panoramic view of the Brunia quarry near Cessaniti village.- Vista panoramica di Cava Brunia localizzata in prossimità diCessaniti.

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Geologica Romana 41 (2008), 25-34 27PALEONTOLOGICAL SITE OF CESSANITI: A WINDOW ON A...

intervals:Crystalline basement;Poorly sorted conglomerate with clasts deriving from

the underlying substratum.Dark coloured shales and arenaceous shales, alternat-

ed to light grey coarse sandstones. The interval containsa fauna dominated by Cerithium ssp. and ostreids.Poorly cemented, almost unfossiliferous sandstones.

The thickness of unit b), c) and d) are thin (from a fewmeters to 10-15 m).Grey to yellowish, poorly cemented, fossiliferous

sandstones. According to Nicotera (1959) this unit canreach the thickness of 150 m and includes all the sandswith fully marine faunas (Clypeaster ssp., Pecten ssp.and several species of other mollusc, brachiopods, ben-thic foraminifers and coralline red algae).

Fig. 3 - Stratigraphic succession of the studied area.- Successione stratigrafica dell’area di studio.

05GRAMIGNA:ARGENTI 10-12-2008 15:52 Pagina 27

Thin-bedded marls and shales, upwards grading intotripolaceous marls, rich in planktonic microfauna (main-ly foraminifers).“Evaporitic”, unfossiliferous limestones; it corre-

sponds to the so-called “Calcare di Base”.The succession is affected by significant facies

changes, due to the paleotopography and the diachro-nous timing of the transgression. Sometimes the inter-vals before the regional transgression (b, c, and d) arelacking and the basement is overlain directly by marinefossiliferous sandstones of unit e. Moreover true coralreefs, reaching the thickness of about 15 m, are interca-lated within the sandstones of unit e.

The fossil assemblages are rich and differentiated.Among invertebrates the most famous, common and bestpreserved fauna belong to echinoids, represented mainlyby the genera Clypeaster and Echinolampas (ChecchiaRispoli, 1925; Imbesi Smedile, 1958). Bivalves are alsopresent with the genera Amusium, Pecten, Chlamys,Glycymeris, etc. Gastropods are less frequent andrestricted to particular beds, among them have been rec-ognized specimens belonging to the genera Cerithium,Conus, Buccinum and Ancilla, the last three preserved asmoulds. In the upper part of the succession brachiopods,

GRAMIGNA et al.28 Geologica Romana 41 (2008), 25-34

Fig. 4 - a) Shale lagoonal horizont at the base of Cessaniti succession; b) small oyster bioconstruction (Crassostrea gryphoides) at the top of lagoon-al horizont.- a) Orizzonte argillitico lagunare affiorante alla base della successione di Cessaniti; b) particolare di una biocostruzione a grosse ostreidi(Crassostrea gryphoides).

Fig. 5 - Low angle cross lamination typical of the flood tidal deltadeposits.- Laminazioni incrociate a basso angolo tipiche dei corpi tidali.

Fig.6 - Well preserved echinoid shells of the genus Clypeaster sp.- Echinidi (Clypeaster sp.) ben preservati nella matrice arenacea.

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PALEONTOLOGICAL SITE OF CESSANITI: A WINDOW ON A... 29Geologica Romana 41 (2008), 25-34

mainly Terebratula, are relatively common and formsdecimeter thick beds (Gaetani & Saccà, 1983). Also ben-thic foraminifera are widely represented, in particularare present banks constituted only by Heterosteginapapyracea.Among the vertebrate fauna numerous fossils of ter-

restrial mammals have been recovered like pro-boscideans (Stegotetrabelodon cfr. syrticus), rhinoceros-es (Diceros primaevus), bovids and giraffids (Samo-therium sp.). The marine vertebrate fauna is representedby sirenids (Metaxytherium serresii), turtles (Trionixsp.), tropical marine fishes (more than twenty species oftetraodontiforms), rays (Myliobatis sp.) and sharks(Carcharodon sp.) (Barone 1990).All these data point to a sedimentary basin deeply

influenced by riverine inputs and continental runoff.The paleontological and sedimentological characteris-

tics permit to consider the Cessaniti site a “unicum” inthe calabrian geo-paleontological panorama.

GEOLOGICAL AND PALEONTOLOGICALBACKGROUND

The stratigraphic succession of the Cessaniti area can

be schematized in four units (Fig. 3):

Unit 1

The base of the succession is represented by an intervalmade up of dark-coloured shales alternated to gray coarsesandstones, yielding an oligotypic brackish water assem-blage dominated by Cerithium ssp. and ostreids(Crassostrea spp.; Fig. 4); subordinately are also presentfish remains and undeterminable plant debris. Specimensof Crassostrea gryphoides, densely packed, form smallbanks (Fig. 4), interpreted as “string reef” sensu Stenzel(1971). The prominent character of this unit is theabsence of fully marine organisms. Dominance of alter-nated marl/silt laminae at the top of shale interval indi-cates a low energy environment. Furthermore the occur-rence of lignite layers suggests coastal marshes andswamps bordering the lagoons. These data imply arestricted depositional environment, with periodicalinputs of freshwater, such as marginal marine lagoonswith limited access to ocean waters.In the upper part follows poorly cemented, meter thick

not fossiliferous sandstone bed. The low angle cross-lam-inated structure of this interval indicates that sandstonesrepresent flood-tidal delta into the mud lagoonal environ-ment (Fig. 5). Poorly sorted conglomerates, interpretableas “fan delta” deposit, locally occur.

Unit 2

This unit, which furnished a large part of the famousfossil assemblages, is mainly constituted by gray sand-stones that lies above the previously unit through asharp, erosional contact, marked by the concentration ofpebble and oyster shell lags (Ostrea edulis var. lamel-losa). Granitoid pebbles are decimeter in size, wellrounded and often encrusted by serpulids.Just above the erosional marine surface, fully marine

fossil assemblage, including echinoids (mainlyClypeaster), molluscs and internal moulds of gas-tropods, occur (Figs. 6, 7, 8). This boundary marks theonset of truly marine fauna above lagoonal deposits.Occasionally this lag is represented by clay pockets,with shells of Crassotrea sp. or Ostrea edulis var. lamel-losa. This surface is evident across all the outcrops ofCessaniti area (i.e. for a lateral extension of several hun-dreds of meters; Neri et al., 2005). The shells of the lagwere exhumed and redistributed from the oyster banksthrough a process of shoreface erosion (Rogers &Kidwell, 2000). We interpreted this surface as ashoreface ravinement surface (Fig. 9). The ravinementsurface is constituted by coarse conglomerate deposits ofcoastal origin, created by the action of waves (Stamp,1921). The ravinement process represents the first stageof the transgression and marks the landward migration ofthe shoreline. Swift (1968) named the ravinement sur-face as “wave ravinement surface”. Generally the ravine-ment surface is associated with a bone bed frequentlyrepresented by sirenid vertebrae (Metaxytherium sp.)

Fig. 7 - Great pectinids of the genus Macrochlamys.- Pettinidi (Macrochlamys sp.) di grosse dimensioni.

Fig. 8 - Internal mould of gasteropod of the genus Conus.- Modello interno di gasteropode (Conus sp.).

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GRAMIGNA et al.30 Geologica Romana 41 (2008), 25-34

Fig. 10 - a, c)Metaxytherium serresii: a, lateral view of skull; c, mandible in dorsal view. b, d) Samotherium sp.: b, upper left dental arcade in occlusalview; d, left metatarsal in anterior view.- a, c) Metaxytherium serresii: a, cranio in vista laterale sinistra, manca gran parte della porzione superiore; c, mandibola in veduta dorsale. b, d)Samotherium sp.: b, arcata dentaria superiore sinistra in veduta occlusale; d) metatarsale sinistro in veduta anteriore.

Fig. 9 - Shoreface ravinement surface in the Cessaniti site.- Superficie di “ravinement” nel sito di Cessaniti.

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and other bone fragments (Fig. 10). This peculiar sedi-mentological aspect could have allowed the good preser-vation and the recovery of the very rich vertebrate andinvertebrate fauna of this site.The depositional style of this unit is dominated by

same CU (coarsening upward) cycles a few meters thick.Each cycle (up to 3m) evolves from amalgamated tostrongly bioturbated sandstones. The depositional struc-tures consist of badly preserved hummochy and planar orlow-angle cross laminations. This unit records a lowershoreface depositional environment.

Unit 3

The subsequent unit, observable on the road towardCessaniti village, is made of yellowish poorly cementedsandstones, with a depositional style quite similar to theprevious unit. The boundary with the underlying unit isrepresented by a sandy clay level, usually badly exposed;it does not yield marine fauna and possibly records par-alic deposits separating two marine sequences. The fos-sil assemblage include Clypeaster ssp., Echinolampasssp., Terebratula sp.,Macrochlamys, and a great numberof benthic foraminifera, mainly Heterostegina papyra-cea (Papazzoni & Sirotti 1999) (Fig. 11). The abundanceof Heterostegina indicates open marine conditions ratherthan a restricted environment (Hottinger, 1977, Hallock& Glenn, 1986; Hohennegger, 1995). Recent Hetero-stegina commonly colonizes sea bottoms with hard orsoft substratum at depth between 20-200 m (Hottinger,1977; Hohenneger, 1994,1995; Hohenneger et al., 1999).Field observations revealed the presence ofHeterostegina banks, characterized by plurimetric scalecross bedding structures, which indicate elevateshydraulic energy conditions as the occurrence of thickshelled Clypeaster.This unit passes laterally to a oligotypic patch reef

about 30 m in thickness, localized near the studied site(few hundreds of meters), and characterized by the dom-inance of Porites calabricae and the presence of

Tarbellastraea reussiana and Siderastraea (Romano etal., 2007) (Fig. 12). This unit compared to the previousone shows a thinner grain size, a higher autochthonouscarbonate component, and the occurrence of planktonic

PALEONTOLOGICAL SITE OF CESSANITI: A WINDOW ON A... 31Geologica Romana 41 (2008), 25-34

Fig. 11 - Densely packed tests of Heterostegina papyracea in the upperpart of the succession.- Accumulo bioclastico a macroforaminiferi (Heterostegina papyracea)nella parte alta della successione.

Fig. 12 - Bioconstruction dominated by Porites sp. cropping out nearthe Cessaniti site.- Biocostruzione a Porites sp. in prossimità della località fossilifera diCessaniti.

Fig. 13 - SEM photomicrograph of an echinoid skeleton. Growth ofsyntaxial calcite in the skeleton pore spaces (originally filled by organ-ic matter).- Immagine al SEM di uno scheletro di echinide. Crescita sintassialedi calcite nei pori originariamente riempiti da materia organica.

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Geologica Romana 41 (2008), 25-34 GRAMIGNA et al.32

Fig. 14 - Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of Cessaniti area during the upper Miocene. a) In the first stage of the Tortonian transgression the envi-ronment were characterized by marginal lagoon associated with the sandy barrier. b) Final stage of Tortonian transgression. The relatively sea levelrise determined the landward migration of the paleo- coastline and the consequent drowning of the coastal system and the establishing of truly marinecondition.- Ricostruzione paleoambientale dell’area di Cessaniti durante il Miocene superiore. a) Nella fase iniziale della trasgressione tortoniana l’ambien-te fu caratterizzato da una laguna con barra sabbiosa. b) successivamente l’innalzamento relativo del livello marino determinò l’arretramento dellalinea di costa e l’istaurarsi di condizioni francamente marine.

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foraminifers. These characteristics suggest clearlymarine depositional conditions.

Unit 4

The uppermost part of the succession, very badlyexposed, sometimes completely covered and marked byan abrupt contact, is made of thin-bedded blue hemipelag-ic marls and shales rich in planktonic microfauna. Thisunit, named “Marne ad Orbulina”, upwards grades intotripolaceous marls followed by a limestone interval,attributable to the Lower Messinian “Calcare di Base”.

DIAGENETIC HISTORY

The great importance of the Cessaniti site is due to theexcellent preservation of fossils and their easy collectionfor the low sandstone cementation. To better understandthe phenomenon we carried out a diagenetic researchperformed through the micromorphological and geo-chemical analyses of the Clypeaster skeletons. Thechoice of echinoids is due to their great number and verywell preservation. Firstly we recognized that the skele-tons preserved their original mineralogy (Mg-calcite),then we delineated the diagenetic history which can besummarized as follows:Death of organisms and rapid burial of their skeletons

in a semipermeable mixture of sandy/muddy sediments.The fast burial together with the abundance of organicmatter in the skeletons permitted the good preservationof microstructure and original mineralogy.Growth of syntaxial calcite in the skeleton pore spaces

(originally filled by organic matter) together with thesand cementation made the mineralized remains hardand resistant to the lithostatic pressure through the time(Fig.13).Late partial dissolution of the calcite filling the pores

and the carbonate cement among particles made the fos-sils easy to extract from the sediment. This dissolutionphase is still working.In summary this sequence of diagenetic events makes

the Cessaniti site an open space laboratory for paleonto-logical studies and paleoenvironmental reconstructions.

PALEOENVIRONMENTAL EVOLUTION

The Cessaniti succession records the history of theTortonian transgression in southern Italy. In the earlystage the coastal area consisted of a marginal lagoon

barred by a sandy island (“barrier island complex”) (Fig.14a). The salinity was low, permitting the settlement ofan oligotypic fauna constituted mainly of gastropods andgiant ostreids. A rapid sea level rise determined the onsetof truly marine conditions, marked by an erosional sur-face (shoreface ravinement surface) which records thelandward migration of the paleo-coastline. In the succes-sive stage the permanence of high stand sea level condi-tions is testified by the occurrence of open marine fauna,like brachiopods and planktonic organisms (Fig. 14b).Nevertheless the depositional environments were not sodeep: the development of small patch reefs and theoccurrence of echinoid assemblages suggest deposition-al conditions in the photic zone, particularly inshoreface/offshore transition settings. The final stage ofthe transgression triggered a rapid drowning, recordedby the deposition of blue hemipelagic marls (“Marne adOrbulina”).

CONCLUSION

Cessaniti site open a window on a coastal environment7 million years old. The fossil assemblages are rich, dif-ferentiated and well preserved thanks to the particulardiagenetic history.Among invertebrates the most famous and best pre-

served are echinoids, represented mainly by the generaClypeaster. Molluscs (bivalves and gastropods) are alsopresent. In the upper part of the succession, brachiopodsand benthic foraminifera constitute sedimentary accu-mulation geometries (carpets, lens, banks).Fossils of terrestrial mammals occur. Among them

have been recognized proboscideans, rhinoceroses,bovids and giraffids. These fossils suggest the presence,near the coast, of a proximal woodland ecosystem like asavanna. Marine vertebrate fauna is represented firstlyby sirenids, tropical marine fishes and sharks.It’s to be hoped that paleontological deposits very rich,

well preserved and varied like Cessaniti would be pro-tected and make attractive for a cultural tourism and edu-cation of citizens. All that means also to respect thetreasures of Nature and to preserve the record of theancient life.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS - The Authors would like toremember the great contribution to this research made byClaudio Neri, recently deceased. We thanks Filippo Barattolo(Università Federico II, Napoli) and Roberto Coccioni(Università Carlo Bo, Urbino) for their advices and commentsthat greatly improved this paper.

PALEONTOLOGICAL SITE OF CESSANITI: A WINDOW ON A... 33Geologica Romana 41 (2008), 25-34

Barbera C. & Tavernier A. (1987) - Osservazioni paleoambien-tali su un banco di ostriche del Tortoniano di CapoVaticano (Calabria, Italia). Atti Congr. S.I.M., Sorrento 29-31 maggio 1987, Lavori S.I.M., 23, 409-416.

Barbera C. & Tavernier A. (1990) - Paleoecologia della succes-

sione miocenica di Vibo Valentia. In Robba, E. (ed.), AttiQuarto Simp. Ecol. Paleoecol. Com. Bent., Sorrento 1988,Mus. Reg. Sci. Nat. Torino, 233-245.

Barone G. (1990) - Tetraodontiformi del Tortoniano diCessaniti. Notiz. di Mineral. e Paleontologia, 65, 57-62.

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Accettato per la stampa: Ottobre 2008

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