Fabrizio Berra

University of Milan | UNIMI · Department of Earth Sciences "Ardito Desio"

The skill in "reading" two-dimension representations (typically geological maps) as symbolic images of the real world is critical for a geologist. Teachers have thus to face the difficulties that several students have when reading geological maps. Furthermore, when students fail, the consequence is often a frustration with the successive reject of...

Numerical models were used to investigate the effects of differential compaction on strain development and early fracturing in an early cemented high-relief Triassic carbonate platform prograding onto basinal sediments, whose thickness increases basinward. Results show that basinal sediment compaction induces stretching of internal platform and slo...

The interplay of sea-level fall, climate, and sedimentological changes is recorded across two sequence boundaries at the top of two Triassic carbonate platform systems in the Western Tethys (earliest Carnian and Norian-Rhaetian boundary in age, paleolatitude 18 degrees-25 degrees N). The sea-level falls caused subaerial exposure of the platform top...

Continental successions in fault-controlled extensional–transtensional basins store a wide range of clastic deposits from various depositional environments, representing a challenging target for hydrocarbon exploration. Recent advances in field-based facies analysis and genetic interpretation of these sediments show that these successions are chara...

Syn-rift extensional faults play a significant role during the early stage of rifting.Constraining the age of faulting, and how and when deformation shifts from theproximal to the distal margin areas, is crucial for the reconstruction of the riftingprocess. Previous assessments of the structural and temporal evolution of rift-relatedfaults of the A...

Since the first modern geological map published in 1815, geological maps represent the best way to store geological knowledge, available for different applications. As for all the other types of thematic maps, geological maps require a continuous update. For geological maps updating is critical, not because the geology of a territory is affected by...

Identification of the processes producing soft‐sediment deformation structures, common in siliciclastic deposits and less abundant in carbonate successions, is complex, because different processes may produce similar structures. Thus, interpreting the origin of these structures may be challenging: it requires both a detailed sedimentological study...

Western Tethys sedimentary successions constitute fundamental archives of Late Triassic–Early Jurassic environmental, carbonate production and tectonic changes. During the Late Triassic, the Northern Calcareous Alps (Austria) belonged to the Western Tethys passive margin, characterised by the deposition of the early-dolomitized peritidal Hauptdolom...

The study of selected logs from the Central-Eastern Iran Microplate (CEIM; area of Arusan) and Sanandaj–Sirjan Zone (SSZ; areas of Esfahan east and Tiran) constrains timing and evolution of the Cretaceous successions, resting unconformably on older sediments or non-conformably on the metamorphic basement. The Cretaceous marine transgression occurre...

The goal of the field itinerary is to illustrate the facies and architecture of a Triassic high-relief carbonate platform (lithostratigraphically known as Esino Limestone; Lombardy, N Italy), similar in age and evolution to the more renowned coeval carbonate platforms of the Dolomites (NE Italy) and the coeval basinal facies. In the central Souther...

During the early and middle Miocene, diverse photozoan to heterozoan carbonate and mixed carbonate-siliciclastic depositional systems characterized the Mediterranean region at palaeo-latitudes of 30–40°N, during a time of warm climate. These systems ranged from carbonate ramp to rimmed platforms to current-swept flooded incised palaeo-valleys, seaw...

Come facciamo a misurare quanto è vecchia la Terra? Come si formano i fossili e i minerali? Dove troviamo le risorse naturali? Quanto è dinamico il nostro pianeta? Come è cambiato il clima? Cosa vuol dire prevedere i terremoti? Sono alcune delle grandi domande che possiamo ignorare o alle quali possiamo cercare risposte grazie alla scienza che stu...

The Norian succession of the Southern Alps of Italy stores thick successions of resedimented basinal carbonates (Zorzino Limestone) that were deposited in fault-controlled, anoxic, intraplatform basins developed within a vast inner platform domain (Dolomia Principale). To characterise the basinal facies, to define their distribution within these ba...

The structural analysis of large intracontinental wrench faults is fundamental for deciphering the long‐term evolution of continental crust in complex areas in terms of their geodynamic evolution and large‐scale crustal block displacements. In this contribution, we demonstrate a pre‐Miocene dextral activity of the present‐day left‐lateral Great Kav...

The Bathonian-Callovian (Middle Jurassic) Dorgali Formation in eastern Sardinia (Italy) consists of dolomitized oolitic grainstone and records a complex diagenetic history. Petrographic examinations revealed three main phases of replacive (D1, D2) and fracture-filling (D3) dolomites with crystal-size ranges of <4–50 μm (dolomicrite to dolomicrospar...

The Norian (Late Triassic) extensional regime that preceded the Jurassic rifting led to the identification of numerous fault-controlled intraplatform basins, segmenting and dismembering the carbonate inner platform of the Dolomia Principale, which during the Norian age extended from Hungary to Central Italy, including the Southern Alps. In the Cen...

The Late Jurassic is a peak time of diversification of reefs with corals, stromatoporoids, calcareous and siliceous sponges, and microbialites during the Phanerozoic. This study focuses on the Callovian–Kimmeridgian carbonate succession of eastern Sardinia, deposited at tropical latitudes on the European passive margin that recorded from the late O...

The petrographic, cathodoluminescence (CL), stable isotope, and microthermometry investigation of inner platform facies of the pervasively dolomitized carbonate platform of the Norian (Upper Triassic) Dolomia Principale (Southern Alps, N Italy) identified two major dolomite phases. An early replacement fabric-retentive dolomite (D1 and D2, respecti...

Fault inversion may lead to significant obliteration of earlier tectonic structures, thus preventing the straightforward interpretation of the complete kinematics and deformation history of faults. We adopt a multidisciplinary approach to: (1) reconstruct the tectonic evolution through space and in time of the extensionally-inverted Mt. Tancia Thru...

New age estimates obtained via Strontium Isotope (87 Sr/ 86 Sr) Stratigraphy and new paleoclimatic data are here presented for the Miocene Chilcatay and Pisco formations exposed in the East Pisco Basin, an Andean forearc basin of southern Peru, which is renowned worldwide for its exceptional content of fossil marine vertebrates. Mol-lusk and barnac...

The evolution of the Cambrian-Middle Ordovician carbonate systems in the east-central Tarim Basin, northwestern China, has been investigated using 2D seismic profiles and well data. Interpretation was performed on seismic profiles flattened along an originally horizontal surface (base of the Cambrian), to remove the effects of post-depositional def...

The first issue of volume 125 (2019) of Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia is dedicated to the memory of Maurizio Gaetani (1940-2017), world-renowned Professor of Geology and Stratigraphy at the University of Milan, to honour his fruitful life of research and his grandeur as a man, a friend, a mentor and an Editor of this journal.

Lower Permian continental deposits of the fault-controlled Orobic Basin (Central Southern Alps; Northern Italy) include alluvial fan facies interfingering with muddy basin-floor deposits, consisting of three facies associations: heterolithic fine-grained siliciclastic facies, laminated sandstone facies, and oncoidal limestone facies. Besides oncoid...

The 87Sr/86Sr ratio of oceanic seawater has varied through geological time and can be used to date marine minerals and correlate stratigraphic sections of marine deposits (McArthur et al., 2012). The Miocene Chilcatay and Pisco formations exposed in the East Pisco Basin (southern Peru) are well-known for their exceptional content of fossil marine v...

Well-preserved SSE-dipping low-angle normal faults (LANF) active during the Early Permian (Cisuralian) were recognized along the northern margin of the Orobic Basin (central Southern Alps, N Italy). These faults, which escaped most of the Alpine deformations, exhumed the Variscan basement during the deposition of the upper part of the Lower Permian...

The shallowest part (about 3 sec two-way traveltime) of the CROP line M-2A/I, acquired during 1991 in the Bonifacio Strait (between Corsica and Sardinia), was reprocessed to improve its geological interpretation. The original target of the M-2A/I profile was the entire crust and therefore the shallowest part was only partially interpreted. In this...

The shallowest part (about 3 sec two-way traveltime) of the CROP line M-2A/I, acquired during 1991 in the Bonifacio Strait (between Corsica and Sardinia), was reprocessed to improve its geological interpretation. The original target of the M-2A/I profile was the entire crust and therefore the shallowest part was only partially interpreted. In this...

The Triassic crinoid Encrinus aculeatus is described from a single bedding plane of uncertain Pelsonian or early Illyrian or (less probable) late Ladinian origin from Val Brembana (Alpi Orobie, Bergamo, Italy) based on 36 more or less complete crowns and columns. The specimens represent an obrutional echinoderm lagerstätte of the Muschelkalk type....

The comparison of subsidence curves obtained from deep wells in sedimentary basins represents a powerful tool to identify major changes in subsidence distribution, both in time and space. The construction of subsidence curves from 19 wells, covering a time interval from the Cretaceous to the present in the Gabes Basin (Pelagian Domain of the easter...

A brief outline of volcanic-volcaniclastic facies constituting the Cabianca Volcanite (Lower Permian) and a new insight, concerning the volcanites petrology, deriving from the clasts petrography of the Pizzo del Diavolo Fm. (Lower Permian, Central Southern Alps, N Italy).

A brief outline of the continental clastic facies constituting the Pizzo del Diavolo Formation (Lower Permian), the stratigraphic architecture of the Orobic Basin (Central Southern Alps, N Italy) and the depositional setting.

Learning geology requires the knowledge of geological processes that must be applied to the study of specific situations. Geological education requires also three-dimensional (3D) skills that can be improved with training. Important tools for developing 3D skills while teaching geology are geological maps, today rarely used for educational purposes...

Mostra sulla evoluzione ed applicazioni della cartografia geologica (in italiano) Scaricabile liberamente dal sito della Società Geologica Italiana all'indirizzo WEB: https://www.socgeol.it/302n956/la-carta-geologica-d-italia-molto-piu-di-un-immagine-a-colori.html

Geological Maps – An exhibition by the Italian Geological Society by Fabrizio Berra, Chiara D’Ambrogi & Marcello Tropeano What is a geological map? Which kind of data does it provide? How can it be used for applications with consequences on people’s life? As a contribution to the International Map Year, the Società Geologica Italiana created an e...

Central Iran is a tectonic puzzle that consists of several, mainly Gondwana-derived, terranes. The accretion of these terranes to the Eurasia margin resulted from the superposition of several orogenic events culminating with the Late Triassic Cimmerian orogeny. Dismembered ophiolites occur within several metamorphic complexes in the NW part of Cent...

The Eastern Pisco Basin outcrops in the Ica Desert (Peru), where the upper Miocene Pisco Formation and the lower Miocene Chilcatay Formation are well known due to the exceptional preservation of fossils of marine vertebrates. Fossil invertebrates are quite common in these Miocene formations and exhibit different preservation modes suggesting two di...

Arragoni et al. (2016) suggest in their paper published on Tectonics that the carbonate succession of Eastern Sardinia represents a Cenozoic fold-and-thrust belt, related to the Alpine orogenesis. According to these Authors, this supposed fold-and-thrust belt represents the southward prosecution of the Alpine Corsica collisional chain and the missi...

The Upper Palaeozoic Godar-e-Siah Complex of Jandaq, Central Iran, comprises three isolated, fault-bounded outcrops exposing Palaeozoic fossiliferous carbonates, volcanics and siliciclastics, which are markedly distinct from the surrounding sedimentary successions. The three outcrops, that emerge below Cretaceous and younger sediments, are the Chah...

Il Foglio 079 – Bagolino della Carta Geologica d‟Italia a scala 1:50.000 è stato realizzato nell‟ambito del Progetto CARG (Legge 226/1999), attraverso convenzioni tra il Servizio Geologico d‟Italia, la Regione Lombardia e la Provincia Autonoma di Trento che hanno affidato il Coordinamento Scientifico del Foglio al’Università degli Studi di Bologna....

Quantitative analysis of depositional systems using numerical models can provide insights into the interaction of sedimentological and diagenetic processes, difficult to interpret from observation of the geological products alone. Numerical models can highlight the interactions between controlling parameters, and generate best estimate simulations...

The demise of the high-relief, steep-slope, prograding Ladinian-Early Carnian carbonate platforms of the Esino Limestone (Central Southern Alps of Italy) is marked by subaerial exposure of the platform top associated with different erosional (mainly karst-related), depositional and diagenetic processes (Calcare Rosso). The exposure-related deposits...

We examine the potentially-seismic right-lateral transtensional–extensional Tre Monti Fault (central Apennines, Italy) with structural and geochemical methods and develop a conceptual evolutionary model of extensional faulting with fluid involvement in shallow (≤3 km depth) faults in carbonate rocks. In the analysed fault zone, multiscale fault roc...

Structural and geochemical methods applied to the seismically-active extensional Tre Monti Fault (central Apennines, Italy) were used to develop a conceptual evolutionary model of seismic faulting with fluid involvement for shallow (≤ 3 km depth) extensional faults in carbonate rocks. The relative chronology of these structures was reconstructed th...

The occurrence in Iran of several ophiolite belts dating between Late Palaeozoic to Triassic poses several questions on the possible existence of various sutures marking the closure of the Palaeotethys ocean between Eurasia and this Gondwana-derived microplate. In this scenario, the Anarak region in Central Iran still represents a conundrum. Contra...

Here, we describe the Permian–Lower Triassic sedimentary succession of South Pamir and the associated biota of conodonts, foraminifers and brachiopods. The studied succession comprises the Carboniferous-Lower Permian siliciclastic Uruzbulak and Tashkazyk formations (Bazar Dara Group), which are unconformably covered by upper Lower to Upper Permian...

U–Pb zircon ages from volcanic rocks of Early Permian age (Southern Alps, Lombardy), associated with fault-controlled transtensional continental basins, were determined with the laser ablation (LA)-ICP-MS technique. Four samples were collected at the base and at the top of the up to 1000 m thick volcaniclastic unit of the Cabianca Volcanite. This u...

In the last 3 years the late Paleozoic history of Central Iran has been investigated with the aim of restoring a critical phase in the geological evolution of this Cimmerian block, that is its late pre-rift and the following early drift sedimentary history. This project was developed as the ideal continuation of a former project on the Triassic col...

The Anarak region of Central Iran is a key area for the understanding of the Late Palaeozoic to Triassic Cimme-rian evolution of Iran. The Anarak Metamorphic Complex (AMC) forms an E-W trending mountain ridge, which separates the Triassic of Nakhlak to the north from a continuous non-metamorphic Palaeozoic to Mesozoic sed-imentary succession to the...

The Cimmerian orogen resulted from the collision and accretion of several Perigondwanan blocks to the southern margin of Eurasia between the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic, following the closure of the Palaeotethys ocean. Remnants of this orogen discontinuously crop out in N (Alborz range) and NE Iran (Mashhad–Fariman area) below the syn- to post...

The Anisian succession of Nakhlak (in Central Iran) is characterized by a siliciclastic succession with minor carbonate units, with massive carbonate mounds up to 50 m thick in its upper part. The mounds, constrained in age to the late Bithynian (Ismidicus Zone) by ammonoids and conodonts, are characterized by a flat top and a lateral pinch-out mar...

Export Date: 19 March 2013, Source: Scopus

Paleomagnetic results from Oligocene-Miocene sedimentary units in central Iran are used to reconstruct the history of Neogene tectonic deformation of this region. Paleomagnetic data show that in central Iran, crustal blocks bounded by sets of strike-slip faults are rotated to accommodate NNE-SSW shortening related to Arabia-Eurasia convergence. Cou...

The geological data presented in the 1:50.000 Clusone Sheet of the new Geological Map of Itlay, surveyed at 1:10.000 scale, are the result of a deep revision of the previous data, thanks to detailed field mapping, lithostratigraphic and structural revision and laboratory analyses. In detail, field mapping has been enriched by the mapping of differe...

Il Foglio 078 - Breno della Carta Geologica d’Italia 1:50.000 è stato realizzato nell’ambito del Progetto CARG (l. n. 67/88) attraverso una convenzione tra il Servizio Geologico d'Italia e la Regione Lombardia, che si è avvalsa della consulenza del Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra dell’Università degli Studi di Milano. Il settore compreso nel Fo...

Quantitative analysis of sediment composition was performed on a kilometre wide section of Upper Tithonian low relief (up to 70 m), gently inclined (3° to 15°), sigmoidal carbonate clinoforms (eastern Sardinia) to identify changes in sediment composition along the slope and across the studied succession. These changes may reflect modifications of t...

The Triassic succession of the central Southern Alps (Italy) is stacked into several units bounded by south-verging low-angle thrust faults, which are related to two successive steps of crustal shortening. The thrust surfaces are cut by high-angle extensional and strike-slip faults, which controlled the emplacement of hypabissal magmatic intrusions...

The Upper Anisian to Early Carnian succession of the Middle Val Brembana–Pegherolo Massif (Central Southern Alps of Italy) records a complete depositional cycle from platform inception to growth, demise and rebirth. The depositional architecture of this system reflects different evolutionary stages: an inception stage which postdates a previous dro...

The Lower Permian succession of the Central Southern Alps (Lombardy, Northern Italy) was deposited in fault-controlled continental basins, probably related to transtensional tectonics. We focussed our study on the stratigraphic record of the Lower Permian Orobic Basin, which consists of a 1000 m thick succession of prevailing continental clastics w...

The Orobic Alps are exposed between the Adamello batholith to the east and the Como Lake to the west. They include a nearly complete crustal section comprising a Variscan basement and its overlying Permian-Mesozoic sedimentary cover, which experienced severe shortening by folding and thrusting during the Alpine orogeny (Laubscher, 1985; Schönborn 1...

The Norian in the Western Tethys is characterised by the deposition of early-dolomitised inner platform facies (Dolomia Principale/Hauptdolomit, DP/HD), bordered on the landward side by terrigenous coastal deposits (Keuper) and on the seaward side by calcareous backreef and reefal facies (Dachstein Limestone) passing basinward to open-sea sediments...

Seven tectonic subsidence curves, based on outcrop data, have been calculated in order to constrain the geodynamic evolution of the Permian–Mesozoic sedimentary succession (up to 10 km thick) of the Central Southern Alps basin (Italy). The analysis of the tectonic subsidence curves, covering a time span of about 200 Ma, allowed us to quantify the s...

We studied the stratigraphy, composition, and paleomagnetic properties of lateritic weathering profiles of Permian age from northern Iran and western Karakoram, Pakistan. A limited set of samples deemed representative yielded stable low-inclination paleomagnetic components carried essentially by hematite of chemical origin isolated in massive, fine...

Several high resolution seismic surveys were conducted in Alpine and pre-Alpine Lombardia (Northern Italy) valleys in order to reconstruct the geometries of the sediments filling the valleys, their seismo-stratigraphy and the rock basement depth. The acquisitions were made mainly in the framework of the CARG (Geological CARtography) project for the...

The Eo-Cimmerian orogen results from the Late Triassic collision of Iran, a microplate of Gondwanan affinity, with the southern margin of Eurasia. The orogen is discontinuously exposed along the northern side of the Alborz Mountains of North Iran below the siliciclastic deposits of the Shemshak Group (Late Triassic-Jurassic). A preserved section of...

New structural, sedimentological, petrological and palaeomagnetic data collected in the region of Nakhlak–Anarak provide important constraints on the Cimmerian evolution of Central Iran. The Olenekian–Upper Ladinian succession of Nakhlak was deposited in a forearc setting, and records the exhumation and erosion of an orogenic wedge, possibly locate...

An important, 2.4 km-thick Triassic succession is exposed at Nakhlak (central Iran). This succession was deformed during the Cimmerian orogeny and truncated by an angular unconformity with undeformed Upper Cretaceous sediments. This integrated stratigraphic study of the Triassic included bed-by-bed sampling for ammonoids, conodonts and bivalves, as...

New Late Ordovician, Permian, and Triassic paleomagnetic data from Iran are presented. These data, in conjunction with data from the literature, provide insights on the drift history of Iran as part of Cimmeria during the Ordovician-Triassic. A robust agreement of paleomagnetic poles of Iran and West Gondwana is observed for the Late Ordovician-ear...

We studied the stratigraphy, composition, and paleomagnetism of lateritic weathering profiles of Permian age from north Iran and western Karakoram, Pakistan. A limited set of samples yielded stable low inclination paleomagnetic components carried essentially by hematite of chemical origin isolated in massive, fine- grained, and homogeneous ferricre...

The Triassic–Lower Jurassic succession of the Southern Alps is characterized by rapid thickness changes, from an average of about 5000 m east of Lago Maggiore to about 500 m in the Western Southern Alps. The stratigraphy reflects the Triassic evolution of the Tethyan Gulf and the Early Jurassic rifting responsible for the Middle Jurassic break-up o...

During the late Sakmarian (Early Permian), the Haushi limestone was deposited in a shallow embayment of the Neotethys Ocean covering what is now north Oman and parts of southeast Saudi Arabia. The sea persisted through the late Sakmarian, but by the time of the deposition of the ?Artinskian Middle Gharif Member, limestone deposition had ceased and...