Piero Gianolla

University of Ferrara | UNIFE · Department of Physics and Earth Sciences

The Carnian Pluvial Episode (Late Triassic) was a time of global environmental changes and possibly substantial coeval volcanism. The extent of the biological turnover in marine and terrestrial ecosystems is not well understood. Here, we present a meta-analysis of fossil data that suggests a substantial reduction in generic and species richness and...

The Late Triassic Carnian Pluvial Episode (CPE) was a time of biological turnover and environmental perturbations. Within the CPE interval, C-isotope and sedimentary records indicate multiple pulses of depleted carbon into the atmosphere–ocean system linked to discrete enhancements of the hydrological cycle. Data suggest a similar cascade of events...

In this paper, sea-level fluctuations during the Carnian Pluvial Episode (CPE) are investigated. A revision of published data from multiple successions worldwide indicates a sea-level drop that occurred in different geodynamic settings after the onset of the first of multiple carbon-isotope perturbations that characterize the CPE. New stable isotop...

A higher precipitation regime during the early Late Triassic Carnian Pluvial Episode (CPE; 232–234 Ma) in many marine basins is evidenced by thick siliciclastic deposits, which are coeval with C-cycle perturbations and global warming. However, the mechanisms driving higher siliciclastic deposition are still not fully explored and could be linked to...

We provide the magnetostratigraphy of the Ladinian/Carnian Punta Grohmann stratigraphic section (Dolomites, Italy), calibrated with U-Pb ages from the literature (237.58 ± 0.04 Ma; 237.68 ± 0.05 Ma). The FO of ammonoid Zestoceras lorigae, the base of the vigens-densus palynomorphs Zone, and sequence stratigraphy suggest a Carnian age for the upper...

Rinaldo Zardini (1902–1988) was an Italian palaeontologist and botanist born in Cortina d’Ampezzo. Having a background as a professional photographer, he was able to illustrate his collection of mostly tiny fossils in high definition. For his significant contributions to the field of palaeontology he received an honorary degree from the University...

The Gargano Promontory is an ideal candidate for inclusion in the UNESCO Global Geoparks due to its unique geological features, high biodiversity, and rich cultural and historical heritage. The area has a defined geographic boundary and covers approximately 2000 km2, making it suitable for local economic development. Impressive geodiversity include...

Viene qui presentata la versione aggiornata e tradotta in italiano della Scala Cronostratigrafica Internazionale a cura della Commissione Italiana di Stratigrafia, oltre che l'elenco aggiornato dei GSSP finora ratificati, proposti e candidati sul territorio italiano. Herein is presented the updated Italian version of the International Chronostratig...

The Lacedel landslide is a large earth flow resting on the western slope of Cortina d'Ampezzo (BL). It was presumably triggered in the Late Glacial and features a recurring activity to this day (Mantovani et al., 2019). The presence of a carbonate-siliciclastic sequence of the Heiligkreuz Fm. (Upper Triassic) known in the past as Raibl Fm., in part...

The Gargano Promontory, the spur of the Italian peninsula, is one of the best candidates to be inserted in the UNESCO Global Geoparks. Following the general candidature criteria, it has a well-defined geographic boundary and a territory of about 2000 km2, big enough to serve local economic development. From a geological point of view the geodivers...

The territory covered by the Sheet 046 – Longarone of the 1:50.000 Geologic Map of Italy basically consists of mountainous land, split into the catchment basins of the Piave River and of its tributary rivers (among which the Cordevole and Maè streams). Geographically, the mapped area mainly belongs to the Southeastern Alps, and particularly to the...

The Carnian Pluvial Episode (CPE) has been recognized as a time of plant radiations and originations, likely related to observed swift changes from xerophytic to more hygrophytic floras. This suggests that the increasing humidity causally resulting from LIP volcanism was the trigger for these changes in the terrestrial realm. Understanding the caus...

Microbial carbonate platforms are common in the Pre-Cambrian and most of the Phanerozoic, often hosting hydrocarbons, but since they are distinct from modern coral reefs or skeletal carbonate ramps, a standardised facies model for such microbial-dominated carbonate bodies is still missing. The reconstruction of the stratigraphic architecture of the...

The Middle–Upper Triassic Aghdarband Basin, NE Iran, consists of a strongly deformed marine and non-marine stratigraphic succession, deposited along the southern margin of Asia in a highly complex tectonic context related to a back-arc setting. The youngest deformed units of the Aghdarband area consist of a rather monotonous sequence of brown-color...

The Yanchang Formation was deposited during the Middle Triassic in a vast lacustrine basin in the modern Ordos Basin and is a main target for hydrocarbon exploration in Central China. It is divided, based on sedimentary cycles and lithology, into the Chang 10 (the oldest) to Chang 1 (the youngest) members. During the deposition of the Chang 7 Membe...

Plutons in crustal shear zones may exploit inherited structures, interfere with strain localizing or be deformed passively. To constrain the relative timing of such tectono-magmatic relationships in natural settings is not always straight-forward. We here present sandbox-type analogue model experiments simulating magma emplacement into simple and t...

The Aghdarband Basin in the Kopeh-Dagh Range (NE Iran) is one of the most important areas for unraveling the evolution of the Turan plate (southern margin of Eurasia) during the last phase of the closure of the Paleotethys and to reconstruct the history of the Cimmerian blocks just before their collision with Eurasia during the early Late Triassic....

Plutons in crustal shear zones may exploit inherited structures, interfere with strain localizing or be deformed passively. To constrain the relative timing of such tectono-magmatic constellations in natural settings is not always straight-forward. We here present sandbox-type analogue model experiments simulating magma emplacement into simple and...

It has been argued that the beginning of significant pelagic calcification could have been linked to the Carnian Pluvial Episode (CPE), a climate change in the Late Triassic (~234–232 Ma) that was marked by C-cycle disruption and global warming. Nevertheless, abundant calcareous nannofossils have been described so far only in post-CPE rocks, and th...

Upper Triassic deposits formed at the onset of subsidence in the Sichuan foreland Basin of South China, and may record a crisis of carbonate deposition related to the Carnian Pluvial Episode. However, there is no consensus yet on the precise age of these deposits in northwestern Sichuan. In this work, ammonoid biostratigraphy has been improved, and...

We provide here the most complete census of the Italian Triassic tetrapod ichnosites ever published based on an extensive literature review, integrated with previously unpublished data. Most ichnosites are located in the Southern Alps but track-bearing localities are also described in the Western Alps, in Northern Apennines, Maritime Alps and in Sa...

In the Dolomites (Southern Alps), the original stratigraphic relationships and depositional geometries of Middle Triassic carbonate systems are exceptionally preserved and exposed, and well-constrained in a high-resolution sequence stratigraphic and bio-chronostratigraphic framework. During the late Ladinian, the region experienced a strong tectono...

We provide a list of contribution by Italian scientists to tetrapod ichnology with papers on both material from Italy and abroad. Foreign author's contributions on tetrapod ichnology based on material from Italy are also considered. The list updates the previous one published by D'Orazi Porchetti et al. (2008) and, as a result, includes works from...

The partial skeleton of a small tetrapod, collected from the lower Buchenstein Formation (uppermost Illyrian, Anisian Middle Triassic) of Piz da Peres (Northern Dolomites, Italy) is described. Incomplete ossification of some bones indicate that the specimen is a juvenile. Its absolute size and proportions, along with several skeletal structures sho...

Two microbial mound-shaped carbonate bodies buried below the slope deposits of the middle Triassic Latemar platform (Dolomites, Italy) have been studied. The two sedimentary bodies, after having reached different stages of evolution, drowned and were covered by the slopes of the Latemar carbonate platform. The estimation of the depth and time at wh...

Tetrapod footprints have recently proven to be a valid and useful stratigraphic tool in the late Palaeozoic-early Mesozoic continental stratigraphy. The Southern Alps of Italy (SA) show a number of very thick and well-exposed successions and preserve one of the best tetrapod footprint records of this time interval, either for the abundance, quality...

The Dolomites region (Southern Alps) has been studied since the XIX century because of the exceptional preservation of stratigraphic relationships and geometries of depositional systems. In the area between the Sciliar/Schlern massif and the Alpe di Siusi/Seiser Alm, the interplay between Middle Triassic carbonate buildups and magmatism can be obse...

Geoheritage is a term that concerns the abiotic part of a natural heritage of a territory. It is composed by those elements that own geological features making a part of a territory significant respect to others, i.e. having a great geological value. The latter is composed by different articles, among which the scientific one is the principal and g...

The Carnian Pluvial Episode (CPE) is an interval of global climate change that profoundly modified the Upper Triassic depositional systems. The CPE influenced both shallow and deep water environments and investigations are revealing the complex expression of its effects in different geological settings. The Southern Alps of Italy host an articulate...

The final pdf version of the article is avaiable for free download until August 27th 2019 here: https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/S1342937X1930142X?token=F3696F64287F13F3FBEC810D38E1219B386802A10982842646B19AA6708B709560DDE78CD3506777269F357B39883812

The Carnian Pluvial Episode (CPE) was a perturbation of the Late Triassic climate that had a strong impact on marine and terrestrial ecosystems. The CPE is still a relatively neglected episode if compared to the other global ecosystem turnovers of the Mesozoic. Nevertheless, the CPE is synchronous with a major biological turnover, with both extinct...

This paper provides a guide to the field trip of the 2018 edition of the Paleodays, the annual congress of the Società Paleontologica Italiana (Trento, 6–8 June 2018), dedicated to the terrestrial ecosystems of the Dolomites between the late Permian and the Middle Triassic. It is structured into three stops (Fig. 1). We will first visit two outcrop...

In the Upper Permian continental to marginal-marine succession of the Southern Alps (Dolomites, north Italy), the ichnological record consists of diverse vertebrate footprints and non-diverse invertebrate trace fossils, mainly occurring in the “Bletterbach ichnoassociation” of the Val Gardena Sandstone Formation. After the Permian- Triassic Boundar...

The 7th International Triassic Field Workshop is dedicated to visit the classical localities of the Triassic of the Dolomites, after their inscription in the Word Heritage List as serial natural property. On June 26th, 2009 the Dolomites have been inscribed in the WHL because of their exceptional beauty and unique landscape, but also for their scie...

The Carnian Pluvial Episode was a phase of global climatic change and biotic turnover that occurred during the early Late Triassic. In marine sedimentary basins, the arrival of huge amounts of siliciclastic sediments, the establishment of anoxic conditions, and a sudden change of the carbonate factory on platforms marked the Carnian Pluvial Episode...

In the Dolomites (Eastern Southern Alps, Italy), a diffuse Middle Triassic igneous activity is now present mostly as lava flow and pyroclastic successions, with rare shallow-depth intrusive bodies cropping out at Predazzo, Monzoni and Cima Pape areas. In this work, the emplacement modes of the Predazzo and Monzoni bodies were investigated by means...

Dinosaurs diversified in two steps during the Triassic. They originated about 245 Ma, during the recovery from the Permian-Triassic mass extinction, and then remained insignificant until they exploded in diversity and ecological importance during the Late Triassic. Hitherto, this Late Triassic explosion was poorly constrained and poorly dated. Here...

Due to lack of well-preserved fossils and appropriate data on the Upper Triassic strata in Iranian Plate and importance of the strata in terms of hydrocarbon source potential, paleoenvironmental and paleoclimate investigations of Tethys basin, in this research we applied a palynological study on the Late Triassic (Norian-Rhaetian) Nayband Formation...

Despite the Dolomia Principale/Hauptdolomit (DPR) is one of the most known lithostratigraphic units covering large parts of the Alpine chain, difficulties remain in correlating the inner platform succession from different sectors. This is due both to the absence of significant biomarkers and to the apparent uniformity of cyclic arrangement, making...

In the late early Carnian (Late Triassic) an important, but yet poorly understood, phase of global climate change occurred. This is roughly coincident with a time of major biological turnover. Many important groups diversified or spread during the Carnian, e.g., dinosaurs, calcareous nannofossils, and modern conifers. Abrupt environmental changes a...

Wide carbonate platform environments developed on the western passive margin of the Tethys during the Late Triassic, after a major climate change (Carnian Pluvial Episode) that produced a crisis of high-relief microbial carbonate platforms. The peritidal succession of this epicontinental platform (Dolomia Principale/Hauptdolomit, Dachstein Limeston...

The southwestern part of the Dolomites in Northern Italy has undergone a short-lived Ladinian (Middle Triassic) tectono-magmatic event, forming a series of significant magmatic features. These intrusive bodies deformed and metamorphosed the Permo-Triassic carbonate sedimentary framework. In this study we focus on the tectonomagmatic evolution of th...

Exceptional outcrop conditions in theDolomites of northern Italy allow appreciation of facies variability, depositional geometries, and platform-to-basin relationships at seismic scale that devel- oped during a complex sedimentary evolution. This itinerary focuses on two Triassic microbial carbonate platforms, the Latemar and Sella, providing examp...

The Julian Alps (western Slovenia) structurally belong to the eastern Southern Alps. The Upper Triassic succession mostly consists of shallow water platform carbonates of the Dolomia Principale-Dachstein Limestone sys- tem and a deep water succession of the Slovenian Basin outcropping in the southern foothills of the Julian Alps. In addition to the...

The Late Triassic Dolomia Principale formation (DP; upper Carnian-Norian-?Rhaetian) represents the largest epicontinental carbonate platform of the western Tethys, with a size comparable to today´s Great Barrier Reef in Australia. The DP was deposited during a time span of ca 20 Myr, with thicknesses of 500 to 4000 m. The platform interior facies a...

An integrated sporomorph and ammonoid biostratigraphy has been carried out in three upper Anisian (Middle Triassic) stratigraphic sections in the Southern Alps (Italy). Two main sporomorph assemblages have been defined and calibrated with ammonoids. The TrSM-A assemblage is marked by the co-occurrence of Stellapollenites thiergartii, Dyupetalum vic...

Sedimentary facies analysis aided by quantitative 3D georeferenced field data are applied to constrain the sequence stratigraphy of a complex stratigraphic interval in the Late Triassic of the Dolomites. This multidisciplinary approach was the key to disentangle the timing of climatic change vs. sea-level fluctuation and their effects on shallow wa...

Sedimentary facies analysis aided by quantitative 3D georeferenced field data are applied to constrain the sequence stratigraphy of a complex stratigraphic interval in the Late Triassic of the Dolomites. This multidisciplinary approach was the key to disentangle the timing of climatic change vs. sea-level fluctuation and their effects on shallow wa...

Minorca was located in the westernmost Tethys area during the Triassic, in a key paleogeographic location close to the present-day Iberia, Sardinia and the Cottian and Southern Alps. The Middle-early Late Triassic carbonates of Minorca (Muschelkalk) have been studied in five sections across the northern area of the island. These units lie uncorform...

Seismic-scale outcrops, the high-resolution bio-chrono-stratigraphic framework and the scarce alpine deformation render the Dolomites (Southern Alps, north-eastern Italy) an ideal reference for the Triassic global sequence stratigraphic charts (Haq et al., 1987; Gianolla & Jacquin, 1998; Hardenbol et al., 1998). However, the Triassic of the Dolomit...

Late Triassic paleogeography of the eastern Southern Alps (easternmost Italy, western Slovenia) is poorly resolved. In present reconstructions, the majority of the Julian Alps belongs to the Julian Carbonate Platform, marked by a thick Upper Triassic sequence of peritidal Dachstein Limestone. The platform was bordered to the south by the Slovenian...

Since the first report of Koken from the early 20 th century very few studies have been conducted on Triassic amber of the Dolomites, which passed virtually unnoticed until a few years ago. This article presents an overview of the main steps of the study that led to the geological, physico-chemical and paleontological characterization of this pecul...

The Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the base of the Carnian Stage (Late Triassic) is defined on the north flank of the Cordevole Valley, on the southern slopes of the crest separating the Badia/Abtei and the Cordevole valleys (46° 31' 37"N, 11° 55' 49"E) at an elevation of 1980 m, approximately 4.7 km south of San Cassiano/S...

On October 12th, 2007 about 40,000 m 3 of dolomitic rock detached from the northern wall of the peak known as "Cima Una" (Val Fiscalina, Sesto Dolomites, Bolzano, Italy), and fell 900 m to Fiscalina Valley below. The event generated a dense dust cloud, which traveled up to 4 km from the source area. The failure surface was formed by two near-vertic...

Sequence stratigraphy models do not satisfactory explain the complex behavior of shallow water carbonate systems affected by sea-level changes, especially when difficulties are increased by a change in the carbonate factory, from M- to C-type as in the late Ladinian. The Carbonate Platforms (CPs) of the Dolomites are a natural laboratory to test th...

The Dolomites are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List last June 2009 as serial property. The governance strategy was a key of the nomination process of the Dolomites and is the result of a combination of advanced models of interpretation and monitoring of the natural environment and traditional models of local governments. The administrativ...

The Carnian Pluvial Event is an Upper Triassic swing toward increased rainfall best documented in the Tethys tropical belt, and mainly recognized on its effects on sedimentary systems, as the demise of carbonate platforms and the enhanced siliciclastic supply. In some portions of western Tethys, and particularly in the Raibler Schichten of the Nort...

Sequence stratigraphy emphasizes changes in stratal stacking patterns in response to varying accommodation and sediment supply through time. Certain surfaces are designated as sequence or systems tract boundaries to facilitate the construction of realistic and meaningful palaeogeographic interpretations, which, in turn, allows for the prediction of...

Introduction What happened at the end of the Early Carnian, some 235-230 million years ago? All over the Dolomites, the lower-upper Carnian transition is evident from the distance as a break between the majestic rock walls of the massive Cassian Dolomite and those of the well bedded Dolomia Principale. This morphological step is stri-kingly evident...

The ammonoid fauna of the Prati di Stuores/Stuores Wiesen section (Dolomites, northeastern Italy) was studied in detail. This section was proposed and later adopted as stratotype for the Carnian GSSP, with the first appearance of Daxatina cf. canadensis as primary marker, based on preliminary data. The validity of this proposal is confirmed by the...

Several dinosaur footprints were discovered on three different levels cropping out in the CO.L.MAR quarry, south of the village of Borgo Celano in the Gargano Promontory (Apulia, south-eastern Italy). The track-bearing levels belong to a carbonate inner platform succession referred to the Lower Cretaceous (upper Hauterivian-lower Barremian). This p...

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Uno studio condotto su numerose piattaforme carbonatiche fossili, svoltosi nell’ambito del progetto CARG, ha consentito di evidenziare la differente evoluzione dei tassi di subsidenza nell’area Dolomitica. Nuovi dati biostratigrafici consentono di tarare l’evoluzione su una scala cronostratigrafica di dettaglio e di riconoscere una sincronicità nel...

The Prati di Stuores/Stuores Wiesen section (Dolomites, Italy) is proposed as a candidate Global Stratotype Section and Point for the base of the Carnain Stage. In addition to being a famous, richly fossiliferous locality which includes the type-section of the Cordevolian substage. The present study proposes the FAD of the cosmopolitan genus Daxati...

The Triassic time scale is poorly constrained due to a paucity of high-precision radiometric ages. We present a 206Pb/238U age of 230.91 ± 0.33 Ma (error includes all known sources) for zircon from an ash bed in the upper Carnian (Upper Triassic) of southern Italy that requires a major revision of the Triassic time scale. For example, the Norian st...

The Heiligkreuz-Santa Croce Formation (also known as Durrenstein Formation, Upper Triassic) in the Dolomites contains one of the most ancient and substantial Triassic amber deposits in the world. The amber is found in sandstones and paleosols. It has an affinity to the conifer family Cheirolepidiaceae, and amber samples from the Julian and Carnic A...