Composition and provenance of the rudite and arenite facies in a foreland basin, northern Marchean Apennines,Italy.

Ibe Montecalvo in Foglia basin (Northern Marche, Italy) is infilied by rudite and arenite deposits. The rudite facies (conglomerates) are mainly represented by carbonate, chert, and sandstone clasts while the arenite facies is characterized by a quartzolithic or fedspadiic litharenite petrofacies (mean values: Q 47, F,8, L35). This is characterized by a large number of lidiic fragments reflecting a local provenance from the sedimentary cover of the Marchean Apennines. Morphometric and compositional aualyses suggest diat the rudites, mostly made up of pebble-to-cobble-sized clasts, derived from the erosion of the «Ligurid» sequences to the northwest of the basin. They were elaborated in fluvio-torrential systems under temperate-warm climate conditions. Afterwards, during relative sealevel lowstauds, diese were eroded, cannibalized and resedimented into fasis or aprons confined to the narrow sub-basins of the Adriatic Foredeep. Textural data of the arenites shaw a premature diagenesis, characterized by a rapid formation of carbonate cement, which inhibited the mechanical compaction of sediments.