Pietro Bazzicalupo , Valentina Alice Bracchi , Mara Cipriani , Adriano Guido , Antonietta Rosso , Rossana Sanfilippo , Francesco Maspero , Anna Galli , Elena de Ponti , Daniela Basso
{"title":"一千年的岩化之旅:地中海中部藻礁的ct分析和放射性碳定年","authors":"Pietro Bazzicalupo , Valentina Alice Bracchi , Mara Cipriani , Adriano Guido , Antonietta Rosso , Rossana Sanfilippo , Francesco Maspero , Anna Galli , Elena de Ponti , Daniela Basso","doi":"10.1016/j.margeo.2025.107637","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Calcareous algal reefs are Mediterranean carbonate structures, formed by coralline red algae, that display early lithification and preserve key geobiological records. These structures exhibit complex three-dimensional frameworks influenced by environmental conditions and biological interactions, but their lithification processes, porosity evolution, and long-term growth patterns remain poorly understood. In this study, we use Computed Tomography (CT) scanning and radiocarbon dating on four coralligenous build-ups collected along a depth gradient offshore Marzamemi, SE Sicily, to investigate internal skeletal density, porosity distribution, and age profiles. Our findings reveal that lithification progresses gradually from High-Density (HD) to Ultra-High-Density (UHD) material, correlating inversely with porosity. Radiocarbon dating indicates a lithification timeline of roughly 1000 years, with the oldest, densest material dating back over 5000 years. The structures demonstrate a depth-density and age-depth gradient: deeper and older build-ups exhibited higher quantity of UHD material, whereas younger, shallower build-ups contain a higher proportion of HD material. Additionally, evidence suggests that specific build-ups may have been fragmented and relocated due to environmental or anthropogenic factors, further influencing growth patterns. The CT-analysis contributes to improving knowledge on coralligenous reef formation and evolution, underscoring the role of lithification in maintaining structural stability over millennia and providing insights applicable to the study of fossil reef systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18229,"journal":{"name":"Marine Geology","volume":"489 ","pages":"Article 107637"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"A thousand-year journey of lithification: CT-analysis and radiocarbon dating of algal reef from Central Mediterranean\",\"authors\":\"Pietro Bazzicalupo , Valentina Alice Bracchi , Mara Cipriani , Adriano Guido , Antonietta Rosso , Rossana Sanfilippo , Francesco Maspero , Anna Galli , Elena de Ponti , Daniela Basso\",\"doi\":\"10.1016/j.margeo.2025.107637\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<div><div>Calcareous algal reefs are Mediterranean carbonate structures, formed by coralline red algae, that display early lithification and preserve key geobiological records. These structures exhibit complex three-dimensional frameworks influenced by environmental conditions and biological interactions, but their lithification processes, porosity evolution, and long-term growth patterns remain poorly understood. In this study, we use Computed Tomography (CT) scanning and radiocarbon dating on four coralligenous build-ups collected along a depth gradient offshore Marzamemi, SE Sicily, to investigate internal skeletal density, porosity distribution, and age profiles. Our findings reveal that lithification progresses gradually from High-Density (HD) to Ultra-High-Density (UHD) material, correlating inversely with porosity. Radiocarbon dating indicates a lithification timeline of roughly 1000 years, with the oldest, densest material dating back over 5000 years. The structures demonstrate a depth-density and age-depth gradient: deeper and older build-ups exhibited higher quantity of UHD material, whereas younger, shallower build-ups contain a higher proportion of HD material. Additionally, evidence suggests that specific build-ups may have been fragmented and relocated due to environmental or anthropogenic factors, further influencing growth patterns. The CT-analysis contributes to improving knowledge on coralligenous reef formation and evolution, underscoring the role of lithification in maintaining structural stability over millennia and providing insights applicable to the study of fossil reef systems.</div></div>\",\"PeriodicalId\":18229,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Marine Geology\",\"volume\":\"489 \",\"pages\":\"Article 107637\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":2.2000,\"publicationDate\":\"2025-08-21\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Marine Geology\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"89\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025322725001628\",\"RegionNum\":3,\"RegionCategory\":\"地球科学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q2\",\"JCRName\":\"GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Marine Geology","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025322725001628","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
A thousand-year journey of lithification: CT-analysis and radiocarbon dating of algal reef from Central Mediterranean
Calcareous algal reefs are Mediterranean carbonate structures, formed by coralline red algae, that display early lithification and preserve key geobiological records. These structures exhibit complex three-dimensional frameworks influenced by environmental conditions and biological interactions, but their lithification processes, porosity evolution, and long-term growth patterns remain poorly understood. In this study, we use Computed Tomography (CT) scanning and radiocarbon dating on four coralligenous build-ups collected along a depth gradient offshore Marzamemi, SE Sicily, to investigate internal skeletal density, porosity distribution, and age profiles. Our findings reveal that lithification progresses gradually from High-Density (HD) to Ultra-High-Density (UHD) material, correlating inversely with porosity. Radiocarbon dating indicates a lithification timeline of roughly 1000 years, with the oldest, densest material dating back over 5000 years. The structures demonstrate a depth-density and age-depth gradient: deeper and older build-ups exhibited higher quantity of UHD material, whereas younger, shallower build-ups contain a higher proportion of HD material. Additionally, evidence suggests that specific build-ups may have been fragmented and relocated due to environmental or anthropogenic factors, further influencing growth patterns. The CT-analysis contributes to improving knowledge on coralligenous reef formation and evolution, underscoring the role of lithification in maintaining structural stability over millennia and providing insights applicable to the study of fossil reef systems.
期刊介绍:
Marine Geology is the premier international journal on marine geological processes in the broadest sense. We seek papers that are comprehensive, interdisciplinary and synthetic that will be lasting contributions to the field. Although most papers are based on regional studies, they must demonstrate new findings of international significance. We accept papers on subjects as diverse as seafloor hydrothermal systems, beach dynamics, early diagenesis, microbiological studies in sediments, palaeoclimate studies and geophysical studies of the seabed. We encourage papers that address emerging new fields, for example the influence of anthropogenic processes on coastal/marine geology and coastal/marine geoarchaeology. We insist that the papers are concerned with the marine realm and that they deal with geology: with rocks, sediments, and physical and chemical processes affecting them. Papers should address scientific hypotheses: highly descriptive data compilations or papers that deal only with marine management and risk assessment should be submitted to other journals. Papers on laboratory or modelling studies must demonstrate direct relevance to marine processes or deposits. The primary criteria for acceptance of papers is that the science is of high quality, novel, significant, and of broad international interest.