N. Mancin - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by N. Mancin

PLOS ONE

Bioconstructions of Sabellaria alveolata (Polychaeta Sabellariidae) from southern Sicily (Central... more Bioconstructions of Sabellaria alveolata (Polychaeta Sabellariidae) from southern Sicily (Central Mediterranean) were sampled and analysed through a multidisciplinary approach in order to unravel the construction pattern of arenaceous tubes and explore possible analogies existing between the worm tubes and the agglutinated tests of benthic foraminifera (Protista). Scanning Electron Microscopy and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy analyses were carried out on entire tubes as well as sectioned ones. Results show that arenaceous tubes are built following a rigorous architectural framework, based on selection and methodical arrangement of the agglutinated grains, and show surprising analogies with the test microstructure previously observed in agglutinated foraminifera. The grain distribution detected in both model species bioconstructions was analysed using a fractal numerical model (Hausdorff fractal dimension). Collected data show that in both organisms the grains were distributed accor...

49° Congresso della Società Italiana di Biologia Marina, 2018

The highly invasive Amphistegina lobifera (Larsen, 1976), a benthic foraminiferal species native ... more The highly invasive Amphistegina lobifera (Larsen, 1976), a benthic foraminiferal species native to the Red Sea, has colonized the Eastern Mediterranean through the Suez Canal and altered the native community structure. More recently, it has been reported from Malta and the Pelagian Islands within the Sicily channel. Here, we report new records from the southern coasts of Sicily, where we found it abundant both in the soft-bottom sediment and as epiphyt on algae. The occurrence of A. lobifera in Pantelleria and Favignana islands represents the Mediterranean westernmost record of this non-indigenous species

This study reports an updated overview of the current distribution and establishment status of th... more This study reports an updated overview of the current distribution and establishment status of the invasive species Amphistegina lobifera Larsen, 1979 and of other non-indigenous foraminifera in the Sicily Channel. The dispersal of marine non-indigenous species (NIS) by human activities is redefining the biogeography of the oceans and is one aspect of global change. Understanding the role of NIS in altering the structure of marine communities requires accurate information on their temporal occurrence, spatial distribution and effect on native ecosystems. However many NIS, particularly those belonging to small-sized unicellular taxa, such as benthic foraminifera, are largely unrecognized and undetected, and the lag time between their first occurrence in a new area and their first record may be several years or even decades. Moreover, little is known about their potential impact on indigenous communities and how these small-sized NIS could affect habitats. Most of the non-indigenous foraminifera known from the Mediterranean Sea are native to the Red Sea or Indo-Pacific region, having crossed the Suez Canal and established along the eastern Mediterranean coasts, progressively spreading westwards and northwards. The most widespread and successful taxon belongs to the large algal symbiont-bearing genus Amphistegina and particularly to the species A. lobifera. Amphisteginids have so far been reported from the Levantine basin and the Central Mediterranean Sea (Tunisia, Malta and the Pelagian islands). Here, we report new data showing a notably increased distribution range in the Central Mediterranean. In summer-autumn 2017, we collected algae and sediment samples from shallow coastal habitats along the shores of the Maltese archipelago and Southern Sicily, as well as from Pantelleria and Favignana islands. The analysis of the foraminiferal content showed that A. lobifera is effectively established in Malta and Sicily and has reached the Pantelleria and Favignana islands which are at the oceanographic boundary between the Central and Western Mediterranean, suggesting that its spread in the coastal waters of the western Mediterranean is imminent. Our results also show that the thermophilic A. lobifera is at an advanced stage of invasion in the Sicily Channel, having probably been favoured by the recent sea surface temperature increase and isotherm shifts recorded in the Mediterranean basin, which has implications for other thermophilic non-indigenous foraminifera in the region

Micropaleontology

Basin Research, 2009

This paper discusses the Cenozoic interaction of regional tectonics and climate changes.These pro... more This paper discusses the Cenozoic interaction of regional tectonics and climate changes.These processes were responsible for mass £ux from mountain belts to depositional basins in the eastern Alpine retro-foreland basin (Venetian^Friulian Basin). Our discussion is based on the depositional architecture and basin-scale depositional rate curves obtained from the decompacted thicknesses of stratigraphic units.We compare these data with the timing of tectonic deformation in the surrounding mountain ranges and the chronology of both long-term trends and short-term highmagnitude ('aberrant') episodes of climate change. Our results con¢rm that climate forcing (and especially aberrant episodes) impacted the depositional evolution of the basin, but that tectonics was the main factor driving sediment £ux in the basin up to the Late Miocene.The depositional rate remained below 0.1mm year À 1 on average from the Eocene to the Miocene, peaking at around 0.36 mm year À 1 , during periods of maximum tectonic activity in the eastern Southern Alps.This dynamic strongly changed during the Pliocene^Pleistocene, when the basin-scale depositional rate increased to an average of 0.26 mm year À 1 (Pliocene) and 0.73 mm year À 1 (Pleistocene).This result ¢ts nicely with the long-term global cooling trend recorded during this time interval. Nevertheless, we note that the timing of the observed increase may be connected with the presumed onset of major glaciations in the southern £ank of the Alps (0.7^0.9 Ma), the acceleration of the global cooling trend (since 3^4 Ma) and climate variability (in terms of magnitude and frequency). All these factors suggest that combined high-frequency and high-magnitude cooling^warming cycles are particularly powerful in promoting erosion in mid-latitude mountain belts and therefore in increasing the sediment £ux in foreland basins.

Citation: Tra Alpi e Pianura Padana: l'evoluzione recente del margine alpino-padano in bassa... more Citation: Tra Alpi e Pianura Padana: l'evoluzione recente del margine alpino-padano in bassa Valsesia/R. Fantoni, C. Barbieri, A. Bini, A. Bistacchi, A. Ceriani, F. Cossutta, A. Decarlis, A. Di Giulio, M. Ghielmi, N. Mancin, S. Rogledi, M. Zattin-In: D'acqua e di pietra. Il ...

A paleobathymetric reconstruction, based on the integrated study of both foraminiferal assemblage... more A paleobathymetric reconstruction, based on the integrated study of both foraminiferal assemblages and red-algal concretions (rhodoliths), has been carried out for the Venetian Foothill succession cropping out along the southern border of the Alpine chain (Veneto-Friuli Foreland System, NE Italy). The studied succession, up to 500 m thick, has been deposited into a shallow to deep water marine environment during

Marine Micropaleontology, 2015

The agglutinated foraminiferal content from the last 550 kyr record of the IMAGES core MD 97-2114... more The agglutinated foraminiferal content from the last 550 kyr record of the IMAGES core MD 97-2114 (Chatham Rise, New Zealand) was analysed in order to detect the possible linkage existing between the composition of the grains forming the agglutinated tests and the deposition of tephras. The core was collected east of New Zealand, about 680 km from the active Taupo Volcanic Zone (TVZ) located on the North Island, thus it contains numerous macro-and microscopic tephra layers. Scanning Electron Microscopy and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy analyses were carried out on entire agglutinated foraminifera as well as on sectioned specimens, sampled around and within the tephra layers. The analyses show that the studied foraminifera built structurally complex tests picking and selecting mineral and biogenic particles on the basis of their availability and abundance in the substratum, as well as their composition, size and shape. In most of the studied species, belonging to the order Textulariida, the composition of the agglutinated grains does not change when the deposition of the tephra layer strongly enriched the substratum in volcanic glass shards. Only the species Karreriella novangliae changed significantly its grain composition, mostly selecting volcanic glass fragments to cover the test surface. Nevertheless, the tephra deposition seems to influence the wall microstructure of the agglutinated tests. Textulariid specimens coming from the volcanoclastic layers have a thinner wall which is also characterised by a less abundant calcareous matrix with respect to the specimens sampled above or below the tephra layer. We hypothesise that the volcanic ash deposition probably interfered with the normal agglutinating process by causing the development of more aggressive waters at the sea floor which, in turn, could have induced carbonate dissolution. Our observations therefore suggest that the sediment type of the substratum is not the only controlling factor in the construction of the agglutinated foraminiferal test and grain selection, which appears to be species-dependent.

Geologica Carpathica

The occurrence of agglutinated foraminiferal specimens belonging to the Badenian (middle Miocene)... more The occurrence of agglutinated foraminiferal specimens belonging to the Badenian (middle Miocene) genus Colominella Popescu, 1998 was recently documented for the first time in a lower Pliocene succession of the western Mediterranean area. Direct comparisons with topotype specimens of Colominella paalzowi (Cushman 1936), sampled in the Badenian type section of Lăpugiu de Sus (Transylvania), show that the Pliocene individuals from the western Mediterranean morphologically resemble the type species C. paalzowi, but they also differ in possessing a longer biserial chamber arrangement with a higher number of internal chamber partitions, in lacking a clear early triserial stage and in having a more complex microstructure of the agglutinated wall, thereby supporting the idea that the Pliocene Mediterranean specimens represent a new, more highly evolved species. The fact that the Pliocene individuals from the Mediterranean appear to be more evolved with respect to the Badenian specimens fro...

A section, referable to the epiligurian succession (s.l.) and cropping out in the Nizza Valley (N... more A section, referable to the epiligurian succession (s.l.) and cropping out in the Nizza Valley (Northern Apennines), has been sampled for the analyses of both the planktonic and benthonic foraminiferal content. The planktonic foraminiferal biostratigraphic data, integrated with the calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy, document a depositional continuity throughout the late Middle Eocene/Early Oligocene interval. Therefore the section studied can be considered as a reference in a geological setting, where the fisical correlations are difficult as a consequence of both the vegetative cover and the variability of the facies. Moreover, the analyses of the benthonic and planktonic foraminiferal assemblages allow to improve the knowledge about the paleobathimetry of the deposits investigated and to recognise the onset of a cooling trend in the Middle Priabonian.

Bollettino Della Societa Paleontologica Italiana, 2002

Micropaleontology, 2018

Larger agglutinated foraminifera resembling the Cretaceous genus Navarella Ciry and Rat 1951 were... more Larger agglutinated foraminifera resembling the Cretaceous genus Navarella Ciry and Rat 1951 were recently recovered in Thanetian hemipelagites from the Belluno Basin, northeastern Italy. These lituoids first appear in the basal Thanetian (upper-most calcareous nannofossils Zone CNP 8) and become common in the >500 μm washed residue from the uppermost Thanetian. They abruptly disappear at the Paleocene/Eocene boundary, in coincidence with the extinction of Paleocene small benthic foraminifera (the benthic foraminiferal extinction event-BEE). In order to document the internal chamber arrangement and the agglutinated wall microstructure of the Thanetian lituolids and to compare them with similar individuals recovered from the Upper Cretaceous and Danian strata of the same section, the collected specimens were sectioned and analyzed using a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), equipped with an energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDX). Our results show a typical bi-layered wall microstructure in the Thanetian specimens, whereas the older Maastrichtian and Danian specimens, occurring in the same section, display a single, thicker agglutinated wall. The taxonomy of the Italian lituolids is discussed and compared with similar taxa known from the literature. We describe the Thanetian lituolids as the new genus Neonavarella, which shows an apparently identical external morphology to mono-layered Maastrichtian-Danian specimens but differs in the microstructure of the agglutinated test wall that is bi-layered. The finding of new and well-preserved material from the Paleocene Scaglia Rossa beds of Italy helps shed light on the taxonomy of the still poorly known deep-water larger lituolids.

Bulletin de la Societe Geologique de France, 2008

The Sardinian Cainozoic rifted basin is a useful model for studying the stratigraphic response to... more The Sardinian Cainozoic rifted basin is a useful model for studying the stratigraphic response to the Oligo-Miocene structural extension in the western Mediterranean because it allows precise observations on the relationship between sedimentation and normal faulting based on outcrops and seismic reflection data. The purpose of this paper, essentially of stratigraphic nature is to propose a chronology as precise as possible of the tectonic events and of the sedimentary formations. Indeed the tectono-sedimentary framework is complex, characterized by an extreme facies variability, from continental to marginal transitional and to marine environments (shallow-water, hemipelagic). Rifting, active calc-alkaline volcanism and sea-level changes caused rapid physiographical evolution, which controlled progressive marine ingression. New chrono-biostratigraphical data presented in this paper allow correlating the sequences, defining their environment and depth of deposition and specifying precisely the timing of pre-, syn-, and post-rift stages in the Oligo-Miocene graben system. In southwestern Sardinia during the middle-late Eocene, after the Pyrenean phase, a continental graben (Cixerri), W-E oriented, preceded the Oligo-Miocene extension, which reactivated inherited Eocene and Palaeozoic faults. The calc-alkaline volcanic activity ranging from 32 to 13 Ma, provides a good estimate for the time span of the west-dipping Apenninic subduction responsible for the continental extension and the oceanic accretion in the western Mediterranean. In Sardinia the Oligo-Miocene extensional tectonics started in a continental environment, preceding the earliest calc-alkaline volcanic products (32 Ma). The marine ingression is dated to the late Chattian-Aquitanian interval and corresponds to a rapid deepening of the Oligo-Miocene graben system of tectonic origin. The end of the rifting i.e. the end of normal faulting activity is pre-middle Burdigalian in age. When Sardinia was in the post-rift stage, extension continued until late Burdigalian -Langhian in the Algero-Provençal basin with oceanic accretion and rotation of the Corsica-Sardinia block (CSB).

PLOS ONE

49° Congresso della Società Italiana di Biologia Marina, 2018

Micropaleontology

Basin Research, 2009

Marine Micropaleontology, 2015

Geologica Carpathica

Bollettino Della Societa Paleontologica Italiana, 2002

Micropaleontology, 2018

Bulletin de la Societe Geologique de France, 2008

The Friulian-Venetian Basin (FVB) is the northeastern portion of the wider Po Plain-Adriatic fore... more The Friulian-Venetian Basin (FVB) is the northeastern portion of the wider Po Plain-Adriatic foreland, which bounds the whole Italian peninsula to the East, and is the place where most of the Italian hydrocarbon fields occur. The present-day architecture of the FVB is the result of the inherited Mesozoic sea-bottom topography which evolved during Cenozoic in the foreland basin shared by three different collisional systems: the Dinarides, the Southern Alps and the Northern Apennines. This work provides a high-resolution chronostratigraphic framework for the upper Neogene subsurface succession of the VFB since the early Zanclean regional transgressive surface to the latest Pleistocene, using a 2D reflection seismic lines grid and well log correlations (by spontaneous potential and resistivity signals) from Eni E&P dataset. The detailed sequence-stratigraphy analysis was based on the allogroups, (i.e. major stratigraphic units bounded at base and top by regional tectonically-induced unconformities, related to the Northern Apennines foredeep northeast migration), and on their lower rank units of climate and tectonic origin, recognized by Ghielmi et al. (2013). The almost absent deformation of the FVB sedimentary succession after Messinian well preserved the succession and allows handling the subsequent 3D basin scale interpretation. To get a high chronostratigraphic resolution we have performed a complete biostratigraphic revision of the ca. 1km-long continuously cored Venezia 1 well, integrated with near, correlatable onshore and offshore hydrocarbon wells to cover the entire Plio-Pleistocene sedimentary record. During Middle-Late Pleistocene, glaciations affected the whole Po Plain-Adriatic basin consequently suffered long periods of sea-level lowstand with large siliciclastic sediment supply followed by smaller transgressive events due to the shorter interglacials. This basin-wide short-term cyclicity is still not fully defined, but some geometries of the transgressive-regressive cyclothems are visible in seismic. In detail, into the Venetian shelf, cross-correlation panels show how the cycles can be correlated each other by well-log signals and linked to Global Eustatic sea-level curve. The resulting new age model, obtained merging biostratigraphy, seismics, direct (bottom cores) and indirect (well log) sedimentological data like electric logs, provides a new high-resolution subsurface chronostratigraphic frame for the Venetian-Friulian and Northern Adriatic basin, especially useful to date the uppermost part of the FVB Pleistocene clastic sediments, made by Milankovitch-type cyclothemes. Ghielmi M., Minervini M., Nini C., Rogledi S. & Rossi M. 2013. Late Miocene-Middle Pleistocene sequences in the Po Plain-Northern Adriatic Sea (Italy): The stratigraphic record of modification phases affecting a complex foreland basin. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 42, 50-81.