The Vrica Section (proposed ad geosite)

The Vrica Section (proposed ad geosite)
Nation: Italy
Region: Calabria
Province: Catanzaro
Municipality: Crotone

Section located about 4 km south of Crotone composed of grey, marly clays of thickness more than 400 m and intercalation of levels formed by organogenic mud. These are called “sapropelitic horizons”. Environment of deep sea sedimentation with cyclic episodes of water mass stratification according to the density.

The section’s deposit is rich in fossils: calcareous nanoplancton, plantonic and bentonic foraminifera, ostracods, molluscs, pollens and fish. A large number of the latter was found, with well-preserved specimens belonging to various genera (Cyclothone, Ichtyococcus, Chauliodus, Microichthys)

Age: about 1.8 million years

Point of interest: Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary stratotype approved by the International Union of Geological Sciences in 1985, confirmed in 1999

Deterioration risk: high

Type of deterioration: meteoric agents

Bibliography: PASINIi G., COLALONGO M.L. (1994), Proposal for the erection of the Santernian/Emilian boundary-stratotype (lower Pleistocene) and new data on the Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary-stratotype. Boll. Soc. Paleont. Ital., 33 (1): 101-120