Paleoecological, Radiometric and Archeological core analysis of Olocene deposits in the area of the Messina harbour (north - eastern Sicily)

The hills which extend west of the Messina coastal plainare built up of Middle Pleistocene conglomerates of the Messina Formation. The spit which extends east of the Messina harbor is built up of the same conglomerates and of overlying sand deposits. Samples coming from five drillings located at Piazza Cavallotti, on the coastal plain south of the harbor, have been studied. Littoral deposits overlie the Messina Formation. These deposits underlie beach sediments, which contain greeck and roman pottery fragments (VI-V century B.C.-III-V century A.D.). The bottom of the littoral sequence is located 14 m below the present sea level. The deepest deposits are of beach and infralittoral environment (up to 5-6 m depth) and abruptly pass upward to silty sands of a deeper environment (depth 20-25 m). These again abruptly pass to the overlying lagoonal and beach deposits. Along the spit, the substrate is located 6 m below the present sea level; the overlying lagoonal and beach deposits contain Bronze age pottery (XIV-XII century B.C.). This Bronze age beach is correlated with the bottom of the hypohaline deposits at Piazza Cavallotti. Accordingly, the latter represent an evidence for the spit formation. Paleoecologic, radiometric and archeologic data show that the formation of the spit is very recent and that the recognized sea level oscillations are to be related to extensional block faulting which is characteristic of the Plio-Pleistocene evolution of the Strait of Messina. The data here collected provide evidence for vertical movements occurring within a Holocene short time interval.