Long-term event stratigraphy of the Apulia Platform margin (Upper Jurassic to Eocene, Gargano, southern Italy)

The Upper Jurassic to Eocene Apulia platform margin and the eastward transition to the adjacent basinal deposits are well exposed in the Gargano Promontory (southern Italy), a carbonate block that is part of the slightly deformed foreland of the southern Apennine thrust belt. The long-term stratigraphy of this margin and slope transect is punctuated by five major dynamic phenomena that subdivide the succession into six second order sequences. These events include (1) a Valanginian drowning unconformity, (2) an early Aptian-Albian drowning and demise of the platform, (3) late Albian-Cenomanian platform-margin failures, (4) a Santonian-Campanian retreat of the platform margin, and (5) Eocene uplift and platform-margin collapse. The first event is documented worldwide and is probably eustatic in origin. The second is concomitant with some oceanic anoxic events (OAE). The last three processes are probably related to foreland reaction to subduction and collision in the Dinarides and Hellenides thrust belts. The ultimate cause of the Albian-Cenomanian failures is more problematic. A worldwide eustatic regression is documented at this time, but regional geology seems to favor tectonic uplift.