Correlation of upper triassic sections throughout the Lagonegro basin.

The present paper is a preliminary contribution to the stratigraphy and conodont biostratigraphy of the Upper Triassic (Norian/Rhaetian) of the Lagonegro Basin (Southern Apennines, Italy). Four stratigraphic sections (Sasso di Castalda, Madonna del Sirino, Lagonegro, and Pignola-Abriola) were measured in basinal successions belonging to the Calcari con Selce («Cherty Limestones») and Scisti Silicei («Radiolarites») Fms. The former stratigraphic unit yielded a rich Alaunian (Middle Norian) to the Rhaetian conodont fauna. A red-clay horizon, widely used in literature as a physical correlation tool throughout the Lagonegro Basin, is here identified and dated to the Sevatian (upper Norian).