Sea-level control on facies architecture in the Cenomanian-Coniacian Apulian Margin (western Tethys): a record of glacioeustatic fluctuations during the greenhouse Cretaceous?

The integrated chemo-, bio- and sequence stratigraphy from the Cenomanian-Coniacian base-of-slope succession of Monte Turno (Abruzzo, central Italy) provides a fine scale calibration of the local sea-level curve inferred from the adjacent platform to records of global sea-level change. Our results indicate that regional marine regressions were coincident with episodes of global cooling and sea-level fall, providing evidences for a causal link between climate changes and sea-level changes. The presence of small polar icecaps during the assumed ice-free Cretaceous is a likely explanation for the observed pattern.