Sedimentary events and rudist assemblages of Maiella Mt. (central Italy): paleobiogeographic implications

The set up of an extensional margin in the Maiella Mt. during the early Cenomanian causes the growth of a flourishing Rudist assemblage. A community with Apricardia, Distefanella, Caprina, Schiosia and Caprinula evidences a rimmed shelf, with flat top and a marked break of slope in correspondence of the high energy shallow shelf edge. Abundant skeletal remains are resedimented along a steep and gullied slope. The facies sequence is to be connected with a relative sea level rise together with development of lowstand depositional systems. The Rudist fauna of Maiella Mt. shows clear affinities both with the external Dinarid-Hellenid belt and with the apulian-iblean foreland. -from Authors