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Epilithozoan fauna associated with ferromanganese crustgrounds on the continental slope segment between Capri and Li Galli Islands (Bay of Salerno, Northern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy)

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Abstract

The epilithozoan fauna associated with Quaternary Fe–Mn crustgrounds sampled off Capri and Li Galli Islands is described. During the Quaternary, the interplay among the tectonically induced topography, sea-current patterns, and the changing physical-chemical properties of the water column promoted conditions favouring Fe–Mn oxide accumulation. In the samples dredged between 510–263 m depth (DRA 7), 207–201 m depth (DRA 5) and 358–65 m depth (DRA 4), where the Fe–Mn coating covers all rock surfaces, the distribution of the epilithozoan taxa is polarized: on the upper smooth surface of the crustgrounds the most abundant inhabitants are foraminifers, while on the lower rough surface corals, bivalves, bryozoans and brachiopods occur. Sponges are mainly able to bioerode the rough lower surfaces. Samples are riddled by boring ichnogenera including Entobia and Maeandropolydora. Fe–Mn oxide precipitation is still active today as shown by the frontal shield preservation of the bryozoan Puellina cf. pseudoradiata Harmelin and Aristegui, 1988, where it is possible to identify different stages of accretion. Botryoidal ongoing accretion is evident only in some taxa, namely Bryozoa and Polychaeta species, and Foraminifera morphotypes, which appear to keep pace with precipitation when it occurs.

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Acknowledgements

The samples studied in this work were collected during cruise GMS 00–05 organized by the Istituto per l’Ambiente Marino Costiero (IAMC), CNR Naples, on board the R/V Urania. Financial support was provided by projects PRIN 2002 (coordinated by Lucia Simone) and CARG (coordinated by Bruno D’Argenio). The authors thank Paul D. Taylor (Natural History Museum, London) for helping with logistics during the senior author’s visit to London, reviewing an early draft of the manuscript and useful discussions; Richard G. Bromley (Geologisk Institut, Copenhagen) for suggestions on borings; Lauren S. Mullineaux (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, USA) for useful comments and suggestions on an early draft of the manuscript; Marco Sacchi (IAMC, CNR Naples) for allowing us to study the samples; and Domenico Fiorentino (Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Naples) for photographic assistance. The authors are grateful to Marco Taviani (ISMAR, CNR, Bologna) and an anonymous reviewer for improving the text.

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  1. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Napoli “Federico II”, Largo S. Marcellino, 10, 80138, Naples, Italy

    Francesco Toscano

  2. Istituto per l’Ambiente Marino Costiero (IAMC), CNR Porto di Napoli, Calata Porta di Massa, 80133, Naples, Italy

    Arturo Raspini

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Toscano, F., Raspini, A. Epilithozoan fauna associated with ferromanganese crustgrounds on the continental slope segment between Capri and Li Galli Islands (Bay of Salerno, Northern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy). Facies 50, 427–441 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10347-004-0036-3

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