Mara Cipriani, Daniela Basso, Pietro Bazzicalupo, Marco Bertolino, Valentina Alice Bracchi, Fabio Bruno, Gabriele Costa, Rocco Dominici, Alessandro Gallo, Maurizio Muzzupappa, Antonietta Rosso, Francesco Perri, Rossana Sanfilippo, Francesco Sciuto& Adriano Guido
!! SCIENTIFIC PAPER PUBLISHED IN Rendiconti online della Società Geologica Italiana !!
!! This study, which took place within the FISR_04543 project “CRESCIBLUREEF – Grown in the blue: new technologies for the knowledge and conservation of Mediterranean coral reefs”, aims to present preliminary data on the ecological and depositional implications of micritic sediments in a coral bioconstruction formed along the Mediterranean platform in front of Marzamemi (Sicily, Italy). Crustose coralline algae are the main structure, which create the right substrate for a very diversified epi- and infaunal community. Two types of microcrystalline calcite are found, allochthonous and indigenous. The alien ones derive from the abiotic accumulation of fine sediments in the cavities of the structure. The native one is deposited in situ through processes mediated by organic elements. A possible contribution of the non-skeletal carbonate to the strengthening of the primary skeleton can therefore be hypothesized. !!
Keywords: Coralligenous reef, bioconstruction, micrites, Ionian Sea