Biostratigrafia a foraminiferi del Cretaceo Superiore della successione di Parco Priore (Calcare di Altamura, Piattaforma Apula, Italia Meridionale)

This study focuses on the biostratigraphic analysis of an Upper Cretaceous 57 m-thick stratigraphicsedimentary succession outcropping in a quarry at Parco Priore, near the city of Altamura in theMurge (Southern Italy).In the studied area the Upper Cretaceous shallow water carbonate successions represent restrictedfacies deposited in inner shelf settings within the Apulian Platform (sensu D’Argenio, 1974). Duringthe Mesozoic, the Apulian Platform was one of the peri-adriatic platforms (D’Argenio, 1974) localizedalong the southern margin of the Tethys. These platforms have been often compared to the presentdayBahamas islands for their general shape, size, subsidence rates as well as their inner platformarchitecture (Bernoulli, 2001).The studied sedimentary succession, belonging to the Calcare di Altamura formation, is mainlycharacterised by bedded white-reddish bioclastic, often re-crystallised or dolomitised, mudstones/wackestones. White-grey calcarenitic and calcisiltitic bedded limestones and thin bedded palaeosoillevels are also present. The micropalaeontological assemblage is dominated by benthic foraminifers(Accordiella conica, Cuneolina pavonia, Moncharmontia apenninica, Minouxia conica, Rotorbinellascarsellai, Dicyclina schlumbergeri, Murgeina apula, Cuneolina spp., Pseudolituonella sp.,Aeolisaccus kotori, miliolids, textularids) and dasycladacean algae (mainly Thaumatoporellaparvovesiculifera).This benthic association allows to refer the Parco Priore succession to the Coniacian lowerCampanian time interval. Sedimentological, lithological and micropalaeontological characteristicsof the studied succession point to a low-energy inner carbonate platform setting with occasional subaerialexposures.