The Bottaccione Section at Gubbio, Central Italy: A Classic Palaeocene Tethyan Setting Revisited

Abstract

Available biomagnetostratigraphy suggests that the Palaeocene interval in the classic Tethyan setting of the Bottaccione section (Gubbio, central Italy) may be condensed relative to other outcrops in the area and/or that the Bottaccione succession may contain an unidentified stratigraphic gap in the lower Palaeocene. However, new integrated stratigraphic data, including from bio-, magneto-, chemo-, and cyclostratigraphy, provide robust evidence that the Bottaccione section is complete and comparable to other successions cropping out in the Umbria–Marche area, which solves potential conflicts in the interpretation of the regional biostratigraphic and lithostratigraphic records. The recognition of orbitally forced sedimentary cycles, together with the availability of a carbon isotope profile, makes the Bottaccione outcrop a potential reference section for comparison with the already-available record of carbon-cycle alterations in the early–middle Palaeocene.