Composition and petrophysics of the Pliocene-Pleistocene Scandale Sandstones, Crotone Basin, southern Italy

Sara Criniti¹, Massimo Civitelli¹, Ettore Falsetta¹ & Andrea Stellato^1
1Department of Environmental Engineering, University of Calabria, Ponte Pietro Bucci, Cubo 45A, 87036 Rende (CS), Italy.
Corresponding author e-mail: sara.criniti@unical.it

The Upper Pliocene–Lower Pleistocene Scandale Sandstones in the Rocca di Neto area, within the Crotone basin fill, is here discussed based on sedimentological, petrographic, and petrophysical analyses. Three stratigraphic sections were reconstructed, documenting that eolian dune, backshore, beachface-shoreface are the dominant sedimentary facies, recording a wave-dominated coastal system across the Piacenzian–Gelasian transition. Petrographic analysis reveals a quartzofeldspathic composition, mainly derived from the plutonic and metamorphic rocks of the Sila Massif, with additional sedimentary contributions from the underlying Crotone Basin and Mesozoic Longobucco/Caloveto groups. Mercury intrusion porosimetry indicates a pore system dominated by micro- to mesopores. Integrated data support a paleogeographic reconstruction involving renewed subsidence and marine transgression after middle Pliocene tectonic uplift, highlighting the Scandale Sandstones as a key archive of the Crotone basin fill at the Neogene–Quaternary boundary.

detrital modes, Provenance, Scandale Sandstones, Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary, Crotone Basin.