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Serravallian Shales In The Monte Dei Corvi Pelagic Sequence (Ancona, Italy): An Organic Geochemical Perspective, Michael A. Kruge, B Artur Stankiewicz, Alessandro Montanari

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

In addition to the predominant marly lithologies, the Serravallian-Tortonian sequence at Monte dei Corvi (MDC), south of Ancona, Italy, contains at least 85 thin, dark calcareous shales. Such shales, averaging 14 cm in thickness, comprise 9% of the total Serravallian sequence. Sixteen of them were sampled for a preliminary organic geochemical evaluation. All the MDC shales appear to have been deposited during periodic anoxic events, as demonstrated by the presence of significant quantities of organic matter and authigenic pyrite. The degree of anoxicity (and thus the amount of organic matter preserved) appears to have differed from one event to the …