Off-shelf sedimentary record of recurring global sea-level changes during the Plio-Pleistocene: evidence from the cyclic fills of exhumed slope systems in central Italy

Abstract

The markedly cyclic sedimentary successions of four late Pliocene to early Pleistocene slope turbidite systems exposed in eastern central Italy have been resolved into 31 high-frequency sequences. Chronological constraints from biostratigraphy and magnetostratigraphy indicate that these successions form a composite, partially overlapping stratigraphic record and sequence-bounding surfaces can be convincingly correlated with glacial oxygen isotope stages G2–60 (c. 2.65–1.7 Ma) inclusive. The studied successions, therefore, preserve an extraordinary and legible record of recurring, orbitally dictated glacio-eustatic sea-level fluctuations and provide an unprecedented opportunity to examine the deep-water sedimentary response to such high-frequency changes from an outcrop perspective