THE INEXISTENT ISLAND!

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THE INEXISTENT ISLAND!

• According to the testimony of the fossils we know
  that from the Permian, 260 milion years ago, to
  the Upper Miocene, 6.5 milion years ago, the area
  where nowadays is situated Sicily, was
  continually ruled by the seas.

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The Geological Situation of Sicily Nowadays
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Geological History of Sicily
From a geological point of view, Sicily is a
young land, it has always undergone strong
tectonic strengths and has been marked by
different environments, whose testimonies are
minerals and fossils. The history of the
Earth starts with the Paleozoic Era ( from 650 to
250 milion years ago) but in Sicily we have few
traces. It is possible to find traces regarding
to the Permian in the areas of Roccapalumba,
Lercara Friddi and Palazzo Adriano. At the
end of the Paleozoic Era, the Pangea was divided
into two blocks, well separated from the Thetis
Ocean as well as the earth of Godwanna (including
southern Africa and America, India and
Australia).  
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THE MESOZOIC ERA

• In Sicily, the Mesozoic Era begins in the
  Triassic, with sea deposits, sponges, algae and
  basin rocks (e.g. Madonie and Sicani Mountains).
• The Jurassic in Sicily is characterized by a
  huge expansion of the ammonites (e.g. the
  Mountain Kumeta, near Palermo). There is a large
  amount of belemnites and cephalopoda.
• As to fauna fossils, in the Mesozoic Era
  they give evidence of the fragmentation of the
  great continent during the Paleozoic and the
  division of the Thetis in several basins.

Waagenoceras mojsisovicsi Gemmellaro, 1887
Palazzo Adriano (PA)
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Belemnites
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Giant Ammonite Found in Sicily
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• The Cretaceous is marked in some areas
  by a calcareous rock, rich of microfossils.
  Differently, in other areas more suitable
  conditions created the development of cliffs,
  where a lot of organisms flourished.
• The Rudists
• Exclusive fossils guide of this period.
  The situation, created from the fragmentation of
  the great continent in existence during the
  Paleozoic and the subdivision ot the Tethis into
  more basins, is demontrated from the different
  fossiliferous associations (between which above
  all the Ammonites) found in the Mesozoic
  sedimentary rocks of Northern Europe (boreal
  domain) and of Southern Europe (tethis domain).

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Alveolines Are great benthic foraminiferi, from
porcellanaceo and imperforato shell the shape
can be spherical, fusiform or cilindroide. The
dimensions can oscillate from 1mm to 10 cm. The
first Alveoline, appears in the Lower Cretaceous,
later on they are diffused in the Upper
Cretaceous and they reach the maximum spread and
variety during the Upper Eocene. Today only
little kinds live in reef atmospheres of the warm
seas of the pacific Ocean.
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The Cainozoic Era

• The Cainozoic Era was characterized by
  strong changes to fauna and flora as well as
  geological events, which had a huge importance in
  the creation of Italy and in particular of
  Sicily. Undoubtedly, the most important event of
  this period was the raising of the Himalayas
  Chain under the push of the African continent,
  pushed towards north by the newborn Dorsal Medio
  - Atlantica.
• In the Miocene period ( about 24.000.000
  years ago), the Mediterranean communicated with
  the Indian Ocean in the east and with the
  Atlantic Ocean in the west. Its waters had
  flooded a part of the newborn Europe, forming a
  little sea arm inside the Alpine Chain, while the
  north of Europe had widened towards the Vienna
  Basin.

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The Origin of Sicily

• In the Middle Miocene ( nearly 14.000.000
  years ago), the connection with the Indian Ocean
  closed and the Mediterranean was in communication
  only with the Atlantic Ocean.
• In the Upper Miocene, the communication with
  the Atlantic was reduced and stopped by the
  raising of Gibraltar Spire, an underwater
  promontory which transformed the Mediterranean in
  a great lake, characterized by warm and shallow
  water. In particular, in the period called
  Massiniano Plane (between 6,25 and 6 milions
  years ago) the waters of the Mediterranean Basin
  evaporated and left deposits of salts. As a
  consequence, almost all kinds of fish, molluscs
  and echinus died, and only shellfish, that could
  bear saline changes, survived. Around 5.3
  millions years ago, waters returned in the basin,
  giving start to the Pliocene.
• In Sicily, the Lower Pliocene is represented
  by trubi(globigerina calcareous marly rocks).
  Their huge presence witnesses its submerging.
  Later, the trubis were replaced by clays and
  sands. During the Oligocene period, all these
  sediments started to rise under form of strata of
  sediments and in the north-west of Sicily they
  caused the formation and development of the
  mountains that border the so-called Gold God
  Basin. The mountains that surround Palermo, e.g.
  Mount Pellegrino, Capo Gallo, Cozzo di Lupo,
  Mount Saraceno, Mount Kumeta, Mount Cofano, are
  sediments belonging to the northern border of
  Africa. At the same time, other chains such as
  the Madonie, Nebrodi, Peloritani, rose and a
  basin, called Caltanisetta Basin, was formed by
  deposits. Finally, the south-east block of the
  Iblei Mountains started its origin.

Sicily during the Lower Pliocene 4.900.000 years
ago
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Some Sicilian Crystals
Sulphur
Gypsum
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• The Quaternary Era was
  characterized by the entry in the Mediterranean
  Sea of the so-called Nordic Hosts organisms,
  mostly molluscs, currently living in the seas of
  the north, which got into the Mediterranean
  because of a general cooling of the weather. The
  main representative was the Icelandic Arctic.
  
• The Superior Pleistocene, in the
  Mediterranean basin, was divided into an inferior
  chronographic unit, with tropical fauna. The
  period between 80.000 and 10.000 years ago was
  characterized by the cold fluctuation of Wurm
  Glaciation.
• In the Holocene man appeared. In this
  period, Sicily was populated by the ancestors of
  the modern fauna. This theory is based on the
  discovery of some fossils.
• In the Middle Pleistocene, there were strong
  climatic changes the melting and forming of
  glaciers caused remarkable oscillations in the
  sea level, and new species, belonging to the
  Silian vertebrate fossils, appeared, such as the
  Elephas Falconeri, the smallest elephant, the
  Leithia Cartei, the Lutra Trinacria, as well
  as birds and reptiles.
• The Middle and the Latest Pleistocene were
  characterized by the great mammals, coming from
  Italy, which arrived in Sicily as a consequence
  of lowerings in the sea level, e.g. the
  Elephas Mnaidriensis (elephant), the
  Hippopotamus Pentlandi (hippopotamus), the
  Crocuta Croccuta Spelaea(hyena), the Bos
  Primigenius sicialiane (uro), the Bison
  Priscus Sicialiane (bison), the Cervus Elephus
  Sicialiane(red deer), the Ursus Arcots (bear),
  the Sus Scofa (wild boar), the Canis Lupus
  (wolf), the Pantera Leo (lion).

Italy during the Lower Pleistocene
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Icelandic Arctica The Guests Coming from the
North

• Lower Pleistocene 1,67 M.Y.
• With the beginning of the Quaternary Era a big
  part of Sicily had already risen out of water and
  its western side formed, probably, an
  archipelago.
• The fauna of the Lower Pleistocene is initially
  composed of sea fauna and is represented of
  molluscs which at the moment live in the seas of
  the North such as the Icelandic Artica and the
  Norwegian Panopaea (Cold Guests).

Artica islandica (Linneo, 1767), Falde di Monte
Pellegrino (PA)
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Elephas Falconeri its about 550.000 years old
Towards the end of the Quaternary Era there is
the appearance of the pygmy fauna into places
which had been quite far from the continent. In
this way it had been impossible to have contacts
with other fauna. In Sicily some skeletons of
elephants, hyppopotamus and other pygmy animals
have been found. The most evident case is the
Elephas Falconeri, which in its adluthood
couldn't be higher than 1 metre eventhoough it
derived from the Elephas Antiquuns which could be
even 5 metres tall.
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Internal Mould Turtle found in Alcamo
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Eggs of Turtle
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Mountains and Volcanoes

• Sicilys mountains and volcanoes are remarkable
  testimonies to the movements of the land crust in
  the Mediterranean area.
• According to the theory of the Tectonic of the
  Plates, an approaching, between two continents,
  creates compressive deformations, which can
  fracture and raise mountains.
• The structural elements in the east of Sicily
  are
• - The Apennines-Maghrebide Chains in Sicily,
  it is a part of the mountainous system which
  includes Africa (Maghrebide area), Italy ( the
  Apennines) and the east of Sicily ( the
  Peloritani Mountains, the Nebrodi and the Erei
  Mountains). It is formed by a system of strata,
  derived from the movements of the continental
  plates( Europe, Asia and Africa), which deformed
  sediments of the river basin between the
  continents.
• - The African Avampaese in Sicily, it is
  constituted by the Ibleo Plateau. It is
  delimited to East by the Ionian Sea, for the
  presence of an important system of faults, the
  Ibleo-Maltese Escarpment, which is important
  for volcanoes.
• - The Avanfossa it was formed by the collapse
  of the northern border of the Avampaese, and
  includes the External Avanfossa or Zone of
  Transition, that appears in the northern area of
  the Iblei Mountains, and the Internal Avanfossa
  .
• In the Miocene Era ( nearly 24-20 milion years
  ago) the Madonie, the Nebrodi and the Peloritani
  formed isles in the west-east. To the south of
  these lands, there was a great and deep marine
  river basin (Caltanissetta Basin). 
• At the end of Miocene, in the southern Sicily,
  the Ibleo Plateau was a large shallow.
  Moreover, the effects of the deformations
  affected the Ibleo Plateau, which partially
  emerged and formed coral-islands, populated by
  tropical fish.
• At the end of the Lower Pliocene (about 5-4
  milion years ago) all the Mediterranean basin,
  included Sicily, was upset by another tectonic
  compression, and in the centre of Sicily
  (Caltanissetta Basin) the sediments flowed and
  the bottom began to raise and emerge.
• These imposing raisings shrank the existing sea
  arm, between the northern Sicily and the Iblei,
  and they slowly provoked an imposing sliding of
  materials to the south and south-east, which
  filled up the marine ditch, between the Latest
  Pliocene and the Quaternary.
• As a consequence, sediments were deformed and
  moved their geographic position, originally in
  the river basin near the African Avampaese.
• In the northern field, volcanic activity let
  magma rise again in the period from the Pliocene
  to the Quaternary.

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Elephas Mnaidriensisit is about 180.000 years old
Fossils E. Mnaidriensis have been found at the
end of last century in the cave of Puntali
(Carini). Recentely, Belluomini's work of 1985,
have allowed to determine the age of the too
pygmy elephants. Using a method of dating which
is based on the racemization of the amino acids,
it was possible to establish for the E.Falconeri
an age of 550,000years and for the E.Mnaidriensis
an age of 180,000. Belluomini's dating has
finally been confirmed from a recent discovery of
fossils E.Mnaidriensis coming from red soils,
which were in some karst fissures open in the
travertine of Alcamo. The red soils are
subsequent sediments compared to the formation
of the n travertine.
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Reconstruction of a Sicilian Buffalo
Skull of a Wild Boar
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Reconstruction of a daily routine of the
Paleolitic man
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GEOLOGY OF MOUNT PELLEGRINO
Monte Pellegrino is an isolated relief and forms
part of the Palermo Mountains. It is made up of a
carbonatic rock succession (upper Trias
Eocene), belonging to three different
stratigraphic series referable to a platform
palaeogeographic domain. These deposits are
deformed and faulteddue to the Neogenic orogenic
phases and to the Plio Pleistocene tectonic
events that involved the whole complex of the
Monti di Palermo The geomorphological setting of
Mount Pellegrinoconsists of structural forms,
originating from surface waters, karstic, and
coastal, and other forms produced by slope and
planation processes The morphologies originating
from surface runoff waters are mainly valleys and
relict riverbedsNowadays the surface washout
waters are responsible for the removal of the
eluvial covers and of the slope deposits
outcropping along the fl anks or in
themountain-top areas. Among the forms infl
uenced by the surface runoff waters the Valle del
Porco canyon can be noted, produced by a
combination of fl uvial and karstic processes.
The epigean karstic forms are represented by open
dolines and karren. The main hypogean forms are
represented by caves and sinkholes. The coastal
processes played a role of great importance in
the evolution of the peripheral areas, deeply
infl uencing the present morphology of the relief
edges. Owing to the emersion of the fault planes,
responsible for the confi guration of the Monte
Pellegrino structural high, were reworked by the
erosion of the Pleistocene sea that formed sea
cliffs affected by parallel regressions. Moreover
three orders of marine terraces are present,
represented by abrasion surfaces separated by
moderate erosion scarps. The ancient sea cliffs
have been modifi ed by rock falls and by
weathering processes the rock falls led to the
creation of wide semi-circular niches, The
erosion processes, primed by the defi nitive
emersion of the relief during the Early
Pleistocene, led to the gradual dismantling of
the Neogenic terrigenous deposits that had
formerly covered the carbonatic substrata. The
hydrographical system, which had originally
developed on the clayey deposits, today
completely eroded, is now superimposed on the
carbonatic rocks as a consequence of the lowering
of the base level.
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Niscemi Grotto

• The land where M. Pellegrino is situated can be
  divided into two parts
• Area A which is extended from Vergine Maria to
  the wood of Niscemi
• Area B which is more important for its
  historicity.
• The caves of Niscemi Grottowere used for various
  reasons its suitability as a refuge with all its
  grottoes and caves, its closeness to the sea and
  the land, and its strategic military advantages.
  Numerous are the archaeological finds which have
  been discovered until today.
• The Palaeolithic graffiti found in Niscemi
  grotto, discovered in 1954 and recently cleaned,
  those found in the Engraving grotto or the Oxen
  grotto as well as the prehistoric sites of Grotta
  Addaura Caprara, Grotta Perciata and Grotta del
  Ferraro, where some human remains and mud vases
  were found.
• There are numerous remains testifying the
  presence of prehistoric permanent settlements
  during the first half of the Neolithic period,
  some of which were inhabited right up until the
  Punic and Roma times.
• Most of the items (pitchers, cups, vases, various
  ceramic fragments and fossilised bones) are all
  on shown in the Archaeological Museum of Palermo.

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This is a Palaeolithic graffito which illustrate
a Horse Probably these graffiti were carried by
ferrous bodies