TEMPERATE CARBONATE PLATFORM DROWNING LINKED TO MIOCENE OCEANOGRAPHICEVENTS - MAIELLA PLATFORM MARGIN, ITALY

Carbonate platform drownings are frequent, often synchronous global oc currences, yet explanations for these world-wide events remain unsatis factory, In the Central Apennines, Lower and Middle Miocene carbonate rocks deposited on a 'temperate' ramp in the Maiella platform margin r ecord two episodes of platform drowning followed by hemipelagic sedime ntation, dated as latest Oligocene-Aquitanian (26-23 Ma) and as Burdig alian-Langhian (20-16 Ma). A high-resolution stratigraphy, based on st rontium-isotopes, allows us to correlate key phases of platform evolut ion with events recorded in deep water ocean sediments, This paper sug gests that high weathering rates and nutrient input in the Mediterrane an during the early and middle Miocene possibly linked to the uplift o f the Tibetan region - set the preconditions for platform drowning, wh ich were ultimately caused by rapid eustatic sea-level rises.