The Cretaceous megabreccias of the Gargano Promontory (Apulia, southern Italy): their stratigraphic and genetic meaning in the evolutionary framework of the Apulia Carbonate Platform

Huge megabreccias occur at the eastern margin of the Cretaceous Apulia Carbonate Platform (Gargano Promontory, southern Italy). Their stratigraphic and genetic meaning are controversial in the debated geological evolution of the Apulia Platform. New stratigraphic analyses have revealed that three distinct megabreccia levels occur within the coarse debrites that were previously interpreted to be the result of repeated collapses of a scalloped platform margin during the late Albian–Cenomanian. Each level has peculiar chronostratigraphic distribution, geometry, composition and genetic features. They are the Posta Manganaro Megabreccias (late early Aptian to late Albian pp. ), Monte S. Angelo Megabreccias (early–middle Cenomanian) and Belvedere di Ruggiano Megabreccias (middle Turonian). These deposits overlie regional, tectonically enhanced unconformities of late early Aptian, late Albian and late Cenomanian age. These megabreccias, which were formed, respectively, during drowning, prograding and exposure events of the Apulia Platform, reflect important turning points in its Cretaceous geodynamic evolution.