The Geologic Time Scale and the Italian Stratigraphic Record

The construction of the Geologic Time Scale (GTS) is a titanic scientific challenge that has been under way for two centuries and will require much dedicated effort in the future. Italy preserves a paramount stratigraphic record of Mesozoic and Cenozoic marine sediments that have been significant in the development of the modern GTS. The Italian stratigraphic record has been historically important in introducing and defining the standard Chronostratigraphic Units (CUs) of the Neogene and Quaternary. Pelagic successions from Northern Apennines and Southern Alps have been used in the seventies for integrating the late Cretaceous-Paleogene Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale (GPTS) with planktonic microfossil biostratigraphy and standard CUs. This was a major contribution to the construction of a new generation of GTS based on integrated magnetobiochronology. The middle Miocene to early Pleistocene marine record from Sicily and southern Italy has been fundamental for establishing the recently developed Astronomical Time Scale (ATS). In prospect, there are many potentials still to be exploited in the Italian marine stratigraphic record for implementing the GTS by defining GSSPs of various CUs, improving magnetobiochronology and extending downwards the ATS.