Rhodalgal/bryomol assemblages in temperate type carbonate, channelised depositional systems: the Early Miocene of the Sarcidano area (Sardinia, Italy). IN: PEDLEY, H.M. & CARANNANTE G. (EDS.) COOL-WATER CARBONATES: DEPOSITIONAL SYSTEMS AND PALAEOENVIRONMENTAL CONTROLS,

During Aquitanian-Burdigalian times, temperate-type carbonate-siliciclastic successions were deposited in basins located on the grabens and half–grabens along the Oligo-Miocene Sardinia Rift Basin (Sardinia, Italy). In one of these basins, the Isili Basin, rhodalgal/bryomol limestone was deposited in a temperate-type carbonate depositional system in which a shallow carbonate factory, a marginal tributary belt and a main channel were identified. In this paper, the Isili Limestone is described in terms of biogenic components and taphononic characterization. In order to understand the palaeoecology of the depositional settings and the related palaeoceanographic controls, the coralline algal assemblages have been differentiated according to coralline growth-forms, rhodolith shapes, rhodolith inner structures, and taxonomic composition. In addition, a first analysis was carried out in order to discriminate among the different bryozoan and mollusc assemblages present in different localities corresponding to different palaeoecological settings. The results obtained provide fundamental support to the palaeoenvironmental reconstruction coupling palaeobiological analyses (i.e. rhodolith characteristics, bryozoan growth-forms, taphonomic features) to previous physical (sedimentological and geometrical) observations and allow a more detailed reconstruction of the complex relationships between the different sectors of the sedimentary system: the carbonate factory, the smaller erosive tributary channels and the deeper main channel.