Cava Toppetti palaeosols, near Todi, Central Italy (Pleistocene of Italy)

Where: Perugia, Italy (42.8° N, 12.4° E: paleocoordinates 42.7° N, 12.3° E)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

When: Ponte Naja Formation, MN 17 (2.6 - 1.8 Ma)

• Late Pliocene. The fauna listed here comes from the Ponte Naja Formation, dated to roughly between 2.1 and 1.9Ma. Middle Villafranchian, Costa San Giacomo faunal unit (= Seneze).

• formation-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: alluvial fan

• Fauna from a number of levels within the formation, but only from the palaeosols of silty clay, with the exception of one specimen (a left scapula of Stephanorhinus) which was from sandy gravels.
• The Ponte Naja formation is 150m thick and 300m wide, and consists mainly of clayey, sandy silt and silty clay (98%) with minor sand or sandy gravel (2%). The palaeosols are 'massive dark-bluish-grey silty clay', with a volumetric distribution of 8%. They form regular strata that can be traced over the entire width of the Cava Toppetti (>100m). The bottom boundary is always diffuse whereas the top boundary is sharp. The thickness varies from a few cm to 60cm, with an average of 15cm.

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Collection methods: sieve,

• Macrofossils collected at random during sedimentology fieldwork. Micromammals found in 800/1000kg of screen-washed sediment.

Primary reference: L. Abbazzi, A. Albianelli, P. Ambrosetti, P. Argenti, G. Basilici, A. Bertini, S. Gentili, F. Masini, G. Napoleone and M.R. Pontini. 1997. Paleontological and sedimentological record in Pliocene distal alluvial fan deposits at Cava Toppetti (Todi, Central Italy). Bollettino della Societa Paleontologica Italiana 36(1-2):5-22 [A. Turner/H. O'Regan/H. O'Regan]more details

Purpose of describing collection: paleoecologic analysis

PaleoDB collection 49259: authorized by Alan Turner, entered by Hannah O'Regan on 12.04.2005

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Mammalia
 Artiodactyla - Cervidae
"Pseudodama cf. rhenana" = Metacervocerus, Procapreolus sp.
"Pseudodama cf. rhenana" = Metacervocerus deer
3 antler fragments, 2 isolated teeth, 1 phalange.
Procapreolus sp. Schlosser 1929 deer
1 antler fragment.
 Artiodactyla - Bovidae
Leptobos sp.
Leptobos sp. Rutimeyer 1878 antelope
1 vertebra
 Rodentia - Muridae
Apodemus dominans
Apodemus dominans Eurasian field mouse
10 isolated teeth.