| Abstract: | 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 histori-cally important in introducing and defining the standard Chronostratigraphic Units (CUs) of the Neogene and Quaternary. Pelagic successions from Northern Apen-nines and Southern Alps have been used in the seventies for integrating the late Cretaceous-Paleogene Geomag-netic Polarity Time Scale (GPTS) with planktonic microfossil biostratieraohv and standard CUs. This was a major contribution to the construction of a new gener-ation of GTS based on integrated magnetobiochronol-ogy. The middle Miocene to early Pleistocene marinerecord from Sicily and southern Italy has been funda-mental for establishing the recently developed Astro-nomical Time Scale (ATS). In prospect, there are many potentials still to be exploited in the Italian marine stratigraphic record for implementing the GTS by defin-ing GSSPs of various CUs, improving magneto-biochronology and extending downwards the ATS. |
