Distribuzione granulometrica ed associazioni a Foraminiferi nell'area lagunare di Oliveri-Tindari (Messina).

Grain size analyses and a.biostratigraphic study based on Foraminifera were carried out on sediments sampled in the Oliveri-Tindari lagoon (Messina, Italy), a brackish complex of six pools (Marinello, lfergolo, Verde, Fondo Porto, Porto Vecchio e Nuovo), located on the Tyrrhenian coast of Sicily. A total of eighteen samples, collected in each pool during three investigation cycles (1997, 1998,2002), have been examined. From a granulometric point of view, the silt fraction appears to be predominant in the Nuovo, Porto Vecchio, Fondo Porto and Verde pools whereas the sediments taken from the Marinello and Mergolo pools can be classified as silty clays. Optical microscopy examination revealed that size fractions higher than 63pm can be divided into: terrigenous. (qgartz, rock fragments and polycrystalline calcite grains) and biogenic (shell fragments of Gasteropods, Bivalves, Foraminifera, Ostracods, compartments of Echinoderm, seaweed fragments) components. Based on micropaleontological study, the fauna consists of 42 foraminiferal species belonging to 17 genera. The assemblages are mainly dominated by benthic species (Ammonia tepida, Peneroplis planatus, Vert ebralina s triata, Siphonap ert a agglutinans, P eneroplis pertusus, Triloculina rotunda) characteristic of marine infralittoral warm-temperate waters and sandy bottom. The only exception are rhe Marinello and Mergolo pools, which are almost exclusively characterized by the dominance of Ammonia tepida (98%).