Hard and soft-bottom thanatofacies from the Santa Maria di Leuca deep-water coral province, Mediterranean

Thanatofacies and the skeletonised components of the living facies, from which they originate, have been studied from the Santa Maria di Leuca (SML, Mediterranean Sea) deep-water coral mound province. Faunal analysis was carried out by means of bottom sampling and underwater video observations, taking into account all benthic taxonomic groups, mostly corals, molluscs, serpulids, bryozoans, ostracods, foraminifers and barnacles, which allowed to recognise six different facies. These thanatofacies are easily distinguishable and appear to be largely corresponding and overlapping with related living facies. Some of them have been described from mound areas and others from intermound ones. They are: the Framework-building Coral facies (FC), characterised by colonial corals, mostly Madrepora oculata; the Coral Rubble facies (CR), with a proximal and a distal aspects, characterised by large vs. small-sized and densely vs. loosely packed coral fragments; the Solitary Coral facies (SC), dominated by different species in relation to the availability and dimensions of hard exploitable surfaces; the Gryphus and Isidella facies (GI) in relatively coarse grained bottoms; the Mollusc Mud facies (MM) and the Foraminifer Mud facies (FM) in comparably homogeneous silty bottoms. The distribution of the recovered facies, their spatial variability and relationships related to the sea bottom topography and hydrology has been discussed. Furthermore, the thanatofacies and related living facies have been compared with living facies previously described from the present-day Mediterranean and other fossil facies recognised from the Pleistocene sediments, in the same area. Data on bioclastic assemblages are given which can serve for comparisons with other recent aphotic, non tropical carbonates.