A GEOSITE TO BE SAVED:THE TYRRHENIAN FOSSIL DEPOSIT ON THE ISLAND OF USTICA

During the 1960s, fossil beds characterized by a tropical-sea malacofauna were discovered by G.Ruggieri and G. Buccheri in the Island of Ustica, on the southern slope of Falconiera hill, 32 m asl.Thanks to the presence of Strombus bubonius and other Senegalese guests, the authors estimated thatthe molluscan fauna had lived around 125,000 years ago, during the Tyrrhenian stage. Recently onthe initiative of the “Centro Studi e Documentazione Isola di Ustica”, a research has been initiated toverify the persistence of sand-layers mixed up with Tyrrhenian fossils, even though, in the last 50years, that area has undergone great changes, because of earthworks which have sealed the deposit.The new research led to the discovery of a fossil assemblage formed by 22 taxa (16 species of gastropodsand 6 of bivalves), characterized by the presence of some Senegalese guests and other accompanyingspecies that can be associated with the Eutyrrhenian subunit (MIS 5.5). This is the main subjectof this note, along with the suggestion to preserve what remains of the Ustica Tyrrhenian deposit.