San Salvatore Dolomite Explained

San Salvatore Dolomite
Extent:	Southwestern Limestone Alps
Overlies:	Bellano Formation, Fenera Annunziata Sandstone, Pissone Dolomite
Underlies:	Besano Formation, Pizzella Marls
Subunits:	Rasa Dolomite
Country:
Region:	Lombardy, Piedmont, Ticino
Namedfor:	Monte San Salvatore
Prilithology:	Dolomite
Period:	Anisian
Age:	Late Anisian (Illyrian)
Type:	Geological formation

The San Salvatore Dolomite, sometimes known as the Salvatore Dolomite or San Salvatore Formation, is a Middle Triassic (late Anisian) geological formation in Switzerland and Italy. The primarily lithology is micritic dolomite with a high proportion of algal mounds (stromatolites).^[1] It corresponds to a thick warm-water carbonate platform on the northern edge of an island in what is now the Po Plain. This formation and its local equivalents are common in the hills around Lake Maggiore, Varese, and Lugano, preserving fossils of marine invertebrates such as ammonoids, gastropods, and bivalves. At its southernmost extent on Monte San Giorgio, only the lower part of the San Salvatore Dolomite is preserved. The middle and upper parts are replaced by the Besano Formation, San Giorgio Dolomite, and Meride Limestone, which were deposited in a deeper and more anoxic basin between carbonate platforms.^[2] ^[3] ^[4] ^[5]

Notes and References

Berra. Fabrizio. Galli. Maria Teresa. Reghellin. Federico. Torricelli. Stefano. Fantoni. Roberto. 2009-05-18. Stratigraphic evolution of the Triassic–Jurassic succession in the Western Southern Alps (Italy): the record of the two-stage rifting on the distal passive margin of Adria. Basin Research. en. 21. 3. 335–353. 10.1111/j.1365-2117.2008.00384.x. 2009BasR...21..335B . 2434/48580. 128904701 . 1365-2117. free.
Bernasconi. Stefano Michele. 1991. Geochemical and microbial controls on dolomite formation and organic matter production/preservation in anoxic environments: a case study from the Middle Triassic Grenzbitumenzone, Southern Alps (Ticino, Switzerland).. ETH Zurich Dissertation. 1–198. 10.3929/ethz-a-000611458 . 20.500.11850/140499 . Doctoral Thesis .
Pieroni. Vittorio. Nützel. Alexander. 2014-11-30. RASATOMARIA GENTILII GEN. N. SP. N. - A NEW MIDDLE TRIASSIC PLEUROTOMARIOID GASTROPOD GENUS AND SPECIES FROM RASA DI VARESE (SAN SALVATORE FORMATION, SOUTHERN ALPS). Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia. en. 120. 3. 10.13130/2039-4942/6073. 2039-4942.
Pieroni. Vittorio. Furrer. Heinz. 2020-02-12. Middle Triassic gastropods from the Besano Formation of Monte San Giorgio, Switzerland. Swiss Journal of Palaeontology. en. 139. 1. 2. 10.1186/s13358-019-00201-8. 2020SwJP..139....2P . 211089125. 1664-2384 . free .
López-Arbarello. Adriana. Bürgin. Toni. Furrer. Heinz. Stockar. Rudolf. 2016-07-19. New holostean fishes (Actinopterygii: Neopterygii) from the Middle Triassic of the Monte San Giorgio (Canton Ticino, Switzerland). PeerJ. en. 4. e2234. 10.7717/peerj.2234. 27547543. 4957996. 2167-8359 . free .