The Cismon APTICORE (Southern Alps, Italy): A "reference section" for the Lower Cretaceous at low latitudes

APTICORE at the Cismon Valley (Belluno Basin, Southern Alps) penetrated 131.8 m of limestones, marlstones and "black shales". The cored interval extends from the Upper Aptian down to the lower Upper Hauterivian (about 117-130 Ma) and can be considered a "reference section" for low latitudes. The hole was continuously cored with essentially 100% recovery of excellent quality material and completely logged with state-of-the an: logging tools. Freshly cored material and logs from the Cismon drill site provide the most informative records for documenting and understanding global changes in the paleoenvironment, biota, geochemistry, paleotemperature of Early Cretaceous oceans. The following is a "site report" containing descriptions of the geologic setting, field operations, basic lithology and age information, and the logging tools and techniques.