UNCORRECTED PROOF Quaternary Science Reviews xxx (2018) xxx-xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Quaternary Science Reviews journal homepage: www.elsevier.com A review of the Villafranchian fossiliferous sites of Latium in the framework of the geodynamic setting and paleogeographic evolution of the Tyrrhenian Sea margin of central Italy F. Marra a, ∗ , C. Petronio b , L. Salari b , F. Florindo a, c , B. Giaccio c , G. Sottili b a Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Via di Vigna Murata 605, 00143 Roma, Italy b Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Sapienza, Università di Roma, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Roma, Italy c Istituto di Geologia Ambientale e Geoingegneria - CNR, Via Salaria km 29.300, 00015 Montelibretti, Roma, Italy ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 18 August 2017 Received in revised form 24 April 2018 Accepted 10 May 2018 Available online xxx Keywords: Villafranchian Central Italy Geodynamics Biostratigraphy Paleogeography Volcanotectonics ABSTRACT In the present study we provide a paleontological and chronostratigraphic review of the Villafranchian fossil- iferous sites of Latium, revising the biochronologic attribution based on their framing within the geodynamic and paleogeographic evolutionary picture for this region. Aimed at this scope, we reconstruct the sedimentary and structural history of the Early Pleistocene marine basins through the review and the regional correlation of published stratigraphic sections and borehole data. Moreover, we combine the chronostratigraphic constraints provided in this study to the near-coast deposits of Gelasian-Santernian age (2.58–1.5 Ma) with the results of a recent geomorphologic study of this area, allowing us to reconstruct a suite of terraced paleo-surfaces correlated with marine isotopic stages 21 through 5. By doing so, we provide further age constraints to the sedimentary and tectonic processes acting on the Tyrrhenian Sea margin in Quaternary times, highlighting a possible different paleogeographic evolution of the southern coastal area where the Middle-Villafranchian type-section of Coste San Giacomo site is located, with respect to the northern sector. © 2018. 1. Introduction The Tyrrhenian Sea Margin of Latium (Fig. 1) is a NW-SE ori- ented stretch of land comprised between the coast and the Apennines mountain range, which throughout Pliocene and Early Pleistocene times hosted the marine sedimentary basins originated by extensional tectonics acting at the rear of the orogenic belt, whereas a regional up- lift caused its progressive emersion since the late Early Pleistocene. A wide coastal plain developed as a consequence of a continuous SW retreat of the coastline, which eventually became a NW-SE stretch- ing fluvial valley, following the development of a graben-like struc- ture linked with the development of a chain of volcanic districts con- stituting the Roman Magmatic Province (Conticelli and Peccerilllo, 1992; Peccerillo, 2005). Parallel to the progressive continentalization, this sector was populated by terrestrial vertebrate faunas, which was previously confined into the earlier emerged portion of the Apen- nines range. However, due to this paleogeographic evolution, dom- inated by marine environment throughout Pliocene and Early Pleis- tocene times, Early Villaftranchian faunal remains are missing in this area, while those referred to the Middle Villafranchian are scarce and strictly confined in the inner Tyrrhenian Sea margin, at the foot of the Apennine ranges (Fig. 1). Among these, the Coste San Gi- acomo locality, in the southern portion of the investigated area, ∗ Corresponding author. Email address: fabrizio.marra@ingv.it (F. Marra) represents the most important fossiliferous site (Biddittu et al., 1979; Bellucci et al., 2012, 2014), being the eponymous site of the formal Faunal Unit (Gliozzi et al., 1997; Petronio et al., 2011). Other fos- siliferous localities referred in literature to the Middle or even the Early Villafranchian are located in the Sabina region (Tuccimei, 1889, 1891), associated to rudite fan and slope deposits at the foot of the Sabini Mts. Finally, few Late Villafranchian fossiliferous sites occur in the south-western sector of the Tyrrhenian margin, likely because of the thick blanket of volcanic deposits that since 800 ka covered the older sedimentary successions in this area. In the present study we provide a paleontological and chrono-stratigraphic review of the fossiliferous sites of Villafranchian age of Latium, aimed at revising their biochronologic attribution based on their framing within the geologic and paleogeographic evolution of this region. To achieve this goal, we reconstruct the sedimentary and structural history of the Early Pleistocene marine basins through the review and the regional correlation of published stratigraphic sections and borehole data. Besides providing chronostratigraphic constraints to the near-coast deposits of Gelasian-Santernian age (2.58–1.5 Ma), we integrate the pleogeographic reconstruction with results of a recent geomorphologic study of this area correlating with the marine isotopic stages (MISs) 21 through 5 a series of fluvial terraces formed through the interplay between regional uplift and glacio-eustasy (Marra et al., 2017), providing further age constraints to the sedimentary and tec- tonic processes acting on the Tyrrhenian sea margin in this time span. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.05.011 0277-3791/ © 2018.