Inquadramento geologico della Grotta del Re Tiberio: criteri per definire l’evoluzione dei sistemi carsici nei gessi messiniani del Mediterraneo

The caves are “underground outcrops” where geological features poorly visible outside can be observed. The study of the
stratigraphic and structural aspects of the first section of the Re Tiberio Cave up to the Sala Gotica (“Gothic Room”) indicates
that the entrance opens into the branching selenite of the upper part of the sixth cycle of the Gessoso-solfifera Formation,
in correspondence with a vertical fracture, oriented east-west. In the Gothic Room it is possible to see the stratigraphic passage
between the upper part of the 6th cycle, characterized by branching selenite, and the base of the 7th cycle, consisting
of massive selenite and banded selenite. The eastern wall of the Gothic Room is bounded by a fault that displaces the stratigraphic
contact only on the north wall, revealing that the eastern block has undergone a clockwise rotation. The geological
criteria used in this study are valid for the Lower Gypsum of the whole Mediterranean