This work focuses on the carbonate factories constituting the Pietra di Finale Fm cropping out in the Ligurian Alps. This unit constituted a mixed carbonate–siliciclastic coastal wedge developed during the Middle Miocene. The carbonate factories characterizing the coastal wedge of the Pietra di Finale clearly differ from those of the coastal mixed systems and carbonate platforms developing during the Miocene elsewhere in the Mediterranean area. Here, in the Ligurian Alps, the euphotic carbonate factory does not show any evidence of seagrass meadows and coral bioconstructions. Zooxanthellate corals are present only as skeletal debris associated with abundant stylasterids. In the mesophotic and oligophotic zones, the typical oligophotic biota of red algae and larger benthic foraminifers are strongly reduced. The coastal wedge of the Pietra di Finale shows an unusual abundance of stylasterids, classically interpreted as deep-water biota. However, in this example, the absence of low-energy textures and other skeletal components suggest a shallow-water origin, probably in the eu- or mesophotic zone. The stylasterids colonized the hard substrates available and were successively removed and resedimented to form the skeletal fraction of the coastal wedge of the Pietra di Finale. The abundance of stylasterids is restricted to particular and limited situations in the Miocene of the Mediterranean, thus suggesting that their abnormal development is controlled by local rather than global factors.

这项工作的重点是构成利古里亚阿尔卑斯山中出现的 Pietra di Finale Fm 的碳酸盐工厂。该单元构成了中中新世发育的混合碳酸盐-硅质碎屑海岸楔。彼得拉迪菲纳莱海岸楔形特征的碳酸盐工厂明显不同于地中海地区其他地区中新世时期发育的沿海混合系统和碳酸盐台地。在这里，在利古里亚阿尔卑斯山，透光碳酸盐工厂没有显示出任何海草草甸和珊瑚生物结构的证据。虫黄藻珊瑚仅以与丰富的柱星虫相关的骨骼碎片的形式存在。在中光和寡光区，红藻和较大的底栖有孔虫的典型寡光生物群大大减少。 Pietra di Finale 的海岸楔形区域显示出异常丰富的柱星虫，传统上将其解释为深水生物群。然而，在这个例子中，低能量纹理和其他骨骼成分的缺乏表明浅水起源，可能在欧盟或中光区。柱星类在可用的硬质基质上定居，并被相继移除和重新沉积，形成皮埃特拉迪菲纳莱海岸楔形的骨骼部分。柱星鸟的丰富度仅限于地中海中新世的特定和有限的情况，因此表明它们的异常发育是由局部因素而不是全球因素控制的。