Evolution of vegetation and climate in the Veneto-Po Plain during the late-glacial and early Holocene using pollen-stratigrapic data

Abstract

The results of pollen analyses - in some cases supplemented with radiocarbon dating - of sediments mostly from the Veneto-Po Plain, and a core segment from an off-shore borehole drilled in the Adriatic Sea off Chioggia are discussed. Most of these data are original and have not yet been published. After a palynological comparison using three pollen diagrams from the Lago di Garda area, other pollen diagrams are described, which show the presence of a promiscuous flora assemblage during the Late Glacial, owing to the contemporaneous occurrence of a cold climate vegetation (Pinus mugo, P. cembra, Picea, Larix, Betula nana, etc.), together with - in some specific stations - the components of Quercetum s.l., attributable to Querco-Carpinetum and thermophilous, steppe, riparian and aquatic plant communities. On the basis of palaeohydrographic considerations it is hypothesised the presence of Querco-Carpinetum which, during the Holocene, would characterize the Po Plain vegetation. The data from the studied sites are compared to one another in order to get a comprehensive view of the vegetation evolution and, hence, of climate and environment evolutions during the Late Glacial and the early Holocene in the Veneto Plain.