Late Würmian to early Holocene lake deposits and pyroclastics in the middle Volturno Basin (Caserta Province, Italy)

Abstract

During a soil survey of the Middle Volturno basin hitherto unknown lacustrine deposits were encountered. The former lacustrine plain, although fluvially dissected and partly covered by colluvial and fluvial deposits and by volcanic tuffs, is still easily recognized. The lacustrine deposits are highly tuffaceous and have common tuff intercalations, but rest on and thus postdate the Tufo grigio campano". Considering the tephrochronology of the Late Quaternary in this part of Italy they must be contemporaneous with the "second Phlaegrean Period" (Lateglacial). Charcoal, found in the lacustrine deposits in association with skeletal remains of Bos primigenius, indeed appeared to date from 12500 ± 100 Years BP. Additional evidence for a large scale deposition of volcanic ash during that period comes from the Matese and from the Agro Pontino. The observations show that volcanic ashes, erupted during the second Phlaegrean Period, have a much wider distribution than earlier assumed.