Middle and upper Pleistocene sea level highstands along the Tyrrhenian coast of Basilicata (southern italy)

Abstract

: A research having the purpose of finding out ancient Quaternary shorelines has been carried out along the coast of Basilicata. The coast is high, indented, with rare beaches. The slopes are steep and with talus debris and alluvial fans of different ages at their foot. There are only few small terraces. Caves are very frequent because rocks are prevailingly limestones and dolomitic rocks. A typical abrasion platform stretches out discontinuously along the coast at elevations less than 10 m a.s.l. Algal biocalcarenites containing Cladocora coespitosa are very common, whose age has been determined using the 230Th/234U method. The D/L ratio for Glycymeris, Arca and Astralium shows that the transgressive deposits on Cladocora -bearing biocalcarenites belong to the last interglacial interval. A particular care in studying and describing the stratigraphical and morphological features of the study area allowed us to distinguish various shorelines, stratigraphically subdivided into pre-Cladocora, Cladocora and post-Cladocora levels. The study has highlighted some problems regarding the nomenclature and depth of sedimentation of the Cladocora-bearing biocalcarenites, and the number of sea highstands during Upper-Middle Pleistocene. The individuation of ancient shorelines allowed some remarks on the recent tectonics of the study area, on climatic variations, eustatic fluctuations of sea level and, finally, on the coast morphogenesis during Quaternary.