Multi-proxy reconstruction of Late Pleistocene to Holocene paleoenvironmental changes in SW Calabria (southern Italy) from marine and continental records

Abstract

Bernasconi M.P. et al., Multi-proxy reconstruction of Late Pleistocene to Holocene paleoenvironmental changes in SW
Calabria (southern Italy) from marine and continental records. (IT ISSN 0394-3356, 2010).
In this work we reconstructed the major climatic changes occurred since the last postglacial transition to the Holocene in SW Calabria
(southern Italy). We applied a multidisciplinary approach based on both marine and continental paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental
proxies. In particular, we focused (i) on the effects of eustatic sea-level rise on the submerged continental shelf (interpreted through
offshore seismic and core stratigraphy, along with paleoecological and palynological analyses), and (ii) on the geomorphic consequences on land of the main climatic changes and their interplay with late prehistoric to historic human activities (deforestation, cultivation, ploughing, etc.), recorded by soil features in archaeological contexts and pollens in marine cores. In particular, the transgressive and highstand systems tracts that overly the Last Glacial Maximum unconformity surface were reconstructed in detail. They indicate an upward deepening of sedimentary environments followed by overall depth stability, also confirmed by mollusc paleobiocoenoses.
Geomorphic stability coupled with warm and humid climate characterized the middle Holocene, promoting major soil development
during Neolithic times. Important changes in soil features towards the late Holocene point to a phase of climatic drying and land
degradation (probably during the Bronze age, ~4 ka BP), followed by restored prolonged moisture availability alternated with minor
warm or dry events. Different episodes of intense soil erosion and human impact occurred in this period, with increasing deforestation
and cultivation during about the last 2 ka, as testified by soil features and pollen stratigraphy. The consequent marine response can be
probably related to seaward progradation of the late Holocene sedimentary units, also reflecting river systems adjustment to eustatic
base-level rise and highstand.