Evidence of climatic changes in the Venetian Coastal Plain (Northern Italy) during the last 40,000 years

Abstract

Borehole ARS-S1 sampled sediments down to 40m under the coastal city of Venice with the aim of reconstructing climatic variations during the last 40,000years. Seven sedimentary facies belonging to continental and littoral depositional systems have been identified and dated. An age–depth model gives a mean sedimentation rate of 1.6mmyr−1 between 40 and 22.5calka BP. A general change in sedimentation rate occurred around 29calka BP, indicating an increased accumulation during the Last Glacial Maximum. The main climatic changes during the last 40,000years have been identified through pollen analyses. From the deepest core depth to −5m the pollen sequence indicates a long glacial period characterized by open steppe vegetation with pine and low concentrations of arboreal pollen grains. Fluctuations of mountain elements and the occurrence of Quercetum elements indicate the presence of the main interstadials and interglacial phases of the Middle Weichselian–Holocene interval. This framework results from comparison with European palyno-chronostratigraphic records and Atlantic stadial and interstadial chronologies, and confirms the evolution of the Venetian Plain under global climatic pulses.