Interplay between sea level rise and tectonics in the Holocene evolution of the St. Eufemia Plain (Calabria, Italy)

Abstract

A multi-proxy approach has been adopted to reconstruct the Holocene history of the St. Eufemia Plain (western Calabria, Italy) and to discern the influence that sea level rise and tectonics exerted in its evolution. Sedimentological, paleoecological and palynological data have been obtained from a 24-m long core, mostly made of pelitic back-barrier sediments, chronologically constrained by twelve AMS 14C dates. Radiocarbon ages of lagoon samples have been corrected by taking into account the influence of both the marine and hardwater effect on the reservoir age. The new data have been integrated with those of pre-existing stratigraphies in order to better characterize the overall sedimentary architecture of the plain. In the early Holocene (from ca. 8300 to ca. 6900 yr. cal BP), eustasy largely prevailed on the tectonic uplift, causing coastline ingression and aggradation. From ca. 6900 to ca. 2800 yr. cal BP, coastline progradation and aggradation were driven by high detrital inputs and slowdown of sea level rise, during a phase characterized by a general weak subsidence. From ca. 2800 to ca. 1400 yr. cal BP, higher rates of subsidence favored the establishment of marsh and flooded alluvial plain environments in the back-barrier domain. After ca. 1400 yr. cal BP, a substantial stability characterized the St. Eufemia Plain.