LATE PLEISTOCENE AND HOLOCENE EVOLUTION OF THE NORTH ADRIATIC CONTINENTAL-SHELF (ITALY)

During the Würm regression the present North Adriatic continental shelf was a wide fluvio-lacustrine plain, where rivers with rather high dynamics coexisted with swamps and bogs characterized by calm water and formation of peat soils. The Flandrian marine transgression covered the plain, reworking the continental deposits. The advancing sea affected the study area in two stages; the first at about 6000 yr BP, the second, corresponding to the maximum Holocene marine ingression, at 2000-3000 yr BP. At this time the Po River began to form cuspate deltas from an almost straight coastline. This process continued until about 1600 AD when deforestation and the construction of levees increased the sedimentary load carried by the river, causing the building up of modern lobate deltas. © 1979.