Glacio-eustatic control of continental-shallow marine cyclicity from late quaternary deposits of the southeastern Po Plain, northern Italy

Integrated sedimentological and micropaleontological (foraminifera, ostracods, pollens) investigations of a 173-m-long continuous core in the subsurface of the SE Po Plain reveal a cyclic facies distribution of continental to shallow-marine deposits. Radiometric and pollen data enable an age attribution of the study units to the late Middle Pleistocene-Holocene. Glacioeustasy appears to have exerted a major control on facies development, as documented by the close relationships between cyclic lithofacies patterns and the curves of eustatic fluctuation. Particularly, relative sea-level falls and lowstand phases were characterized by the development of alluvial sedimentation, whereas major transgressive pulses and subsequent highstands are reflected by abrupt shifts to paralic and shallow-marine deposits. This facies architecture is paralleled by a distinctive pollen distribution, reflecting the alternation of a glacial type of vegetation, dominated by Pinus and nonarboreal pollen types, with interglacial mixed deciduous broad-leaved forests. (C) 1999 University of Washington.