THE CHRONOLOGY OF UPPER PLEISTOCENE STRATIFIED SLOPE-WASTE DEPOSITS IN CENTRAL ITALY

Stratified slope-waste deposits are widespread in central Italy, even at elevations close to the present coastline. They are evidence of the cold climatic conditions which affected the area during the cold stages of the Upper Pleistocene. Their occurrence was strongly influenced by bedrock lithology (they are common on slopes composed of micritic and marry limestone). Detailed morphostratigraphic analysis and C-14 dating of alluvial and inter-fingered slope-waste deposits in a mountain area of the Umbria-Marche Apennine (Upper Esino River basin) allows an outline of the chronological sequence of debris depositional phases during the Late Pleistocene. A few dates were also obtained from the Ponte di Crispiero sequence (in the contiguous Potenza River basin), which may be considered as a type section for the Late Pleistocene of Central Italy, Adriatic side. The stratified slope-waste deposits were deposited after 50,000 to 60,000 years sp, in the Stadials of the Middle and Upper Pleniglacial. During the Interstadials, most of the slopes of the basin were colonized by steppe vegetation and the production of stratified debris was probaby restricted to the highest elevations. Increased rates of debris deposition occurred during the Upper Pleniglacial.