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Magnetostratigraphic dating of an intensification of glacial activity in the southern Italian Alps during Marine Isotope Stage 22

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Giovanni Muttoni ,
Cesare Ravazzi ,
Marzia Breda ,
Roberta Pini ,
Carlo Laj ,
Catherine Kissel ,
Alain Mazaud  and
Eduardo Garzanti
Giovanni Muttoni*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Milano, Via Mangiagalli 34, I-20133 Milano, Italy, and ALP-Alpine Laboratory of Paleomagnetism, Via Madonna dei Boschi 76, I-12016 Peveragno (CN), Italy
Cesare Ravazzi
Affiliation:
CNR-IDPA, Section of Milano, Via Pasubio 5, I-24044 Dalmine (Bergamo), Italy Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche e Geotecnologie, Università di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 4, I-20126 Milano, Italy
Marzia Breda
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Geologia, Paleontologia e Geofisica, Università di Padova, Via Giotto 1, I-35137 Padova, Italy
Roberta Pini
Affiliation:
CNR-IDPA, Section of Milano, Via Pasubio 5, I-24044 Dalmine (Bergamo), Italy Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche e Geotecnologie, Università di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 4, I-20126 Milano, Italy
Carlo Laj
Affiliation:
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, Unité Mixte CEA-CNRS, Avenue de la Terrasse, F-91198 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
Catherine Kissel
Affiliation:
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, Unité Mixte CEA-CNRS, Avenue de la Terrasse, F-91198 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
Alain Mazaud
Affiliation:
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, Unité Mixte CEA-CNRS, Avenue de la Terrasse, F-91198 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
Eduardo Garzanti
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche e Geotecnologie, Università di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 4, I-20126 Milano, Italy
*
⁎Corresponding author. E-mail address:giovanni.muttoni1@unimi.it (G. Muttoni).
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Abstract

We applied magnetostratigraphy and mammal biostratigraphy to date climate-sensitive pollen cycles and lithostratigraphic units of the Pliocene–Pleistocene Leffe sedimentary succession from the Southern Alps, Italy. The Leffe section was correlated to additional sections (Casnigo, Fornaci di Ranica, and Pianengo) to construct a stratigraphic network along a common fluviatile system (the Serio River) sourced in the Southern Alps and flowing southward into the Po River Basin. We obtained a coherent scenario of climate variability for the last ∼ 2 Myr. At Leffe, lacustrine deposition commenced during the Olduvai Normal Subchron (1.94–1.78 Ma) and lasted up to a chronologic level compatible with Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 22 (0.87 Ma). Pollen analysis revealed that climate varied cyclically from warm-temperate to cool during this time interval, but never as cold as during glacial intervals. At around MIS 22, climate cooled globally. Gravels, attributed to high-energy braided river systems fed locally by alluvial fans, prograded from the Serio River catchment area over the Leffe Basin and toward the Po Plain in response to a generalized event of vegetation withdrawal and enhanced physical erosion. At this time, Alpine valley glaciers reached their first maximum southward expansion with glacier fronts located at only ∼ 5 km upstream from Leffe.

Keywords

PleistoceneMagnetostratigraphyVegetation cyclesMammal biostratigraphyIce agesAlpsPo Plain
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 67 , Issue 1 , January 2007 , pp. 161 - 173
Copyright
University of Washington

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