Late Quaternary Environmental Evolution of the Intermontane Valle Caudina Basin, Southern Italy
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Late Quaternary environmental evolution of the intermontane Valle Caudina basin, southern Italy Micla Pennetta, Filippo Russo & Carlo Donadio Rendiconti Lincei SCIENZE FISICHE E NATURALI ISSN 2037-4631 Volume 25 Supplement 2 Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei (2014) 25:231-240 DOI 10.1007/s12210-014-0334-9 1 23 Your article is protected by copyright and all rights are held exclusively by Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. This e-offprint is for personal use only and shall not be self- archived in electronic repositories. If you wish to self-archive your article, please use the accepted manuscript version for posting on your own website. You may further deposit the accepted manuscript version in any repository, provided it is only made publicly available 12 months after official publication or later and provided acknowledgement is given to the original source of publication and a link is inserted to the published article on Springer's website. The link must be accompanied by the following text: "The final publication is available at link.springer.com”. 1 23 Author's personal copy Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei (2014) 25 (Suppl 2):S231–S240 DOI 10.1007/s12210-014-0334-9 INTERMONTANE BASINS IN CENTRAL-SOUTHERN ITALY Late Quaternary environmental evolution of the intermontane Valle Caudina basin, southern Italy Micla Pennetta • Filippo Russo • Carlo Donadio Received: 20 December 2013 / Accepted: 5 September 2014 / Published online: 25 September 2014 Ó Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei 2014 Abstract The Valle Caudina intermontane basin in the suffered a substantial downsizing or has disappeared southern Apennines (Italy) lies between the Mt. Taburno on between 5 kyr BP and the Roman Age. A clayey deposit the North and the Avella–Partenio mountains on the South. testifies a first lacustrine phase, which has affected the whole An analysis of its present-day landscape, and of its strati- plain. Above this unit, heterogeneous deposits indicate the graphic and geoarcheological features, has been carried out end of the lacustrine phase and the beginning of a clear fluvial to reconstruct the Late Quaternary evolution of the basin, sedimentation. Volcaniclastic deposits from the erosion of filled by alluvial, colluvial and volcaniclastic deposits. The the Campanian Ignimbrite follow. They are overlapped by a depositional pattern and geomorphological context allow to widespread second lacustrine unit. Finally, a reworked and recognize lacustrine and fluvial–lacustrine sediments, int- altered volcaniclastic level closes the stratigraphic sequence, erbedded with ignimbritic layers originating from the while particularly fertile topsoil covered all the plain. Phlegrean Fields and with a Vesuvius pumice level, that represent significant chronological markers. The two lacus- Keywords Geomorphology Á Intermontane basins Á trine episodes are connected with volcanic events radio- Quaternary Á Southern Apennines Á Italy metrically dated (De Vivo et al. in Mt. Somma Vesuvius and Volcanism of the Campania Plain. Spec Issue, Mineral Pet- rol. Springer, Berlin, vol 73, pp 47–65, 2001). The older 1 Introduction predates the Campanian Ignimbrite deposit (*39 kyr BP), while the younger deposited before 5 kyr BP, as indicated by The intermontane basins are significative elements to the recovery of Neolithic artifacts. The presence of Roman understand the late geological and morphological phases of ruins in the center of the valley suggests that the lake has mountain chains evolution (Pizzi et al. 2002; Rodrı´guez- Ferna´ndez and Sanz de Galdeano 2006; Pedrera et al. 2010). In the Apennines, these structures are expression of inherited This peer-reviewed article is part of a coordinated collection of scientific researches on the comparative evolution of intermontane landscapes mainly modeled under the Quaternary tectonic– basins of the central-southern Apennines. climatic conditions (Porreca and Mattei 2010; Zembo et al. 2012). The Valle Caudina basin discussed in the present M. Pennetta Á C. Donadio (&) paper (Fig. 1a) is located in a sector of the southern Apen- Department of Earth Sciences, Environment and Resources, nines where the deformation is strictly linked to the forma- University of Naples Federico II, Largo San Marcellino 10, 80123 Naples, Italy tion of the main thrust system referred to the Miocene e-mail: [email protected] compressional tectonic events (Burdigalian–Messinian). M. Pennetta Since the Late Pliocene, different extensional tectonic pha- e-mail: [email protected] ses have led to the partial collapse of the chain with formation of structurally depressed areas bounded by normal fault F. Russo systems. Early Pleistocene block-faulting evidences are well Department of Science and Technology, University of Sannio, 59/A Via dei Mulini, 82100 Benevento, Italy documented along the marginal slopes of these depressions. e-mail: fi[email protected] Generally, the subsequent erosion phases related to the uplift 123 Author's personal copy S232 Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei (2014) 25 (Suppl 2):S231–S240 Fig. 1 Geological sketch of the Valle Caudina intermontane basin sandstone, silty sandstone and marl (Miocene); 11 polygenic breccias (after Abate et al. 1998): 1 fluvial–lacustrine sediments (Holocene); 2 (intercalated between Miocene and Cretaceous); 12 whitish dolomitic landslide deposits (Holocene); 3 clays and sandy clays (Pliocene); 4 limestone and well-cemented clastic limestones (Cenomanian–Ap- ignimbritic deposits (Late Pleistocene); 5 Phlegrean cinerites (Late tian); 13 clastic limestones (Neocomian–Lias); 14 well-cemented Pleistocene–Early Holocene); 6 incoherent debris deposits with clastic limestones (Lias); 15 fault: a exposed, b buried or presumed; (a) rare olistoliths (Pleistocene); 7 alluvial sediments and alluvial 16 limit of geological units; 17 altitudine (m a.s.l.), 18 drilling; 19 fans (Pleistocene); 8 slope breccia (Pliocene); 9 sands and yellowish trace of geological section sandstones (Pliocene); 10 terrigenous deposits in flysch facies: of the Apennine chain have produced the dismantling of the (Fig. 1b), bounded by NW–SE normal faults, developed region with accumulation of thick alluvial fan deposits. This during the Apennine extensional tectonic phases (D’Ar- extensional tectonics during the Middle Pleistocene led to genio 1967; Vezzani et al. 2010). This intermontane basin the formation of large half-grabens (Brancaccio and Cinque (Fig. 1) lies between the Mesozoic carbonate massifs of 1988), in which fluvial and lacustrine basins formed. Among Taburno to the North (Fig. 2) and Avella–Partenio to the these, there are the Caudina valley here discussed and the South. The carbonate relief of Mt. Taburno (D’Argenio adjacent Calore of Volturno River and Telese valleys, far 1967; Vallario 1973; Comentale 2010) consists of marine tens of kilometers to the Northwest of the studied area Triassic dolomite, Jurassic dolomitic limestone and Late (Magliulo 2005; Magliulo and Russo 2005; Magliulo et al. Cretaceous limestone. The sequence continues with trans- 2007). Other authors have attributed the origin of the above gressive Paleocene–Eocene limestones and marls, and intermontane basins to dextral transcurrent movements Early Miocene calcarenite beds. Also the carbonate reliefs along the NE–SW lineament of Valle Caudina–Benevento– of Mts. Avella–Partenio consist of Jurassic and Cretaceous Buonalbergo, and along the E–W faults of Faicchio–Cerreto limestone (D’Argenio et al. 1973; Bravi et al. 2006), par- Sannita–Pontelandolfo–Montefalcone and Solopaca–Paup- tially covered by Tertiary terrigenous units. On both the isi (Ortolani et al. 1992). The Quaternary periglacial events massifs, Quaternary pyroclastic deposits locally outcrop in the southern Apennines have controlled the modeling of covering the bedrock units. The Avella–Partenio mountain the hillslopes, producing large volumes of debris which ridge, 20 km long and N120° striking, is bordered by a accumulated at the foothills of the mountains and in the thrust to the North and largely affected by high-angle tectonic depressions (Brancaccio et al. 1979). faults. In the eastern sector, a siliciclastic flysch outcrops, including large olistoliths emplaced during the Early Miocene orogenic phases. The continental basin fill con- 2 Geological outline sists of epiclastic Quaternary deposits, slope debris, allu- vial, lake and fluvial–lacustrine deposits. The Valle Caudina is a subtrapezoidal tectonic plain of The analysis of the subsurface stratigraphy from bore- about 40 km2 at an average elevation of 260 m a.s.l. holes and the detailed field surveys have allowed to 123 Author's personal copy Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei (2014) 25 (Suppl 2):S231–S240 S233 Fig. 2 Main aspects of the discussed area in a NW–SE view (from the top of Mt. Taburno relief; 3 along-the-slope dissected rectilinear Montesarchio castle): 1 Valle Caudina depression: moderately and subparallel channels; 4 alluvial fans and ancient breccias, anthropized, it extends between the northern foot of Mts. Avella– cemented, fractured and karstified; 5 concave profile of the lower Partenio and the southern foot of Mt. Taburno, both Mesozoic slope probably representing the ancient base level of the depression, carbonate massifs; 2 a relic strip of leveled paleosurface preserved on dislocated during the Early-Middle Pleistocene Fig. 3 Late Pleistocene breccias (B), with reverse grading of the debris flow–talus scree (in the box: grain-size coarsening upwards), mixed with pyroclastics and pyroclastic colluvium. This unit forms the basal detrital cover of the most recent