Palaeoenvironmental, palaeoclimatic and chronological interpretations of a late Quaternary sediment core from Piana di Rieti (central Apennines, Italy)

The results of a multidisciplinary study on the late-Quaternary deposits filling the Piani di Rieti are presented and discussed. Lithostratigraphic and geochronological investigations, and pollen, fauna and diatom analyses show the occurrence of lacustrine and fluvio-lacustrine sedimentation phases alternating with erosional ones. Comparison with other sequences from the same area indicates that the sedimentary processes observed at Lago Lungo were determined by growth and demolition of the Le Marmore travertine barrier, in relation with the climatic events of the upper Pleistocene and Holocene. In the Rieti basin, lacustrine and fluvio-lacustrine sediments, connected to the depositional phases of the barrier, have been deposited during the Eemian interglacial, the St German interstadials and the Holocene.