14C dating, geochemical features, faunistic and pollen analyses of the uppermost 10 m core from Valle di Castiglione (Rome, Italy)

A multidisciplinary study of the uppermost 10 m of the Pleistocene drilling of Valle di Castiglione is presented in this paper. The lithostratigraphic sequence can be summarized in five main intervals, from bottom to top: from 10.60 to 7.80 m brownish black slightly calcareous muds, containing volcanic material; from 7.80 to 5.30 m massive brownish black tuffites, with some burrow casts in the upper part; from 5.30 to 3.03 m grey calcareous muds with fresh-water fauna, with a thin layer of tuffite between 4.15 to 4.00 m; from 3.03 m to the ground level peaty muds with molluscs and then interbeddings of peat and muds. The whole sequence is probably continuous and deposited in low-energy shallow water environment. The uppermost 15.60 m of the sedimentary suite yielded ages spanning from about 3500 to nearly 42 000 yr before present (BP). Pollen analysis has provided two pollen diagrams (percentage and absolute) showing the history of vegetation from the full glacial to almost all the Holocene.