Late Quaternary foraminiferal, molluscan and ostracod assemblages from a core succession in the Trigno River mouth area (Central Adriatic Sea, Italy)

The results of palaeontological analyses carried out on foraminifers, molluscs and ostracods from a 15 m thick core (MBS3), drilled offshore in the Trigno River mouth area (northern sector of the Molise Adriatic coast), ca. 200 m from the present coastline, are reported. Four main lithostratigraphic units were recognised in the core. At the bottom, 1.8 m thick, barren gravels (unit A), are present. Grey clays (unit B), 1.5 m thick, containing freshwater and terrestrial molluscs, freshwater ostracods and reworked marine foraminifers and ostracods, overlay unit A. Brown silty clays (unit C), 2.7 m thick, containing marine foraminifers and ostracods, rare marine molluscs, and subordinate freshwater ostracods, follow. The core is closed up by brown sands (unit D), 9 m thick, recording the dominance of marine foraminifers, molluscs and ostracods. Chronological constraints for the studied sedimentary succession are based on AMS (Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) radiocarbon dating. The lower gravel unit A of the core MBS3 deposited in an alluvial environment. The sedimentological and palaeontological characters of unit B indicate marshy freshwater environments. Two AMS C dates of this unit gave ages of 19945 ± 345 and 19165 ± 195 yr cal BP, respectively. The sedimentological and palaeontological characters of unit C indicate the development in the Trigno River mouth area of a bay or outer estuarine environment. Finally, as revealed by the deposition of unit D, about 8000-8200 yr BP a shoreface developed in the Trigno mouth area.