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The Eolianities and the Related Paleosols of the Elba Island (Tyrrenian Sea - Central Italy). The Upper Pleistocene-Holocene Environmental Changes in the Mediterranean Area, as Recorded by Paleosols.
Mauro CREMASCNI, C.N.R. - Centro do Studio della Geodinamica Alpina Quaternaria, via Mangiagalli 34, I-20133 Milano, Italy.
On the western coast of the Elba Island, eolian carbonatic sands (eolianites) occur which were deposited, by the western winds, during the cold period of the Upper Pleistocene. The environmental factors conducive to their deposition were the low sea stand during the last glacial period, and the dry climate typical of the italian peninsula during this time. Both conditions led to an intense deflation of the continental platform surrounding the island.
Rubbified complex alfisols are intercalated into the eolianities. They are radiocarbon dated to about 40 ka BP and include mousterian artefacts within their profiles. They are indicative for wet and warm climate conditions and are geomorphologically related to an ephemeral sea level rising, during the isotopic stage 3.
Degradation features at the top of the paleosols are recorded both by coarse illuviation, and by colluvial input. The paleosols were then buried be the eolianite, which deposition was induced by the glacial conditions of the isotopic stage 2.
One more set of rubified complex alfisols developed at the top of the eolianities as the effect of the postglacial mediterranean climate. Detailed micromorphological analyses, archaeological artefacts and radiocarbon datings on charcoal collected into the profiles indicate that these soils suffered degradation processes due to the wood exploitation for iron ore smelting, since the first millennium BC
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