A NEW RECORD OF MEDITERRANEAN PALAEOENVIRONMENTS DURING THE LAST INTERGLACIAL: PRELIMINARY RESULTS FROM LAGO GRANDE DI MONTICCHIO

Lago Grande di Monticchio, a volcanic crater lake in southern Italy, has already been shown to have a unique palaeoenvironmental record of the last glacial period. New core material recovered in summer 2000, by a team from GFZ-Potsdam, has extended the sediment record to 102m in length (an additional 30m) and penetrated through the last interglacial and into deposits from the penultimate glacial (marine oxygen isotope stage 6).

Here we present a selection of preliminary results of the ongoing analyses of this new material.

The approach used for the upper parts of this record (70m; 100ka) to construct an independent sedimentation rate chronology is being continued through the new material. Microscope examination of thin sections of the entire sequence will identify the varved sections which provide the basis for the many estimations of sedimentation rate which contribute to the final chronology. (AB, JM).

The outline pollen diagram and sedimentological data presented here show that the new profile covers the whole of the last interglacial including the transitions from the preceding and to the following glacial periods. Future work will provide detailed palaeovegetation and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions based on high temporal resolution palynological (at least 200yr). (JRMA, BH). The development and dynamics of the catchment will be deduced from sedimentological data at seasonal (micro-facies) to decadal resolution including geochemical profiling and magnetic susceptibility. (AB, JM, UF).

In the 30m of new material 54 tephra layers have so far been identified. Of particular regional importance is the layer correlated with the Ionian Sea tephra layer X6 (ca. 107ka); this occurs as a prominent layer and is suitable for Ar39/Ar40 dating. Other tephras will be further analysed and regionally correlated wherever possible. (SW).