Surface and subsurface of the Metaponto Coastal Plain (Gulf of Taranto—southern Italy): Present-day- vs LGM-landscape

The Metaponto Coastal Plain (MCP), in southern Italy, stretches 60km-long and 5km-wide along the Gulf of Taranto in the Ionian Sea, and is presently subject to strong anthropogenic pressure. A multidisciplinary study reviewed the geomorphology, lithostratigraphy and sedimentology of the MCP and its...

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Published in:Geomorphology (Amsterdam, Netherlands) Netherlands), 2013-12, Vol.203, p.115-131
Main Authors: Tropeano, Marcello, Cilumbriello, Antonietta, Sabato, Luisa, Gallicchio, Salvatore, Grippa, Antonio, Longhitano, Sergio Giuseppe, Bianca, Marcello, Gallipoli, Maria Rosaria, Mucciarelli, Marco, Spilotro, Giuseppe
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
basins
Coastal
Coastal plains
Geomorphology
Gulf of Taranto
Gulfs
Incised valleys
Landscapes
Last Glacial Maximum landscape
Management information systems
Metaponto Coastal Plain
MIS 3
radiocarbon dating
Scenery
sea level
valleys
Wedges
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Summary:The Metaponto Coastal Plain (MCP), in southern Italy, stretches 60km-long and 5km-wide along the Gulf of Taranto in the Ionian Sea, and is presently subject to strong anthropogenic pressure. A multidisciplinary study reviewed the geomorphology, lithostratigraphy and sedimentology of the MCP and its subsurface. Incorporating both borehole and radiocarbon-dating information in the review, this paper focuses on comparisons and differences between present-day and buried Late Pleistocene landscapes (LGM and MIS 3). The modern coastal plain is the top of a late Holocene coastal wedge prograding on a very narrow-shelf, that is connected to a deep basin (the Ionian Sea) by a steep slope. This scenery likely resembles those produced during earlier late Quaternary relative highstands and is in marked contrast with that produced during the last sea-level fall and lowstand, and buried in the MCP subsurface. The last scenery corresponds to the LGM landscape, where river-valleys deeply dissected a previous highstand coastal wedge (MIS 3) whose remnants represented interfluve areas. Thanks to resonance properties of the subsurface, this buried landscape was obtained in a 3D visualization, highlighting location and shape of incised valleys and interfluve areas during the LGM. •Buried stratigraphy of a coastal plain•Reconstruction of LGM landscape linking stratigraphical with geophysical methods•Buried MIS 3 coastal wedge and LGM incised valleys
ISSN:0169-555X
1872-695X
DOI:10.1016/j.geomorph.2013.07.017