Multiproxy study of borehole data from the Ionian coastal belt: new suggestion on the Late Quaternary coastal evolution of the Basilicata segment

In this work we have adopted a multidisciplinary approach to define the Quaternary stratigraphic pattern of the segment of the Ionian alluvial-coastal plain located in Basilicata (southern Italy). This can be useful for a comparison with sequences of morpho-evolutionary stages of other coastal plains of the Italian peninsula in the same geodynamic context. Several analyses have been performed on samples from two cores drilled in the northern portion of the Metaponto Plain. Such data were used to calibrate other core logs collected by public institutions and in previous papers.

 The drilling survey and the location of the boreholes were planned based on the geomorphic study of the coastal strip in the part of the present plain. The geomorphological setting and the sedimentological features of the Metaponto Plain were previously investigated by other authors, but some issues about its Late Quaternary evolution are still open. Our efforts aim to reconstruct in detail the environmental conditions of the study area, with particular emphasis on morphotectonics and sea-level changes that influenced the evolution of the plain during the upper part of the Pleistocene and the Holocene. All these data revealed strong variations inside the plain depositional setting, as inferred by the presence of marine, transitional, and continental deposits, and suggest an anomalous position of sea-level reference points.