Late Pleistocene records of littoral processes at the Tyrrhenian Coast (Central Italy): depositional environments and luminescence chronology

Two cliff-sites on the Tyrrhenian coast of central Italy have been investigated in order to investigate late Pleistocene depositional environments by microfacies analysis and chronostratigraphy by luminescence age estimations. Both sections cover the period from the Last Interglacial to the end of the Last Glaciation. In the Buca dei Corvi site an increasing rate of uplift is recognised, which is responsible for significant environmental change and formation of the modern coastal fault scarp at around 9 ka. In the Golfo di Baratti site the vertical succession of three marine horizons, previously recognised by Cortemiglia et al., (1983), is attributed to the OIS stages ?5c, 5a and 3 respectively. This cliff-section is affected by NNE–SSW orientated normal faults, confirming that extentional structural processes are still active. The coastal deposit of Stage 3, today located at 7 m a.s.l., suggests abnormal high uplift rate if the position of the palaeo-shoreline was assumed at ?40 to ?50 m. Both central Mediterranean coastal records strongly suggest that the eustatic sea-level has dropped to a smaller amount than that of the open oceans.