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The loess-paleosol sequence at Monte Netto: a record of climate change in the Upper Pleistocene of the central Po Plain, northern Italy

  • Special Issue: Soil Formation and Weathering in Time and Space
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

At the northern fringe of the Po Plain (northern Italy), several isolated hills exist, corresponding to the top of Late Quaternary anticlines. These hills were thoroughly surveyed for their soils and surficial geology, furnishing detailed archives of the palaeoenvironmental evolution of the area. A new, thick and complex loess-paleosol sequence, resting upon fluvial/fluvioglacial deposits, exposed in a quarry at the top of the Monte Netto hill was studied in detail to elucidate its significance.

Materials and methods

Highly deformed fluvial and fluvioglacial deposits, probably of Middle Pleistocene age, are exposed in a clay pit at Monte Netto, underneath a 2- to 4-m-thick loess-paleosol sequence. A geopedological, sedimentological and micropedological investigation of the sequence shows a distinctive difference between the B horizons forming the sequence, while luminescence and radiocarbon age determinations and the occurrence of Palaeolithic lithic assemblages elucidate the chronology of the sequence.

Results and discussion

The pedosedimentary sequence consists of several loess layers showing different degrees of alteration; loess deposition and weathering occurred, according to optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and AMS-14C dating as well as archaeological materials, during the Upper Pleistocene. The lower part of the section consists of strongly weathered colluvial sediments overlying fluvial and fluvioglacial sediments. A tentative model of the exposed profiles involves the burial of the anticline, which forms the core of the hill, by loess strata since Marine Isotopic Stage (MIS) 4 and their subsequent weathering (and truncation) during subsequent interstadials. The degree of weathering of buried B horizons increases from the top of the sequence toward the bottom, suggesting a progressive decrease in the intensity of pedogenesis. Finally, the highly rubified paleosol at the top of the hill is regarded as a buried polygenetic soil or a vetusol, developed near the surface since the Middle Pleistocene.

Conclusions

The palaeopedological, geochronological and geoarchaeological analyses permit to define the phases and steps of development of the Monte Netto pedosedimentary sequence; the lower part of the sequence is dated to the Mid-Pleistocene, whereas loess accumulation occurred between MIS 4 and MIS 2. Moreover, analyses help to clarify the climatic and environmental context of alternating glacial and interstadial phases, during which the sediments where deposited, deformed and weathered.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the municipality of Capriano del Colle (BS) and the Major for their warm hospitality during field work. The owners of Cave Danesi are also acknowledged for allowing us to work in the quarry. The Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Lombardia is thanked for its support. Mauro Cremaschi is thanked for his continuous support during the investigation at Monte Netto and the preparation of the manuscript. Sergio Andò is acknowledged for assistance in heavy mineral preparation, identification and interpretation. This work has been in part funded by grants from the Operational Programme Cross Border Cooperation IT/CH 2007-2013—project ‘SITINET: census, networking and development of geological and archaeological sites’ ID 7621984. Additional funding for field activities and laboratory analyses was provided by the Università degli Studi di Milano. This manuscript benefitted from fruitful discussions with many researchers during the ‘Soil formation and weathering in time and space’ session at the EGU General Assembly 2013 and the INQUA-AEOMED meeting ‘Reconsidering loess in northern Italy’ (July 2013); a special thanks is extended to R. Amit. E. Modrall is kindly acknowledged for the skilful revision of English language. Comments from two anonymous reviewers and the guest editor F. Scarciglia helped in improving the quality of the final version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra “A. Desio”, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Mangiagalli 34, 20133, Milan, Italy

    Andrea Zerboni, Luca Trombino & Chiara Frigerio

  2. Dipartimento di Scienza e Alta Tecnologia, Università dell’Insubria, Via Valleggio 11, 22100, Como, Italy

    Franz Livio, Andrea Berlusconi & Alessandro M. Michetti

  3. Institut für Geologie, Leopold-Franzens-Universität, Innrain 52, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria

    Helena Rodnight & Christoph Spötl

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  1. Andrea Zerboni
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Correspondence to Andrea Zerboni or Luca Trombino.

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Zerboni, A., Trombino, L., Frigerio, C. et al. The loess-paleosol sequence at Monte Netto: a record of climate change in the Upper Pleistocene of the central Po Plain, northern Italy. J Soils Sediments 15, 1329–1350 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-014-0932-2

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