Quantitative models of large and widely populated Quaternary foreland basins, which host relevant resources like groundwater, heat, and fertile soils, may be computed if space–time models of the basin fills are available. The paper presents the combination of geometrical (space) and evolutionary (time) constraints to model Quaternary stratigraphy in the southern Po basin in Lombardy, disentangling the tectonic and climatic controls. Five Quaternary high-rank unconformities and seven intermediate-rank unconformities were recognised, down-traced, and correlated from surface to subsurface. Within this framework, the surface facies associations of high-, intermediate-, and low-rank stratigraphic units were compared to the litho-textural associations of their subsurface equivalents obtained from borehole logs and published geophysical images, to draw the best fitting model, which was constrained to the Quaternary geological evolution.

Discrete, long-term thrusting, wrenching, folding, and extensional collapsing stages are inferred to have shaped the Gelasian, intra-Calabrian, Early–Middle Pleistocene, Middle–Late Pleistocene and Latest Pleistocene–Holocene high-rank composite unconformities. These surfaces are cut into synsedimentary, polyphasic, buried anticlines and correspond to conformable boundaries in the adjacent depocentres. The intermediate-rank, low-angle unconformities composing the high-rank ones, bound the stratigraphic units forming the overall regressive fill of the basin. These surfaces might correspond to steady tectonic uplift/subsidence periods when deposition was mostly controlled by Pleistocene climate changes since the Gelasian.

The hierarchic space/time structure, translated into hard geometrical constraints (a fence diagram of cross-sections) and relative chronology of the stratigraphic relationships (intersect/erode, onlap and offset) allows computing the geological quantitative model using a potential field interpolation method. The model building phase and subsequent inspection permit critically analysing the current interpretations on the evolution of the Po basin during the Quaternary compared with other foreland settings. The 4-D model integrates the surface–subsurface geometry with the tectono-sedimentary evolution in a multi-scale structure that may be exported for hydrogeological, geothermal and environmental modelling.

如果盆地填充物的时空模型可用，则可以计算大型且人口广泛的第四纪前陆盆地的定量模型，这些盆地拥有地下水、热量和肥沃的土壤等相关资源。本文介绍了几何（空间）和演化（时间）约束的组合，以模拟伦巴第大区南部波盆地的第四纪地层，解开构造和气候控制。5 个第四纪高级不整合面和 7 个中级不整合面被识别、向下追踪并从地表到地下关联。在这个框架内，将高、中、低等级地层单元的地表相组合与其从钻孔测井和已发表的地球物理图像中获得的地下等价物的岩性结构组合进行了比较，

离散的、长期的冲断、扭曲、折叠和伸展塌陷阶段被推断形成了格拉斯、卡拉布里亚内、早-中更新世、中-晚更新世和最新更新世-全新世高阶复合不整合面。这些表面被切割成同沉积的、多相的、埋藏的背斜，并对应于相邻沉积中心的一致边界。构成高阶不整合面的中阶、低角度不整合面，将形成盆地整体海退充填的地层单元连成一体。这些表面可能对应于稳定的构造抬升/沉降时期，当时沉积主要受自格拉西亚以来更新世气候变化的控制。

分层的空间/时间结构，转化为严格的几何约束（横截面围栏图）和地层关系（交叉/侵蚀、上重叠和偏移）的相对年代学，允许使用势场插值方法计算地质定量模型。模型构建阶段和随后的检查允许批判性地分析与其他前陆环境相比，第四纪 Po 盆地演化的当前解释。4-D 模型将地表-地下几何形状与多尺度结构中的构造沉积演化相结合，可用于水文地质、地热和环境建模。