To better explore the potential of Holocene subaqueous deltas as sedimentary archives, we quantitatively examined the benthic foraminiferal content of the muddy wedges belonging to three major Western Mediterranean deltas: Po Delta (N Adriatic Sea), Arno Delta (Ligurian Sea) and Rhône Delta (Gulf of Lions). The application of multivariate analyses (R-mode cluster, nMDS) on a regional dataset allowed defining six Mediterranean assemblages of taxa whose distribution, through time and space, is guided by the distance from the feeding mouths and by the balance of power between river and sea processes at the sea floor. At each site, the stratigraphic distribution of multivariate faunal data efficiently tracks the main changes in riverine fluxes and hydrodynamic levels, leading to a robust evaluation of (dis-)similarities in delta growth patterns. The dominant role of fluvial processes invariably emerges from the Po record, pointing to a river-dominated regime; whereas the foraminiferal fauna in the Arno and Rhône deltas indicates a wave-dominated regime with an intense redistribution of the river load by wind-driven currents throughout the Holocene. The distribution patterns of benthic foraminiferal assemblages in the multivariate space allow the identification of six biofacies, reflecting specific subaqueous environments that typify the Mediterranean shelves under different delta regimes: i) inner shelf; ii) deep-water mud belt; iii) shallow-water mud belt; iv) distal, river-dominated prodelta; v) distal, wave-dominated prodelta and vi) proximal prodelta. These biofacies can be a useful palaeoenvironmental tool for the interpretation of ancient, shallow-marine muddy successions belonging to the western Mediterranean stratigraphic record. The stratigraphic-based multivariate approach applied in this work can strongly support the analysis of subaqueous delta successions, developed even under different delta regimes and difficult to unravel from sedimentological features alone.

为了更好地探索全新世水下三角洲作为沉积档案的潜力，我们定量检查了属于三个主要西地中海三角洲的泥质楔的底栖有孔虫含量：波三角洲（亚得里亚海北部）、阿诺三角洲（利古里亚海）和罗纳河三角洲（狮子湾）。多变量分析（R 模式集群，nMDS）在区域数据集上的应用允许定义六个地中海分类群组合，其在时间和空间上的分布由与进水口的距离以及河流和河流之间的力量平衡引导。海底的海洋过程。在每个站点，多变量动物群数据的地层分布有效地跟踪了河流通量和水动力水平的主要变化，从而对三角洲生长模式的（不同）相似性进行了强有力的评估。河流过程的主导作用总是出现在 Po 记录中，指向河流主导的制度；而亚诺河和罗纳河三角洲的有孔虫动物群则显示出一个以波浪为主导的制度，在整个全新世的风力驱动下，河流负荷发生了强烈的重新分布。多元空间中底栖有孔虫组合的分布模式可以识别六种生物相，反映不同三角洲地区地中海大陆架典型的特定水下环境：i)内架；ii)深水泥浆带；iii)浅水泥浆带；iv)以河流为主导的远端前三角洲；v)远侧波主导的 prodelta 和vi)近侧 prodelta。这些生物相可以成为一种有用的古环境工具，用于解释属于西地中海地层记录的古代浅海泥质层序。在这项工作中应用的基于地层学的多元方法可以有力地支持水下三角洲序列的分析，即使在不同的三角洲制度下也发展起来，并且很难单独从沉积学特征中解开。