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New dates of a Northern Italian loess deposit (Monte Orfano, Southern pre-Alps, Brescia)

  • Soils, Sec 1 • Soil Organic Matter Dynamics and Nutrient Cycling • Short Original Communication
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Abstract

Purpose

Loess in Northern Italy has been usually considered deposited during the MIS 4-2 period, which corresponds to the last Pleistocene glacial cycle. In particular, no absolute dating evidenced loess depositions older than ca. 89 ka. We investigated two strongly rubified soil profiles in the southern margin of the Alpine range in Lombardy to prove their aeolian origin and age of formation.

Methods

We analysed the granulometry of all genetic horizons of these strongly rubified soils, and a total of 8 samples were collected for luminescence dating purpose.

Results

Most of the analysed soil horizons were dominated by silt and were characterized by the s-shaped granulometric curve, typical of loess materials. A particularly high clay content evidenced a strong weathering degree. A deep horizon was particularly clay rich, and it was interpreted as a typical Terra-Rossa horizon. Luminescence dates increased with depth, reaching 122 ka for the deepest loess layer and 453 ka (minimum age) for the Terra-Rossa horizon.

Conclusions

The deepest observed loess layer represents the oldest quantitatively dated aeolian deposition in Northern Italy up to now.

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Data availability

Available in the manuscript.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Municipalities of Cologne and Rovato (Brescia, Italy) for their logistical cooperation on this research, Claudio Zucca and Marco Ruffini for their contributions to the field surveys, Fabio Moia for laboratory supports and Valter Maggi and Roberta Pini for their useful scientific suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. DISAFA, University of Torino, Torino, Italy

    Michele E. D’Amico

  2. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Milano – Bicocca, Milan, Italy

    Enrico Casati, Davide Abu El Khair & Franco Previtali

  3. Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche e Geologiche, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy

    Stefano Andreucci

  4. Dipartimento di Scienza dei Materiali, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy

    Marco Martini & Laura Panzeri

  5. Dipartimento di Architettura, Design e Urbanistica, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy

    Daniele Sechi

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  1. Michele E. D’Amico
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  2. Enrico Casati
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  3. Stefano Andreucci
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  4. Marco Martini
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D’Amico, M.E., Casati, E., Andreucci, S. et al. New dates of a Northern Italian loess deposit (Monte Orfano, Southern pre-Alps, Brescia). J Soils Sediments 21, 832–841 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-020-02860-4

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