Techniques and case studies
The school will be organised into theoretical lessons, practical exercises and seminars held by Italian scientists. The expertizes will cover various fields of the broad spectrum of the geology, stratigraphy and paleoclimatology of continental Quaternary. In fact, since a long time the Apennine quaternary basins have been recognized as fundamental archives for the study of Quaternary tectonics. Recent high resolution stratigraphic and temporal surveys have further emphasized the importance of these sequences in the study of the evolution of the local paleo-environmental systems but also in the history of climate on the regional and extra-regional scale during the Quaternary.
In addition to providing basic notions about different methods and topics of investigation (eg. Quaternary tectonics, tephrostratigraphy, geochronology, isotopic stratigraphy, paleoecology, palynology, palaeontology, magneto stratigraphy), the lessons will cover study cases of sedimentary succession that will be further illustrated and examined during the field trips.
These will take place in the basin of Sulmona, which offers many examples of well-studied and accessible stratigraphic sections that cover different time intervals during the Pleistocene.
Reconstruction of environmental parameters
palynology, ostracodology, paleontology, stable isotopes....
Climate and landscape history
(case studies: palynology, isotope and geochemical paleoclimatology, palaeoenvironmental reconstructions….)
Lectures and field trips
Main themes of the field trips
1. The silent fault of Mount Morrone and its historical and prehistoric seismicity
2. The MIS 19 of Sulmona
2.1. Geochemistry and isotopic record of the analogue Holocene climatic record
2.2. Geomagnetic inversion Matuyama-Brunhes
3. Middle Pleistocene successions (MIS 15-MIS 10) and associated paleo-environmental changes at the mid-Brunhes event
4. The MIS5 of Sulmona
4.1.1. Hydrological variability and seasonality of precipitation on a millennium scale in the Central Apennine during the last interglacial / glacial cycle
4.1.2. The identification of sediment bearing ostracods and paleoclimatic reconstruction
Presentation of the participants own research