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Late Quaternary vegetation history at Stracciacappa (Rome, central Italy)

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Abstract

The pollen diagram from Stracciacappa (Sabatini volcanic complex, Rome) provides a record of vegetational and climatic change spanning the last 60000 years, which is the time since when volcanic activity in the crater came to an end. The chronological framework of the sediment core is set by five AMS and three conventional radiocarbon dates; the mean sedimentation rate obtained by radiocarbon measurements was used to extrapolate the age of the record beyond the reach of 14C dating. The sequence from Stracciacappa provides results of fundamental importance for the understanding of the vegetational changes which occurred during the last pleniglacial period in central Italy, and it can be considered as a reference pollen record for the regional biostratigraphic characterization of this period. The site shows a high climatic sensitivity, particularly highlighted by the development of some pleniglacial oscillations with woodland, which interrupted the succession of steppe and grassland vegetational formations typical of the glacial periods. Unfortunately, due to sedimentation problems and alteration of the top level sediments, the Holocene is only recorded in part. Only for one millennium, from ca. 8300 to 7200 uncalb.p., was a real forest expansion characterized by over 90% arboreal pollen found.

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Acknowledgements

I am in debt to M. Follieri for having introduced me to palynology and for her continuous encouragement. Many thanks to D. Magri and L. Sadori for helping in the drilling campaigns and for fruitful and stimulating discussions. I wish also to thank J. M. Roure for his positive comments on an earlier version of this manuscript.

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  1. Dipartimento di Biologia Vegetale, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, P.le A. Moro, 5, 00185, Roma, Italy

    Marco Giardini

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Correspondence to Marco Giardini.

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Giardini, M. Late Quaternary vegetation history at Stracciacappa (Rome, central Italy). Veget Hist Archaeobot 16, 301–316 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-006-0037-y

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