Human-environment interactions in the Porta Lake protected area during the Late Holocene (Versilia Plain, North Tuscany)
Author(s)
Date Issued
2025
Type
conferenceObject
Abstract
The Porta Lake natural reserve, established in 1998, is an area of relevant environmental value along the northern Tuscany coastline. It is considered as a remnant of a formerly larger coastal lake in the Versilia Plain, even if different hypotheses and chronologies have been proposed for its formation and evolution (Federici,1998). The area has been long settled since the Etruscan time and recently recorded the effects of marble extraction from the nearby quarries in the Apuan Alps; however, the role of human pressure on lake environmental dynamics is almost unknown. The Late Holocene scenario has been further complicated by the occurrence of
climate oscillations and changes in sediment supply, including floods by the major rivers.
To improve our knowledge on the Porta Lake paleoenvironmental evolution and related forcing factors a scientific coring campaign has been performed in the middle of the lake using a floating platform and a
Livingston core equipment.
This allowed the undisturbed recovery of ca. 7 m of lacustrine sediments that have been detailed described in terms of lithofacies and analysed by a multiproxy approach, including grain-size, geochemical, meiofauna
and pollens data. Radiocarbon ages indicate a time span covering the last 4 ka BP. An evident environmental change occurred around 1600 CE when an important river diversion occurred according to historical maps and
accounts. After the Second World War the lake sedimentation was affected by local marble-related activities, which, once discontinued, allowed the restoration of organic deposits.
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Abstract Congresso SGI-SIMP 2025-5.pdf
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Checksum (MD5)
4475e0b1ed0ebb9ea43acb448540a62c
Conference(s)
International Conference “Geosciences and the Challenges of the 21st Century”