Università Roma Tre

Historical definition of Quaternary: paleontological and climatic criteria. Causes of the Quaternary climatic changes. Gelasian and Pleistocene glaciations. Historical palaeoclimatology during Holocene. Historic excursus on the Plio-Quaternary chronostratigraphy. The Plio-Quaternary boundary. Ages and Stages of the marine Quaternary. GSSP and the most relevant Quaternary marine Italian successions. The Holocene and the ice cores. The Anthropocene. The Plio-Pleistocene successions in the Rome surroundings. Quaternary isotopic stratigraphy. Sea-level oscillations during Quaternary: the eustatic curves. Quaternary magnetostratigraphy. Quaternary dating methods. Plio-Quaternary marine biostratigraphy: planktonic and benthonic foraminifers, calcareous nannofossils, marine molluscs and ostracods (concept of “northern” and “senegalese” guests). Historical chronology of Plio-Quaternary glaciations. Illustration of the most relevant glacial deposits on Alps and Apennines.
History of the continental Plio-Quaternary stratigraphy. Plio-Quaternary biochronology based on large and small mammals, freshwater molluscs and non-marine ostracods. Pollen stratigraphy and climatic stratigraphy. Examples of relevant continental quaternary records in central Italy: the Plio-Quaternary deposits of the Roman Campaign; the intermontane basins in central italy (Vldarno, Tiberino and l’Aquila basins).

Pdf and copies of recent specialistic scientific publications given by the teacher

Anderson, D.E., Goudie, A.S. & Parker, A.G., 2007. Global environments through the Quaternary. Oxford University Press, pp. 392.
Williams, M., Dunkerly, D., De deckker, P., Kershaw, P. & Chappell, J., 1998. Quaternary environments. Arnold eds.
Andersen B. G. & Borns, H. W. jr, 1994The Ice Age world. Scandinavian University Press.
Malatesta A., 1985. Paleobiologia dell’era glaciale. NIS, Roma.