Radiocarbon Data on Lateglacial and Holocene Landslides in the Northern Apennines

The Emilia Romagna slope of the Northern Apennines is strewnwith over 32,000 landslides, 5,000 of which are larger than 1 million cubic metres. They representthe remains of geomorphic agents that shaped the Apennines during the Holocene. Dating themby means of radiocarbon methods adds a contribution to the knowledge about the last periodof the geological geomorphological history of the Apennines. They can also be used to examinethe influence of Quaternary climatic changes on the instability of slopes and, for practicalor planning functions, to assess the periodicity of activity phases of the landslides. Thedating has been carried out on wood remnants buried under the landslide bodies. In some cases theentire tree trunk was found. In this paper we present radiocarbon dating of 20 casestudies in the Northern Apennines. Results range approximately from 13790–13670 cal y BP to950–790 cal`y BP. The oldest case is that of the Morsiano earth-flow, while the younger datedevent is represented by the Marano case that represents an example of how radiometric analysescan further enhance the available historical data. In the Cavola case, wood remnants of different ageswere found at different depths (from 9 to 45 m), allowing the dating of the first and followingperiods of activity of the landslide. The results are discussed and some considerations on the correlationbetween landslide occurrence and Holocene climate changes are proposed. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 2004