Vegetational and environmental changes in the eastern Venetian coastal plain (Northern Italy) over the past 80,000 years

New biostratigraphic and chronological data from three 50-m-long cores from the eastern end of the Lagoon of Venice, for the first time, extend knowledge on the Upper Pleistocene and Holocene to this sector of the Venetian plain. At a depth of 50 m, sediments were deposited during a forested phase attributed to Saint-Germain II. This phase is characterized by non-negligible amounts of Carya and Pterocarya. The overlying deposits show evident cyclicity of vegetation, with Pinus formations and a few pioneer elements alternating with Pinus formations with significant numbers of temperate taxa. All phases of climatic warming known for Europe, with the exception of the Hengelo interstade, appear to be present. These are the Oerel, Glinde and Moershoofd interstades (between 60,000 and 40,000 years BP), the Denekamp interstade (between 34,000 and 28,000 years BP) and the Tursac and Laugerie oscillations (around 22,200 and 19,200 years BP, respectively). The oldest Holocene transgressive deposits have been dated to 6840 years BP, and foraminiferal associations reveal transgressive facies of littoral and back-barrier environments, interdigited with paralic sediments deposited in environments of medium to high residence, in which fluvial sediments have been found. During the sea-level high-stand, coastal progradation was active; at the same time, littoral and back-barrier facies began to migrate south-east, leading to enlargement of the lagoon. During the phase of sea-level low-stand, between the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the transgressive phase, the sedimentation rate averaged 0.93 mm/year; in the transgressive phase (between 6840 ± 40 years BP and 5060 ± 40 years BP), it averaged 2.7 mm/year, and during progradation (the last 5000 years) it was 1.4 mm/year.