Papers by Francesca Montis
Marine Geology, 2018
A multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental investigation was conducted to reconstruct the Holocene history... more A multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental investigation was conducted to reconstruct the Holocene history of coastal landscape change in the lower Posada coastal plain of eastern Sardinia. In the Mediterranean region, coastal modifications during the Holocene have been driven by a complex interplay between climate, geomorphological processes and human activity. In this paper, millennial-scale human-sea level-environment interactions are investigated near Posada, one of the largest coastal plains in eastern Sardinia. Biostratigraphic and palynological approaches were used to interpret the chrono-stratigraphy exhibited by a series of new cores taken from the coastal plain. This new study elucidates the main paleoecological changes, phases of shoreline migration and relative sea-level change during the last 8000 years. These results indicate the major role of sealevel stabilization and high sediment supply in driving major landscape changes, especially during the Neolithic period (6 th-4 th millennia BC), and the long-term settlement history of this coastal valley area. It is concluded that human occupation of the coastal plain, from prehistoric to historical times, was most likely constrained by the rapid and constant evolution of this coastal landscape.
Global and Planetary Change, 2017
Multiproxy analysis composed of biostratigraphy and pollen analysis allowed reconstructing the pa... more Multiproxy analysis composed of biostratigraphy and pollen analysis allowed reconstructing the palaeoecological and palaeoenvironmental evolution of the Tirso river coastal plain in Sardinia (NW Mediterranean) in the last 6 millennia. We demonstrated that interplay between littoral and fluvial processes have significantly controlled the environmental evolution of the area and have played a key role in the pattern of historical and prehistorical settlements of this wide portion of western Sardinian coastline. At the end of Neolithic period (ca. 6.0 to 5.5 cal. ka BP) the area close to the shoreline was most likely characterized by large coastal lagoons intermittently connected to the open sea. Such saltwater influence is corroborated by faunal and pollen assemblages found in the landward portion of the Tirso coastal plain up to 2 km inland from the modern shoreline. Our data robustly document the end of the transgressive trend at ca. 5.5 cal. ka BP, and a dominant fluvial sedimentation since Final Neolithic period. At this time, a progradational trend started, causing the seaward migration of shoreline and, consequently, of the barrier-lagoon system. The major landscape modification tracked along the last 6 millennia may also explain the low density of historical and prehistorical remains in the Tirso coastal plain, especially if compared to the nearby rocky area of Sinis Peninsula densely inhabited since the Neolithic. Our data further provide new insights into the Relative Sea Level (RSL) evolution in this sector of the Mediterranean. In particular, we improved the mid-Holocene RSL record in Sardinia, where only scarce data were previously available.
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Papers by Francesca Montis