deep structure of an arc continent collision earthquake relocation and inversion for upper mantle p and s wave velocities beneath papua new guinea we examine mechanisms of lithospheric growth and modes accommodating subcrustal convergence following the cessation of subduction by analyzing the seismicity and upper mantle velocities in the new guinea arc continent collision earthquakes in the papua new guinea png region from 1967 to 1984 have been relocated in a joint inversion with seismic velocities using p and s wave arrival times recorded by seismographs in png a total of 957 well recorded earthquakes were chosen for use in three dimensional velocity inversions from an initial catalog of 12 960 events based on the stability of initial hypocenter relocations constant velocity blocks were defined as irregular polyhedra to give fine detail in heavily sampled areas without introducing a large number of poorly controlled parameters and to exploit a priori knowledge of the geometry of velocity anomalies spherical geometry was used to accurately calculate long ray paths up to 1500 km in length most of the 700 best located hypocenters from the png data set are in the upper mantle beneath the finisterre huon fh ranges the newly accreted island arc terrane beneath the papuan peninsula and in the new britain seismic zone an oceanic subduction system these hypocenters show a well defined seismic zone dipping vertically or steeply to the north beneath the northern fh ranges from 125 to 250 km depth continuous along strike with the new britain seismic zone to the east which shows earthquakes to 600 km depth the steeply dipping intermediate depth seismicity flattens near 100 km depth beneath the fh ranges and forms a subhorizontal seismic zone beneath the fh ranges by contrast seismicity continues upward to the surface beneath new britain where the arc has not yet collided with new guinea the 100 km deep flat zone does not continue south of the fh ranges but appears to be truncated below the eastern and southern boundaries of the island arc terrane and no clear evidence for a south dipping seismic zone could be found the relationship of the flat part of the slab 100 km beneath the fh ranges and surface faulting is difficult to discern the apparent surface suture bounding the south side of the fh ranges is 100 km directly above the southern termination of intermediate depth seismicity nowhere in png could clear evidence for arc polarity reversal be found from seismicity all of the well located subcrustal earthquakes beneath the papuan peninsula lie in a narrow horizontal line between 125 and 175 km depth that follows the center of the peninsula and are distinctly separated from the fh seismic zone to the north these events do not require a southward subducting plate beneath the papuan peninsula an alternate and reasonable explanation for these events is that they are a result of unstable thickening of the lithosphere information on lateral heterogeneity in the mantle is limited because large variations in crustal velocities dominate the observed pattern of travel time residuals allowing for only crustal heterogeneity reduces travel time residual variances by 40 from a simple one dimensional structure while allowing for additional mantle heterogeneity results in 10 further reduction for the various parameterization s attempted here inversions with several different block geometries show low velocities at 35 to 171 km km depth beneath the bismarck sea back arc basin and high velocities just south of the intermediate depth fh seismic zone the pattern of lateral heterogeneity supports the inference from seismicity of north dipping slabs beneath both northeast new guinea and new britain

the role of time versus climate in the formation of deep soils of the apennine fringe of the po valley italy abstract two very deep red soils on a loess mantled fluvial terrace of the trebbia river in northern italy were sampled and analyzed to determine their history and pedologic significance magnetostratigraphy confirms that the upper part of the terrace gravel and all of the 4 m thick loess cover is normally magnetized and therefore less than about 780 000 yr artifacts collected from the oldest loess suggest an age of about 400 000 yr for the inception of loess deposition in this area the soil horizons in loess dominantly have argillic or albic character with redoximorphic features that include mottles glossic tongues and zones of ferromanganese concretions soil colors become progressively redder with depth in the loess cover and are most red a 2 5 yr color hue in the top of the terrace gravel the upper horizons in gravel have abundant ghosts of completely weathered marl and sandstone rubification and weathering of stones diminishes with depth to fresh slightly carbonate enriched parent material at 12 m the heavy mineral composition of the sand fraction suggests minor discontinuities in loess derived horizons abundance of opaque heavy minerals and picotite which are resistant to weathering increases from the soil surface to the base of the loess is highest in the upper part of the terrace gravel and decreases from there to the c horizon in gravel depth functions of major elements to si in the medium silt fraction 10 30 m indicate a downward increase in degree of decalcification and of dissolution of primary minerals micromorphology adds detail to the interpretation of these complex soils yellow complex ferriargillans are present in almost all horizons they are rare at the top of the sequence in loess and become progressively more abundant with depth reaching a maximum in the upper 3 m of the gravel and then decreasing with further depth to 12 m we interpret this peak in abundance of yellow cutans to result from long continued clay illuviation to this depth from a succession of eluvial zones in the aggrading loessial sequence above distinctive red hematite rich argillans are abundant only in the upper horizons in the gravel the red argillans relate to initial development of the soil in gravel because they are included as pedorelicts in the deepest loess layer where they are embedded in the yellow argillans stratigraphic and pedologic evidence indicates that these soils began forming in terrace gravel for perhaps 300 000 yr during the early middle pleistocene from this relict core these soils continued developing both downward by continuing deep decalcification and argilluviation and upward as a sequence of wet alfisols developed in a succession of loess layers that began aggrading about 400 000 yr ago a paleoclimatic record can be perceived weakly in these soils mainly by thick horizons of fe mn nodules that mark boundaries between episodes of loess deposition that took place during glacial cold phases paleofeatures from one unit to another are similar in kind and intensity indicating a degree of continuity of a basic set of pedogenic processes principally declcification argilluviation and redoximorphism these soils can be regarded as vetusols because a single dominant set of pedogenic features are represented in all parts of these soils and deeper parts of these aggrading super profiles have never been isolated from continuing pedogenic change to the present

palaeopedology and magnetic susceptibility of a loess palaeosol sequence in southwest germany abstract a loess palaeosol sequence that formed during the last and the penultimate glacial interglacial cycle was studied by pedological geochemical and rock magnetic methods particular emphasis was placed on magnetic susceptibility in order to derive a climatic signal problems of separating the influence of palaeo relief hydrological influence and climate complicate the interpretation but the results show that minimal levels of soil formation cause a distinct enhancement of the magnetic properties higher magnetic susceptibility signals characterise the more oxidized parts of the palaeosols alternatively hydromorphic processes operating on the ferrimagnetic minerals cause a decrease in magnetic susceptibility reflecting both past climate and changes in the palaeoenvironment extremely low susceptibility values characterise the reduced greyish zones of the interglacial bt horizons additional complications are introduced because magnetic susceptibility may change along the horizons of one soil profile eluvial horizons tend to have lower concentrations of ferrimagnetic minerals than the loess parent material whereas the corresponding illuvial horizons show an increase it is considered that palaeoclimatic interpretation based solely on magnetic susceptibility must be treated with great caution

polycyclic luvisols in northern italy palaeopedological and clay mineralogical characteristics abstract two long pleistocene palaeosol sequences in the southwestern fringe of the lago maggiore region northern italy were studied by a wide range of pedological methods particular emphasis was placed on clay mineralogy in order to distinguish the weathering intensity of different palaeosols the clay mineralogical analyses showed a gradual transformation from the top to the central part of the studied sequences whereas the uppermost horizons include chlorite as a sign of weak alteration processes the underlying palaeosols are dominated by vermiculites and mixed layers the lowermost parts of the palaeosol sequences show different conditions as they contain neoformed kaolinite paleosols and pedocomplexes were correlated by mean of their pedologicial characteristics six main pedogenetic units have been identified in both sequences representing different stages of soil formation paleopedological and clay mineralogical results indicate at least four interglacial phases two of them showing warmer and more humid conditions than today and two of them showing climatic conditions comparable with the present day climate

first evidence for late pleistocene to holocene earthquake surface faulting in the eastern monferrato arc northern italy geology pedostratigraphy and structural study of the pecetto di valenza site abstract the w po plain northern italy is commonly regarded as a region characterized by a low seismicity hazard due to the lack of historical and instrumental record of strong earthquakes nevertheless recent studies performed in the monferrato hills provide evidence of active faulting and possible paleoseismicity occurred in middle pleistocene to holocene times therefore for verifying the seismic potential of this area we firstly revised the available geological and geophysical information we selected the area between valenza and alessandria eastern monferrato arc which show the best structural geomorphic and stratigraphic setting for documenting recent tectonic deformation and faulting therein we identified for the first time evidence for earthquake surface displacement in a late quaternary pedosedimentary sequence exposed at pecetto di valenza the outcropping section has been logged and investigated according to an approach integrating sedimentological and micropedological data with structural analyses and radiocarbon dating this allowed reconstructing the recent surface evolution and the paleoseismic history of the site from the bottom the pedosedimentary sequence consists of a miocene marly bedrock whose weathering started in marine isotopic stage mis 7 or 5 interglacials a colluvial deposit follows whose formation can be attributed to mis 5e the upper part of the sequence consists of two loess covers showing different degrees of weathering possibly occurred at ca 30 ka bp for the deepest loess and in the middle holocene ca 4 ka bp for the uppermost one the loess accretion is therefore older and likely associated to the mis 3 and mis 2 glacial phases each deposit records the deformation induced by earthquake surface reverse faulting and warping giving constraints to the sequence of events that characterized this site in fact the structural analyses and a 2d balanced retrodeformation of the section integrating pedostratigraphic constraints allowed identifying at least two different phases of deformation and more than five fault scarp forming events which caused a total net displacement of ca 4 8 m during the past ca 40 ka our approach highlighted the interaction between the tectonically induced surface deformation and the aeolian deposition allowing reconstructing the recent evolution of a small drainage basin the results of this paleoseismic analysis reinforce the conclusion of previous authors that the monferrato arc should be viewed as a seismic gap characterized by strong earthquakes mmax 6 5 with long recurrence interval in the order of several thousands years this evidence has relevant implications for seismic hazard assessment which must be checked with further trench investigations along the mapped quaternary thrust faults affecting the western part of the po plain

seismicity of the indo australian solomon sea plate boundary in the southeast papua region abstract seismicity and earthquake focal mechanism plots of the southeast papua and woodlark basin region for the period january 1960 to may 1979 show that 1 a the west woodlark basin spreading centre extends from the deep west woodlark basin through dawson strait into goodenough bay southeast papua 2 b a southeast seismic trend in the west woodlark basin is associated with a left lateral transform fault but a gap exists between this zone and the seismic east woodlark basin spreading centre 3 c southeast papua seismicity divides into a shallow earthquake zone in which the earthquakes occur mainly in the northeast side of the owen stanley range and an intermediate depth southwest dipping benioff zone which extends almost from mt lamington to goroka the benioff zone indicates the presence of a southwest dipping slab of solomon sea plate beneath the indo australian plate in the southeast papua and ramu markham valley region this subduction zone has collided with the new britain subduction zone of the solomon sea plate along the ramu markham valley the solomon sea plate is now hanging suspended in the form of an arch beneath ramu markham valley inhibiting further subduction beneath southeast papua

middle to late pleistocene multi proxy record of environmental response to climate change from the vienna basin central europe austria abstract tectonic basins can represent valuable archives of the environmental history presented here are the stratigraphy and multi proxy analyses of two adjacent alluvial fans in the quaternary active parts of the vienna basin situated at the interface of the atlantic european continental and mediterranean climate deposits comprise a sequence of coarse grained fluvial deposits intercalated by laterally extensive horizons of pedogenically altered fine sediments to establish palaeoenvironmental reconstructions fine grained sequences from a drill core and outcrop data were analysed according to its malacofauna palaeopedology susceptibility and sedimentology the chronological framework is provided by 38 luminescence ages and supported by geomagnetic polarity investigations distinct warm periods each associated with a geomagnetic excursion are recorded in three pedocomplexes formed during the last interglacial and two earlier interglacial periods indicted to correlate with marine isotope stage mis 9 and mis 11 respectively environmental conditions during the early last glacial period mis 5 c 100 70 ka are reconstructed from mollusc shell rich overbank fines deposited along a former channel belt covered by massive sheetflood deposits during mis 2 analysed warm phases suggest strong variations in humidity ranging from steppe to forest dominated environments the study presents one of the few numerically dated middle pleistocene multi proxy records and one of the most comprehensive malacological datasets covering the early phases of last glacial period of continental europe

magnetic properties of modern soils and quaternary loessic paleosols paleoclimatic implications the magnetic properties of paleosols developed in quaternary sequences of loess have been used for stratigraphic definition correlation with other terrestrial and deep sea sequences and paleoclimatic paleorainfall reconstruction in some loess paleosol sequences including those of the chinese loess plateau tajikistan and the czech republic maxima in magnetic susceptibility values correspond with the paleosol horizons and minima with the least weathered loess layers in other loess soil sequences including those of siberia alaska and argentina the relationship is completely opposite with susceptibility minima associated with the most developed paleosols to account for these opposite relationships the respective roles of 1 magnetic enhancement and 2 magnetic depletion and or dilution in determining soil magnetic properties are investigated for a range of modern soil types most magnetic enhancement is seen in the upper horizons of well drained cambisols absence or loss of magnetic iron oxides is apparent in acid podsol profiles and waterlogged soils for the cambisol profiles significant correlation is found between susceptibility and organic carbon cation exchange capacity and clay content the mineralogy morphology and grain size of soil magnetic carriers extracted from three modern enhanced soils and a paleosol from the chinese loess plateau are also identified by independent petrographic means microscopy and x ray diffraction of magnetic extracts magnetite and maghemite of ultrafine grain size from 0 4 to 0 001 i m are the major contributors to the magnetically enhanced soils weathering can concentrate detrital magnetic grains especially in the fine silt size fractions of soils the magnetic data from the modern soils indicate that interpretation of paleosol magnetic properties must be done on a site specific basis taking into account the possibilities of pedogenic enhancement pedogenic dilution or depletion and allochthonous inputs of magnetic minerals excessively arid wet or acid soils are unable to form significant amounts of pedogenic ferrimagnets well drained intermittently wet dry soils with reasonable buffering capacity and a substrate source of fe show most magnetic enhancement for those soils which favour magnetic enhancement processes correlation has been found between the maximum value of the pedogenic susceptibility and the annual rainfall the almost unique pedogenic system in the chinese loess plateau where variation in soil forming factors other than climate is reduced to a global minimum allows use of the paleo susceptibility values as proxy paleorainfall values to identify the mechanism of any link between magnetic properties for example susceptibility and climate change the mineralogy and grain size of soil magnetic carriers requires detailed investigation given the prospect of 1 quantitative paleorainfall records from continental loess records 2 predictions of present and future climate change and 3 the value of paleoclimate data for testing of numerical climate models such magnetic investigations can contribute significantly to our understanding of past and future environmental change

mineralogical and geochemical indicators of the polygenetic nature of terra rossa in istria croatia abstract terra rossa in istria is situated on the jurassic cretaceous paleogene carbonate plain and is considered a polygenetic reddish soil which bears typical terra rossa fe oxide characteristics e g fe d and fe d fe t the difference in particle size mineralogy and geochemistry observed between terra rossa and the insoluble residue of limestones and dolomites clearly indicates that the additions of external materials might have diminished the influence of insoluble residue of limestones and dolomites as the primary parent material of terra rossa in istria terra rossa is clay and silty clay composed of quartz plagioclase k feldspar micaceous clay minerals illitic material and mica kaolinites kl d and kl chlorite vermiculite low charge vermiculite or high charge smectite mixed layer clay minerals other than illitic material hematite goethite and xrd amorphous inorganic compound calcite dolomite and boehmite are sporadically present and are of local importance kaolinites and illitic material are dominant clay mineral phases in the clay fraction of all terra rossa from istria kaolinite which does not form intercalation compounds with dimethylsulfoxide dmso is the dominant mineral phase in fine clay and is considered predominantly authigenic rather then inherited from parent materials neither the content and particle size distribution nor the bulk and clay mineralogy of the insoluble residue of limestone and dolomite support development of terra rossa entirely by dissolution of carbonate rock if terra rossa has developed only from the insoluble residue of limestone and dolomite its clay content due to weathering should be higher than that in the insoluble residues which is not the case plagioclase was found only in one insoluble residue while all terra rossa samples contain this mineral moreover insoluble residues do not contain vermiculite which was observed in small amounts in clay fraction of all terra rossa samples na 2 o k 2 o 100 zr nb and zr ti 1000 ratios in the majority of terra rossa samples are much higher than in the insoluble residue of limestones and dolomites which also supports external material influence in the genesis of terra rossa materials other than the insoluble residue of limestones and dolomites which might have contributed to terra rossa are loess sediments whose deposition was very important recurrent process in istria probably since the early middle pleistocene and flysch sediments which extended much more southwards from its present position analyses performed indicate that both loess older than that of the upper pleistocene age and flysch might have contributed in the genesis of terra rossa

paleosols provide sedimentation relative age and climatic information about the alluvial fan of the river tirso central western sardinia italy four representative paleosols in the plio pleistocene alluvial fan of the river tirso central western sardinia italy were studied for paleoenvironmental information to describe the sedimentology of the alluvial fan and to define a relative chronological framework for the fan the representative depositional units and associated paleosols were characterised by fieldwork physical chemical and mineralogical analyses pedogenesis was mostly driven by the time and climate factors in the proximal fan location pedogenesis was initially influenced by a warm subtropical tropical climate of the late pliocene and subsequently by warm and humid interglacial phases of the pleistocene these phases were also responsible for soil formation in the middle fan in the distal reaches of the fan pedogenesis was driven by the different climatic pulses of the late pleistocene tyrrhenian interglacial mis 5 pleistocene eustatic sea level changes directly influenced the lowest elevations of the middle fan and the distal fan erosion and soil truncation mainly occurred in the proximal fan and at the highest elevations of the middle fan during glacial phases

age soil forming processes and archaeology of the loess deposits at the apennine margin of the po plain northern italy new insights from the ghiardo area the significance of two loess profiles located in the ghiardo area reggio emilia northern italy along the southern margin of the po plain is discussed on the basis of sedimentary and pedological data optically stimulated luminescence osl dating and archaeological context loess sedimentation occurred during cold and arid glacial and stadial periods of the upper pleistocene between c 70 and 35 ka in the same time interval loess sedimentation occurred at other localities at the northern margin of the po plain po plain loess basin the early period of loess sedimentation was contemporary with an intense frequentation of the area by palaeolithic hunters whose remains consisting of clusters of flint artefacts are found at the base of the loess sequences thermoluminescence dates on burned flints are consistent with osl measurements on sediments where lithics were found and therefore the archaeological finds may be attributed to the middle palaeolithic lithic complexes of the mousterian culture subsequent soil forming processes on the loess deposits during the holocene are suggested by changes in the proprieties of the profiles clay illuviation hydromorphic and vertic features mukkara gilgai microrelief degradation processes of the topsoil leading to the formation of an eluvial top horizon were eventually triggered by deforestation which took place in the area since the chalcolithic period middle holocene

pedogenesis of plinthite during early pliocene in the mediterranean environment case study of a buried paleosol at podere renieri central italy abstract a complex buried paleosol at podere renieri at montalcino central italy formed during a series of continental episodes within an interval of pliocene marine sediments from about 4 1 to 4 8 my bp the aim of this work was to document the kind of pedogenesis which occurred throughout this time and in particular the plinthite formation plinthite soft and hard is poor in organic carbon neutral or subalkaline dominated by illite and enriched in iron and chromium the main differences between soft and hard plinthite are attributed to soil structure which is absent in hard plinthite and to the abundance of iron depleted zones which are much larger in soft plinthite variations in mineralogy chemistry and genesis of soft and hard plinthite can be ascribed to the specific environment of plinthite formation close to the pliocene sea pedogenetic evidence indicates that plinthite evolved in a hot and humid paleoclimate showing a progressive increase in seasonality and that low grade plinthite formation occurred in a time span of a few hundred thousand years soils with low grade plinthite have agronomic value in their suitability for the production of high quality brunello di montalcino wine

micromorphology of middle pleistocene palaeosols in northern italy two long term pleistocene palaeosol sequences oleggio and mezzomerico situated in northern italy were studied by a wide range of pedological methods in both palaeosol sequences six main pedogenic units were identified representing different stages of soil formation in the present study particular emphasis was placed on micromorphological analyses in order to acquire more information about the sequence of pedogenic processes the micromorphological results reveal more precise information about the complex sequence of soil forming processes that led to the formation of each palaeosol furthermore comparison of the micromorphological feature sets of the palaeosols which occur in the same pedogenic units provided an opportunity to refine a recently established pedostratigraphy

the role of preexisting geologic architecture in the formation of giant porphyry related cu au deposits examples from new guinea and chile development of giant porphyry related copper and or gold deposits in new guinea and northern and central chile occurred during tertiary magmatic events that overprinted earlier extensional tectonic settings the earlier tectonic settings consisted of a mesozoic passive margin in new guinea a jurassic cretaceous back arc basin in northern chile and an oligocene intra arc basin in central chile the preexisting architecture of the basement rocks the fault systems and the stratigraphic packages associated with these settings played a strong role in controlling development of the giant deposits although the extensional tectonic settings in these terranes were different they share a number of elements that were used during formation of the tertiary ore deposits these were the presence of coupled systems of deeply detached listric synsedimentary faults and steep transverse faults and the presence of a relatively flat lying heterogeneous volcano sedimentary rock package during tertiary collision the deeply detached listric faults were inverted and strongly focused uplift exhumation and associated overpressuring induced failure and fluid flow in addition steep transverse faults were activated to form wrench systems with attendant steep deeply tapping pathways for magma and or fluid associated with dilatant jogs flexures or fault intersections ore deposits are commonly located in the hanging wall of the thrust faults under compression associated with collision the competent units of flat lying stratigraphic packages formed plates overlying the folded weaker units underneath and separated by a detachment or otherwise faulted contact examples of the competent upper units include the darai mendi limestone or equivalents in new guinea and the lavas of the farellones formation in central chile these plates appear to have impeded magma ascent and formed a cap on a magma and or fluid system pressurized by collision and orogenesis this geometry provided an ideal location for focusing of magmas and magmatic hydrothermal fluids from these three example terranes a set of exploration indicators have been constructed to highlight belts that are prospective for giant porphyry cu systems these indicators include 1 the presence of magmatic arcs that migrated into preexisting extensional architectures 2 coupled systems of deeply detached listric synsedimentary faults and steep transverse faults 3 rigid basement blocks that could form regional stress field perturbations and 4 fold belts with a major plate to 50 km wide of competent relatively undeformed or gently folded stratigraphy overlying more complexly folded and faulted parts of the sequence

weathering intensity and pedostratigraphy of the middle to upper pleistocene loess palaeosol sequence of wels aschet upper austria abstract on top of a fluvioglacial terrace near wels aschet a complex loess palaeosol sequence has been investigated to date the terrace is classified as a classical gunz unit older deckenschotter sedimentological and mineralogical analyses were carried out on the basis of palaeopedological field data the results show that in terms of mineralogical composition the palaeosols can clearly be differentiated and are characterised throughout by interglacial weathering intensity bulk mineralogical as well as clay mineralogical data allow a five stage ranking of weathering intensity based on indicator minerals from the bulk mineralogical perspective slightly weathered loess still contains carbonate minerals and primary chlorite whereas the intensely weathered soil horizons are characterised by the total or near absence of carbonate minerals and primary chlorite micas and feldspars in clay mineralogical results chlorite and the relation of 14 a and 18 a vermiculites as well as mixed layer minerals play an important role in determining the weathering stage primary chlorite can be present in slightly weathered loess loams and vermiculite 14 a is dominant there stage 1 and 2 from weathering stage 3 onwards the amount of vermiculite 18 a increases considerably and dominates the following stage 4 most intensive weathering causes the absence of illite stage 5 generally the studied interglacial palaeosols belong to at least stage 3 with the applied methodology four interglacial palaeosols have been demarcated as well as a highly weathered palaeosol within the terrace gravels of the gunz in wels aschet pedostratigrapy points to a classification of the older deckenschotter in mis 14 at minimum however since this glacial period was of low intensity and the weathering intensity of the basal palaeosol was significantly enhanced a correlation of the gunz terrace with mis 16 also seems possible

volcanic evolution in eastern papua abstract late mesozoic and cenozoic volcanic rocks in eastern papua record a complex series of volcanotectonic events which reflect interaction between the indo australian and solomon sea plates basement formations of upper cretaceous and eocene submarine basalt are comparable to those characteristic of sea floor spreading centers and are thought to have originated during volcanic activity associated with spreading in the coral sea basin arc trench type andesitic volcanism was prominent during the late cenozoic but shows no clear relationship to a subduction event an alternative explanation links the development of thickened crust and consequent crust mantle interaction with the generation of andesitic magmas the tectonic environment of eastern papua during the late cenozoic was one of block faulting and uplift associated with crustal tension the presence of quaternary peralkaline rhyolites suggests that this environment is now being replaced by active rifting

using existing soil databases to consider paleosols in land planning case study of the lombardy region northern italy paleosols are soils that preserve a large amount of information about the environments of the past many paleosols are of such scientific interest scenic attraction rarity ecological importance or didactic value that they can be considered a cultural heritage in flat or gently sloping areas of densely populated territories the preservation of this cultural heritage can be threatened by urbanization land use planning to preserve the cultural heritage of the landscape should therefore take into account the presence of paleosols the aim of this work is to set up a methodology which could be applied on existing soil databases to implement soil information related to paleosols in land planning the study area was the po river plain and morainal hills of the lombardy region of italy the area is made up of pleistocene glaciofluvial deposits and holocene alluvial sediments existing knowledge about lombardy relict and buried paleosols of different pleistocene ages produced by authors during the last decades was collected and used to select paleosol properties and rate their cultural value a gis of soils paleosols pedolandscapes parks and land uses has been created and investigated to identify pedolandscapes rich in paleosols with high cultural value many areas with paleosols resulted threatened by complete loss because of urbanization a land planning strategy aimed at preserving the cultural heritage of the territory should foresee the enlargement of the part of the territory currently set aside as a park to protect those pedolandscapes which are at highest risk that is where urbanization exceeds 35 of the area

soil evolution and origin of landscape in a late quaternary tectonically mobile setting the po plain northern apennines border in lombardy italy abstract the interactions among quaternary paleo soil forming erosion re deposition and geomorphic processes at the origin of the present day landscape are discussed at three isolated tectonic reliefs of the southern po foredeep basin of lombardy san colombano casalpusterlengo and zorlesco reliefs italy these sites offer the possibility to combine different scales of geopedological geomorphological stratigraphic and structural observations to unravel the contribution of climate and tectonics to the quaternary geological evolution and to the origin of the landscape field surveys laboratory analyses and soil micromorphology were used to characterize the late quaternary pedogenic processes acting on different paleo surfaces in combination with the detailed study of seven selected soil profiles pedo stratigraphic correlations revealed that two alluvial loess paleosol sequences which originated from the late pleistocene to holocene glacial interglacial fluctuations are differently preserved throughout the present day hill landscape in situ paleosols allowed to localize the paleo topographic surfaces of geomorphic tectonic and sedimentary stabilization redeposited paleosols occurring systematically close to the main faults and or at the erosional bottom of paleo valleys allowed to mark the stages of tectonic instability the integrated approach contributed to unravel the composite nature and rank of the stratigraphic boundaries polycyclic loess soil aggradation characterized the stable paleo highs uplifted during different phases of active thrusting of the northernmost emilian arcs of the apennine while valley incision fluvial terracing soil truncation and redeposition occurred in the intervening structural lows in the san colombano hill area late pleistocene transtensional faulting induced changes of the drainage network and enhanced redeposition of paleosols in colluvial wedges on the hangingwalls along the fault scarps lgm loess was preserved above different dissected remnants of the paleo topography composing the hilltops these new constraints permit to refine the late quaternary tectono depositional history and landscape evolution at the southern margin of the po basin