Cremaschi et al. (2026) Karst record of Holocene climate and human-induced changes in surface processes in the northern Apennines of Italy

Identification

• Journal: CATENA
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-02-27
• Authors: Mauro Cremaschi, Eleonora Regattieri, Giovanni Zanchetta, I Isola, John Hellström, Andrea Zerboni
• DOI: 10.1016/j.catena.2026.109960

Research Groups

• Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra “A. Desio”, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy
• Istituto di Geoscienze e Georisorse, IGG-CNR, Pisa, Italy
• Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Pisa, Pisa, Italy
• Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia INGV, Pisa, Italy
• School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Short Summary

This study reconstructs Holocene environmental changes in the northern Apennines of Italy using clastic and speleothem sediments from Tana della Mussina Cave, revealing the interplay between natural climatic variability and human-induced land use changes, particularly deforestation and pastoralism, in shaping the Earth's Critical Zone dynamics.

Objective

• To examine the stratigraphy and characteristics of clastic and anthropogenic sedimentary infilling, as well as speleothems, in Tana della Mussina Cave (TdMC) to disentangle the relative contributions of climate and human activity in driving surface processes of the Earth's Critical Zone (ECZ) during the Holocene.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Tana della Mussina Cave (TdMC) in the northern Apennines of Italy (275 m above sea level, 44°35′23″N, 10°37′06″E), including its internal sedimentary archives and the overlying catchment area.
• Temporal Scale: Holocene (approximately 11,700 years BP to present), with specific events dated between ~7900 and ~1550 years BP for clastic sediments and ~3830 to ~2100 years BP for speleothem growth.

Methodology and Data

• Models used:
  • Bayesian statistical procedure for speleothem age-depth modeling (Drysdale et al., 2005; Hellstrom, 2006).
  • IntCal20 curve for radiocarbon age calibration (Reimer et al., 2020).
• Data sources:
  • Cave Sediments: Natural clastic sediments, archaeological deposits, and a calcitic stalagmite (MUS5) from TdMC.
  • Analytical Techniques:
    • AMS-14C dating of charcoal fragments.
    • U/Th dating of speleothems using multicollector ICP-MS.
    • Micromorphological observations of thin sections (optical petrographic microscope with PPL, XPL, OIL, and epifluorescence with UV/BLF lights).
    • Petrographic analyses of speleothem thin sections.
  • External Records for Comparison:
    • Pollen records (Armentarga peat bog, Lake Pavullo, Adriatic marine core RF93-30).
    • Lake level variations (Lake Ledro).
    • Reconstructed microcharcoal flux (Lake Ledro, Rutor glacier peat record, Mediterranean basin).
    • Regional archaeological and historical data.

Main Results

• Clastic sedimentation in TdMC occurred intermittently throughout the Holocene, particularly after the Greenlandian/Northgrippian boundary and at the onset of the Meghalayan phase, likely in response to increased water availability and fluvial transport.
• Speleothem (MUS5) deposition took place between approximately 3830 and 2100 years BP, indicating phases of reduced water flux in the upper cave levels and increased soil metabolism/land cover.
• From around 5500 years BP, clastic sediments are marked by significant accumulation of charcoal and lumps of heated sediment/soil, interpreted as evidence of human activity, specifically extensive deforestation and slash-and-burn agriculture, leading to increased soil erosion rates.
• Micromorphological analysis revealed fire-related pedofeatures (charcoal, calcitic ash, heated pedorelicts) and reworked soil aggregates, indicating rapid erosion and transport of surface material into the karst system.
• The speleothem growth rate was highest between ~3800 and 3550 years BP (average 0.3 mm/year), suggesting a wetter and warmer period with enhanced soil CO2 production. It dramatically decreased between ~3600 and 3450 years BP, reaching lowest values (~0.04 mm/year) at ~3150–2850 years BP, then slightly resumed from 2850 years BP, steepening from ~2400 years BP (~0.7 mm/year).
• Episodes of soil erosion in TdMC do not systematically correlate with climatic cooling/wetting but align with regional charcoal peaks and forest opening, suggesting anthropogenic forcing (e.g., slash-and-burn for pasture/agriculture) since the Mesolithic, intensifying from the Neolithic-Copper Age transition and Middle Bronze Age.
• The marked decrease in speleothem growth rate after ~3600 years BP corresponds to major increases in microcharcoal mobilization and regional forest opening, coinciding with the systematic colonization of the Po Plain by the Terramare culture (Middle Bronze Age).

Contributions

• Demonstrates that near-surface karst systems can effectively preserve evidence of major shifts in surface processes and land cover triggered by both climate and human-induced land use changes, particularly in geomorphologically active mountain/hilly settings where surface archives are often truncated.
• Provides a detailed case study from the northern Apennines of Italy, disentangling natural and anthropogenic forcing factors on Earth's Critical Zone (ECZ) dynamics throughout the Holocene.
• Highlights early human impacts on pristine forests and soil stability (e.g., slash-and-burn, pastoralism) since the early Holocene, supporting the concept of an "Anthropocene as an event" or "Pro-Anthropocene" rather than a formal geological epoch.
• Emphasizes the value of clastic cave deposits as an underexploited resource for paleoenvironmental reconstruction, particularly when integrated with speleothem records and external archaeological/climatic data.

Funding

• SUCCESSO-TERRA Project (Società Umane, Cambiamenti Climatico-ambientali e Sfruttamento/Sostenibilità delle risorse durante l'Olocene medio in Pianura Padana. Il caso delle Terramare), financed by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR/MUR; grant no. PRIN20158KBLNB).
• Fondi Speciali per le Ricerche Archeologiche (2018–2025) of the Università degli Studi di Milano.
• MUR through the project “Dipartimenti di Eccellenza 2023–2027” (WP2 and WP3) awarded to the Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra “Ardito Desio” of the Università degli Studi di Milano.

Citation

@article{Cremaschi2026Karst,
  author = {Cremaschi, Mauro and Regattieri, Eleonora and Zanchetta, Giovanni and Isola, I and Hellström, John and Zerboni, Andrea},
  title = {Karst record of Holocene climate and human-induced changes in surface processes in the northern Apennines of Italy},
  journal = {CATENA},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1016/j.catena.2026.109960},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2026.109960}
}