Sediment production and deposition of fans and terraces from Glacial to Interglacial

We map the stratigraphy of selected alluvial and colluvial deposits to reconstruct the sedimentation rates from large (>100km2) to small (<10 km2) basins. Using these techniques, we are able to assess the present day sediment production and cosmogenic nuclide derived catchment-wide erosion rates. Another tool we use is the reconstruction of provenance as a tracer of the erosional trend and paleoerosion rates from deep cores in colluvial fans in the Alps. Comparison of results from glaciated and unglaciated landscapes in Alpine and Apenninic valleys allow us to evaluate the role of glacial inheritance in controlling the paraglacial response of the fluvial system. We reconstruct local climatic records from subfossil logs, including stable isotopes of cellulose, for assessing the climate forcing on sediment production and transportation at the local scale. In collaboration with F. Brardinoni (Bologna University), V. Mayr (Geological survey, Bozen/Bolzano), I. Hajdas and S. Ivy-Ochs (ETH Zürich) and P. Cherubini (WSL Birmensdorf).