Comment on “Late Cenozoic uplift of southern Italy deduced from fluvial and marine sediments: Coupling between surface processes and lower-crustal flow” by Westaway R. and Bridgland D. (Quaternary International 175, 86–124)

We consider it opportune to comment on some of the statements proposed by Westaway R. and Bridgland D. (2007) in their paper “Late Cenozoic uplift of southern Italy deduced from fluvial and marine sediments: Coupling between surface processes and lower-crustal flow” (Quaternary International 175, 86–124), with particular reference to the first half of the paper focusing on the geomorphological analysis of the Pleistocene marine and fluvial terraces that occur along the Ionian coastal area of the Basilicata region (Southern Italy). As authors of some of the papers cited in [Westaway, R., Bridgland, D. 2007. Late Cenozoic uplift of southern Italy deduced from fluvial and marine sediments: coupling between surface processes and lower-crustal flow. Quaternary International 175, 86–124.], we wish to point out several significant inaccuracies in their paper, which are generally due to the misunderstanding or misuse of literature data and which regard (i) both the vertical distribution and the timing of the whole Ionian marine terrace sequence, (ii) the correlation between marine terraces and marine isotopic stages (MIS), (iii) the interaction between uplift and erosion processes in Basilicata, and (iv) the morphogenic model of the fluvial terraces of the Agri River. It is our opinion that the Late Cenozoic uplift magnitudes, rates and modelling proposed by the authors for this key-area of southern Italy using such unreliable data are, therefore, to say the least, questionable.