Combined use of relative and absolute dating techniques for detecting signals of Alpine landscape evolution during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene

A combination of three relative and two absolute (numerical) dating techniques, applied on nine soil profiles in an Alpine environment located in Val di Rabbi (Trentino, Northern Italy), was used to improve the investigation methodology of Alpine sites in response to climate change and to reconstruct the chronology of late Pleistocene and early Holocene landscape evolution. The degree of podzolisation, clay mineral evolution and the element mass balances of each site were investigated. Furthermore, the stable fraction of the soil organic matter (SOM) was extracted with 10% H2O2 and 14C-dated. The age of the organic residues was compared with the age of charcoal fragments found in one of the studied soils and with the age of rock boulders obtained by surface exposure dating (SED) with cosmogenic 10Be. Numerical dating and weathering characteristics of the soils showed a fairly good agreement and enabled a relative and absolute differentiation of landscape elements. The combination of 14C-dating of SOM and SED indicated that deglaciation processes in Val di Rabbi were already far advanced by around 14 000 cal BP and that glacier oscillations affected the highest part of the region until about 9000 cal BP. The development of clay minerals is time-dependent and reflects weathering intensity. We found a close link between secondary clay minerals like smectite or vermiculite and soil age as obtained by the dating of the organic residues after the H2O2 treatment. Calculated element mass balances strongly correlated with the ages derived from 14C measurements. Old soils have lost a major part of base cations (up to 75% compared to the parent material), Fe and Al, which indicates a continuous high weathering intensity. Results of the chemical and mineralogical analyses were in good agreement with numerical dating techniques, showing the dynamics of an Alpine landscape within a relatively small area. The combination of relative and absolute dating techniques is a promising tool for the reconstruction of landscape history in high-elevation Alpine areas on siliceous substrates.