Luminescence chronology of Pleistocene marine terraces of Capo Vaticano peninsula (Calabria, Southern Italy)

Quaternary terrace deposits exposed on the Capo Vaticano peninsula (Calabria, Southern Italy) have been investigated in order to obtain new OSL age estimates. Six samples were collected from unconsolidated sediments associated with the major marine terraces. These form a flight of seven distinct levels distributed between about 600 m and 30 m of altitude. The samples were analysed by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) technique, the obtained results provided reliable age estimates showing numerical ages ranging between 214 ± 25 ka and 62 ± 6 ka. Age determinations combined with geological and morphological information provide new constraints for correlating the distinct orders of marine terraces with the last seven interglacial stages of the eustatic curve. This correlation indicates that in the Middle-Late Pleistocene this portion of the southern Calabrian arc was affected by a vigorous uplift characterized by rates up to ∼2 mm/y.