Santa Lucia superiore (Toirano, Ligurie)Â : reconstitution locale de la végétation ligure durant le Pléniglaciaire ancien

Pollen analysis of Santa Lucia superiore cave (Italy) reports at local scale the lowland Ligurian vegetation during the Lower Pleniglacial (75 to 57 Kyr BP). The pollen profile shows two AP extensions during a steppe-landscape episode in Liguria. The dry and cold phases caused the establishment of a steppe-landscape (NAP 92%) with Artemisia, Ephedra, Poaceae and Chenopodiaceae, similar to those mentioned in the Latium during the Pleniglacial. The increase of moisture generated a first arboreal extension (Pinus, Betula, Corylus, Ulmus), which engendered the formation of an open-forest landscape (AP 43%). The second arboreal extension (AP 55%) was due to an increase of moisture and higher temperatures, which allowed the development of Mediterranean trees and shrubs (Quercus ilex, Olea, Phillyrea). This warming up occurred probably simultaneously with a secondary transgression during the glacial sea-level change. The upper part of the profile shows an open vegetation, which indicates the return of a steppe-landscape. Pollen data, replaced in the multidisciplinary studies of the site, are well correlated with the fauna and sediment data.