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Alluvial megafans in the Venetian-Friulian Plain (north-eastern Italy):

Evidence of sedimentary and erosive phases during Late Pleistocene and
Holocene

Article in Quaternary International · October 2008

DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2007.08.044

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 ARTICLE IN PRESS

Quaternary International 189 (2008) 71–90

Alluvial megafans in the Venetian–Friulian Plain (north-eastern Italy):

Evidence of sedimentary and erosive phases during
Late Pleistocene and Holocene
Alessandro Fontana, Paolo Mozzi, Aldino Bondesan
Department of Geography ‘‘G. Morandini’’, University of Padua, via del Santo, 26, 35123 Padova, Italy
Available online 14 September 2007

Abstract

The Venetian–Friulian Plain is the eastern part of the foreland basin of the Southern Alps and is characterized by the presence of
alluvial megafans. Existence of these large landforms results from the tectonic setting, but their Late Pleistocene and Holocene evolution
has been mainly controlled by climatic change and eustasy. Geomorphological, geological information and radiocarbon dating allow the
recognition of phases of sedimentation and incision in the megafans of the Brenta, Piave and Tagliamento rivers. The main phase of
aggradation took place during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) (24–15 ka BP), when the glaciers emanating from the Alpine valleys
reached the plain and supplied large amounts of sediments. During the Late LGM the rate of aggradation lowered in the Brenta megafan
and a wide incision of the fanhead developed in the Tagliamento megafan. During Late Glacial and Early Holocene an important phase
of incision took place, and smaller telescopic lobes formed in the distal portion of Brenta and Tagliamento megafans. Sedimentation was
absent or very low between 14 and 8 ka BP and only since the Middle Holocene a new phase of deposition affected the coastal areas,
probably related to a marine highstand. Widespread aggradation started once more around 4–3 ka BP, with the formation of fluvial
ridges along the terminal tract of Alpine rivers. Since the Roman period, human influence affected the alluvial sedimentation, especially
in the last centuries, due to land reclamation and construction of river embankment.
r 2007 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction 1988; Mohindra et al., 1992; Kronberg et al., 1998;

A number of recent studies have focused on the
investigation of alluvial megafans in several areas of the
world, concentrating on foreland basins and especially on
the Indo-Gangetic Plain, where these depositional features
are particularly evident and were first described by Geddes
(1960). The earliest papers investigated the main character-
istics which differentiate alluvial megafans from other fan-
shaped features, i.e. their large size, low-relief morphology
and downstream facies partitioning (e.g. Wells and Dorr,
1987; Gohain and Parkash, 1990; Räsänen et al., 1992;
Singh et al., 1993; Singh and Ghosh, 1994; Singh, 1996).
The petroleum geologists analysed several megafans
recorded in the pre-Quaternary sequences (e.g. Schwans,
Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 049 8274085; fax: +39 049 8274099.
E-mail addresses: alessandro.fontana@unipd.it (A. Fontana),
paolo.mozzi@unipd.it (P. Mozzi), aldino.bondesan@unipd.it
(A. Bondesan).
DeCelles and Cavazza, 1999; Horton and DeCelles,
2001), while, more recently, the geomorphologists and the
Quaternary geologists studied the evolutionary history of
some active alluvial megafans. Phases of incision and
deposition have been recognized and, in some cases, related
to climate, eustasy, tectonics or other external forcing
factors (e.g. Gupta, 1997; Shukla et al., 2001; Singh, 2001;
Goodbred, 2003; Jain and Sinha, 2003; Shukla and Bora,
2003). This provides information on alluvial depositional
processes, periods of activity and volumes of involved
sediments.
The Venetian–Friulian Plain lies at the north-eastern
end of the Po Plain and constitutes part of the foreland
basin of the Southern Alps (Fig. 1). This stretch of plain,
that includes the hinterland of the Lagoon of Venice,
consists of several large, fan-like features. These elements
have been recognized since the first half of the 20th
century (Feruglio, 1925; Comel, 1955) and the term alluvial
fan was used until recent years to describe them (Guzzetti

1040-6182/$ - see front matter r 2007 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2007.08.044
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
72 A. Fontana et al. / Quaternary International 189 (2008) 71–90
Fig. 1. Geological sketch of the Venetian–Friulian area, with cross-section (after Regione Veneto, 1990; Gasperi, 1997; Peruzza et al., 2002, modified).
et al., 1997; MURST, 1997a). Fan-shaped morphologies
were considered to extend only from the valley outlet
as far as the limit of gravel sedimentation (the latter
coinciding with the spring belt in Fig. 2), whereas,
downstream, an undifferentiated alluvial plain was de-
scribed (e.g. Guzzetti et al., 1997). The completion of the
geomorphological map of the Po Plain, which includes also
the Venetian–Friulian Plain (MURST, 1997a; Castiglioni,
1999; Castiglioni and Pellegrini, 2001), and of the related
microrelief map (MURST, 1997b), allowed the recognition
of the continuity of some alluvial fan-shaped features as far
as the coastal area. Thus, these landforms appeared
remarkably larger and the drastic diversity of texture
between their apical and distal portions was highlighted
(Mozzi, 1995; Castiglioni and Pellegrini, 2001). These
depositional features have been recently described as
alluvial megafans because of their dimensions, longitudinal
continuity and internal downstream facies changes; actu-
ally megafans are differentiated from the smaller, gravelly
alluvial fans of the piedmont zone (Fontana et al., 2004;
Mozzi, 2005).
A number of papers concerning the Venetian–Friulian
Plain have been recently published (Avigliano et al., 2002;
Bondesan et al., 2002; Michelutti et al., 2003; Mozzi et al.,
2003; Bondesan and Meneghel, 2004; Bondesan et al.,
2004a, b; Ragazzi et al., 2004; Mozzi, 2005; Fontana,
2006), but they consider only limited sectors or specific
aspects. Most of them are published in local reviews or in
Italian monographs which are not easily available for
international researchers. This paper is an attempt to
assemble these data in a general synthesis of the area,
considering the geochronology, the stratigraphy and the
geomorphology of the main alluvial megafans of the
Venetian–Friulian Plain from the Last Glacial Maximum
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A. Fontana et al. / Quaternary International 189 (2008) 71–90 73

Fig. 2. Scheme of the Late Quaternary depositional systems of the Venetian–Friulian Plain. In the down-right corner, a simplified sketch of the alluvial
megafans and fans is shown. Symbols: (1) river, (2) fluvial scarp, (3) upper limit of the spring belt, (4) mountains and hills, (5) tectonic terraces, (6) end-
moraines systems, (7) interfan and intermontane deposits, (8) coastal-deltaic systems and (9) groundwater-fed river systems. Grey-tone areas: (A) Adige
Alluvial Plain, (B) Brenta megafan, (C) Astico fan, (D) Montebelluna megafan, (E) Piave megafan, (F) Monticano–Cervada–Meschio fan, (G) Cellina fan,
(H) Meduna fan, (I) Tagliamento megafan, (L) Corno fan, (M) Cormor megafan, (N) Torre megafan, (O) Isonzo megafan and (P) Natisone fan.

(LGM, corresponding to the Marine Isotopic Stage 2:
MIS 2). The work highlights the similarities and the
differences of the analysed megafans, compares the
regional setting with the global glacio-eustatic cycle and
tries to establish the driving forces in the development of
sedimentation and erosive phases.
2. The study area
2.1. Geographical and geomorphological setting
The Venetian–Friulian Plain is the eastern sector of the
Po Plain sensu latu, even if it has been formed by
the deposits of Alpine rivers which are not tributaries of
the Po River (Castiglioni, 1999). The investigated area
extends for about 10,000 km2 from the Karst Mountain
Fringe, close to the Slovenian border, to the Berici and
Euganei Hills. The Isonzo, Tagliamento, Piave and Brenta
are the major Alpine rivers flowing in the area (Table 1).
These rivers drain a total basin of about 12,000 km2 of
unglaciated mountain terrain. Large parts of the coastal
plain, almost 4000 km2 between the Adige and Isonzo
Rivers, are lands situated below sea level, which have been
reclaimed. Mean annual rainfall is important if compared
both to the Mediterranean and central Europe values, and
it is characterized by a maximum during autumn and
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
74 A. Fontana et al. / Quaternary International 189 (2008) 71–90
Table 1
Hydrologic and drainage basin characteristics of the main Alpine rivers of the Venetian–Friulian Plain (after Negrisin and Stefani, 1974; Surian and
Rinaldi, 2003)
River Drainage Length (km) Maximum
basin area basin relief (m)
(km2)
Isonzo 3430 140 2760
Tagliamento 2580 172 2780
Piave 3899 222 3162
Brenta 1787 160 3079
Adige 11,954 410 3890
a secondary peak during spring (Fazzini, 2005); very high
and concentrated precipitation may cause extreme flood
events in the plain.
The catchment basins of the Venetian–Friulian Plain
consist mainly of carbonate rocks (limestones and dolo-
mites) (Fig. 1) which produced the supply of large amounts
of clastic debris which consequently led to the deposition of
hundreds of metres of gravel in the piedmont plain. This
sector, called the ‘‘high plain’’, has a dry surface because of
the high permeability of gravelly sediments and the
consequent depth of the groundwater table. Thus, even
the main rivers are often dry from their valley outlet as far
as the threshold where the gravels of the ‘‘high plain’’ pass
to the silty–clayey sediments of the ‘‘low plain’’. This
lithological transition forces the groundwater table to rise
to the surface, supplying a number of springs which lie
along a belt. This ‘‘spring belt’’ extends from the east to the
west across the study area, with a downstream width of
3–15 km (Fig. 2). In the low plain the water table generally
lies between 1.5 and 3 m from the surface and many
groundwater-fed rivers are present. These are intrabasinal
streams, meaning that they only rework the deposits of the
large Alpine rivers without bringing new sediments to the
alluvial basin. All are characterized by a rather steady flow
during the year, reaching 20–50 m3/s for the Stella,
Lemene, Sile and Bacchiglione Rivers.
2.2. Tectonic framework
The Venetian–Friulian Plain represents the surface of the
Tertiary to Quaternary sedimentary infilling of the foreland
basin of the eastern sector of Southern Alps, a south-
vergent thrust belt chain which developed since the
Palaeogene (Massari, 1990; Doglioni, 1993). The present
Alpine thrust front is buried under the piedmont alluvial
plain but, in the eastern sector, some of the more external
thrusts partly outcrop in the middle of the Friulian Plain,
creating several narrow uplifted tectonic terraces near
Udine (Zanferrari et al., 1982) (Figs. 1 and 2). In the Friuli
area, the Alpine Neogene structures interfered with the
Dynaric tectonics, the latter characterized by west-vergent
thrust tectonics of the Palaeogene Age (Peruzza et al.,
2002). The southern sectors of the Venetian Plain have
been influenced since the Upper Miocene by the activity of
Mean annual Mean annual Flood peak River bed
precipitation discharge discharge elevation at
(mm/yr) (m3/s) (m3/s) valley mouth (m)
1800 230 4400 65
2150 109 4500 130
1330 132 4250 85
1386 71 2810 130
933 220 4000 100
the northward expanding Apennine foredeep, being thus
subjected to southward tilting; the influence of Apennine
tectonics is felt up to the Venice area (Doglioni, 1993).
Subsidence, also driven by sediment compaction, was
continuous during the Quaternary and still strongly affects
the coastal areas (Bortolami et al., 1977, 1984; Carbognin
and Tosi, 2002).
2.3. The Last Glacial–Interglacial cycle
The uppermost pre-Holocene marine deposits are
represented by the shallow-sea and lagoon sediments of
the Last Interglacial (MIS 5e—Eemian). East of the Piave
River they are at a depth of about 35–50 m below sea level
(Feruglio, 1936), while in the Venice area they lie at ca.
70–80 m (Massari et al., 2004), and in the Po Delta at
100–120 m (Amorosi et al., 2004; Ferranti et al., 2006).
The LGM glacio-eustatic sea lowstand brought the
whole northern Adriatic shelf under continental conditions
(Correggiari et al., 1996). Between 21 and 18 ka BP, the
alluvial plain extended to about 300 km south of the
present Venetian coastal area. In that period, the glacier in
the Tagliamento catchment reached the plain and built a
large end-moraine system, feeding several fluvioglacial
outlets; the directions of the main ones correspond to the
present Torre, Cormor, Corno and Tagliamento Rivers
(Comel, 1955). In contrast, the Isonzo glacier ended within
the valley, tens of kilometres upstream from Gorizia
(Bavec et al., 2004) (Figs. 2 and 6). The lower portion of
the Piave glacier was divided in two main branches: an
eastern branch that followed the Val Lapisina and reached
the plain near Vittorio Veneto and a western branch that
followed the present Piave valley and built end-moraines
within the valley, 12 km from the plain (Casadoro et al.,
1976; Venzo, 1977; Pellegrini et al., 2005). Though with
some uncertainties, all studies undertaken agree that the
Brenta glacier most probably ended near Valstagna, about
10 km upstream from the valley mouth near Bassano
(Trevisan, 1939; Dal Piaz, 1946).
After about 8 ka BP the Adriatic coastline moved north-
ward, from the position now occupied by the Po Delta, as a
consequence of the post-Glacial sea-level rise (Correggiari
et al., 1996). The Lagoons of Venice, Caorle and Marano
started their formation during the Holocene marine highstand,
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A. Fontana et al. / Quaternary International 189 (2008) 71–90
at about 6.0–4.5 ka BP (Favero and Serandrei Barbero, 1980;
Marocco, 1991; Galassi and Marocco, 1999; Serandrei
Barbero et al., 2001; Fontana, 2006).
3. Methods
The research was carried out using the geomorphologi-
cal, the geopedological and the geoarchaeological methods
of investigation. The use of microtopography was helpful,
especially in the distal sectors of the plain, where the
landforms are characterized by very low elevation and
slope that have often no evidence in the field. Large sectors
of the Venetian–Friulian Plain have been analysed using a
high-resolution digital terrain model (pixel 30  30 m)
derived from microrelief maps, with 0.5 m (below 10 m
asl) and 1 m (above 10 m asl) contour lines.
The recognition of palaeochannels and other landforms
related to palaeohydrography (e.g. fluvial scarps, incised
valleys and alluvial ridges) has been mainly based on
remote sensing. Ancient coastal dune systems, lagoon
channels and archaeological tracks (e.g. ancient road,
canals and field divisions) were recognized in the effort to
reconstruct chronological relationships existing between
different morphological elements. Remote sensing con-
sisted of interpretation of 1:20,000 to 1:10,000 vertical
aerial photographs taken in a series of flights dating from
1954 to 2003. Some Landsat TM 5 and SPOT 3 images
were processed to get a general view of the investigated
area and to distinguish large morphological elements such
as sectors of megafans with homogeneous characteristics,
meander belts and fluvial ridges. Thus, parts of palaeo-
channels identified separately in the aerial photographs
could be recognized as portions of the same meander belt.
The results of microrelief analyses and remote sensing have
already been partly published in the geomorphological map
of the Province of Venice (Bondesan et al., 2004b) and of
the Friulian low plain (Fontana, 2006).
The geological and soil surveys covered the whole distal
sectors and some portions of the apical areas of the
megafans (Mozzi, 1995; Avigliano et al., 2002; Michelutti
et al., 2003; Bondesan et al., 2004a, b; Ragazzi et al., 2004;
Fontana, 2006). The field work consisted of describing and
sampling stratigraphic sections and soil profiles from 1.5 to
5 m depth. Many of them have been described during
planned surveys, but significant data were collected also in
some temporary outcrops exposed during the construction
of gas pipelines, houses, roads and archaeological excava-
tions. Sediment colour and texture, vertical and lateral
lithofacies relationships, primary sedimentary structures
and the type and concentration of accessory materials (e.g.
roots, plant debris, organic matter and palaeosols char-
acteristics) were used as basic tools for stratigraphic
correlation.
The extensive use of hand augering with the Edelman
gauge, down to 3–9 m depth, led to the reconstruction of
detailed stratigraphic sections, hundreds of metres long,
crossing abandoned channels, fluvial terraces and other key
75
elements for the fluvial evolution, as already successfully
accomplished in other alluvial and coastal plains such as
the Rhine–Meuse Delta (Berendsen and Stouthamer,
2001). Some drill cores (down to 30–50 m) have been
considered in the aim of understanding the regional
stratigraphic setting and measuring the depth of the
meandering palaeochannels in the distal sectors, where it
can exceed 20 m. New boreholes were funded by the Veneto
Region (CARG Project) and by the Province of Venice
(LEO-DOGE Project) which also made available its
data base of geological drills and dynamic and static
penetrometries. Further information was obtained
from the wells and drills data base of Friuli Venezia
Giulia Region (Regione Autonoma Friuli Venezia Giulia,
1990). The integration of remote sensing, microrelief
analysis and field surveys has allowed the recognition of
the sedimentary facies associated with different palaeohy-
drographic features.
Investigations mainly concentrated on the distal portions
of the megafans, which represent the area characterized by
silt and clay sediments. In these sectors palaeosols and
organic layers are often recorded in the stratigraphy,
allowing radiocarbon, pollen and micropalaeontological
analyses. In the apical portion of the megafans, character-
ized by gravelly sediments, very rare organic layers are
available and age estimates are mainly based on the relative
age of the landforms and on the degree of soil development
(Avigliano et al., 2002; Ragazzi et al., 2004).
In the framework of the geological and geomorphologi-
cal surveys, about 100 samples of peat, woods and organic
sediments have been radiocarbon dated with the conven-
tional and the AMS methods in order to assess the age of
the activation and disactivation of river channels and/or
alluvial phases. The results of these 100 dates, with other
150 radiocarbon dates derived from literature dealing with
alluvial evolution, are plotted in Fig. 3. Radiocarbon dates
are expressed in uncalibrated 14C ka BP. The upper
diagram shows the frequency of 14C dates in intervals of
500 yr while the lower diagram is a plot of age vs. depth.
The average value of the uncertainties of the 250 radio-
carbon dates is 780 yr and also the value of the statistic
mode of the uncertainties is about 780 yr. In the lower
diagram of Fig. 3 each cross represents a date and the
length of the cross corresponds to 500 yr and, therefore,
due to the scale of the diagram, the uncertainty of each
date is included in the cross. Only few dates have an
uncertainty larger than 7250 yr and they generally have an
age older than 25.0 ka BP. Only a few dates are presented
along the text in some of the stratigraphic sections but, due
to the large number of radiocarbon dates considered and
the large extent of the area they represent, Fig. 3 could be
considered as a good tool to highlight the different phases
of the alluvial evolution.
The pollen and the palaeobotanical analyses provided
further chronological and palaeoenvironmental informa-
tion, especially focused on LGM and the Middle and the
Upper Holocene (Miola et al., 2006). Important proxies of
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
76 A. Fontana et al. / Quaternary International 189 (2008) 71–90
Fig. 3. Diagram of 250 14C dates performed on the alluvial sequences in the Venetian–Friulian Plain. Above: frequency of dates grouped in 500 yr clusters;
below: depth vs. age. Dates are expressed in uncalibrated 14C ka BP.
the age and stability of surfaces are provided by
geopedological studies (Mozzi et al., 2003) and by the
study of archaeological sites and their stratigraphic
position (Bondesan and Meneghel, 2004; Bondesan et al.,
2004b; Fontana, 2006). The original extent and character-
istics of the portions of the megafans drowned by the
Holocene transgression have been inferred using marine
geology information based on shallow gravity cores and
high-resolution seismic profiles (Correggiari et al., 1996;
Gordini et al., 2002, 2003).
4. Late Pleistocene and Holocene evolution of alluvial
megafans
4.1. General characteristics
In the study area, the heads of alluvial megafans and
fans are located at the outlets of the major Alpine valleys,
which are quite regularly spaced with intervals of
20–40 km. The main axis of the megafans are more than
50 km long. During the LGM sea lowstand they were
considerably longer, as they probably continued for
10–30 km on the northern Adriatic shelf before joining
the Po River system (Table 2).
Within about 10–25 km from the mountain front, the
megafans are cone shaped and relatively steep (topographic
gradient: 7–3%), consisting of gravel deposits hundreds of
metres thick. Sections exposed in gravel pits and strati-
graphic logs of water wells show that the uppermost 50 m
are organized in 1–2 m thick, few to tens of metres wide
channel bodies, stacked in continuous sequences with
scattered sandy and silty lenses. The analysis of the surface
through remote sensing and field surveys indicated the
presence of palaeochannels over almost the whole surface of
the upper part of the megafans. The traces are tens to
hundreds of metres wide and they often cross each other.
The information matches well with a braided-type fluvial
system, similar to that which still characterizes the Alpine
rivers for a distance of 30–50 km from the Alpine piedmont.
Further downstream, south of the spring belt, the
general slope of the plain gradually decreases to less than
1%. The main landforms are sandy fluvial ridges, separated
by silty-clay floodbasins. The palaeohydrography consists
of the abandoned river beds of the single-channel type,
either elevated or less often incised, with varying sinuosity.
They can be continuous for several kilometres. The
resulting sedimentary architecture of the lower sectors
consists of lenses of sandy channel deposits, generally
scarcely interconnected, within overbank fines. The
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A. Fontana et al. / Quaternary International 189 (2008) 71–90 77

Table 2
Characteristics of the main alluvial megafans of the Venetian–Friulian Plain

Alluvial system Drainage Alluvial Maximum Maximum River bed Maximum elevation, Topographic
basin area megafan length (km) width (km) elevation at valley uppermost terrace (m) gradient of apical
(km2) (km2) mouth (m) portion (%)

Tagliamento 2580 1200 65 40 130 155 7–4

Piave 3899 1050 55 35 85 100 5–3
Brenta 1787 2600 75 50 130 145 6–4

Fig. 4. Geomorphological sketch of central Venetian Plain (modified from Mozzi, 2005).

Venetian–Friulian megafans show a downstream change in
fluvial style and sedimentary facies similar to that
recognized in the megafans of the Indo-Gangetic Plain
(Singh et al., 1993); but differ from most of the megafans
described in the literature because of their relatively small
dimensions; in fact, the extent of megafans recognized in
north-eastern Italy ranges between 1000 and 2500 km2.
Each of these megafans has a complex history. They
consist, both at the surface and in the stratigraphy, of
laterally and vertically juxtaposed sedimentary bodies of
different ages, spanning the Upper Pleistocene to the
present. The Brenta megafan shows such a large and well-
outlined LGM portion, that it has been recognized as a
single-phase megafan: the ‘‘Bassano megafan’’ (Mozzi,
2005) (Figs. 4 and 5). In this paper the Bassano megafan is
regarded as the main aggradation phase of the Brenta
system. In the Tagliamento megafan, the inset of the LGM,
Late Glacial and Holocene alluvia in cut-and-fill sequences,
or their deposition on the top of the older deposits, results
in more complex sedimentary and geomorphic geometries.
No single-phase megafans are recognizable. The Piave
depositional system is further complicated by the switch of
the river’s entry onto the plain from the west to a position
east of Montello Hill (Figs. 2 and 6). This occurred because
of a fluvial capture by the Soligo River on the left side of
the Piave induced also by the tectonic uplift of the
Montello Hill (Zanferrari et al., 1982). The western
drainage direction was active before ca. 30 ka BP, most
probably still in the Upper Pleistocene, and formed the so-
called Montebelluna megafan (Mozzi, 2005). Only the
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78 A. Fontana et al. / Quaternary International 189 (2008) 71–90

Fig. 5. The 3D display of the digital terrain model of the area represented in Fig. 4. In the left the Brenta megafan is represented, with the apical portion
characterized by the post-LGM incision still occupied by the river; the distal portion has a lower gradient and has a rolling topography which consists of
several fluvial ridges. The megafan of Brenta covers the distal portion of the older megafan of Montebelluna and the contact between them is evidenced by
the Sile River upstream from Treviso. Dowstream, the same river represents the limit between Brenta and Piave megafans.

gravelly, cone-shaped, upper reach of the Montebelluna
system outcrops; both the surface and stratigraphic
evidences indicate that the distal portions of this megafan
are buried by the younger deposits of the Brenta and Piave
Rivers (Bondesan et al., 2002). In this paper, the expression
‘‘Piave megafan’’ refers only to the megafan with the apex
located east of the Montello Hill, near Nervesa, and
corresponds to the ‘‘Nervesa megafan’’ described in Mozzi
(2005) (Fig. 2).
In the following paragraphs, a concise overview of the
evolution of the Brenta, Piave and Tagliamento megafans
during the last 30 ka BP is presented. These are the main
and best understood megafans of the area.
4.2. Pre-LGM (o24.0 ka BP)
The only pre-LGM fluvial depositional system out-
cropping in the study area is the Montebelluna megafan,
formed by the Piave River into the plain west of
the Montello Hill. This age estimate is based on the
stratigraphic correlation of the distal tracts of the
Montebelluna megafan buried by the LGM deposits of
the Piave and Brenta megafans. The corings in the Piave
megafan show that the top of the Montebelluna gravels
lies few metres below a peat level radiocarbon dated
31,63071100 BP (Bondesan et al., 2002). The high degree
of soil development in the Montebelluna megafan (Alfisols
with 30–50 cm thick Bt argillic horizon) (Regione Veneto,
2005) is consistent with the stratigraphic evidence of this
being the older depositional system in the Venetian Plain.
Considering the whole study area, little information on
the pre-LGM alluvial evolution is available because of the
relatively low number of deep cores. The scatter of the
radiocarbon age estimates shows a fairly good linear
relationship between age and burial depth of the sediments
(Fig. 3), suggesting that sedimentation was rather contin-
uous during the pre-LGM period.
During MIS 3 the Tagliamento River had an eastern
valley outlet; it shifted to the present position near Pinzano
(Fig. 2) about 19.0 ka BP, during the peak of the LGM
(Paiero and Monegato, 2003).
4.3. LGM (24.0–14.5 ka BP)
During the LGM the Glacial and the Periglacial
environmental conditions allowed a substantial production
of debris in the Alpine area. The delivery of this debris to
the Venetian–Friulian alluvial basin resulted in an im-
portant phase of vertical aggradation, well dated thanks to
the numerous radiocarbon dates of peat layers in the whole
distal plain (Fig. 3). Due to the sea lowstand, fluvial
aggradation extended onto the North Adriatic shelf. LGM
sediments are largely sub-outcropping in the Adriatic
bottom below the 15–20 m bathymetric contour, and wide
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A. Fontana et al. / Quaternary International 189 (2008) 71–90 79

Fig. 6. Age of the alluvial surfaces in the Venetian–Friulian Plain. (1) River, (2) bathymetric lines, (3) fluvial scarp, (4) upper limit of the spring belt,
(5) interpreted limit of maximum Holocene transgression at 6.0 ka BP ca., (6) cross-sections cited in the paper, (6a) location of the fluvial ridge of Mezzavia
cited in Section 4.6, (7) tectonic terraces, (8) pre-LGM, (9) LGM end-moraines systems, (10) LGM and (11) post-LGM.

thin layers of peat, dated between 20 and 18 ka BP, are
often present under some decimetres of marine sediments,
separated by a ravinement surface (Correggiari et al., 1996;
Gordini et al., 2002).
The heads of the Brenta and Piave megafans were located
at the mouth of the Alpine valleys (the latter river was at the
eastern outlet near Nervesa; as already described, the
Montebelluna megafan was active just in pre-LGM times);
distances from the end-moraines ranged from 10 to 20 km.
The Tagliamento megafan had its fanhead in a gorge located
at the western end of the LGM end-moraines system, so that
during the LGM it was directly connected to the glacier and
worked as the main fluvioglacial outlet.
The active portions of the Brenta megafan during the
LGM had an extent of about 2500 km2 down to the present
coastal margin (Fig. 2). This extent is similar to the area
covered by the overall fluvioglacial outwash of the
Tagliamento glacier (2300 km2), but it is double the area
of the Tagliamento megafan (1200 km2). This puzzle
can be easily understood considering that the Tagliamento
megafan was just one of the four major glacial streams
fed by the glacier, while the others correspond to the
present Corno, Cormor and Torre streams. In contrast,
the Brenta valley funnelled all the melting waters from the
glacier to the plain. The Piave megafan as well was only
one portion (1100 km2) of the whole fluvioglacial system of
the Piave glacier, while the rest was the sandur of the
Vittorio Veneto end-moraines (250 km2). Thus, the Piave
Fluvioglacial Plain was about half the size of the Brenta
and Tagliamento Fluvioglacial Plains.
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80 A. Fontana et al. / Quaternary International 189 (2008) 71–90

The apical and distal portions of the megafans formed
during the LGM are well differentiated. In the apical
portion, both the palaeohydrographic pattern inferred
from remote sensing and the stratigraphy of the gravel
deposits indicate that the rivers were of the braided type.
They could move gravels and blocks, but their transport
capacity rapidly decreased downstream, and the rivers lost
large part of their sedimentary yield within 15–25 km from
the fanhead. Further downstream no gravels are found in
the LGM alluvium and only sandy sediments characterize
channel fillings. In the lower sectors of the Pleistocene
Brenta megafan there is evidence of downstream sorting of
both the channel sands and the overbank fines. Within ca.
15 km, the former passes from coarse sand with pebbles to
fine sand, while the clay percentage in the latter increases
from o20% to 440% (Ragazzi et al., 2004).
In the distal sectors, in the aerial photographs the traces
of rivers dating to LGM are usually single channel with low
sinuosity; sometimes traces of fluvial islands are present,
suggesting a sort of wandering style river. Channel belts
were slightly elevated over the plain, which led to the
production of fluvial ridges that are 1–3 m higher than the
surrounding plain, tens to hundreds of metres wide and
several kilometres long. Examples of the LGM alluvial
architecture can be seen in Figs. 7 and 8, concerning the
lower reaches, respectively, of the Brenta and Piave
megafans. At the surface, both areas consist of low, sandy
alluvial ridges separated by extensive silty-clay floodbasins
(Fig. 4). The channel bodies consist of medium and fine
silty sands; they are usually o2–3 m thick, scarcely
interconnected and separated by clayey–silty sediments;
this situation could be interpreted as an indication of an
avulsion-dominated system, as an extensive meander
migration would had rather formed continuous tabular
sand sheets than separated channels (Miall, 1996; Berend-
sen and Stouthamer, 2001).

Fig. 7. Cross-section in the Ca’ Tron area, in the distal sector of Piave megafan (for location, see Figs. 4 and 6). Conventional radiocarbon dating are
expressed in 14C yr BP uncal. and lab-codes are reported. (1) 17,5307120 Beta-173736, (2) 3650740 Beta-173729, (3) 20,3007220 Beta-173730,
(4) 16,190750 Beta-170848, (5) 17,9207130 Beta-173735, (6) 19,7707140 Beta-169479, (7) 21,1507190 Beta-169480 and (8) 20,9707140 Beta-169481
(modified from Bondesan et al., 2004a).
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A. Fontana et al. / Quaternary International 189 (2008) 71–90 81

Fig. 8. Cross-section in the Pleistocene distal reaches of the Brenta megafan (for location, see Figs. 4 and 6). (1) Channel deposits (sand, silty sand),
(2) overbank, crevasse and natural levee deposits (sandy silt, silt), (3) floodbasin deposits (silty clay), (4) peat, (5) stratigraphic correlation of the top of the
peat layers and (6) borehole; radiocarbon dates are expressed in 14C yr BP uncal. (Bondesan et al., 2002).

Fig. 9. Simplified scheme of the telescopic alluvial megafan of Tagliamento River. (1) LGM gravels and sands, (a) LGM clayey silt, (2) Late LGM gravels
and sands, (a) Late LGM clayey silt, (3) post-LGM gravels and sands, (a) post-LGM fine sediments, (4) peat and organic sediments, (5) lagoon and
shallow-marine deposits dating to MIS 5 and (6) hypothetical limit between LGM and pre-LGM deposits.

An interesting characteristic is the abundance of thin peat
layers and their significant lateral continuity. In the whole
study area, the cold LGM climate and the high fluvioglacial
discharges of pensile fluvial channels probably triggered the
rising of the groundwater table which, in turn, kept soils of
depressed areas waterlogged (Miola et al., 2006). Fens
developed in these badly drained depressions in the alluvial
plain, leading to peat formation. Because of the high
aggradation rates, some fens were probably active only for
few centuries before being buried by alluvial sediments. The
resulting peat and/or organic layers, usually o20 cm thick
and embedded within overbank fines, have been documen-
ted to extend for 104–106 m2 in different sites in the
Venetian–Friulian Plain. Almost all the LGM radiocarbon
dates represented in the diagram (Fig. 3) have been carried
out on these ubiquitarious peat layers (e.g. Figs. 7–9).
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82 A. Fontana et al. / Quaternary International 189 (2008) 71–90
In the distal sector of the megafans the numerous
radiocarbon dates available show that the LGM deposits
have a thickness of 15–30 m. A rough estimate of the
sedimentation rates occurred during the LGM has been
obtained considering some long corings, carrying out
some radiocarbon dates on different levels of the same
stratigraphic sequence. Even if correction for sediment
compaction and subsidence was not considered, the rough
average sedimentation rate is at least 2–3 mm/a, with peaks
of 10 mm/a (Bondesan et al., 2002, 2004a; Bondesan and
Meneghel, 2004).
The Piave glacier maximum advance in the area of
Vittorio Veneto dates to 17.6 ka BP (Bondesan et al., 2002),
while by 16–15 ka BP the glacier had likely disappeared
from the main valley (Casadoro et al., 1976; Pellegrini
et al., 2005). In the Nervesa megafan, the very intense
LGM sedimentary phase stopped at around 16 ka BP,
showing a good connection between glacial activity and
alluvial aggradation.
The Tagliamento glacier reached its maximum extent
between 19 and 18 ka BP. Its regression phase started
shortly after (Paiero and Monegato, 2003), during the Late
LGM. In this phase of deglaciation, the Tagliamento
River, as well as all the other fluvioglacial outlets of this
glacier (Corno, Cormor and Torre Rivers), downcut apexes
of their depositional systems. The entrenchment of the
main rivers led to the deactivation of large sectors of the
high plain. Apexes of the younger lobes of the megafans
were encased in the valley cuts and sedimentation shifted
tens of kilometres downstream (Fig. 9). Aggradation took
place from the spring belt, where systems of fluvial ridges
buried the silty–clayey LGM surface and in some zones
they buried also layer of peat or organic clay with a
radiocarbon dating between 18.0 and 15.0 BP. In the
megafans of Tagliamento and Cormor several Epigravet-
tian and Early Mesolithic archaeological sites were found
on the top of the natural levees and channels (Ferrari and
Fig. 10. Simplified cross-section of a Late LGM fluvial ridge of Tagliamento megafan (for location, see Fig. 6). (1) Channel deposit (gravelly sand with
cross-bedding), (2) natural levee (silty sand), (3) overbank floodplain (clayey silt), (4) LGM floodplain (clayey silt), (5) channel deposit (fine–medium sand),
(6) peat, organic clay and (7) carbonate calcium concretions (Fontana et al., 2004).
Pessina, 1992), showing that fluvial activity had already
ceased at least by 12–10 ka BP (Fig. 10). In the deglaciation
phase, gravels could be transported further downstream
than during the LGM, reaching the present day lagoon
area. The fluvial ridges which formed in the distal plain
were characterized by a single channel with gravelly sand as
far as the present lagoon area, with a maximum grain size
of 1–2 cm (Fig. 10). This may be due to the channelling of
the river within the terraces for several kilometres from the
Alpine piedmont, which led to the confinement of the water
flow and consequent higher velocity and higher transport
capacity. Longitudinal bars, scour-and-fills and reactiva-
tion surfaces are the most common sedimentary structures
observed in the channel deposits, which have a mean depth
of 2–4 m and a width of 40–250 m. The natural levees are
sandy loam, have a length of 30–100 m, and sometimes
cross-bedding is present. The related alluvial plain is 1–2 m
thick and is characterized by tabular layers of clayey silt;
on the natural levees and on the alluvial plain the soil is
characterized by horizons with pluricentimetric carbonate
calcium concretions whose formation is related to the plant
activity and the existence of some less permeable layers.
No data are available concerning the timing of the LGM
Brenta glacier dynamics, while more information is
available on the megafan evolution in the same time span.
The alluvial chronostratigraphy indicates that, between 22
and 18 ka BP, the deposition of 15–20 m of sediments took
place in the distal portions of Brenta megafan. Between 18
and 14.5 ka BP the vertical aggradation was less than 5 m.
This evidence points to a drastic decrease in the sedimenta-
tion rates immediately after 18 ka BP. The cross-section
of Fig. 8 indicates the presence of extensive peat
level radiocarbon dated 17.0–16.0 ka BP, which can be
correlated on a distance of about 4 km (Bondesan
et al., 2002). The formation of peat took place in fens
with low minerogenic sedimentation (Miola et al., 2006).
Afterwards, fluvial activity started again, leading to the
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A. Fontana et al. / Quaternary International 189 (2008) 71–90
deposition of three channel bodies and connected overbank
fines. The 14C dating of occasional lenses of peat,
embedded in the overbank deposits, shows that this
last sedimentary event took place between 16.0 and
14.5 ka BP.
Even if in the central and western Po Plain loess cover
dating to LGM is diffused (Cremaschi, 1987), in the
Venetian–Friulian Plain there is no evidence of loess
deposition (MURST, 1997a; Castiglioni and Pellegrini,
2001); in a very limited sector at the southern foot of the
Euganean Hills some small Pleistocene continental dunes
have been described, but their origin has not yet been
stated (Rizzetto et al., 1998).
4.4. Late Glacial and Early Holocene (14.5–8.0 ka BP)
The Brenta and Tagliamento megafans have been both
affected by a major phase of incision since the Late Glacial
and during the Early Holocene, but some differences
between the two alluvial systems exist. The last dated
depositional event in the LGM lobe of the Brenta megafan
(‘‘Bassano megafan’’ in Mozzi, 2005) took place at about
14.5 ka BP (Fig. 8); the following deactivation of the
megafan was due to the fanhead trenching at the Brenta
valley mouth near Bassano. The erosional scarp related to
the river downcutting is still more than 15 m high at the
megafan apex, and decreases gradually until it disappears
at about 25 km downstream. Where the scarp is present,
the Late Glacial–Holocene Brenta floodplain lies at its
foot. Further downstream, the Holocene deposits cover the
LGM surface. Other 2–4 m high scarps are located in the
apical portion of the LGM megafan, creating three major
terraces with a rolling topography. Therefore, considering
the LGM and the post-LGM deposits, a telescopic
geometry of the megafan is recognized.
In the Tagliamento megafan, the Late Glacial erosive
phase enhanced the incision already developed during the
final part of the LGM and further confined the active river
channel into the apical portion. The elevation of the erosive
scarps is 60–70 m at the fanhead and is still ca. 30 m as far
as about 10 km downstream, then it progressively de-
creases, until disappearing close to the spring belt. As a
result, the fanhead of the Late LGM lobe has been
entrenched as well and sedimentation shifted further
downstream. Thus, the Tagliamento alluvial megafan
consists of three different depositional bodies: the
oldest dates to LGM, the one active during the deglaciation
phase between the final part of the LGM and the beginning
of the Late Glacial, and the last, active since the
Late Glacial (Fig. 9). Apexes of younger units are inset in
the older ones and a telescopic geometry is clearly
recognizable.
Since the Late Glacial, 5–10 km downstream from the
spring belt the Alpine rivers have been characterized by
meandering channels. Until the Middle Holocene, rivers
showed an erosive tendency also in their lower tract,
incising beneath the LGM surface by 5–25 m. Post-Glacial
83
erosion was particularly important in the distal sector of
the Tagliamento megafan, where the formation of several
deep and wide valleys took place (Figs. 9 and 11).
Probably, these landforms developed mostly during the
Late Glacial, but they have been in use or reactivated
during later periods, causing an internal aggradation that
filled up the incisions and often deleted their topographical
evidence. Upstream from Portogruaro two ancient valleys
are still well recognizable thanks to the preservation of
their surface morphology, owing to an early deactivation
and a secondary use by groundwater-fed rivers. In the
lower tract, these depressions silted out because of the
Holocene lagoon deposition and the post-Roman fluvial
sedimentation (Fig. 11). Five kilometres downstream
from Portogruaro, near Concordia Sagittaria, a series
of mechanical and hand drills and archaeological excava-
tions allowed to reconstruct some stratigraphic sections
and one is presented in Fig. 11. The thickness of the
channel deposits is ca. 8 m and the maximum diameter
of pebbles is 3–5 cm and the incision is cut into the
LGM deposits. In the deactivated valley, peat formation
took place since 7.8 BP until the Holocene lagoon
ingression, dated to 5.7 ka BP. The lagoon environment
lasted until the Roman period causing the partial silting up
of the incision which was completely filled between the 6th
and the 9th century AD, during an alluvial phase of
Tagliamento.
Considering all the post-LGM valleys recognized in the
lower sector of Tagliamento megafan, also the incisions
which do not have any topographic evidence and have been
detected with corings, they have an average width of
500–2000 m and a depth of 8–25 m (Figs. 9 and 11);
gravelly deposits are present at the base with a thickness of
5–12 m. In all the megafan considered, since the Late
Glacial gravels have been generally deposited far beyond
their LGM limit, as already described for Tagliamento and
also testified along the Brenta, Piave and Isonzo Rivers
(Fassetta et al., 2003); in some cases gravels have been
transported several kilometres beyond their present thresh-
old of sedimentation. This could be probably related to the
incision of the apical portion of megafans and the
concentration of river flows.
In the whole Venetian–Friulian Plain, chronostratigra-
phical data concerning the Late Glacial and Early
Holocene are lacking. This gap in information is particu-
larly evident for the interval 14.5–8.0 ka BP in the
cumulative frequency of radiocarbon dates (Fig. 3) and is
related to the absence of organic sediment formation.
Nevertheless, in the distal sectors of the plain, no climatic
or palaeoenvironmental reasons exist to explain such a
drastic decrease in the production of wood, peat or organic
sediment during the Late Glacial and especially in the
Early Holocene. One of the most reliable hypotheses could
be a lack of alluvial deposition until 8.0 ka BP. This was
probably induced by the confinement of fluvial activity
within incised channels, which led to the transformation of
large sectors of megafans into bypass areas (Fig. 6). Traces
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84 A. Fontana et al. / Quaternary International 189 (2008) 71–90

Fig. 11. Cross-section of an incised valley in the distal sector of Tagliamento River near Concordia Sagittaria (for location, see Fig. 6). (1) LGM clayey
silt, (2) LGM medium sand, (3) Late LGM clayey silt, (4) Late LGM coarse sand and gravel, (5) medium sand, (6) buried soil (inceptisol) over Late LGM
deposits with carbonate calcium concretions, (7) Late Glacial gravel with sand, (8) Late Glacial sand and silty sand, (9) peat and humic clay, (10) silty clay
with lagoon shells, (11) silty sand, (12) silt, (13) medium–fine sand, (14) sandy silt, (15) Roman archaeological remains, (a) Iron Age, (16) modern
buildings, (17) isochronal line 6th century AD and (18) contact between alluvial and lagoon sediments. (a) Borehole, (b) projection of borehole not along
the section, (c) archaeological excavation and (d) projection of archaeological excavation. Radiocarbon dates are expressed in 14C yr BP uncal. and lab-
codes are reported.

of deep erosion are clearly evident eastward of the Livenza
River, but also in the westernmost sector of the plain river
activity was partly confined and aggradation did not take
place until the Middle Holocene. Well-developed soils
(calcisols) formed on the large free-flood surfaces (Mozzi
et al., 2003).
In the central Po Plain a similar evolution has been
described for the alluvial fans and megafans that lie at the
Alpine margin. After the major phase of the LGM
aggradation, Alpine rivers deeply entrenched in their
deposits at their valley mouths for tens of kilometres
downstream (Marchetti, 1996, 2001, 2002; Guzzetti et al.,
1997).
One of the main causes for the lack of sedimentary
supply to alluvial megafans and consequent downcutting
was the contraction of glaciers within the Alpine valleys.
Recent researches indicate that by 15–14 ka BP the
deglaciation of the Alpine valleys was probably completed
(Pellegrini et al., 2005). In the deglaciated valleys the
formation of large valley lakes commonly occurred because
of the presence of end-moraines and/or post-Glacial
landslide which temporarily dammed the valley (Castiglio-
ni, 2001; Hinderer, 2001; Marchetti, 2001, 2002). These
features, described in the mountain catchments of Isonzo
(Bavec et al., 2004), Tagliamento (Venturini, 2003) and
Piave (Surian and Pellegrini, 2000), trapped large amounts
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A. Fontana et al. / Quaternary International 189 (2008) 71–90
of debris and caused drastic decreases in the sedimentary
flux towards the plain. In the terminal tract of the Alpine
valley of the Piave River, the so-called ‘‘Vallone Bellu-
nese’’, an important phase of internal aggradation,
characterized the post-Glacial period at least until
8.3 ka BP (Surian and Pellegrini, 2000), involving the
temporary storage of fluvial sediments. Moreover, since
the end of the LGM, climate amelioration triggered the
recolonization of vegetation in the mountains, improving
slope stability and inducing the rate of erosion and
sedimentary yield to decrease.
It must, nevertheless, be noted that some alluvial systems
deviate from this general trend. Such is the case of the
coarse gravelly alluvial fans of the rivers Cellina and
Meduna, close to the Tagliamento megafan. Here, aggra-
dation took place until the Younger Dryas (10.0 ka BP) but
a quick and deep incision of the fanheads developed soon
after (Avigliano et al., 2002). Another exception seems to
be the Piave megafan, where the Late Glacial erosive phase
affected the tract upstream of the Montello Hill while no
important incision has been up to now recognized in the
piedmont plain. This difference of the Piave with respect to
Brenta and Tagliamento megafans may be explained by the
lower topographic gradient of its LGM surface, due to the
low elevation of the valley mouth of Piave, ca. 50 m lower
than those of the other rivers (Table 2).
4.5. Middle Holocene (8.0–3.5 ka BP)
In the northern Adriatic, the maximum flooding surface
of the Holocene transgression was reached at about
5.7–4.0 ka BP (Correggiari et al., 1996). It was several
kilometres landward in the southern sector of the Venetian
Plain and also along the lower tracts of the Piave and
Tagliamento Rivers (Fig. 6). In these areas, later fluvio-
deltaic progradation took place. In the coastal zones
between the active sectors, not affected by fluvial deposi-
tion, the LGM surfaces often outcrop and the present
position of the sea is the most landward (Marocco, 1991;
Fontana et al., 2004).
The oldest recognized delta of the Brenta–Adige–Po
system dates to about 5.0 ka BP (Favero and Serandrei
Barbero, 1980) but the existence of a delta of the Piave
River about 5.4 ka BP is known (Bondesan et al., 2002); for
the Tagliamento River only the existence of a pre-Roman
delta of undetermined age is known (Fontana, 2006).
The former alluvial topography strongly affected the
marine transgression and the deep valleys of the Taglia-
mento River, already abandoned in the Early Holocene,
allowed the formation of tidal inlets; thus, narrow lagoon
intrusions developed as far as Portogruaro (Fontana, 2006)
(Figs. 6 and 11). Within the valleys, the bases of lagoon
deposits have ages of about 5.9–5.7 ka BP.
During the Holocene, in the distal portions of the
megafans, Alpine rivers had a meandering course with
different values of sinuosity, width, wave amplitude and
wavelength of the channels. In a number of meander belts,
85
the organic infillings of the residual channels have been
radiocarbon dated. A large part of the Holocene radio-
carbon dates represented in Fig. 3 has been carried out at
the base of such organic layers and may be regarded as
reliable age indicators of the deactivation of the different
channels (Berendsen and Stouthamer, 2001). Other dates
concern organic layers of lagoon environment (mostly salt-
marsh deposits) that give information about the coastal
plain aggradation.
Until 5–4 ka BP, while the marine highstand allowed the
progradation of fluvial deltas, Alpine rivers showed a
scarce depositional tendency also in their lower tracts. In
the Tagliamento River, an important phase of valley
formation lasted until 3.0 ka BP. This was characterized by
deep channels incised by up to 25 m, and by gravel
transport several kilometres further downstream than
today. In the Piave megafan, along the Sile River, at the
limit of the present lagoon, a 12 m deep incision was cut by
the Piave River within LGM deposits between 7.0 and
3.6 ka BP (Fig. 7) (Bondesan et al., 2004a).
4.6. Late Holocene (3.5–0 ka BP)
In the lower sectors of the megafans, the post-LGM
phase of incision and/or no alluvial aggradation continued
until the last part of the Subboreal period, when important
changes in the fluvial sedimentation are recognized.
Some chronological differences among the Brenta,
Piave and Tagliamento systems are apparent. Near
Mezzavia (see Fig. 6), the radiocarbon dates of a tree
stump in living position on a palaeosol, buried by the
natural levees of a palaeochannel of the Brenta River, and
of charcoals embedded in the alluvial deposits, show that
the aggradation on the LGM surface started around
5.0 ka BP. Nevertheless, the most widespread aggrading
phase with numerous ridges took place after 3.0 ka BP
(Mozzi, 2004).
The oldest Holocene ridge of the Piave River developed
downstream from the city of S. Donà after 3.0–4.0 ka BP;
moreover, this Late Holocene aggrading trend is also
evidenced in the Piave megafan by the complete infilling at
3.6 ka BP of the 12 m deep incision along Sile River area by
Piave deposits (Fig. 7). In the Tagliamento megafan, the
fluvial ridges started to form only after 3.0 ka BP.
This evidence suggests that the formation of fluvial
ridges started to influence large parts of the lower portion
of the megafans after 4–3 ka BP. This trend is still active,
even if during the last centuries human control limited the
depositional activity of rivers to artificial dikes.
Holocene fluvial ridges are rather different from
Pleistocene ones, both in dimensions and internal strati-
graphy. Ridges built in the last millennia are usually higher
(2–5 m compared to the surrounding plain) and wider
(500–2000 m wide) than the previous ones (Fig. 12). Rivers
form meanders in their lower tracts, with channel deposits
usually 7–15 m thick. Avulsion has been the main process
triggering new flow directions.
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86 A. Fontana et al. / Quaternary International 189 (2008) 71–90

Fig. 12. Cross-section of present Tagliamento fluvial ridge near Latisana (for location, see Fig. 6). (1) Sandy gravel, (2) medium sand, (3) fine sand,
(4) sandy silt and clay silt, (5) silty clay, (6) buried soil (entisol), (7) clay silt, (8) buried soil (inceptisol), (9) peat and organic sediment, (10) Roman
archaeological remains and (11) boreholes and projection of boreholes (light grey). Radiocarbon dates are expressed in 14C yr BP uncal. and lab-codes are
reported.

In the Tagliamento megafan, Late Holocene sedimenta-
tion affected also some of the incisions that had been
previously abandoned and caused them to silt up
completely, as recognized in near Concordia (Fig. 11)
and along the present day Tagliamento River near
Latisana (Fig. 12). In the section represented in Fig. 12
the river was incised into the LGM deposits up to the end
of the Subboreal period (ca. 3.0 ka BP), but the depth of the
channel was significatively shallower than those formed
during the Late Glacial and the Early Holocene and, along
the meander belts, gravelly channel lags and bars stopped
upstream of the position reached during the Early and the
Middle Holocene. Both the shallowing of depth of channel
bottom and the decrease in downstream transport capacity
of the river may be related to a lowering in the hydraulic
gradient, probably triggered by the relative rise of sea level,
as demonstrated in some coastal plain (e.g. Blum and
Törnqvist, 2000; Berendsen and Stouthamer, 2001).
Late Holocene fluvial deposition affected considerably
smaller areas than during the LGM. The thickness of
Holocene sediments burying Pleistocene surfaces generally
reaches the maximum value of 4–6 m along fluvial ridges.
In the related floodplain only 1–3 m of Holocene deposits is
present.
In the Late Holocene stratigraphic sequences, wide-
spread organic sediment or peat layers are present only in
the lagoon environment, while in the alluvial deposits peat
is available only as a part of the infilling of the residual
channels. In contrast, buried soils are quite common and
their degree of development was used to estimate the
period of stability of the surface on which they formed
(Mozzi et al., 2003; Fontana et al., 2004; Ragazzi et al.,
2004). Buried soils with archaeological remains are
particularly important for the chronostratigraphic recon-
struction; in fact they help the dating of surfaces, even
those in which no organic material is available.
In all the alluvial megafans of the Venetian–Friulian
Plain an important period of floods is evident during the
Early Middle Age (4–5th to 10th century AD). This
interval corresponds to a period of high rainfall recorded in
the historic chronicles, and coincides also with the collapse
of the field and drainage systems settled during the Roman
period (Dall’Aglio, 1994; Marchetti, 2002). Between the
6th and 11th centuries, the Tagliamento had a high
avulsive activity that is mentioned in the historical
chronicles and that led to the alternate activation of three
directions with consequent formation of new ridges
(Fontana, 2006). Since the 11th century, only the present
day direction has been active and the ridge related to this
river has a width of about 4 km and surrounds the alluvial
plain for ca. 3 m (Fig. 12). Many Roman sites and the
Roman road Annia had been buried by the alluvial
deposits related to the present direction of the river and
their stratigraphic and topographic positions testify that
the formation of the ridge started after the Roman period.
Different ridges have been formed during the Early
Middle Age also by the Piave River, which also had an
aggradation phase in the eastern sector of its apical portion
(Bondesan et al., 2002). Similarly, the Brenta River
followed different directions in the post-Roman times,
and has been prone to human interference since the 11th
century. Human management strongly affected all the
rivers involved in the Venice Lagoon catchment to avoid
sedimentation in it and to preserve large areas under tidal
influence from fluvial progradation. Especially, since the
15th century, numerous artificial deviations and river
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
A. Fontana et al. / Quaternary International 189 (2008) 71–90
regulation have affected the Brenta, Piave, Bacchiglione,
Sile and Livenza Rivers. Since the 18th century the
Venetian–Friulian Plain could be considered an embank-
ment plain where, except catastrophic floods, sedimenta-
tion has been drastically reduced. Moreover, land
reclamation in the 20th century has induced a rapid and
diffused subsidence on large coastal areas, as a conse-
quence of the combined compaction of the formerly
waterlogged sediments and of oxidation of the abundant
organic matter contained in the marsh deposits.
5. Conclusions
The presence of alluvial megafans in the Venetian–
Friulian Plain seems to be basely related to the role of this
area as the foreland basin of the uplifting Alpine chain. As
noticed by Castiglioni (2001), construction of large fan-
shaped landforms in the Po Plain can be interpreted,
without underestimating other factors, as an answer to the
tectonic activity of the mountain belt. Considering time
scales larger than 104–106 yr, the geodynamic setting has
been the main necessary constraint for megafan develop-
ment in the study area, as already highlighted in other
areas of the world where these large-size landforms have
been recognized (e.g. Räsänen et al., 1992; Gupta, 1997;
Horton and DeCelles, 2001). Nevertheless, the evolution of
the studied megafans during the last 24 ka BP shows that
climate change and related eustasy are the main driving
factors on medium time scales (103–104 yr). The major
environmental changes which took place since the LGM
apparently triggered four main sedimentary phases:
1. A phase of maximum aggradation took place during the
peak of the last glaciation, between 24 and 18 ka BP, and
had a primary role in shaping the Late Quaternary
landscape of the Venetian–Friulian Plain. In this period,
the alluvial megafans achieved their maximum areal size
and shape, with the deposition in the distal sector of
alluvial sequence with an average thickness of about
20–30 m. The LGM Brenta and Tagliamento watersheds
differed quite extensively from the present fluvial
catchments, due to the existence of a network of valley
glaciers with important glacial transfluences from the
inner Alps. The fact that the Brenta megafan used to be
the largest depositional system active in the region may
be regarded as the direct consequence of the extra
supply of sediment allowed by glacial transfluences from
the Adige valley.
2. During the Late LGM (18–15 ka BP), when the Alpine
glaciers started to contract and the more external terminal
moraines systems were abandoned, the Brenta megafan
depositional rates decreased, but aggradation still took
place. In the Tagliamento megafan and in the other
alluvial systems connected with the Tagliamento glacier
(Corno, Cormor and Torre Rivers), the Late LGM was
characterized by the downcutting of the fanhead and
deposition in the distal sector; thus, a first telescopic lobe
87
formed in the megafan, which was considerably smaller
than the area of LGM sedimentation.
3. After 14.5 ka BP, through the Late Glacial and into the
Early Holocene, a widespread erosive phase affected the
megafans. The eastern sector of the Brenta megafan was
deactivated due to the entrenching of the river at the
valley outlet, while sedimentation shifted tens of kilo-
metres downstream. In the Tagliamento megafan, the
erosive phase affected the lobe built in the Late LGM
and the formation of deep and wide fluvial incisions
took place also in the lower sector of the megafan.
Megafan incision was probably triggered by the reduc-
tion of the sedimentary supply to the plain. The decrease
of the river solid discharge led to exceeding stream
power and river downcutting. This fall in the sedimen-
tary input to the alluvial system could be related to:
(i) the cessation of the glacial sedimentary input near the
plain; (ii) a gap in the sediment transfer from mountains
to plain, due to the trapping of the sediment load in the
pro-Glacial lakes and/or dam lakes that normally form
during valley glaciers retreat; (iii) a reduction in the
production of debris, because of the stabilization of the
mountain slopes by the post-Glacial vegetation cover.
Between 14.5 and 8.0 ka BP there are no indications of
sedimentation, neither in the apical portions, nor in the
distal sectors of the megafans. This was probably due to
the confinement of fluvial activity inside erosive
channels, which bypassed the sediments to the Adriatic
shelf. The largest and deepest incisions exist in the
Tagliamento megafan, where fluvial valleys have a width
of 1–2 km and a maximum depth of 25–30 m. At the
base of the incisions, gravels were transported as far as
the present lagoon area. Also, in the other fluvial
systems gravels could be moved ca. 10–20 km more
downstream than during the LGM. The shift of the
threshold in gravel sedimentation may have been due to
the higher velocity, and the corresponding higher
transport capacity, of the fluvial water channelled in
the post-Glacial incisions. Remarkable is the fact that
this erosive phase took place during the Flandrian sea-
level rise, showing that the eustatic base level rise had
minimal effect on these alluvial systems during the
transgressive phase.
4. Since the Middle Holocene a new phase of sedimenta-
tion is recorded in the lower sectors of the megafans,
with some chronological differences among the analysed
systems. Deposition affected only limited portions along
the lower tracts of rivers until 4–3 ka BP, when a
widespread phase of aggradation took place. Never-
theless, volumes and areas of sedimentation are con-
siderably smaller than that during the LGM. Fluvial
ridge formation started in the Brenta megafan about
5 ka BP, about one millennium later in the Piave system,
and after 3.0 ka BP in the Tagliamento megafan.
Since the Middle Holocene the limit of sedimentation of
gravels moved upstream than during Late Glacial and
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
88 A. Fontana et al. / Quaternary International 189 (2008) 71–90
Early Holocene, but it still reaches the distal sector of
megafans and its position is considerably downstream than
LGM.
Marine highstand is considered one of the most
important factors in triggering and forcing the Late
Holocene alluvial aggradation. The Holocene climatic
fluctuations probably had some influence on the millen-
nial-scale evolution of fluvial systems, but the evidence
gathered up to now is scarce and does not permit to clearly
distinguish their role in alluvial phases.
Since the Roman period, human activity, as noticed in
the whole Po–Venetian Plain (Marchetti, 2002), has been
clearly affecting both the river directions and the produc-
tion and dispersal of sediments with increasing intensity.
During the last five millennia, man may be considered the
most outstanding factor in controlling fluvial dynamics
and, therefore, the evolution of megafans.
Acknowledgements
The research was supported by the Italian Ministry of
Research and Technology (MURST) and the University of
Padua within the Project ‘‘Geomorphological evolution of
the Venetian–Friulian Plain’’ (coordinator A. Bondesan).
Information was obtained also in the framework of other
projects funded by the Veneto Region: the CARG Project
for the new geological map of Italy at the scale 1:50,000
(coordinator F. Toffoletto); the ‘‘Soil map of the watershed
of the Lagoon of Venice at the scale 1:50,000’’ and the
‘‘Soil map of Veneto at the scale 1:250,000’’, carried out by
the Soil Observatory of the Environmental Protection
Agency of the Veneto Region (ARPAV) (coordinator
P. Giandon). The Geological Survey of the Province of
Venice provided geological and geomorphological data
within the project LEO-DOGE ‘‘Geomorphological map
of the Province of Venice’’ (coordinator A. Vitturi).
Investigations performed in Ca’ Tron area were sponsored
by Fondazione Cassamarca. Drills and analyses of the area
of Concordia Sagittaria were funded by the project
INTERREG IIIA-AAVEN 322065. Special thanks to
N. Surian and M. Meneghel for stimulating discussions
and to F. Ferrarese for the production of the microrelief
maps and digital terrain models. We wish to express our
thanks to D. Maddy and M. Marchetti for their accurate
revision which improved the quality of the paper.
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