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The 1:10,000 geological map of the San Colombano hill covers 60 km 2 in the Po Plain, south of Milan. The new and the historical surface geological data-sets are managed by a GeoDB aiming to contribute to re-interpret the Quaternary evolution at the Po Plain-Northern Apennine border. On the hill, the Calabrian shallow marine San Colombano Fm. unconformably overlies the truncated deeper-marine Miocene formations, up-thrusted by the external fronts of the Apennine Emilian Arc during Mio-Pliocene. Late Pleistocene alluvial units rest in unconformity above the marine succession both on the uplifted hilltop and on the surrounding plain. Fault-related offset of Late Pleistocene units, stratigraphic and morphostructural evidences (facets, relic surfaces and drainage patterns), document the Quaternary tectonic history. Early to Middle Pleistocene ongoing thrust-folding at the northernmost buried reaches of the Emilian Arc was followed by Latest Pleistocene-Holocene transtension, possibly relating to the NNE striking Pavia-Casteggio lateral ramp.

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The dynamics and the surface evolution of a post-LGM debris-flow-dominated alluvial fan (Tartano alluvial fan), which lies on the floor of an alpine valley (Valtellina, Northern Italy), have been investigated by means of an integrated study comprising geomorphological field work, a sedimentological study, photointerpretation, quantitative geomorphology, analysis of ancient to modern cartography and consultation of historical documents and records. The fan catchment meteoclimatic, geological and geomorphological characteristics result in fast rates of geomorphic reorganization of the fan surface (2 km 2 ). The dynamics of the fan are determined by the alternation of low-return period catastrophic alluvial events dominated by non-cohesive debris flows triggered by extreme rainstorms which caused aggradation and steepening of the fan and avulsion of its main channel, with periods of low to moderate streamflow discharge punctuated by low-to intermediate-magnitude flood events, causing slower but steady topographic reworking. The most ancient parts of the fan surface date back at least to the first half of the 19th century, but most of the fan surface has been restructured after 1911, mainly during the debris-flow-dominated events of 1911 and 1987. Phases of rapid fan toe incision and fan degradation have been recognized; since the 1930s or 1940s, the Tartano fan has been subjected to a state of deep entrenchment and narrowing of the main trunk channel and distributary area. Post-Little Ice Age climate change and presentday surface uplift rates have been considered as possible explanations for the observed geomorphic evolution, but tectonic or climatic controls cannot account for the order of magnitude of the erosional pace. Anthropogenic controls plausibly override the natural ones: in particular, the building of a dam in the late 1920s, about 2 km upstream of the fan, seems to have triggered fan dissection, having altered the sediment discharge through sediment retention.

The upper Albian-lower Turonian pelagic successions of the Tethys record processes acting during the onset, core, and recovery from perturbed conditions across oceanic anoxic event (OAE) 1d, OAE 2, and the mid-Cenomanian event I (MCE I) relative to intervening intervals. Five sections from Umbria-Marche and Belluno Basins (Italy) were analyzed at high resolution to assess processes in surface and deep waters. Recurrent facies stacking patterns (SP) and their associations record periods of bottom current activity coupled with surface changes in trophic level. Climate changes appear to have been influential on deep circulation dynamics. Under greenhouse conditions, vigorous bottom currents were arguably induced by warm and dense saline deep waters originated on tropical shelves in the Tethys and/or proto-Atlantic Ocean. Tractive facies postdating intermittent anoxia during OAE 1d and in the interval bracketed by MCE I and OAE 2 are indicative of feeble bottom currents, though capable of disrupting stratification and replenish deep water with oxygen. The major warming at the onset of OAE 2 might have enhanced the formation of warm salty waters, possibly producing local hiatuses at the base of the Bonarelli Level and winnowing at the seafloor. Hiatuses detected at the top of the Bonarelli Level possibly resulted from most effective bottom currents during the early Turonian thermal maximum. Times of minimal sediment displacement correlate with cooler climatic conditions and testify a different mechanism of deep water formation, as further suggested by a color change to reddish lithologies of the post-OAE 1d and post-OAE 2 intervals.