Freshwater travertines deposition in central Italy: a contribution to the geomorphological evolution of the Apennines

Travertines represent important elements of correlation in the whole central Apennines because they crop out in few large areas and in several minor sites, but are frequently distributed along the Apenninic chain and its western and eastern piedmont areas (i.e. Vicovaro-Mandela; Rieti and Valle Velina; Assisi; Pale; Cerreto di Spoleto; Popoli and Tocco da Casauria; Rosara and Acquasanta terme; Civitella del Tronto). Almost all deposits are constituted by several plates located at different heights, from 100 m up to 900 m a.s.l.; their age, estimated through geomorphological analysis and radiometric dating, is comprised between the Middle Pleistocene and the Holocene. In the present study, differences in height between Holocene and Pleistocene travertines can be used, together with other geomorphological, geochemical and chronological features, as indicators of the generalized Quaternary uplift and more in general of the Quaternary evolution of central Italy.