Through the study of sedimentological successions, palaeoenvironments and the climatic variations that characterised them can be defined. The research group is particularly focusing on events of the last 200 ky. The study areas are aligned longitudinally: California (USA), the Canary Islands (Spain), Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, the Balearic Islands (Spain), Sardinia (Italy), Tuscany (Italy), Lazio (Italy) and Apulia (Italy).
The research involved sedimentological analyses of outcrops and well successions, three-dimensional reconstruction of the geometries of various recognised sedimentary bodies, and absolute dating of significant stratigraphic intervals using luminescence (both OSL for quartz and pIRSL for K-feldspar). This new dating technique has enabled the stratigraphic intervals to be precisely defined and associated with known climatic events.
Recently, research has focused on assessing the impact of humans on coastal evolution. In particular, the focus has been on how humans can influence changes to ecosystems on a timescale of hundreds of years, with reference to the evolution of cold- and temperate-water coralligenous reefs (both current and fossil) in the Mediterranean.

• 2 Automated TLIIRSL/Blue OSL System Model Risø TL/OSL-DA-20C/D
• 1 Risø Beta Counter system - 5-sample GM gas-flow multicounter unit
• 1 Risø Gamma spectrometry system
• Portable gamma e beta counter

Polo Bionaturalistico di Piandanna,
Via Piandanna 4, Sassari (SS) – 07100

Vincenzo Pascucci – Coordinator
Giulia Cossu – Research Fellow and Laboratory Manager
Myriam Francesca Stelletti – Research Fellow
Marta Lai – Ph.D. Candidate
Giulia Laura Faedda – Ph.D. Candidate
Mario Giovanni De Luca – Researcher