REEVESIA AND ITEA IN THE POLLEN FLORA OF THE UPPER NEOGENE CONTINENTAL DEPOSIT AT SARZANA (LOWER MAGRA VALLEY, NORTHERN ITALY)

Samples for palynological investigations were taken from the lower, no n-outcropping, lignite-clay layers of the Sarzana deposit. This deposi t is the oldest of the Magra Valley basins and is situated in the lowe r Magra Valley graben. The pollen analysis is represented both as a pe rcentage table and as synthetic diagrams. Several pollen groupings can be recognized. In the group representing the tropical-subtropical ele ments Reevesia and Ilea are particularly characteristic. No fossil pol len of these two genera had been previously reported in Italy. The flo ristic, vegetational, paleophytogeographical and palynostratigraphical significance of the discovery of Reevesia and Itea in Italy are discu ssed. Evidence is presented suggesting that the Sarzana lacustrine dep osit most probably is pre-Pliocene. This new chronological collocation of the Sarzana deposit indicates that the collapse phase of the lower Magra valley graben must be assigned to a preceding age.