FIRST EVIDENCE OF AN INTERGLACIAL LAKE OF EEMIAN AGE IN NORTHEAST ITALY

This paper assesses the age of the Tagliamento Morainic Amphitheatre ( northeast Italy), one of the largest morainic bodies in the piedmont a rea of northern Italy, using new stratigraphical and thermoluminescenc e (TL) data obtained from a site located on the inner flank of the amp hitheatre. Two samples from a 12-m-thick stratum of iluviolacustrine, non-varved, fine sand provided TL ages of approximately 110+/-16 ka BP . This sandy layer lies below a 6-m-thick, massive (non-laminated), cl ayey stratum. It is hypothesised that a large but short-lived lake for med during the interglacial phase separating the penultimate and last glaciations. Assigning a 'Riss' age to the southeastern part of the am phitheatre therefore regains credence. (C) 1998 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.