Lower to Upper Pleistocene coastal deposits from Ses Salines, the Es Freus Islets and Cala Sabina (Pityusic Islands, Western Mediterranean): Chronology and evolution

Abstract

[eng] Coastal areas are dynamic territories that are subjected to the confluence of many factors and agents that are causing transformations. These modifications and their causes can be identified from the geomorphological evidence. The study of the Pleistocene deposits of Pityusic islands can provide a very good source of information for gaining better knowledge onthe history of the climate and envirnomental conditions, as well as the geomorphological processes that occurred during the Quaternary. In this study we present the sedimentology and stratigraphy of the Pleistocene materials cropping out in the Ses Salines (Eivissa), the Es Freus islets -between Eivissa and Formentera Is.-and Cala Sabina (Formentera). Five major sedimentary facies are described, presenting the succession of aeolian colluvial and edaphic environments. The Optically Stimulation Luminescence (OSL) dating of aeolian levels and edaphic levels indicates that their deposition took place between Lower to the Upper Pleistocene. The sedimentological and chronological analysis of these deposits allows to reconstructed the coastal Pleistocene environmental history form MIS 16 to MIS 5.