Modeling of Evolution of Transgressive Sediments on the Northern Adriatic Sea after the Last Glacial Maximum

James P.M. Syvitski¹, Yu'suke Kubo², Eric W. H. Hutton¹, and Albert J. Kettner^3
1 INSTAAR, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO
² Ocean Research Institute, the University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
³ Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands

A coupled-simulation by the hydrologic model HydroTrend and the stratigraphic model SedFlux is used to investigate the transgressive deposits in the north Adriatic Sea area over the last 21,000 years. Synthetic sediment fluxes from the Po River show an increase of more than 70% during late Pleistocene (i.e. due to glacier melt and enlarged drainage area), compared to modeled sediment loads of the Holocene. These simulations were used as input to the process-based forward-model 2DSedFlux. Paleo-morphology was reconstructed in a pseudo-inverse manner by comparing the predicted deposit distribution and the modern bathymetry. Accommodation space for the thick, prograding deposits in the modern Po and L. Pleistocene Po-lowstand deltas was accounted for by drawing back the modern bathymetric profile. This revised bathymetric profile is then re-adjusted for aggradational deposition. A modified sea-level curve was then used to complete the inversion. The final simulation is a good match with the modern bathymetry. The subsurface architecture of the Po delta was successfully reconstructed despite the lack of three-dimensional features in the model.