The review of geochronological and historical data documents that the largest southern European deltas formed almost synchronously during two short intervals of enhanced anthropic pressure on landscapes, respectively during the Roman Empire and the Little Ice Age. These growth phases, that occurred under contrasting climatic regimes, were both followed by generalized delta retreat, driven by two markedly different reasons: after the Romans, the fall of the population and new afforestation let soil erosion in river catchments return to natural background levels; since the industrial revolution, instead, flow regulation through river dams overkill a still increasing sediment production in catchment basins. In this second case, furthermore, the effect of a reduced sediment flux to the coasts is amplified by the sinking of modern deltas, due to land subsidence and sea level rise, that hampers delta outbuilding and increases the vulnerability of coastal zone to marine erosion and flooding.

The 350-m-thick succession of the Po River lowstand wedge (Italy) associated with the Last Glacial Maximum (deposited over ∼17 k.y) contains stratal architecture at a physical scale commonly attributed to much longer time scales, with complex, systematically varying internal clinothem characteristics. This study investigated clinothem stacking patterns and controls through the integration of seismic reflection data with sediment attributes, micropaleontology, regional climate, eustacy, and high-resolution age control possible only in Quaternary sequences. Three clinothem types are differentiated based on topset geometry, shelf-edge and onlap-point trajectory, internal seismic facies, and interpreted bottomset deposits: type A has moderate topset aggradation, ascending shelf-edge trajectory, and mass-transport bottomset deposits; type B has eroded topset, descending shelf-edge trajectory, and bottomset distributary channel-lobe complexes; and type C has maximal topset aggradation, ascending shelf-edge trajectory, and concordant bottomsets. Type A and C clinothems exhibit reduced sediment bypass and delivery to the basin, whereas type B clinothems are associated with short intervals of increased sediment export from the shelf to deeper water. Clinothems individually span a range of 0.4–4.7 k.y., contemporaneous with significant eustatic and climate changes, but their stacking patterns resemble those found in ancient successions and ascribed to significantly longer durations, indicating that (1) the response time of ancient continental margin–scale systems to high-frequency variations in accommodation and sediment supply could be as short as centuries, (2) even millennial- to centennial-scale stratal units can record substantial influence of allogenic controls, and (3) sandy deposits can be compartmentalized even in a short-duration lowstand systems tract.

The atmosphere can transport large quantities of microplastics and disperse them throughout the globe to locations inaccessible by many other transport mechanisms. Meteorological events have been proven to pick up and transport particulate matter, however, how they influence the transport and deposition of atmospheric microplastics is still poorly understood. Here we present samples of atmospheric fallout collected during Hurricane Larry as it passed over Newfoundland, Canada in September 2021. During the storm peak, 1.13 × 10⁵ particles m⁻² day⁻¹ were deposited, with a decline in deposition after the storm passed. Back-trajectory modelling and polymer type analysis indicate that those microplastics may have been ocean-sourced as the hurricane traversed the garbage patch of the North Atlantic Gyre. This study identifies the influence of North Atlantic hurricanes on the atmospheric transport and deposition of ocean-sourced microplastics and the possible consequences of increased exposure to microplastics in remote areas.