Hydrological evolution of the north-central Po Plain: the underfit streams of the Mincio, Oglio and Adda rivers

The evolution of the main ancient rivers in the central Po Plain is presented. The study of the present and ancient hydrography shows the presence of at least three cases of underfit streams. Particularly two parameters are misused: the length and the radius of curvature of the meander belts. The data show that ancient hydrography presents geometrical parameters about five times larger than the actual hydrography. Underfit stream marks allow us to know the former discharges and to reconstruct the environmental evolution of the central Po plain in the last 15 000 years. -English summary