Evoluzione geomorfologica della Sicilia occidentale

Geology of Monte Gallo (Palermo Mts, NW Sicily)

The promontory of Monte Gallo (Palermo, NW Sicily) is a spectacular site where Upper Triassic-Eocene carbonate platform rocks and Quaternary continental to marine deposits are well exposed. A Mesozoic-Paleogene rock succession allows the potential visitor to easily detect the features and the evolution of the Panormide carbonate platform, a shallow-water paleogeographic domain of the Southern Tethyan margin. Quaternary deposits, as well many landforms, enable the visitor to directly identify the interplay between climate changes, tectonics and fluctuations of marine level that occurred during the Quaternary Period. A detailed geological map (1:15,000 mapping scale) is presented, accompanied…

Elusive active faults in a low strain rate region (Sicily, Italy): Hints from a multidisciplinary land-to-sea approach

Low Strain Rate regions (LSRrs), i.e., areas undergoing tectonic deformation at rates of 1 mm/yr or less, often host important cities and highly vulnerable anthropogenic assets, and due to their subdued topography and relatively infrequent seismicity, are often considered low seismic hazard areas. Despite this, infrequent but high-magnitude earthquakes in such regions suggest that identifying active structures in the LSRr is one of the primary challenges for both the scientific community and modern societies. In such regions, one of the main issues in identifying active faults is the lack of valuable outcrop data due to erosional/sedimentation rates overwhelming the fault deformation, causi…

Analisi geostatistica dei processi erosivi nel bacino del Fiume Naro (Sicilia centro-meridionale)

New insights on the Carburangeli Cave speleogenesis: a flank margin cave in Northern Sicily (Italy)

Flank margin caves form in coastal regions by mixing dissolution. Their development is controlled by the position of the freshsalt water mixing boundary, which in turn, is related to sea-level position. They are characterized by a typical cave pattern and cave-wall morphologies and represent good indicators of past sea levels. This contribution shows the results of recent studies conducted in the Carburangeli Cave, a small sub-horizontal cavity developed in Northern Sicily, close to Palermo. This cave was firstly known for paleontological and archaeological findings and for these reasons, along with its speleological and biological interest, a Nature Reserve has been instituted by the Sicil…

Evoluzione morfotettonica della Sicilia nord occidentale

Validation of multivariated landslide hazard model in the Guddemi river basin (Northern Sicily,Iitaly)

Ruolo dei fenomeni di deformazione gravitativa profonda di versante nell'evoluzione geomorfologica di grandi rilievi carbonatici della Sicilia occidentale

Il carsismo nei rilievi carbonatici della Sicilia Nordoccidentale.

Extremely fast Holocene coastal landscape evolution in the Kachchh Upland (NW India): Clues from a multidisciplinary review

The coastal landscape of the Kachchh Upland (KU) region (NW-India) changed over the last few thousand years from a shallow marine gulf to a salty desert (1-4 meters asl). In this area, bordered to the south by the Northern Hill Range (NHR), the tectonic-climatic interaction triggered the sea level fall from +2/4 m circa (6000-2000 BP) to zero. An ancient river pattern deposited a tidally regulated delta area during the sea level fall that stopped 2000-3000 years ago due to tectonic activity and a dry climate. Deltaic-alluvial fans (DAF) in front of the NHR suggest that the KU's tectonic activity led to fast landscape evolution. We explored such drastic changes by integrating scientific info…

Gypsum karst systems of southern-central Sicily (southern Italy) as powerful markers in geomorphological studies

Deep-seated gravitational slope deformations in western Sicily: Controlling factors, triggering mechanisms, and morphoevolutionary models

Abstract A study of deep-seated gravitational slope deformation (DSGSD) phenomena affecting areas of various geological and geomorphological settings in western Sicily is described. Western Sicily is underlain by a thin-skinned imbricate wedge of Meso–Cenozoic carbonate and siliciclastic rocks that formed by the stacking of several thrust nappes over the Iblean foreland. Locally, the original thrust sheets are folded and cut by high-angle faults. Large areas of western Sicily now display high relief energy due to Plio-Pleistocene block-faulting and uplifting, and the Quaternary morphogenetic phases are characterised by incision, thereby triggering widespread DSGSDs. To identify controlling …

Stop 12: Portella Colla. The debated structural setting

Geomorphology of the urban area of Palermo (Italy)

The results of a geomorphological study carried out in the urban area of Palermo are summarized in a thematic map. Field survey, analysis of aerial photographs and topographic maps, consultation of historical documents and maps, stratigraphic and topographic reconstruction from numerous wells and subsoil data, and bibliographic search were performed, in order to display the geomorphological changes produced by man over time in a densely populated area and to define the Anthropocene of the study area. Palermo town rises along large marine terrace surfaces cut by small river valleys and bordered by wide degraded and abandoned coastal cliffs. Over the last 2700 years, this area was affected by…

Valutazione dell’erosione del suolo nel bacino del Fiume San Leonardo (Sicilia centro-occidentale, Italia).

Quaternary marine and continental unconformity-bounded stratigraphic units of the NW Sicily coastal belt

In the coastal sector of NW Sicily, the regional correlation of relevant unconformities recognised within the Quaternary sedimentary successions allowed the mapping of seven unconformity-bounded stratigraphic units (UBSUs). The regional unconformities are marine or subaerial erosional surfaces, as well as non-depositional surfaces, locally marked by paleosoils. The erosional surfaces were produced from marine abrasion, surface water overland/concentrated flow, river erosion, karst solution, mass movement, or wind erosion. The main lithofacies of the Quaternary UBSUs consist of: (a) marine and coastal bioclastic calcarenites, (b) aeolian sandstones, (c) river deposits, (d) colluvial deposits…

The great polje-like depressions in Sicily

Il qanat di Villa Riso (Palermo, Sicilia)

Durante i lavori di ristrutturazione del complesso edilizio di Villa Riso, villa storica ubicata nell’area della Piana dei Colli (Palermo), sono state applicate tecniche di prospezione georadar e di ispezione diretta che hanno permesso di rinvenire un cunicolo drenante di tipo qanat nel sottosuolo della corte antistante la villa. La presenza di cunicoli drenanti al di sotto di antiche ville è frequente in questo settore della città di Palermo, ma la possibilità di accedervi diventa sempre più difficoltosa, a causa del loro cattivo stato di conservazione. Il qanat di Villa Riso presenta la classica struttura dei qanat della Piana dei Colli, dai quali, tuttavia, si differenzia per la presenza…

First report on the sinkhole phenomena in the Sicilian evaporites (Southern Italy)

Plio-Quaternary coastal landscape evolution of north-western Sicily (Italy)

We present and discuss the results of a geomorphological and geological study aimed at reconstructing the Plio-Quaternary evolution of the NW Sicily coastal belt, a low strain rate region in the central Mediterranean Sea. We performed morphometric and field analysis of Quaternary marine terraces extracting more than 300 shoreline location points subdivided into six orders. The obtained dataset was validate by investigating the morphological changes along topographic profiles and comparing the extracted locations and elevations with the stratigraphic boundaries in the Plio-Quaternary units. We distinguished two contiguous coastal sectors characterized by different paleo-shoreline elevations …

Field mapping in Western Sicily in the frame of the CARG Project

A Multidisciplinary approach to define the Plio-Quaternary tectonics in the Termini Imerese Mts. (Northern central Sicily)

L'ambiente fisico. Geomorfologia dell'area

Unità a limiti inconformi utilizzate per la cartografia dei depositi quaternari nei fogli CARG della Sicilia nord-occidentale

Sono riportati i risultati di uno studio sui depositi quaternari del settore settentrionale siciliano compreso tra Trapani e Cefalù. Dettagliati rilevamenti di campagna e analisi stratigrafiche condotti in questa area nell’ambito del Progetto CARG hanno consentito di definire diverse unità a limiti inconformi, del rango di sintema e subsintema, che costituiscono la sintesi regionale degli affioramenti quaternari della Sicilia nord-occidentale. Sono state riconosciute e studiate numerose successioni di terreni di ambiente da continentale a marino costituite da: depositi fluviali, paralici e marini (conglomerati monogenici o poligenici, areniti e/o peliti sciolte o variamente cementate), accu…

The Madonie Geopark (Italy): geological and geomorphological features

MADONIE MTS. AND CALTANISSETTA BASIN

Superfici di erosione sub-planari in un’area della Sicilia centro-meridionale.

Analisi numerica dei processi di instabilità in cave sotterranee a Marsala (Sicilia occidentale)

La presenza di estesi sistemi caveali in sotterraneo, utilizzati nel secolo scorso per l’estrazione di materiale da costruzione in diversi contesti del territorio italiano, di frequente determina situazioni di pericolo per l’ambiente antropizzato, a causa dello sviluppo di processi di instabilità, che possono propagarsi verso l’alto, sino a raggiungere la superficie. Specialmente nei casi in cui la memoria storica della presenza ed estensione delle cave sotterranee è andata persa, lo sviluppo urbanistico dei centri abitati nel corso degli ultimi decenni può avere determinato la realizzazione di abitazioni ed infrastrutture al di sopra, o nelle immediate vicinanze, di zone interessate da com…

Soil erosion susceptibility assessment and validation using a geostatistical multivariate approach: a test in southern Sicily

A certain number of studies have been carried out in recent years that aim at developing and applying a model capable of assessing water erosion of soil. Some of these have tried to quantitatively evaluate the volumes of soil loss, while others have focused their efforts on the recognition of the areas most prone to water erosion processes. This article presents the results of a research whose objective was that of evaluating water erosion susceptibility in a Sicilian watershed: the Naro river basin. A geomorphological study was carried out to recognize the water erosion landforms and define a set of parameters expressing both the intensity of hydraulic forces and the resistance of rocks/so…

Bio-chronology of pleistocene vertebrate faunas of sicily and correlation of vertebrate bearing deposits with marine deposits

The rich Pleistocene fossil record of Sicily allowed the construction of a fairly detailed bio-chronological frame that is dated by correlation of vertebrate bearing deposits with marine deposits by geochemical and radiometric dating too. Actually, an important category of deposits is representative of transitional and neritic environments, frequently associated with a lagoon or swamp. Limnic deposits related to small freshwater basins also occur, often in relation to coastal and fully marine deposits. Numerous relationships have been found between the vertebrate bearing deposits and marine deposits, which can be correlated with the δ18O isotopic record and the main palaeogeographic events …

Geomorphological map of the Madonie Park (Northern Central Sicily)

Landslide susceptibility assessment in Sicily: a key study in the central chain sector (Sicani Mounts)

A multidisciplinary approach to the evaluation of the mechanism that triggered the Cerda landslide (Sicily, Italy).

Abstract The present paper describes a multidisciplinary approach to the evaluation of a seismically triggered landslide that occurred in the Cerda area (Italy) on September 6, 2002, about 1 h after an earthquake took place in the south Tyrrhenian Sea. The study was focused on an analysis of the role of the seismic input in triggering the landslide, in view of the evidence that no other mass movement was recorded in the adjacent areas despite geological and geomorphological spatial homogeneity. The studied area is located on a slope of the western flank of the Fiume Imera Settentrionale (Northern Sicily), which is made up of clayey–arenitic rocks. The slope inclines gently but is not unifor…

The use of shallow dripwater as an isotopic marker of seepage in karst areas: A comparison between Western Sicily (Italy) and the Harz Mountains (Germany)

Abstract The isotopic signature of slow-flowing dripwater collected in caves located in Western Sicily (Italy) was determined for evaluating its possible use as an isotopic tracer of the local groundwater recharge. These spot measures were compared with a longer series of local rain and spring compositions and with other samples taken, under different hydrogeological conditions, in caves of the Harz Mountains (Northern Germany). The slow flowing dripwater from Sicily showed δ 18 O/δD ratios similar to those of local rain and groundwater, demonstrating that these three are all parent waters. A parallel similarity was found in the vertical isotopic gradient (Δδ 18 O) of the three groups of wa…

Sicilia nord-occidentale: dai Monti di Palermo al trapanese

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Atmospheric CO2 Concentrations in Caves Protected as Nature Reserves and Related Gas Hazard

Atmospheric CO2 concentrations can reach high levels inside natural caves, representing a hazardous condition for both humans frequenting the underground environment and its safeguard due to the corrosion of speleothems induced by the acidification of atmospheric moisture. These issues are particularly critical for the eco-sustainable management of caves protected as nature reserves and undergoing touristic exploitation. In this paper we present the results of the C6 project, which was activated in 1999 for the monitoring of air quality inside three caves protected as nature reserves in Sicily (Italy). Near-real-time and spot measurements of air temperature and CO2 concentration have been c…

KARST OF SICILY AND ITS CONSERVATION

Geomorphological evolution of Pantelleria volcanic island, Sicily Channel

Inventory of italian rocky coasts aimed at the improvement of the knowledge of their evolution

The establishment of a working group on rocky coast in Italy in 2006 have permitted to organize several activities (meetings and excursions) and therefore to prepare an inventory of Italian rocky coasts. At these activities have participated the authors of the present abstract, which have indicated from time in time the characters of the visited coasts performed in these two years. Such coasts was selected in order to have a wide inventory where cliff in different geological regimes (tectonically stable, volcano-tectonically active) and lithology (limestone, terrigenous, volcanic) are represented. The aim of this group is to improve the knowledge of the factors having a role in the evolutio…

Relazioni tra grotte nei gessi e forme del rilievo di superficie: un modello morfoevolutivo di un'area carsica della Sicilia centro-meridionale

Morphoevolutive models of the deep-seated gravitational slope deformation phenomena in Sicily Chain

L’ultimo sprofondamento a Marsala: l’evento del 21 novembre 2013

The Marsala area, at the western end of Sicily, has been historically interested by quarry activities, both at surface and underground. The carved rocks are Lower Pleistocene calcarenites, defined as “Calcarenite di Marsala” and referred to the Marsala syntheme. The subterranean quarries, now abandoned, show increasing instability signs becoming in time a risk factor for several causes, among which: a) breakdowns due to poor (weak) strength of rock and to large size of voids; b) progressive weathering of rock; c) effects of the discontinuities in the rock mass with the pillars and/or walls of the underground quarries. These factors contributed to enlargement of the subterranean voids and to…

Landslide hazard analysis in the Iato River basin

1. Inquadramento geologico e geomorfologico

Vengono descritti i caratteri geologici e geomorfologici del territorio comunale di Contessa Entellina (PA), i cui risultati sono sintetizzati in una carta geologica, una carta geomorfologica e una carta litologica.

La Grotta dei Personaggi di Montevago (AG), una nuova segnalazione di cavità ipogenica in Sicilia

La Grotta dei Personaggi è localizzata in Sicilia occidentale, nei pressi di Monte Magaggiaro, a S del centro abitato di Montevago (AG). Nell’area sono presenti sorgenti termali, caratterizzate da acque cloro-solfate alcalino-terrose con temperatura di circa 40 °C e pH 7. La Grotta dei Personaggi, conosciuta già dai primi anni del 1900 e nota anche per ritrovamenti archeologici, non era mai stata dettagliatamente rilevata e studiata. La cavità si sviluppa prevalentemente in calcari di piattaforma della formazione Inici (Giurassico inf.) e in calcari di scarpata e pelagici della formazione Buccheri (Giurassico inf.-sup.). Si tratta di una cavità sub-orizzontale che presenta uno sviluppo di c…

Foglio 607 Corleone

La Rocca di Cefalù: modello geomeccanico e condizioni di rischio per la cittadina normanna

La cittadina di Cefalù, ubicata a circa 70 km da Palermo, è una delle perle del Mediterraneo, per la bellezza dei luoghi, dominati dalla Rocca, imponente rupe carbonatica alta circa 250 m s.l.m., e per i beni architettonici (Figg. 1 e 2). Fondata dai greci con il nome di Κεφαλοίδιον tra il XIV e il XIII a.C., conserva sulla Rocca il palazzo santuario ciclopico-megalitico, noto come Tempio di Diana. Sul ciglio della Rocca e per il suo intero sviluppo si snoda la cinta muraria di tipo megalitico risalente alla fine del V secolo a.C. (periodo pre-ellenico), in parte ricostruita nel periodo bizantino (VII÷IX secolo d.C.). Nel periodo normanno (secolo XII d.C.) furono costruiti i principali monu…

The Middle-Late Quaternary littoral deposits of Western Sicily coastal belt (southern Italy): sedimentology and geomorphology

A multidisciplinary study has been carried out on the littoral deposits located along the western Sicily coastal belt, central Mediterranean region, with the aim of unravelling their origin and evolution through analysis of their lithology, texture, sedimentary structures, and geomorphological features. The deposits crop out between the towns of Trapani and Marsala and are distributed from the present-day coastline up to 120 m above sea level, forming four major discrete ridges in the landscape, each of separated by topographic depressions with flat or slightly concave upwards surfaces. The ridges ranging between 5 to 30 m in height, display a NNE-SSW trend almost parallel to the present-da…

La Geomorfologia

Analisi della franosità del Fiume Iato

I. 1. Inquadramento geologico

Vengono illustrati brevemente i caratteri geologici e geomorfologici della Sicilia occidentale e analizzate le relazioni tra antichi insediamenti e geologia.

Stop 3.2: Alcamo Cappuccini

Schema geomorfologico della Penisola di Capo San Vito (Sicilia nord-occidentale)

Geomorphology of the Capo San Vito Peninsula (NW Sicily): An Example of Tectonically and Climatically Controlled Landscape

The Capo San Vito peninsula is located along the north-westernmost sector of the Sicilian coastline. It is characterized by a complex geomorphological setting, where a large variety of coastal, gravity-induced and karst landforms allow the visitor to easily detect the interactions between Quaternary tectonics and climate changes as well as morphodynamic processes responsible for shaping the landscape. Thanks to natural reserves, the peninsula preserves a typical Mediterranean natural environment, marked by spectacular and suggestive landforms.

KARST LANDSCAPES IN SICILY (SOUTHERN ITALY), WITH EXAMPLES OF SUSTAINABLE EXPLOITATION

Study of anthropogenic sinkholes in the Marsala area (western Sicily) through numerical analyses of instability processes in underground quarries

Analisi numerica dei processi di instabilità in cave sotterranee

La presenza di estesi sistemi caveali in sotterraneo, utilizzati nel secolo scorso per l’estrazione di materiale da costruzione in diversi contesti del territorio italiano, di frequente determina situazioni di pericolo per l’ambiente antropizzato, a causa dello sviluppo di processi di instabilità, che possono propagarsi verso l’alto, sino a raggiungere la superficie. Specialmente nei casi in cui la memoria storica della presenza ed estensione delle cave sotterranee è andata persa, lo sviluppo urbanistico dei centri abitati nel corso degli ultimi decenni può avere determinato la realizzazione di abitazioni ed infrastrutture al di sopra, o nelle immediate vicinanze, di zone interessate da com…

Unità a limiti inconformi dei depositi quaternari utilizzate per la cartografia nei fogli CARG della Sicilia nord occidentale

Gully Erosion susceptibility assesment: a case study in the Magazzolo River Basin, Sicily, Italy.

Il carsismo nei rilievi carbonatici della Sicilia nord occidentale (Carbonate Karst in the NW Sicily)

Tectonics, climate and deposition/erosion cycles during the Quaternary in Western Sicily

Continental to marine Quaternary deposits outcrop in thin and patchily exposed successions in Western Sicily, overlying a previously deformed substrate, known as the Neogene-Early Quaternary chain. These deposits are grouped in sedimentary units bounded by unconformity surfaces. The detected unconformities, often of regional extent, allows us to define seven main synthems: a) Marsala synthem is a Lower Pleistocene 2-80 m-thick body of marine/coastal calcarenites; b) Piana di Partinico synthem is made up of 1-5 m thick marine/continental clastics located on several marine terraces related to sea level highstand phases of Middle Pleistocene (Oxygen Isotope Stages – OISs - 17-7); c) Polisano s…

3D- and spatial analysis GIS-tools for the study of sequences of relict sub-planar erosion surfaces

Fogli 609-596, Termini Imerese-Capo Plaia

Il Servizio Geologico Nazionale ha unificato i Fogli 609 "Termini Imerese" e 596 "Capo Plaia" in un unico Foglio denominato 609/596 "Termini Imerese-Capo Plaia" allo scopo di uniformare i rilievi e raccoglierne la descrizione in un unico volume delle Note Illustrative. Il Foglio 609/596 "Termini Imerese-Capo Plaia" della Carta Geologica d’Italia in scala 1:50.000 è stato realizzato nell’ambito del Progetto CARG con i fondi della Legge 67/88 - Legge 226/99 con una convenzione tra Servizio Geologico Nazionale ora ISPRA) e Regione Siciliana. Le aree ricadono interamente nella Provincia di Palermo, comprendono la fascia marina del Golfo di Termini Imerese fino al promontorio di Capo Plaia, la r…

Implicazioni cronostratigrafiche sui depositi plio-pleistocenici della Sicilia e del suo offshore nel quadro del Progetto CARG

Analisi mediante GIS dei processi di erosione nel bacino del Fiume Naro (Sicilia Centro-meridionale, Italia)

Gis-analysis to assess landslide susceptibility in a fluvial basin of NW Sicily (Italy).

Abstract Landslide hazard assessment, effected by means of geostatistical methods, is based on the analysis of the relationships between landslides and the spatial distributions of some instability factors. Frequently such analyses are based on landslide inventories in which each record represents the entire unstable area and is managed as a single instability landform. In this research, landslide susceptibility is evaluated through the study of a variety of instability landforms: landslides, scarps and areas uphill from crown . The instability factors selected were: bedrock lithology, steepness, topographic wetness index and stream power index. The instability landform densities computed f…

Pedostratigraphic notes on the middle - late pleistocene of capo san vito peninsula (NW sicily)

The available data about Quaternary pedostratigraphic of North-Western Sicily are mainly obtained when fossil vertebrate assemblages are studied. These are often found in caves or in other morphological "traps", where the products of the erosion of soils developed outside these features are redeposited. Soils that may have originated these deposits were found on the marine terraces that are typical of the coast areas of Sicily. Two sequences, called "K22" and "Isolidda", that crop out in the North-Western side of the San Vito lo Capo peninsula -to the West of Palermo -are examined in this work. The first one is a karstic cave infilling, situated near the eastern rim of the old falaise that …

THE ROLE OF VOLCANIC AND ANTHROPOGENIC ACTIVITIES IN CONTROLLING THE EROSION PROCESSES AT VULCANO ISLAND (ITALY)

The paper describes the erosion processes acting at La Fossa cone (Vulcano Island, Italy). La Fossa cone is a stratovolcano made up of pyroclastic deposits and lavas covered by tuffs from the last eruption, dated 1888-90. Its flanks are affected by intense water erosion phenomena leading to the formation of denudation surfaces due to sheet erosion, rills, gullies and small canyons. As a consequence of very intense rainfalls, episodic debris flows occur along main gullies and canyons. Fumarolic activity plays an important role in the control of erosion processes, being both an obstacle for the growth of vegetation and a weathering factor. The GIS analysis and comparison of geo-referenced map…

Detection of Quaternary tectonic deformations through quantitative morphotectonic analysis in a drainage basin of northern Sicily (Italy)

DETECTION OF PLIO-QUATERNARY FAULTS IN MADONIE MOUNTAINS (SICILY) BY USING QUANTITATIVE GEOMORPHIC AND STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY ANALYSES

The Northern Madonie Mountains (Northern-Central Sicily), sector of the Sicilian Maghrebian chain, consist of a tectonic thrust system developed through two subsequent main contractional events: 1) a shallow-seated compressional event developed during the Middle-Upper Miocene; 2) a deep-seated transpressional event occuring since the Late Miocene. Lower Pliocene (Trubi) to Quaternary clastic deposits unconformably lie on the tectonic units and are partially involved by deformation. In the selected area, syntectonic sedimentary basins characters are able to define the timing of deformation only until the Lower Pliocene; to resolve this gap of information application of quantitative geomorphi…

Capo San Vito Peninsula (Stops 4.1 – 4.4).

EXTENSIVE FIELD MAPPING IN SICILY (CARG PROJECT) IN THE FRAME OF THE CRUSTAL SEISMIC REFLECTION ACQUISITION (SI.RI.PRO PROJECT).

Sprofondamenti di origine antropica nell'area di Marsala (Sicilia occidentale) analizzati mediante rilievi in sito e analisi numerica dei processi di instabilità nelle cave sotterranee

Geomorphological setting of Madonie Geopark (Italy)

The Madonie Natural Park is characterized by relevant zoological and botanic aspects and by geological features so remarkable that since 2001 it has been incorporated into the European Geoparks Network. The Park is marked by a wide massif know as Madonie Mountains. In this area, segment of the Maghrebide-Apenninic chain, successions of Meso-Cenozoic lithologies and late- and post-orogenic deposits occur. The geomorphological setting is extremely varied and includes many landscapes characterising several Sicilian areas; it results from the interaction between geomorphological processes, tectonic movements and climatic changes. It is possible to identify five distinct sectors, each correspond…

Geomorphology of the Anthropocene in Mediterranean urban areas

Urban-geomorphology studies in historical cities provide a significant contribution towards the broad definition of the Anthropocene, perhaps even including its consideration as a new unit of geological time. Specific methodological approaches to recognize and map landforms in urban environments, where human-induced geomorphic processes have often overcome the natural ones, are proposed. This paper reports the results from, and comparison of, studies conducted in coastal historical cities facing the core of the Mediterranean Sea – that is, Genoa, Rome, Naples, Palermo (Italy) and Patras (Greece). Their settlements were facilitated by similar climatic and geographical contexts, with high gr…

Landslide hazard analysis using GIS, Fiumara di Rosmarino, North-Eastern Sicily

Gypsum karst caves versus surface landforms to define a morphoevolutive model in Central Southern Sicily (Southern Italy)

Carta Geologica d'Italia alla scala 1:50.000 e note illustrative del foglio 594-585 PARTINICO-MONDELLO.

The 594-585 ”Partinico-Mondello” Map Sheet 1:50.000 includes marine and land areas of the topographic map sheet “Partinico” and “Mondello”. The map sheet “Partinico-Mondello” (Palermo Province) covers a part of the Sicily Fold and Thrust Belt (FTB) which has developed along the plate boundary between Africa and Europe in the central Mediterranean. The Sicily FTB links the African Maghrebides to the Calabrian arc and the Southern Apennines. The fTB and its submerged western and northern exten- sions are partly located between the Sardinia block and the Pelagian-Ionian sec- tor, and partly beneath the central southern Tyrrhenian Sea. In this sector of the Mediterranean area, the main compress…

Anthropogenic sinkholes in central-south Sicily

Meccanismi di innesco dei fenomeni di espandimento laterale nei rilievi montuosi della Sicilia occidentale: i casi di Monte Speziale e Rocca Busambra

Primi risultati su alcune grotte ipogeniche della Sicilia

Vengono presentati i risultati preliminari di uno studio condotto su alcune grotte ipogeniche della Sicilia, ritenute fino a questo momento di natura epigenica: il sistema carsico di Monte Inici e la Grotta dell’Acqua Fitusa. Il primo sistema è localizzato nella Sicilia nordoccidentale lungo il versante sudorientale di Monte Inici. È costituito da due cavità, la Grotta dell’Eremita e l’Abisso dei Cocci, che si sviluppano in calcari e calcari dolomitici della Fm. Inici (Giura inf.) e in calcari ad ammoniti della Fm. Buccheri (Giura medio-sup.). Si tratta di sistemi tridimensionali freatici che raggiungono una lunghezza di oltre 2km e una profondità superiore a 300m. Sono caratterizzati da di…

Foglio 593, Castellammare del Golfo

Il Foglio 593 “Castellammare del Golfo” della Carta Geologica d’Italia in scala 1:50.000 è stato realizzato nell’ambito del Progetto CARG con i fondi della Legge 305/89, con una convenzione tra Servizio Geologico Nazionale (ora ISPRA) e la Regione Siciliana. Il Foglio “Castellammare del Golfo” ricopre un settore dell’ estremità nordoccidentale della Sicilia e comprende le aree marine del Golfo del Cofano, della Baia di San Vito e della porzione centro-occidentale del Golfo di Castellammare, e quelle emerse costituite dalla dorsale dei Monti di Capo San Vito, dall’ampio settore collinare di Monte Luziano e Monte Bosco, dal massiccio di Monte Inici e dai pianori della Piana di Castellammare, …

Realizzazione di una rete di monitoraggio geodetico della frana di Scopello (Sicilia nord-occidentale)

L’area di Scopello (Sicilia Nord-Occidentale) è da tempo oggetto di studi che, sulla base di osservazioni e rilievi geomorfologici, hanno consentito sia di riconoscere la presenza di frane superficiali e di fenomeni di deformazione gravitativa profonda di versante (DGPV), sia di ipotizzare cause e tipologie dei movimenti in atto, giungendo alla definizione di un primo modello interpretativo. I movimenti franosi si sviluppano lungo i settori costieri dell’area di Scopello, dove è a giorno un piano di sovrascorrimento del Miocene superiore, che vede la sovrapposizione di unità rigide, costituite da successioni carbonatiche meso-cenozoiche, su unità duttili, costituite, al tetto, da argille-ma…

Geomorphological evolution of western Sicily, Italy

Abstract This paper proposes a morphoevolutionary model for western Sicily. Sicily is a chain–foredeep–foreland system still being built, with tectonic activity involving uplift which tends to create new relief. To reconstruct the morphoevolutionary model, geological, and geomorphological studies were done on the basis of field survey and aerial photographic interpretation. The collected data show large areas characterized by specific geological, geomorphological, and topographical settings with rocks, landforms, and landscapes progressively older from south to north Sicily. The achieved results display: (1) gradual emersion of new areas due to uplift, its interaction with the Quaternary gl…

Carta geologica d'italia alla scala 1:50.000 e note illustrative del foglio 595_Palermo

The Map Sheet 1:50.000 595 ”Palermo” includes marine and land areas of the topographic map sheet “Palermo”. The map sheet “Palermo” (Palermo Province) covers a part of the Sicily Fold and Thrust Belt (FTB) which has developed along the plate boundary between Africa and Europe in the Central Mediterranean. The Sicily FTB links the African Maghrebide to the Calabrian arc and Southern Apennines. The FTB and its submerged western and northern extensions are part- ly located between the Sardinia block and the Pelagian-Ionian sector, and partly beneath the central southern Tyrrhenian Sea. In this sector of the Mediterranean area, the main compressional move- ments, after the Paleogene Alpine orog…

GPS Monitoring of the Scopello (Sicily, Italy) DGSD Phenomenon: Relationships Between Surficial and Deep-Seated Morphodynamics

The Scopello area, which is located along the north-western Tyrrhenian coastal sector of the Sicilian chain (Italy), is widely affected by Deep-seated Gravitational Slope Deformation (DGSD) phenomena, which are mainly the result of a geomorphologic setting marked by the outcropping of an overthrust plan, limiting a brittle fractured carbonate slab, laid onto a ductile marly-clayey substratum. Due to the very advanced stage of the deformation phenomena, a coupled morphodynamic style has established between shallow landslides and DGSD phenomena, affecting the exhumed ductile substratum and the overlaying rigid dismantled slab, respectively. A GPS network was realized for monitoring the Scopel…

Stop 8: The Northern sector of the Chain (S. Vito Peninsula): The Panormide Thrust

ASPETTI GEOLOGICI, GEOMORFOLOGICI E ANTROPOLOGICI DE LA MONTAGNOLA (SAN GIOVANNI GEMINI, AGRIGENTO): PROPOSTA DI UN GEOSITO

Anthropogenic sinkholes in the Marsala area (western Sicily) linked to underground quarries

Il Ruolo dei fenomeni vulcanici e dell'attività dell'uomo nel controllo di processi erosivi nell'isola di Vulcano

Considerazioni preliminari sull’interazione tra fenomeni vulcanici ed evoluzione antropica nel controllo dei processi erosivi nell’Isola di Vulcano

I depositi quaternari nei fogli CARG della Sicilia nord occidentale: implicazioni climatiche, ambientali e tettoniche

Quaternary deposits within the National Geologic Maps of Northwestern Sicily: climatic, environmental and tectonic implications. In Northwestern Sicily, Quaternary continental, coastal and marine deposits outcrop. The occurrence of deposits enclosing lower and upper unconformity surfaces allowed to define several unconformity-bounded stratigraphic units (synthems). These units have been mapped in the several National Geologic Maps prepared in the frame of the CARG Project. Stratigraphic features of the Quaternary deposits and their relationship with marine/fluvial terraces, other landforms and tectonic structures suggest the presence of small and isolated sedimentary areas placed on structu…

Landslide analysis in the Iato river basin (north-western Sicily, Italy)

Extremely fast Holocene coastal landscape evolution in the Kachchh Upland (NW India): Clues from a multidisciplinary review

The coastal landscape of the Kachchh Upland (KU) region (NW-India) changed over the last few thousand years from a shallow marine gulf to a salty desert (1-4 meters asl). In this area, bordered to the south by the Northern Hill Range (NHR), the tectonic-climatic interaction triggered the sea level fall from +2/4 m circa (6000-2000 BP) to zero. An ancient river pattern deposited a tidally regulated delta area during the sea level fall that stopped 2000-3000 years ago due to tectonic activity and a dry climate. Deltaic-alluvial fans (DAF) in front of the NHR suggest that the KU's tectonic activity led to fast landscape evolution. We explored such drastic changes by integrating scientific info…

Plio-Quaternary coastal landscape evolution of north-western Sicily (Italy)

We present and discuss the results of a geomorphological and geological study aimed at reconstructing the Plio-Quaternary evolution of the NW Sicily coastal belt , a low strain rate region in the central Mediterranean Sea. We performed morphometric and field analysis of Quaternary marine terraces extracting more than 300 shoreline location points subdivided into six orders. The obtained dataset was validate by investigating the morphological changes along topographic profiles and comparing the extracted locations and elevations with the stratigraphic boundaries in the Plio-Quaternary units. We distinguished two contiguous coastal sectors characterized by different paleo-shoreline elevations…

Geology of Monte Gallo (Palermo Mts, NW Sicily)

ABSTRACTThe promontory of Monte Gallo (Palermo, NW Sicily) is a spectacular site where Upper Triassic-Eocene carbonate platform rocks and Quaternary continental to marine deposits are well exposed. A Mesozoic-Paleogene rock succession allows the potential visitor to easily detect the features and the evolution of the Panormide carbonate platform, a shallow-water paleogeographic domain of the Southern Tethyan margin. Quaternary deposits, as well many landforms, enable the visitor to directly identify the interplay between climate changes, tectonics and fluctuations of marine level that occurred during the Quaternary Period. A detailed geological map (1:15,000 mapping scale) is presented, acc…

Carta Geologica d’Italia alla scala 1:50.000 del Foglio 608 “Caccamo”. Progetto CARG.

Foglio 594 Partinico