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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Coastal erosion in the archaeological area of Selinunte

subject

description

Coast erosion is a widespread phenomenon and is a considerable issue for the dwellers of coastal areas today. Our study is based on the archaeological area of Selinunte in which we have noticed a process of erosion in progress. In this area we have considered a particular portion of the coast, around 8 km long, since our purpose is the individuation of anthropic elements such as ports, and natural elements, such as rivers. In this area we have set some point of reference using historical and recent cartography in a 1:25.000 scale dating back to 1971, a regional technical paper in a 1: 10.000 scale from 1994, and aerial pictures from 2000 and 2008, all of which we have geo-related starting from previous geo-related papers, locating some Ground Control Points apparent in all of the considered papers. We have used GIS support and the software program ARCVIEW. We have done a comparison between the actual shoreline and its trend in the previous years. In fact, we have measured the distance between the points considered stable on the shoreline that are changing all the time. In this way we have noticed the course of the coastline, appraising its advancement or withdrawal. The obtained data show that considering 24 stable points, in 70% of cases there has been coast withdrawal between 1994 and 2000; in 60% there has been erosion between 2000 and 2008. From an administrative point of view, the studied area includes the territory of Castelvetrano (TP) and involves a coastline extending to around 8 km, from the beach of Triscina-Selinunte, a fraction of Castelvetrano, to east of the mouth of River Belice. This extension has been defined as thoroughly as possible, in order to include River Belice, which is east of the archaeological park. The two analyzed rivers are Belice and Modione, both belonging to the hydrographic basin River Modione and in the area between River Modione and River Belice. From the geo-morphological point of view two Island Sustainability 147 www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) © 2010 WIT Press WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 130, doi:10.2495/ISLANDS100131 typologies of prevailing landscapes can be considered: a hilly one in the basin, in the most northern area and another one, characterizing the coastal band. The nature of the ground is predominantly clay or clayey-marl with sand breakthroughs covered by calcarenites. In this area some marine terraces are present, for example the marine terrace beneath the Acropolis of Selinunte, situated at +50 m u.s.l. Another helpful element for the study of coast erosion is the discovery of an ancient port in around 1951, now buried under the sand.