scholarly journals Shoreline evolution and modern beach sand composition along a coastal stretch of the Tyrrhenian Sea, southern Italy

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Consuele Morrone ◽  
Fabio Ietto

AbstractThis contribution focuses on a multidisciplinary research showing the geomorphological evolution and the beach sand composition of the Tyrrhenian shoreline between Capo Suvero promontory and Gizzeria Lido village (Calabria, southern Italy). The aim of the geomorphological analysis was to reconstruct the evolutionary shoreline stages and the present-day sedimentary dynamics along approximately 6 km of coastline. The results show a general trend of beach nourishment during the period 1870–2019. In this period, the maximum shoreline accretion value was estimated equal to + 900 m with an average rate of + 6.5 m/yr. Moreover, although the general evolutionary trend is characterized by a remarkable accretion, the geomorphological analysis highlighted continuous modifications of the beaches including erosion processes. The continuous beach modifications occurred mainly between 1953 and 1983 and were caused mainly by human activity in the coastal areas and inside the hydrographic basins. The beach sand composition allowed an assessment of the mainland petrological sedimentary province and its dispersal pattern of the present coastal dynamics. Petrographic analysis of beach sands identified a lithic metamorphi-clastic petrofacies, characterized by abundant fine-grained schists and phyllites sourced from the crystalline terrains of the Coastal Range front and carried by the Savuto River. The sand is also composed of a mineral assemblage comparable to that of the Amato River provenance. In terms of framework detrital constituents of QFL (quartz:feldspars:aphanitic lithic fragments) and of essential extraclasts, such as granitoid:sedimentary:metamorphic phaneritic rock fragments (Rg:Rs:Rm), sand maturity changes moderately from backshore to shoreface, suggesting that transport processes had a little effect on sand maturity. Moreover, the modal composition suggests that the Capo Suvero promontory does not obstruct longshore sand transport from the north. Indeed, sands displaced by currents driven by storm-wave activity bypass this rocky headland.

Geomorphology ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 81 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 235-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Piccarreta ◽  
Hazel Faulkner ◽  
Mario Bentivenga ◽  
Domenico Capolongo

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 7591-7631 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Konz ◽  
M. Chiari ◽  
S. Rimkus ◽  
J. M. Turowski ◽  
P. Molnar ◽  
...  

Abstract. Sediment transport and erosion processes in channels are important components of water induced natural hazards in alpine environments. A distributed hydrological model, TOPKAPI, has been developed to support continuous simulations of river bed erosion and deposition processes. The hydrological model simulates all relevant components of the water cycle and non-linear reservoir methods are applied for water fluxes in the soil, on the surface and in the channel. The sediment transport simulations are performed on a sub-grid level, which allows for a better discretization of the channel geometry, whereas water fluxes are calculated on the grid level in order to be CPU efficient. Flow resistance due to macro roughness is considered in the simulation of sediment transport processes. Several transport equations as well as the effects of armour layers on the transport threshold discharge are considered. The advantage of this approach is the integrated simulation of the entire water balance combined with hillslope-channel coupled erosion and transport simulation. The comparison with the modelling tool SETRAC and with LiDAR based reconstructed sediment transport rates demonstrates the reliability of the modelling concept. The modelling method is very fast and of comparable accuracy to the more specialised sediment transport model SETRAC.


2016 ◽  
Vol 112 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 271-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuseppina Balassone ◽  
Giuseppe Aiello ◽  
Diana Barra ◽  
Piergiulio Cappelletti ◽  
Alberto De Bonis ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naomi Moshe ◽  
Oded Katz ◽  
Adi Torfstein ◽  
Mor Kanari ◽  
Pere Masque ◽  
...  

<p>Submarine canyons are prominent features in continental slopes. They play an important role in sediment transport to the deep sea, as they form conduits for turbidity currents and cause landslides due their steep slopes. Such mass transport events could create geo-hazards, which compromise infrastructures along the continental slope.</p><p>Our research focuses on the Nahariya Canyon, which is part of a series of submarine canyons located along the continental slopes of the eastern Mediterranean, offshore northern Israel. This canyon is incised into the slope and does not reach the shelf. Here, we report the results from a study of two piston cores sampled in the canyon at water depths of 650m (NAC650, ~2.5m long) and 915m (NAC915, ~6m long). Chronologies were established based radiocarbon dating using slope foraminiferal shells, in addition to <sup>210</sup>Pb and OSL dating of bulk sediment. The sediments were characterized by major and trace element concentrations, mineralogy, grain size, and dead foraminiferal assemblages. We further identified the living (Rose-Bengal stained) foraminiferal species at three depths habitats (200m 650m and 915m water depth).</p><p>Our results show that both piston cores are comprised of a capping ~40 cm thick interval of fine laminated mud, deposited over the last ~150-200 years, apparently reflecting hemipelagic sedimentation. This capping interval unconformably overlays a consolidated sequence in both cores, which indicates a major sediment removal. The consolidated sequence in NAC650 is mostly homogenous and dates to the previous glacial (>140 ka), and in NAC915 the upper 70 cm of the consolidated sequence consists mud clasts dated to 27-46 ka that overlay an ‘S shape’ shear zone, which is a result of a down canyon mass wasting (debrite). Below that debrite, the sediment is mostly homogenous and dates to the last glacial (>25 ka). Broken shells of shallow benthic foraminiferal species such as Ammonia spp., Asterigerinata mamilla, Miliolids, Rosalina spp. and Sorites orbiculus are found abundantly throughout both piston-cores, varying between in-core intervals, indicating that allochthonous sediments are prevalent at those cores. Same shallow species are found also in the surface (living) assemblages, mixed with slope deep foraminiferal species. Moreover, the deep living foraminiferal shells are well preserved, in contrast to the shallow living species. Taken together, these indicate that sediment transport processes along the canyon exist to this day.</p><p>The cores suggest that the canyon is an erosive environment at least since the last glacial maximum, when the last significant mass wasting deposit is recorded. The Holocene is not represented in the records, probably due to the dominance of erosion processes, except for a thin layer of sediment deposited over the last two centuries that prevails along the entire canyon.</p>


1962 ◽  
Vol S7-IV (5) ◽  
pp. 760-773 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claude Grandjacquet

Abstract A large view of the evolution and structural history of the Tyrrhenian sea and bordering areas suggests that towards the end of the Permian distensions occurring in the western Mediterranean resulted in the opening of a passage to the Atlantic. Lower Eocene deformations along the Sicilian-Tunisian front were either due to local marginal disequilibrium or to the northern drift of the African continent. Oligocene emergence is evident in the Apennines and in Calabria through the existence of widespread hiatuses and by bauxitic and ferruginous beds. Large scale Oligocene movements brought the African continent to its maximum proximity with Europe. It was in the same period that the clay scaglia and flysch nappes began sliding in Tuscany although the movement of Calabrian nappes in southern Italy did not occur until the lower and middle Miocene.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 510 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Maiolo ◽  
Riccardo Alvise Mel ◽  
Salvatore Sinopoli

Erosion processes threaten the economy, the environment and the ecosystem of coastal areas. In addition, human action can significantly affect the characteristics of the soil and the landscape of the shoreline. In this context, pursuing environmental sustainability is of paramount importance in solving environmental degradation of coastal areas worldwide, with particular reference to the design of complex engineering structures. Among all the measures conceived to protect the shoreline, environmentally friendly interventions should be supported by the stakeholders and tested by means of mathematical models, in order to evaluate their effectiveness in coastal protection through the evaluation of wave damping and bedload. This study focuses on protected nourishments, as strategic interventions aimed to counteract coastal erosion without affecting the environment. Here, we develop a simplified method to provide a preliminary assessment of the efficiency of submerged breakwaters in reducing wave energy at a relatively low computational cost, if compared to the standard 2D or full 3D mathematical models. The methodology is applied at Calabaia Beach, located in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea (Italy), in the area of the Marine Experimental Station of Capo Tirone. The results show that the simplified method is proven to be an essential tool in assisting researchers and institutions to address the effects of submerged breakwaters on nourishment protection.


2019 ◽  
Vol 152 ◽  
pp. 103519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joep van der Zanden ◽  
Iván Cáceres ◽  
Sonja Eichentopf ◽  
Jan S. Ribberink ◽  
Jebbe J. van der Werf ◽  
...  

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