www.geologicacarpathica.com
GEOLOGICA CARPATHICA
, FEBRUARY 2017, 68, 1, 3 – 5
Preface: Long-term geomorphological evolution
of central-southern Italy
PIETRO P.C. AUCELLI
1
, JOZEF MINÁR
2
, CARMEN M. ROSSKOPF
3
and MARCELLO SCHIATTARELLA
4
1
Department of Science and Technology, University of Naples “Parthenope”, I-80143 Naples, Italy; pietro.aucelli@uniparthenope.it
2
Department of Physical Geography and Geoecology, Comenius University, SK-81499 Bratislava, Slovakia; jozef.minar@uniba.sk
3
Geosciences & GIS Laboratory, Department of Biosciences and Territory, University of Molise, I-86090 Pesche, Italy; rosskopf@unimol.it
4
Department of European and Mediterranean Cultures, University of Basilicata, I-75100 Matera, Italy; marcello.schiattarella@unibas.it
The theme of the present issue, “Long-term geomorphological
evolution of central-southern Italy”, represents a key topic in
Italian geomorphological research, one that has been strongly
influenced by the Anglo-Saxon concept of Long-term land-
scape evolution in which the landscape is essentially under-
stood as a physical landscape.
From the start of the millennium, the understanding of the
mechanisms of interplay and feedback between tectonics and
climate has gathered momentum in the worldwide geoscience
community. In this context, the multidisciplinary approach to
studying the surface processes and landscape evolution of
a tectonically active mountain chain represents a necessary
method for gaining new insights into these topics (Burbank &
Anderson 2001; Bishop 2007, and references therein). In fact,
tectonics sets the boundary conditions and the uplift rate of
an orogeny, whereas the climate and relative changes control
the modalities of relief shaping, making effective the morpho-
genetic processes acting in different geological and geomor-
phological contexts. One of the main tools for obtaining
information on the dynamic state of an orogenic chain consists
in estimations and comparisons of uplift and erosion rates
calculated for quite different time intervals, which are subse-
quently used to understand both long and short-term surface
processes.
In this thematic issue, seven groups of authors from different
academic institutions review the outcomes of approximately
twenty years of scientific investigations, performed in the cen-
tral and southern segments of the Italian Apennines (Fig. 1).
Of particular interest is the axial zone of the chain, where
many intermontane basins filled by Pliocene and Quaternary
clastic deposits and relevant geomorphic features, such as the
relics of paleo-landscapes, are present (cf. Schiattarella et al.
2006 and Aucelli et al. 2011, among others).
The papers included in this issue are essentially review
articles. In fact, the syntheses conducted by the author groups
are largely based on the critical analysis of data from literature
that is integrated with original geological and geomorphologi-
cal constraints provided by recent, still unpublished research.
The integration and correlation of data on structural land-
scapes and tectonic landforms, the regional-scaled and basin-
scaled morphostructural analyses, as well as the identification
of reference levels for uplift rates estimates, have allowed the
different research groups to obtain a suitable picture of the
long-term landscape evolution of their study areas.
This collection of papers fills an important gap in know-
ledge to date. It provides for the first time an overall frame-
work of an updated body of knowledge obtained by means of
modern chrono-constrained approaches for large sectors of the
orogenic system, affording an opportunity for the international
scientific community to compare the spatio-temporal distribu-
tion and modalities of the morphoevolutive stages of the
central-southern Apennines.
The papers here included address study areas covering large
portions of the Marche, Abruzzo, Molise, Campania, Basili-
cata, Calabria, and Sicily regions. The first four papers of the
volume enhance the Quaternary and pre-Quaternary morpho-
genesis of a wide sector of the central-southern Apennines.
In particular, the first three papers show that from the axial
portion of the Apennine chain up to the Adriatic Sea the conti-
nental morphogenesis commenced during the Neogene period,
when the orogen was still under compression. These papers
also illustrate the role of extensional tectonics that influenced
this sector of the chain since the Early Pleistocene. During the
Quaternary (in particular from the Early to Middle Pleisto-
cene) this sector of the Apennine chain underwent generalized
uplift and intense block faulting, due to the activity of high-
angle faults primarily affecting the axial and Tyrrhenian belts
of the orogen, and as a result generating many intermontane
basins. Such tectonics was also responsible for the genesis of
the wide peri-Tyrrhenian half-grabens, as discussed in the
fourth paper that sets out the evolution of the Campania and
Sele coastal plains. The final three papers illustrate the geo-
morphological features on different scales, together with their
Pliocene to Quaternary evolution from the southernmost sec-
tor of the Italian orogen. The complex morphotectonic settings
of the Lucanian Apennine (Basilicata), the Crati River graben
(Calabria), and Sicily — together with some relevant issues
such as the rates of tectonic and geomorphic processes, the
correlation between stratigraphic unconformities and erosio-
nal land surfaces, and the meaning of exhumational morpho-
structures — have been effectively examined and typified by
the authors in the frame of a common Pliocene-Pleistocene
chronological interval. The contributions regarding the individual
regions are briefly outlined below, going from north to south.
Gentili and co-authors illustrate the Plio-Pleistocene evolu-
tion of the Apennine and the peri-Adriatic belt of the Marche
region. The beginning of the sub-aerial landscape modelling is
evidenced by the summit relict surface. The genesis of this
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AUCELLI, MINÁR, ROSSKOPF and SCHIATTARELLA
GEOLOGICA CARPATHICA
, 2017, 68, 1, 3 – 5
land surface started during the Messinian and ended in the
Early Pleistocene, when climate conditions favoured areal
erosion and its final modelling. The fingerprint of the present- day
landscape took shape during the Late Pliocene–Pleistocene
time-span. Tectonic uplift caused the fragmentation of the relict
surface, and its dislocation caused the generation of second-
order land surfaces. During this phase, bending and faulting of
the summit relict surface and the opening of tectonic inter-
montane basins occurred. During the Middle and Late Pleisto-
cene, the rapid tectonic uplift of the area along with climate
fluctuations favoured the deepening of the hydrographic
network and the genesis of three orders of fluvial terraces, thus
completing the basic features of the present landscape.
Miccadei et al. outline the main stages of the geomorpho-
logical evolution of the Abruzzo Apennine that started in the
Neogene, and then subsequently underwent a spatio-temporal
variation under the major influences of climate change and the
effects of regional uplift. Here the landscape is the result of
a long polyphasic morphogenesis due to the continuous com-
bination of tectonics and selective erosion, favoured by the
juxtaposition of different lithological sequences resulting from
compressive and extensional tectonics and regional uplift. In
the axial portion of the chain, the evolution of the landscape
was connected to regional uplift, local tectonic subsidence,
and local base level variations that led to changes in the drai-
nage systems, shifting alternately from exoreic to endorheic.
In the Adriatic Piedmont, landscape shaping started in the late
Early Pleistocene and progressed under the influence of
a combination of uplift and eustatic sea-level fluctuations,
together with climate changes and selective erosion. This gave
rise to its present-day dominant homoclinal morphostructural
setting (plateaux and mesa structures), incised by large conse-
quent river valleys. In the coastal Adriatic area, landscape
modelling has been the result of selective erosion, due to the
interaction between marine and slope processes induced by
uplift and which occurred under the influence of Late Quater-
nary eustatic sea-level variations.
Amato et al. describe the main evolutive stages of a poly-
cyclic landscape that started to form in the Pliocene when the
Molise Apennine gradually emerged from SW to NE. Their
synthesis highlights that the landscape evolution of the region
varied over space and time and initially occurred under the
influence of compressional tectonics and subsequently under
that of transtensive and extensional faulting. The most impor-
tant stages of landscape evolution occurred during the Early
and the Middle Pleistocene. The internal SW Sector had
already emerged in the Pliocene, while the NE Sector remained
largely under the marine domain until the Early Pleistocene.
During the Early Pleistocene, in addition to the Central Sector,
the internal portion of the NE sector emerged but continued to
be affected by compression, while the morphogenesis of the
SW sector was already deeply influenced by transtensional
tectonics responsible for the genesis of the main intermontane
basins. Starting from the Middle Pleistocene, the SW sector
underwent a NE–SW oriented extension that promoted the
further reshaping and widening of the morphostructural
troughs, whereas the Central and the NE sectors were mainly
influenced by the general uplift that controlled several cycles
of valley floor incision and widening. At the beginning of the
Late Pleistocene, the Molise Apennine had already reached its
present setting, and further landscape evolution occurred prin-
cipally under the control of climate.
Santangelo and co-authors have studied the Quaternary
evolution of the Campania and Sele coastal plains, which are
located along the southwestern margin of the Southern Apen-
nines and which originated as half-grabens in response to
opening processes active in the Tyrrhenian back-arc basin.
From the Early Pleistocene up to the first part of the Middle
Pleistocene, due to intense tectonic subsidence, these alluvial
coastal plains were submerged and the coastline was located at
the foot of their morphostructural borders. Starting from the
late Middle Pleistocene until the first part of the Late Pleisto-
cene, the Sele Plain was affected by uplift that caused its
gradual emersion and shoreline progradation. Conversely, the
Campania Plain remained under the control of tectonic subsi-
dence up to the Late Pleistocene. The volcanic activity of the
Phlegraean Fields, especially the explosive events that occurred
between 150 and 130 ka and between 105 and 39 ka BP,
strongly favoured the aggradation of the Campania plain. Espe-
cially 39 ka ago, when the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption
occurred, tens of meters of pyroclastic flow deposits covered
the plain causing a significant seaward migration of the coast-
line. During the Last Glacial Maximum, the Campania plain
was completely emerged and affected by fluvial incision.
During the Holocene, in concomitance with the peak of
post-glacial transgression, lagoons and swamps formed in both
plains some kilometres inland from the present coastline.
Schiattarella and co-authors provide a synthesis of the
long-term geomorphological evolution of a large sector of the
Campania-Lucania Apennine and the Calabrian arc. Further-
more, they calculate and compare uplift and erosion rates in
order to determine the past and recent dynamic state of the
chain. The uplift rates have been estimated by the authors by
means of the identification of reference levels such as palaeo-
surfaces and fluvial terraces or stratigraphic markers. Average
values of the Quaternary uplift rates in the axial zone of the
southern Apennines are equal to 0.6 – 0.7 mm/yr, with peaks of
~1.2–1.3 mm/yr. The erosion rate, obtained from both quanti-
tative geomorphic analysis and computation of missing volu-
mes, has been estimated at 0.2 mm/yr since the Middle
Pleistocene. Since the Late Pleistocene erosion and uplift rates
match well, the axial-zone landscape could have reached a flux
steady-state during that time, although it is more probable that
the entire study area may be a transient landscape. All along
the axial belt, the exhumation of the ancient Mesozoic core
occurred due to tectonic denudation. An impressive regional
planation started in the Late Pliocene and the work of hydro-
graphic nets during the Pleistocene has successively generated
the main landforms and polycyclic morphological features of
this orogenic segment of southern Italy.
Robustelli and Muto show the results of an integrated geo-
morphological and stratigraphical study carried out on the
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PREFACE
GEOLOGICA CARPATHICA
, 2017, 68, 1, 3 – 5
eastern side of the Crati River valley in northern Calabria.
In this area, three orders of palaeosurfaces along with low-
sloping palaeovalleys and structural landforms represent the
peculiar features of the landscape. Two main unconformities
in the Quaternary basin fill are correlated to different steps of
landscape evolution. Both erosional and depositional land sur-
faces have been used by the authors for reconstructing sedi-
mentary and morphogenetic events, drainage network
evolution, and changes in sediment source areas. During the
Late Pliocene–Early Pleistocene, the study area experienced
a period of subaerial landscape modelling as suggested by
low-sloping palaeovalleys and related fluvial deposits
(1
st
Order Palaeosurface), when the Sila Massif was the pri-
mary source area of the detrital constituents of the sandstones.
The onset of growing and uplifting of the Coastal Range in the
Early Pleistocene marked a change in the geomorphic scenario
with tectonically driven stream incision and valley develop-
ment along the eastern side of the Coastal Range, along with
the occurrence of depositional and erosional land surfaces
(2
nd
Order Palaeosurface) on the footslopes. During this
period, both the Coastal Range and the Sila Massif sourced the
detrital constituents of the sandstones. The progressive uplift
of the Coastal Range during the late Early Pleistocene and the
marked back-stepping of the depositional systems along the
Sila footslope were accompanied by alternating phases of
downcutting and base-level stability that
resulted in the development of step-like
distributed land surfaces (3
rd
Order
Palaeo surface).
The paper by Di Maggio et al. on the geo-
morphology of western Sicily presents a bright
and articulated morphoevolutionary model
for the last 3.6 Ma. The relief of this region is
still due to tectonic activity. Rocks, land-
forms and landscapes are progressively older
from south to north. Results display the fol-
lowing steps: i) gradual emersion of land due
to tectonic uplift that interacts with Quater-
nary sea-level changes, and consequent pro-
duction of a staircase of marine terraces in
southern Sicily; ii) down-cutting processes
that gradually dismantle the oldest terraces;
iii) competition between uplift and incision,
responsible for the genesis of river valleys
and isolated rounded hills in central Sicily;
iv) exhumation of the oldest and hardest
rocks in northern Sicily where the region
reaches greater altitudes and the ancient
forms are retained; v) extensional tectonics at
the northern margin of Sicily and collapse of
large blocks drowned along the Tyrrhenian
Sea and sealed by coastal-marine deposits
during the Calabrian stage; vi) uplift of the
previously subsided blocks and interplay of
uplift with coastal processes and sea-level
fluctuations that produced successions of
marine terraces during the Middle–Upper Pleistocene stages.
This collection of papers is dedicated to Professor Ludovico
Brancaccio, one of the fathers of the modern approach of geo-
morphological research in Italy and a man of immense scien-
tific stature, humanity, and wisdom. The authors offer their
sincere gratitude to Professor Brancaccio for the valuable
instruction and support that many of them received during
their careers.
References
Aucelli P.P.C., Amato V., Cesarano M., Pappone G., Rosskopf C.M.,
Russo Ermolli E. & Scarciglia F. 2011: New morphostratigraphic
and chronological constraints for the Quaternary paleosurfaces
of the Molise Apennine (southern Italy). Geol. Carpath. 62,
17–26.
Burbank D.W. & Anderson R.S. 2001: Tectonic Geomorphology.
Blackwell Science, Oxford, 1–274.
Bishop P. 2007: Long-term landscape evolution: Linking tectonics
and surface processes. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms
32, 329–365.
Schiattarella M., Di Leo P., Beneduce P., Giano S.I. & Martino C.
2006: Tectonically driven exhumation of a young orogen:
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Fig. 1.