ABSTRACTS / RESUMES - Comitato Glaciologico Italiano

With the South Dobroudja Plateau things stand exactly in
the same way; the morphology of the region (placed in the
South-Eastern of Romania) is particulary under the influence
of the meteorological phenomena or, generally
speaking, by the climate. The meteorological agents can
act «freely» enough, having on their side a profitable geological
support (the upper part of the South Dobroudja
Plateau is built from limestone and loess).
In the space chosen for analyse can be found landforms resulted
of slowly acting processes, as well as landforms resulted
of rapidly acting processes. For the morphology of
the region, both types of processes are very important, but
latter are much more intersting from practical point of
view; they could represent an obvious danger for the economic
activities, as there at least 2 objectives which are of
wider than Romania's borders important: the Nuclear
Power Station at Cernavoda, and the Danube-Black Sea
Canal.
The establishment of some quantitative relationships
between climatic conditions, climatic hazards, morpholoy
and geomorphological hazards in the area should represent
the objective of the paper.
EDI CHIARINI, MAURIZIO D'OREFICE,
ROBERTO GRACIOTTI, ELENA LA POSTA
& FELICIA PAPASODARO
Geomorphological survey of sheet 367 «Tagliacozzo»
at a 1:50,000 scale (Central Apennines)
Servizio Geologico Nazionale, via Curtatone 3,00185 Roma, Italy
Among the main institutional tasks of the Geological Survey
of Italy is to realize geological and geothematic maps.
In this frame, the rules to achieve the Geomorphological
Map of Italy at the scale 1:50,000 had been established
(Servizio Geologico N azionale, 1994). To test the above
mentioned rules in the field a survey on the area of the
Sheet 367 Tagliacozzo had been carried out. The area was
chosen both for the complexity and variety of its geomorphological
processes as well as for the existence of an
updated geological cartography. Studies conducted in this
area have provided at the present a valuable information
for the drafting of the rules, and will contribute to their
improvement.
The area is located in the Central Apennines; it includes
the Carseolani mountains, the Faito-Val di Varri mountain
ridge, part of the Simbruini and Sabini chains, the Duchessa
mountains and the plains of the Cavaliere, Corvaro and
Imele river. Most of the area is included within two hydrographic
basins: the Salto river on the east and the Turano
river on the west. The territory is characterized by carbo-
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natic ridges with northwest-southeast trend, belonging to
meso-cenozoic successions. These are separated by terrigenous
basins filled with tertiary flyschoid sediments and
plio-quaternary continental deposits, mostly of fluvial and
lacustrine genesis. The area has been affected by some tectonic
compressive phases since the upper Miocene. These
phases caused the overlapping of the carbonatic deposits
over the terrigenous ones. Afterwards these successions
had been affected by a tectonic extentional phase (Compagnoni
& alii, 1990) that concerned the present morphological
features, controlling the following modeling processes.
The two main morphogenetic processes in the area are of a
fluvio-denudational and karstic nature, associated with
those gravitational, volcanic, lacustrine and glacial. The
anthropic activity in the plains and along the river beds
should also be taken into account.
Carbonatic ridges are typical for their structural escarpments
and well marked fault slopes, preserving large parts
of structural surfaces too (i.e. on the Carseolani mountains).
These ridges are mostly affected by karstic processes
that show themselves as underground and superficial
forms, mainly developing at the top of the reliefs. The fluvio-denudational
and gravitational processes dominate the
slopes as well. The former have caused linear cuts, and in
some cases, profound gorges, controlled by the presence of
fractures and faults, as well as sheet runoff in the non-forested
zones. The gravitational processes have originate the
talus heaps placed at the base of the reliefs, and the rockfalls
and rockslides that have taken place in limited zones
of the Sheet. Relict landforms are present on the top and
on the sides of the reliefs, such as valleys and planation
surfaces, linked to the landscapes of the past.
In the areas where flyschoid deposits outcrop prevails the
fluvio-denudational process, showing itself with curved
valleys and fast deepening river-beds, gullies and widespread
sheet erosion phenomena. Emphasis should be given
to the gravitational processes that originated localized
landslides and diffused solifluction. Within the flysch the
main endoreic basins of the area develop, ending in
sinkholes located at the contact point with the carbonatic
dorsals (Luppa, Ovito and Val di Varri basins). The Orbulina
marls, outcropping occasionally within the Sheet, need
a different interpretation. These marls, when covering limestone
strata, with dip slope attitude, give place to translational
slides in wide portions of the slope, often evolving
into flows.
Most of the Plio-quaternary fluvial and lacustrine deposits
are the product of dismantling of the meso-cenozoic re:liefs.
These deposits have gradually filled the large depressions
created by extentional tectonic events. Among these
are worth mentioning the clay-silty and sandy-silty sediments
found in the Cavaliere and Imele river plains, as
well as the conglomerates, sands and clays outcropping
between Torano and Borgorose. The conglomerates of fluvioglacial
origin laying in the Corvaro plain and in the Ruara
valley, and the alluvial deposits in the Salto and Turano
plains should be mentioned as well.