ABSTRACTS / RESUMES - Comitato Glaciologico Italiano

SABINA BIGI 1
, ERNESTO CENTAMORE 1
, SIRIO CICCACCI 2
,
LEANDRO D'ALESSANDRO 1, FRANCESCO DRAMIS 3,
PIERO FARABOLLINI 4 , BERNARDINO GENTILI 4 ,
STEFANIA NISI0 1
& GILBERTO PAMBIANCHI 4
Quaternary evolution and morphotectonics
of the Marche-Abruzzi peri-Adriatic belt
1Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Universita La Sapienza,
p.le AIdo Moro 5,00185 Roma, Italy
2 Dipartimento di Geologia e Geofisica, Universita di Bad,
via Re David, 70124 Bad, Italy
3 Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche, Universita di Roma Tre,
via Ostiense 169,00154 Roma, Italy
4 Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Universita di Camerino,
via Gentile III da Varano, 62032 Camerino, Italy
The study area, located between the Apennine range
(Gran Sasso Massif, Laga Mts. and Sibillini Mts.), to the
west, and the Adriatic sea, to the east, provides geomorphological
and geological evidence from which it is
possible to understand the relief building processes that affected
the Italian peninsula since Middle Pleistocene.
During Messinian-Lower Pliocene, the area consisted of a
foredeep sedimentary basin migrating eastward within a
thrust system; on its external side, starting from Middle
Pliocene, a subsiding piggy back basin was located. At the
same time, the inner Apennine area was affected by progressive
uplifting as proved by sequences of erosional surfaces
on the eastern side of the range and by minor unconformities
within the Plio-Pleistocene marine deposits,
which show a general monocline setting dipping to
northeast.
Starting from the end of Lower Pleistocene, a rapid regional
uplift, with amplitude increasing westward, caused the
emergence of the area. Therefore, late Lower Pleistocene
marine deposits were raised up to 494 m a.s.l, at Ripatransone
(Marche) and 576 m a.s.l. on the divide between the
Foro and Moro river basins (Abruzzi) with uplift rates
around 0.8-1.0 mm/yr; in the same areas postrasgressive
Pliocene deposits are located at elevations of 672 m a.s.l (S.
Giovanni, Tenna River basin, Marche) and 1103 m a.s. l.
(Mr. Ascensione, Marche).
After the end of Lower Pleistocene, areal erosion processes,
probably favored by sub-arid climatic conditions, generated
an erosional surface across the whole area, from
the Apennine range to the Adriatic coast; this surface truncates
Sicilian marine deposits and it is overlain by Middle
Pleistocene coastal deposits (Crotonian). Also the erosional
surface underwent uplifting and tilting towards the
Adriatic coast, while rivers cut deep valleys..The valley incision
was associated to terracing favored the climatic
changes that affected the area during Middle Pleistocene­
Holocene.
This framework was also complicated by the building of
compressive structures along the coast (whose activity is
proved by earthquake hypocentres distribution), and by
the differential uplift of transverse blocks whose bounding
faults reactivated previous tectonic dislocations. Somewhere
(as in the case of the «Fermano» sector) inversion of
vertical movement also occurred.
PAOLO BILLI 1 , CARLO BISCI 2 , LUDOVICO BRANCACCIO 3,
FRANCESCO DRAMIS 4 , PIERO FANTOZZI 5,
OGBAGHEBRIEL BERAKHI 6 & ANTONIO Russo 7
Geomorphological mapping in Tigray (Ethiopia)
1Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Universita di Firenze,
via S. Marta 3, 50139 Firenze, Italy
2 Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Universita di Camerino,
via Gentile III da Varano, 62032 Camerino, Italy
3 Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Universita di Napoli Federico II,
largo S. Marcellino 10, 80134 Napoli, Italy
4 Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche, Universita di Roma Tre,
via Ostiense 169, 00154 Roma, Italy
5 Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Universita di Siena,
via delle Cerchia 3, 53100, Siena, Italy
6 Department of Geography, University of Addis Ababa,
p.o. box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
7 Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Universita di Modena,
largo S. Eufemia 19,41100, Italy
A research project on slope degradation processes, including
geomorphological survey and mapping, has been carried
out in the Highlands of Tigray (Northern Ethiopia), a
region strongly affected by soil erosion and desertification
(Hunting Technical Service, 1976). On the basis of airphoto
interpretation and field survey, morphological maps
at medium (1:100.000) and large (1:25.000) scales have
been produced.
In the medium scale map, which represents a large belt of
the Highlands west of Mekele, the land surface is divided
into a number of homogeneous geomorphological units,
characterized by different bedrock lithology and structure,
overburden materials and slope geometry. The morphodynamic
evolution of these units is shown by means of an
«ad hoc» predisposed legend.
The large scale map illustrates in detail landforms, surficial
deposits and morphogenetic processes affecting slopes and
thalwegs in the Adi Goudum area, a vast catchment south
of Mekele. The legend derives from the one proposed
by the Italian Group on «Physical Geography and Geomorphology»
(Gruppo Nazionale Geografia Fisica e
Geomorfologia, 1994), specially oriented to illustrate the
distribution and incidence of present geomorphological
processes.
The use of these maps may be particularly useful for landrehabilitation
and planning projects in the view of the socio-economic
development of the region.
83