I CALANCHI DEL SETTORE SETTENTRIONALE DELLA FASCIA PERIADRIATICA ABRUZZESE: QUADRO MORFOTETTONICO E LORO CARATTERIZZAZIONE

Abstract

The coastal area in Northern Abruzzo Region signifi­cantly underwent Plio-Quaternary tectonics that influenced both marine sedimentation of the Plio-Pleistocene basin and the morphostructural setting of the whole area. The regional uplift, already acting since Middle Pliocene and particularly strong in Lower Pleistocene, determined a variation in the sedimentation environments and the origin and/or reactivation of fault systems with different orientations. As a result, many blocks were determined having different uplift rates. Then, sheet and gully erosion dramatically acted since Middle Pleistocene when the regional uplift and the ero­sion of the top coarse grained deposits (sands and gravels) led to the outcropping of the underlying clays. The erosion proces­ses were especially concentrated in the blocks rising with a faster pace. At present, badland morphology appear to be imposed along many valley slopes, though the most spectacu­lar characters can be observed in the zones surrounding Atri, in the Piomba river watershed, which underwent the highest uplift in the area. [...]