Historical and Recent Environmental Changes of the Ombrone Delta (Southern Italy)

Abstract

ABSTRACT TARRAGONI, C, BELLOTTI, P., DAVOLI, L., PETRONIO, B.M and PIETROLOETTI, M., 2011. Historical and Recent Environmental Changes of the Ombrone Delta (Southern Italy). In: Micallef, A. (ed.), MCRR3–2010 Conference Proceedings, Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue, No. 61, pp. 344–352. Grosseto, Tuscany, Italy, ISSN 0749–0208. Reconstruction of shoreline variations in the area of the Ombrone delta apex has been achieved by comparing aerial photos acquired in 1995, 1998, 2004 and 2006. This reconstruction allowed to define the recent evolution of the Ombrone delta area in terms of erosional and progradation rates. Comparison with older erosional and progradation rates derived from Bellotti et al. (1999a) evidences increasing erosional rates along the delta apex during the investigated interval. Moreover, it has been possible to identify the importance of mouth bar growth as a recurrent mechanism for confining narrow sea stretches. These results have been used as reference for inferring the genes...