Abstract
Quaternary continental deposits record spatio-temporal changes of the landscape and offer insights for drainage network analysis and paleoenvironmental reconstructions. This paper focuses on the Turano River, a left tributary of the Velino River, which flows in the southwestern Abruzzo area at the boundary with Lazio Region. Its basin preserves lithological and morphological field evidence particularly suitable for reconstructing the long-term geomorphological evolution of the Central Apennines and the drainage network development. In detail, the Turano River was investigated through a drainage basin-scale analysis incorporating morphometric analysis, field mapping, continental deposits analysis, and integrated drainage network analysis. This approach allowed us to define a drainage network reversal process, clearly highlighted by the spatial arrangement of continental deposits, spanning from Upper Pliocene to Holocene. The results also indicated tectonic activity as the main factor driving incision and river inversion processes. The work contributes to identifying and describing the main steps of the Quaternary landscape evolution of this mountainous catchment and its morphoneotectonic framework. Therefore, it could represent a methodological tool for multidisciplinary studies in similar mountainous catchments to support any territorial planning activity, from large infrastructure localization (i.e., artificial dams) to sustainable land management.
Highlights
The present-day landscape results from the dynamic interaction between geological and geomorphological processes that have contributed to its long-term evolution, providing information on past morphogenetic events [1]
This paper focuses on the Turano River, a left tributary of the Velino River, which flows in the southwestern Abruzzo area at the boundary with Lazio Region
Continental deposits and morphological field evidence inherited from paleodrainage record helpful information on landscape changes, offering insights for drainage network analysis and paleoenvironmental reconstructions
Summary
The present-day landscape results from the dynamic interaction between geological and geomorphological processes that have contributed to its long-term evolution, providing information on past morphogenetic events [1]. Central Apennines are an asymmetrical NW-SE-oriented mountain chain characterized by alternating calcareous ridges, valleys on pelitic-arenaceous deposits, and intermontane basins filled by Quaternary continental deposits. This mountainous environment is the result of the competition between tectonics and surface processes, controlled by climate, eustasy, and lithology distribution [6,7,8,9]. The resulting landscape is directly linked to a dynamic evolution that occurred in ensuing stages with the interaction between morphostructural factors (i.e., conflicting tectonic activity and regional uplift) and morphosculptural factors (i.e., drainage network development and gravitational phenomena) [10,11,12]. The regional geological-geomorphological framework has been widely studied by several authors [e.g., [11,13,14,15,16,17,18,19]]; the relationships between paleo-drainage, continental deposits, and landscape dynamics are still not fully understood, with regards to the role played on drainage systems’ evolution
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