I research on geomorphology of transition environment.My researches develope in fluvial, coastal and underwater geomorphology, geoarchaeology and fractal analysis of natural and anthropized environments.Lagoon-dune-beach systems in Mediterranean climate areas and their restoration are my specific topics, as well as river-dam-coast systems analysis.
Abstract Dry Creek is a major tributary of the Russian River in Northern California (USA) that ha... more Abstract Dry Creek is a major tributary of the Russian River in Northern California (USA) that has experienced hydrologic and morphologic alterations after the closure of Warm Springs Dam in 1983. Our objective is to present a detailed diagnosis of the modification of the creek’s flow and sediment regimes, and interpret the alterations regarding the ecomorphologic evolution previously observed in the creek. Statistical analysis of the river’s flow and sediment series indicates that dam operation has had significant impacts on the magnitude and frequency of occurrence of the highest floods, and the magnitude, variability, and duration of low and very low flows. Similarly, sediment concentration and discharge have also experienced major alterations. Loss of habitat complexity for native flora and fauna (especially endangered salmonids), channel incision, and vegetation encroachment are some of the negative trends found for the creek over the last 30 years, since river regulation began. We discuss the present dynamics of the river and propose, on that basis, the improvement of its hydromorphic functioning as part of future large-scale restoration initiatives.
1Universita degli Studi di Genova, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell’Ambiente e della Vit... more 1Universita degli Studi di Genova, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell’Ambiente e della Vita, brando@unige.it 2Universita degli Studi di Roma Sapienza, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, lina.davoli@uniroma1.it 3Universita degli Studi di Pisa, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, bini@dst.unipi.it 4Universita degli Studi di Parma, Dipartimento di Fisica e Scienze della Terra”M. Melloni”, alessandro.chelli@unipr.it 5Universita degli Studi Napoli Federico II, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell'Ambiente e delle Risorse, pennetta@unina.it 6Universita degli Studi di Bari, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e Geoambientali, giuseppeantonio.mastronuzzi@uniba.it 7Universita degli Studi di Urbino, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, della Vita e dell’Ambiente, olivia.nesci@uniurb.it 8Universita degli Studi del Salento, Lecce, Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche ed Ambientali, paolo.sanso@unisalento.it 9Universita degli Studi del Sannio, Benevento, Dipartiment...
Inventory of Italian Rocky Coasts Aimed at the Improvement of the Knowledge of their Evolution A.... more Inventory of Italian Rocky Coasts Aimed at the Improvement of the Knowledge of their Evolution A. Valente1,10, G. Mastronuzzi2,10, E. Miccadei3,10, P. Brandolini4,10, G. Randazzo5,10, C. Donadio6,10, M. Pennetta6,10, C. Di Maggio7,10, D. Guida8,10, S. Ginesu9,10, L. D'alessandro10, F. Mascioli10, F. Faccini10, A. Robbiano10, S. Lanza10, T. De Pippo10, V. Agnesi10, S. Sias10 1University Of Sannio (Benevento, Italy), 2University of Bari (Italy), 3University of Chieti and Pescara (Italy), 4University of Genova (Italy), 5University of Messina (Italy), 6University of Napoli (Italy), 7University of Palermo (Italy), 8University of Salerno (Italy), 9University of Sassari (Italy), 10AIGEO Working Group on Rocky Coast The establishment of a working group on rocky coast in Italy in 2006 have permitted to organize several activities (meetings and excursions) and therefore to prepare an inventory of Italian rocky coasts. At these activities have participated the authors of the present abstra...
Submarine surveys carried out since the 90s along the coastaland of Sinuessa, facing the town of ... more Submarine surveys carried out since the 90s along the coastaland of Sinuessa, facing the town of Sessa Aurunca, allowed to draw up a geomorphological map with archaeological findings. Along the sea bottom, about 650 m off and -7 m depth, a Campanian Ignimbrite bedrock was detected: dated 39 kyr BP, its position is incompatible with the current sea level. Towards the northern edge of the shoal, a depressed area 3 m deep, with 24 cubic elements 3x3 m wide and in concrete (opus cementicium) was surveyed. At the top of the blocks were observed semicircular holes, used for lifting, transporting and juxtaposition operations: these artifacts (pilae) are typical of Roman maritime structures, as described by Vitruvius in De Architectura (15 century BC). Pilae were widespread along the Phlegrean Fields coast for jetties and docks, as in Baiae and Portus Julius settlements. Beachrocks and accessory morphologies at the same depth as the leveled bedrock suggest that this was emerging and was att...
In the revision process of the legend for geomorphological "maps (1: 50.000-1: 10.000) of th... more In the revision process of the legend for geomorphological "maps (1: 50.000-1: 10.000) of the coastal environment, in order to use them for application, several initiatives were proposed. Among these a new legend, shared by many researchers, is being validate in several Italian coastlands. In this case the legend is applied along the southern coast of the Lazio, between the towns of Sperlonga and Minturno. In this sector a great variety of coastal forms are focused: in the northern sector the alternation of promontories with limestone cliffs, jutting out to sea, and small bays filled by sands, dominates; in the southern one low coast morphotypes are prevalent. However, the heavy urbanization has significantly obliterated or altered the original coastal features. Therefore, the symbols used in the northern sector are useful to describe in detail the forms of sea cliffs and beaches, developed mostly in coves, with certain forms related to runoff and gravity spread on the slopes n...
Public space and street networks form a significant and central determinant of urban quality. The... more Public space and street networks form a significant and central determinant of urban quality. The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has focused their crucial importance in the reorganisation of places that are “safe” because they allow movement through cities with minimal risk of contagion. While addressing the need for social distancing, open air exercise, and mobility without use of public transport, these measures resulted in other environmental and social benefits. Living with the coronavirus pandemic has produced a series of adaptative actions, such as barring or limiting automobile traffic, thereby expanding street space for pedestrians and bicyclists, whose impact is, as yet, difficult to fathom because of their contingent, temporary nature. In this context, this case study proposes a sustainable bicycle network to inform the future, permanent street redesign. Based on topographic, morphologic, and climatic data, it evaluates a series of contiguous road sections, defining redes...
Several approaches were proposed to describe the geomorphology of drainage networks and the abiot... more Several approaches were proposed to describe the geomorphology of drainage networks and the abiotic/biotic factors determining their morphology. There is an intrinsic complexity of the explicit qualification of the morphological variations in response to various types of control factors and the difficulty of expressing the cause-effect links. Traditional methods of drainage network classification are based on the manual extraction of key characteristics, then applied as pattern recognition schemes. These approaches, however, have low predictive and uniform ability. We present a different approach, based on the data-driven supervised learning by images, extended also to extraterrestrial cases. With deep learning models, the extraction and classification phase is integrated within a more objective, analytical, and automatic framework. Despite the initial difficulties, due to the small number of training images available, and the similarity between the different shapes of the drainage ...
Several approaches were proposed to describe the geomorphology of drainage networks and the abiot... more Several approaches were proposed to describe the geomorphology of drainage networks and the abiotic/biotic factors determining their morphology. There is an intrinsic complexity of the explicit qualification of the morphological variations in response to various types of control factors and the difficulty of expressing the cause-effect links. Traditional methods of drainage network classification are based on the manual extraction of key characteristics, then applied as pattern recognition schemes. These approaches, however, have low predictive and uniform ability. We present a different approach, based on the data-driven supervised learning by images, extended also to extraterrestrial cases. With deep learning models, the extraction and classification phase is integrated within a more objective, analytical, and automatic framework. Despite the initial difficulties, due to the small number of training images available, and the similarity between the different shapes of the drainage ...
A multidisciplinary survey was carried out on the quality of water and sediments of the estuary o... more A multidisciplinary survey was carried out on the quality of water and sediments of the estuary of the Sele river, an important tributary of the Tyrrhenian Sea, to assess anthropogenic pressures and natural variability. Nine sediment sites were monitored and analyzed for granulometry, morphoscopy, benthic foraminifera and ostracod assemblages, heavy metals, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Surface water was assayed for ionic composition and phytoplankton biomass. Total organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen (TN) in sediments were higher in the inner part of the estuary (IE), up to 12.7 and 0.7% because of anthropic influence. In waters, N-NH4, N-NO3, and Ptot. were high, with loads of Ptot in IE exceeding ~fourfold the limit. Here, it was also observed that the highest primary production was Chl-a, 95.70 µg/L, with cryptophytes, 37.6%, and diatoms, 33.8%, being the main phytoplanktonic groups. The hierarchical analysis split the estuary into two areas, with marked differences ...
Using morphological, stratigraphic, paleoecological and geoarcheological data, as well as radioca... more Using morphological, stratigraphic, paleoecological and geoarcheological data, as well as radiocarbon datings, we reconstructed the evolution of the coastal plain of Mondragone, in the northern sector of the Campania Plain, during the last 40 kyr. The Late Pleistocene-Holocene morphodynamics of this coastland were mainly dictated by mutual interaction between tectonics, sea-level fluctuations, Quaternary volcanic eruptions, and subsidence. These processes also influenced the dynamics of prehistoric and proto-historic human populations. Actually, the discovery over the last 25 years of several archaeological sites referable to Upper Paleolithic-Early Iron Age as well as the recent finding of artifacts, fauna and, for the third time in Campania, of Neanderthal human remains in the Roccia San Sebastiano cave, demonstrates that the coastal plain of Mondragone had always hosted human settlements. This constant frequentation is confirmed by, both emerged and submerged, ruins of Roman age and Middle Ages, and the high level of urbanization of the modern town. The interpretation of four borehole stratigraphic sequences down to 22 m bgl, of microfossils analysis and sediment facies highlighted the succession of transition, from marine to freshwater, and continental paleoenvironments in this coastal plain. These wetlands developed in climatic conditions that varied from glacial (Würm) to postglacial phases. Some deposits are interpreted as marshy sediments accumulated in shallow, elongated ponds behind sandy beach or dunes, which existed almost up to the present. The reconstruction of landscape morphodynamic evolution shows that after the “super eruption” of the Campanian Ignimbrite (~39 kyr BP) the physiography abruptly changed. A wide gulf characterized by grey tuff cliffs and facing northwest formed, along the littoral between the Garigliano and the Volturno river mouths during the volcanic stasis of the Phlegrean Fields, which lasted about ten thousand years after the violent ignimbrite eruption. In this period, the presence of Neanderthal and of a settlement in the Roccia San Sebastiano cave, at the foot of Mt. Massico, is proven by the findings of an excavation. Later (~20 kyr BP - Holocene), subsidence and sea-level rise activated strong erosion processes due to the postglacial marine ingression, with a consequent rapid shoreline recession and the genesis of transition environments. Finally, according to the results of previous multidisciplinary research carried out on other Campania coastal plains, adjacent or not to the studied area, distinct generations of post-Campanian Ignimbrite - Holocene coastal lakes (lagoons, ponds) and waterlogged environments (marshes, quagmires) were recognized, slightly below and at the current sea-level.
The Gulf of Pozzuoli includes the former second largest Italian steelworks of Bagnoli. The REE, Y... more The Gulf of Pozzuoli includes the former second largest Italian steelworks of Bagnoli. The REE, Y, Th and Sc pollution in sediments of the Gulf of Pozzuoli was determined. Ce, La, Nd and Pr had the highest percentage distribution of rare earth elements normalized respect to chondrite with 31.19, 28.35, 19.51 and 8.41% individually. It was observed a marked enrichment of these elements, from west to the east from 26.39 to 111.04 mg/kg and from onshore to offshore from 31.67 to 217.74 mg/kg. The output of the principal component analysis revealed that the REE were mainly of anthropic origin being clearly linked to that of PAHs, metals and organic matter. This, together with their distribution patterns, highlighted the role of the former Bagnoli metallurgical plant in the pollution of the gulf.
Abstract Dry Creek is a major tributary of the Russian River in Northern California (USA) that ha... more Abstract Dry Creek is a major tributary of the Russian River in Northern California (USA) that has experienced hydrologic and morphologic alterations after the closure of Warm Springs Dam in 1983. Our objective is to present a detailed diagnosis of the modification of the creek’s flow and sediment regimes, and interpret the alterations regarding the ecomorphologic evolution previously observed in the creek. Statistical analysis of the river’s flow and sediment series indicates that dam operation has had significant impacts on the magnitude and frequency of occurrence of the highest floods, and the magnitude, variability, and duration of low and very low flows. Similarly, sediment concentration and discharge have also experienced major alterations. Loss of habitat complexity for native flora and fauna (especially endangered salmonids), channel incision, and vegetation encroachment are some of the negative trends found for the creek over the last 30 years, since river regulation began. We discuss the present dynamics of the river and propose, on that basis, the improvement of its hydromorphic functioning as part of future large-scale restoration initiatives.
1Universita degli Studi di Genova, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell’Ambiente e della Vit... more 1Universita degli Studi di Genova, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell’Ambiente e della Vita, brando@unige.it 2Universita degli Studi di Roma Sapienza, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, lina.davoli@uniroma1.it 3Universita degli Studi di Pisa, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, bini@dst.unipi.it 4Universita degli Studi di Parma, Dipartimento di Fisica e Scienze della Terra”M. Melloni”, alessandro.chelli@unipr.it 5Universita degli Studi Napoli Federico II, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell'Ambiente e delle Risorse, pennetta@unina.it 6Universita degli Studi di Bari, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e Geoambientali, giuseppeantonio.mastronuzzi@uniba.it 7Universita degli Studi di Urbino, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, della Vita e dell’Ambiente, olivia.nesci@uniurb.it 8Universita degli Studi del Salento, Lecce, Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche ed Ambientali, paolo.sanso@unisalento.it 9Universita degli Studi del Sannio, Benevento, Dipartiment...
Inventory of Italian Rocky Coasts Aimed at the Improvement of the Knowledge of their Evolution A.... more Inventory of Italian Rocky Coasts Aimed at the Improvement of the Knowledge of their Evolution A. Valente1,10, G. Mastronuzzi2,10, E. Miccadei3,10, P. Brandolini4,10, G. Randazzo5,10, C. Donadio6,10, M. Pennetta6,10, C. Di Maggio7,10, D. Guida8,10, S. Ginesu9,10, L. D'alessandro10, F. Mascioli10, F. Faccini10, A. Robbiano10, S. Lanza10, T. De Pippo10, V. Agnesi10, S. Sias10 1University Of Sannio (Benevento, Italy), 2University of Bari (Italy), 3University of Chieti and Pescara (Italy), 4University of Genova (Italy), 5University of Messina (Italy), 6University of Napoli (Italy), 7University of Palermo (Italy), 8University of Salerno (Italy), 9University of Sassari (Italy), 10AIGEO Working Group on Rocky Coast The establishment of a working group on rocky coast in Italy in 2006 have permitted to organize several activities (meetings and excursions) and therefore to prepare an inventory of Italian rocky coasts. At these activities have participated the authors of the present abstra...
Submarine surveys carried out since the 90s along the coastaland of Sinuessa, facing the town of ... more Submarine surveys carried out since the 90s along the coastaland of Sinuessa, facing the town of Sessa Aurunca, allowed to draw up a geomorphological map with archaeological findings. Along the sea bottom, about 650 m off and -7 m depth, a Campanian Ignimbrite bedrock was detected: dated 39 kyr BP, its position is incompatible with the current sea level. Towards the northern edge of the shoal, a depressed area 3 m deep, with 24 cubic elements 3x3 m wide and in concrete (opus cementicium) was surveyed. At the top of the blocks were observed semicircular holes, used for lifting, transporting and juxtaposition operations: these artifacts (pilae) are typical of Roman maritime structures, as described by Vitruvius in De Architectura (15 century BC). Pilae were widespread along the Phlegrean Fields coast for jetties and docks, as in Baiae and Portus Julius settlements. Beachrocks and accessory morphologies at the same depth as the leveled bedrock suggest that this was emerging and was att...
In the revision process of the legend for geomorphological "maps (1: 50.000-1: 10.000) of th... more In the revision process of the legend for geomorphological "maps (1: 50.000-1: 10.000) of the coastal environment, in order to use them for application, several initiatives were proposed. Among these a new legend, shared by many researchers, is being validate in several Italian coastlands. In this case the legend is applied along the southern coast of the Lazio, between the towns of Sperlonga and Minturno. In this sector a great variety of coastal forms are focused: in the northern sector the alternation of promontories with limestone cliffs, jutting out to sea, and small bays filled by sands, dominates; in the southern one low coast morphotypes are prevalent. However, the heavy urbanization has significantly obliterated or altered the original coastal features. Therefore, the symbols used in the northern sector are useful to describe in detail the forms of sea cliffs and beaches, developed mostly in coves, with certain forms related to runoff and gravity spread on the slopes n...
Public space and street networks form a significant and central determinant of urban quality. The... more Public space and street networks form a significant and central determinant of urban quality. The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has focused their crucial importance in the reorganisation of places that are “safe” because they allow movement through cities with minimal risk of contagion. While addressing the need for social distancing, open air exercise, and mobility without use of public transport, these measures resulted in other environmental and social benefits. Living with the coronavirus pandemic has produced a series of adaptative actions, such as barring or limiting automobile traffic, thereby expanding street space for pedestrians and bicyclists, whose impact is, as yet, difficult to fathom because of their contingent, temporary nature. In this context, this case study proposes a sustainable bicycle network to inform the future, permanent street redesign. Based on topographic, morphologic, and climatic data, it evaluates a series of contiguous road sections, defining redes...
Several approaches were proposed to describe the geomorphology of drainage networks and the abiot... more Several approaches were proposed to describe the geomorphology of drainage networks and the abiotic/biotic factors determining their morphology. There is an intrinsic complexity of the explicit qualification of the morphological variations in response to various types of control factors and the difficulty of expressing the cause-effect links. Traditional methods of drainage network classification are based on the manual extraction of key characteristics, then applied as pattern recognition schemes. These approaches, however, have low predictive and uniform ability. We present a different approach, based on the data-driven supervised learning by images, extended also to extraterrestrial cases. With deep learning models, the extraction and classification phase is integrated within a more objective, analytical, and automatic framework. Despite the initial difficulties, due to the small number of training images available, and the similarity between the different shapes of the drainage ...
Several approaches were proposed to describe the geomorphology of drainage networks and the abiot... more Several approaches were proposed to describe the geomorphology of drainage networks and the abiotic/biotic factors determining their morphology. There is an intrinsic complexity of the explicit qualification of the morphological variations in response to various types of control factors and the difficulty of expressing the cause-effect links. Traditional methods of drainage network classification are based on the manual extraction of key characteristics, then applied as pattern recognition schemes. These approaches, however, have low predictive and uniform ability. We present a different approach, based on the data-driven supervised learning by images, extended also to extraterrestrial cases. With deep learning models, the extraction and classification phase is integrated within a more objective, analytical, and automatic framework. Despite the initial difficulties, due to the small number of training images available, and the similarity between the different shapes of the drainage ...
A multidisciplinary survey was carried out on the quality of water and sediments of the estuary o... more A multidisciplinary survey was carried out on the quality of water and sediments of the estuary of the Sele river, an important tributary of the Tyrrhenian Sea, to assess anthropogenic pressures and natural variability. Nine sediment sites were monitored and analyzed for granulometry, morphoscopy, benthic foraminifera and ostracod assemblages, heavy metals, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Surface water was assayed for ionic composition and phytoplankton biomass. Total organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen (TN) in sediments were higher in the inner part of the estuary (IE), up to 12.7 and 0.7% because of anthropic influence. In waters, N-NH4, N-NO3, and Ptot. were high, with loads of Ptot in IE exceeding ~fourfold the limit. Here, it was also observed that the highest primary production was Chl-a, 95.70 µg/L, with cryptophytes, 37.6%, and diatoms, 33.8%, being the main phytoplanktonic groups. The hierarchical analysis split the estuary into two areas, with marked differences ...
Using morphological, stratigraphic, paleoecological and geoarcheological data, as well as radioca... more Using morphological, stratigraphic, paleoecological and geoarcheological data, as well as radiocarbon datings, we reconstructed the evolution of the coastal plain of Mondragone, in the northern sector of the Campania Plain, during the last 40 kyr. The Late Pleistocene-Holocene morphodynamics of this coastland were mainly dictated by mutual interaction between tectonics, sea-level fluctuations, Quaternary volcanic eruptions, and subsidence. These processes also influenced the dynamics of prehistoric and proto-historic human populations. Actually, the discovery over the last 25 years of several archaeological sites referable to Upper Paleolithic-Early Iron Age as well as the recent finding of artifacts, fauna and, for the third time in Campania, of Neanderthal human remains in the Roccia San Sebastiano cave, demonstrates that the coastal plain of Mondragone had always hosted human settlements. This constant frequentation is confirmed by, both emerged and submerged, ruins of Roman age and Middle Ages, and the high level of urbanization of the modern town. The interpretation of four borehole stratigraphic sequences down to 22 m bgl, of microfossils analysis and sediment facies highlighted the succession of transition, from marine to freshwater, and continental paleoenvironments in this coastal plain. These wetlands developed in climatic conditions that varied from glacial (Würm) to postglacial phases. Some deposits are interpreted as marshy sediments accumulated in shallow, elongated ponds behind sandy beach or dunes, which existed almost up to the present. The reconstruction of landscape morphodynamic evolution shows that after the “super eruption” of the Campanian Ignimbrite (~39 kyr BP) the physiography abruptly changed. A wide gulf characterized by grey tuff cliffs and facing northwest formed, along the littoral between the Garigliano and the Volturno river mouths during the volcanic stasis of the Phlegrean Fields, which lasted about ten thousand years after the violent ignimbrite eruption. In this period, the presence of Neanderthal and of a settlement in the Roccia San Sebastiano cave, at the foot of Mt. Massico, is proven by the findings of an excavation. Later (~20 kyr BP - Holocene), subsidence and sea-level rise activated strong erosion processes due to the postglacial marine ingression, with a consequent rapid shoreline recession and the genesis of transition environments. Finally, according to the results of previous multidisciplinary research carried out on other Campania coastal plains, adjacent or not to the studied area, distinct generations of post-Campanian Ignimbrite - Holocene coastal lakes (lagoons, ponds) and waterlogged environments (marshes, quagmires) were recognized, slightly below and at the current sea-level.
The Gulf of Pozzuoli includes the former second largest Italian steelworks of Bagnoli. The REE, Y... more The Gulf of Pozzuoli includes the former second largest Italian steelworks of Bagnoli. The REE, Y, Th and Sc pollution in sediments of the Gulf of Pozzuoli was determined. Ce, La, Nd and Pr had the highest percentage distribution of rare earth elements normalized respect to chondrite with 31.19, 28.35, 19.51 and 8.41% individually. It was observed a marked enrichment of these elements, from west to the east from 26.39 to 111.04 mg/kg and from onshore to offshore from 31.67 to 217.74 mg/kg. The output of the principal component analysis revealed that the REE were mainly of anthropic origin being clearly linked to that of PAHs, metals and organic matter. This, together with their distribution patterns, highlighted the role of the former Bagnoli metallurgical plant in the pollution of the gulf.
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Papers by Carlo Donadio