Geomorphologic map of the Biferno River valley floor system (Molise, Southern Italy)

Abstract

A 1:20,000-scale geomorphologic map of the valley floor system of the Biferno River (Molise Region, Italy) is presented in this paper. Map analysis and aerial photography interpretation, in addition to field surveys, have allowed digital mapping of fluvial landforms and associated coastal, slope and anthropogenic forms which have characterised the valley floor in different periods. Comparative multi-temporal analysis performed in a GIS for the time-period 1869–2010 allowed the reconstruction of spatial-temporal relationships between most of the mapped landforms and acquisition of quantitative data on channel adjustments. The geomorphologic map provides an overall large-scale view of major channel adjustments over the past 150 years as well as the current morphological setting and dynamics of the Biferno valley floor. It provides a basic map for land planning policy with the observed distribution of active geomorphic processes to be used for landslide and erosion susceptibility assessment and the data obtained on channel adjustments essential in investigating land cover change over the same period. As the Biferno valley floor system is characteristic of major river systems in Central-Southern Italy, the reconstructed framework of valley floor transformations turns out to be useful when assessing a representative channel evolution model and potential scenarios concerning near future dynamics of similar river systems.

Keywords:

• geomorphologic map
• Biferno River
• valley floor system
• GIS analysis
• channel adjustments
• anthropogenic influences
• Southern Italy

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank reviewers for their helpful suggestions in particular C.P.J.M. van Elzakker for his cartographic review. Thanks also to Pietro Aucelli for his support in GIS analyses.