Soil erosion induced by heavy rainfall deeply affects landscape changes and human activities. It depends on rainfall distribution (e.g., intensity, duration, cumulative per event) and is controlled by the interactions between lithology, orography, hydrography, land use, and vegetation. The Abruzzo piedmont coastal hilly area has been affected by several heavy rainfall events in the last decades. In this work, we investigated three ~1-day heavy rainfall (>35 mm/h and 100–220 mm/day) events in 2007, 2011, and 2012 that occurred in the clayey hilly coastal NE Abruzzo area, analyzing cumulative rainfall, intensity, and duration while mapping triggered geomorphological effects (soil erosion and accumulation) and evaluating average erosion. The analysis provides contributions to a soil erosion assessment of clayey landscapes that characterizes the Adriatic hilly area, with an estimation of rainfall-triggering thresholds for heavy soil erosion and a comparison of erosion in single events with rates known in the Mediterranean area. The triggering threshold for heavy soil erosion shows an expected value of ~100–110 mm. The estimated average soil erosion is from moderate to high (0.08–3.08 cm in ~1-day heavy rainfall events) and shows a good correlation with cumulative rainfall and a poor correlation with peak rainfall intensity. This work outlines the strong impact of soil erosion on the landscape changes in the Abruzzo and Adriatic hilly areas.
This work is focused on the landslide susceptibility assessment, applied to Mauritius Island. The study area is a volcanic island located in the western part of the Indian Ocean and it is characterized by a plateau-like morphology interrupted by three rugged mountain areas. The island is severely affected by geo-hydrological hazards, generally triggered by tropical storms and cyclones. The landslide susceptibility analysis was performed through an integrated approach based on morphometric analysis and preliminary Geographical Information System (GIS)-based techniques, supported by photogeological analysis and geomorphological field mapping. The analysis was completed following a mixed heuristic and statistical approach, integrated using GIS technology. This approach led to the identification of eight landslide controlling factors. Hence, each factor was evaluated by assigning appropriate expert-based weights and analyzed for the construction of thematic maps. Finally, all the collected data were mapped through a cartographic overlay process in order to realize a new zonation of landslide susceptibility. The resulting map was grouped into four landslide susceptibility classes: low, medium, high, and very high. This work provides a scientific basis that could be effectively applied in other tropical areas showing similar climatic and geomorphological features, in order to develop sustainable territorial planning, emergency management, and loss-reduction measures.
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The Trust project, funded by the European Commission's Life+ programme and the Italian Ministry of Environment, aims to identify adaptation and mitigation measures to counteract the impacts of climate change on the groundwater of the upper plain in the Veneto and Friuli regions in northeastern Italy. Intensive groundwater abstraction over recent decades has resulted in declining water table levels; this problem, common to many other places in the world, will be exacerbated by future temperature increases unless appropriate solutions are adopted. Trust aims to implement a water balance modelling tool to support institutions in formulating sustainable water management planning policies and best practices. This paper reviews the development and application of the water balance model that simulates water deficit affecting summer crops using agronomic and climatic data at small spatial and temporal resolution. Remote sensing identification methods were employed to map irrigated crops. Projections on the water deficit as a function of climate change have used future precipitation and evapotranspiration patterns derived from climate simulations (SRES-IPCC scenarios A1B and A2) of the Mediterranean region for the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Model outputs showed that, due to climate change, water deficits for summer crops could be of the order of 400 mm, while the balance model showed that climate change can lead to a reduction of average groundwater resource of about 5–10%, especially in the apical areas of the high plain. However, a significant part of the future water deficit might be recovered through rationalisation of water withdrawal and managed aquifer recharge areas.
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