In recent decades, rivers in Southern Italy experienced remarkable channel changes. Studies on this topic are relatively recent, and yet, far from defining a morpho-evolutionary trend that is common to all rivers of this area. The types and roles of the different controlling factors are still debated. In this study, we present preliminary results about the width channel changes of major rivers in the Campania region (Southern Italy) in the last 150 years. The aim is to provide new insights that are useful to define morpho-evolutionary trajectories at a regional scale and shed light on the roles played by controlling factors. To this aim, we carried out a GIS-aided geomorphological analysis of topographic maps and orthophotos. The results showed the existence of at least three main phases of channel width variations. Between the 1870s and 1930s (Phase 1), most of the rivers experienced widening. Between the 1930s and late 1990s (Phase 2), all of the rivers underwent dramatic narrowing at high rates. Finally, from the 1990s onwards, no dominant trend was found and variations were negligible. Land-use changes at the basin scale and rainfall changes at a decadal scale are likely the main controlling factors, while variations in human disturbances and local factors seem responsible for changes in general trends.
In Southern Italy, studies dealing with the analysis of multidecadal land-use changes at the basin scale are scarce. This is an important gap, considering the deep interrelationships between land-use changes, soil erosion, and river dynamics, and hazards at the basin scale and the proneness of Southern Italy to desertification. This study provides a contribution in filling this gap by analyzing the land-use changes occurring in an inner area of Southern Italy, i.e., the Calore River basin, between 1960 and 2018. Working to this aim, we conducted a GIS-aided comparison and analysis of three land-use maps of the study area from 1960, 1990, and 2018, respectively. We analyzed land-use changes at the basin, physiographic unit, and land-use class scale. We also interpreted the results in terms of variations in soil protection against erosion. Most of the detected land-use changes occurred between 1960 and 1990 and mainly consisted of the afforestation of agricultural lands. The latter was mainly concentrated in the alluvial plains and, to a lesser extent, on mountainous reliefs. In contrast, between 1990 and 2018, the land-use remained unchanged in more than 90% of the studied landscape. Artificial surfaces increased by about six times over a period of ~60 years; notwithstanding, they currently occupy about 4% of the basin area. The detected changes led to an overall increase in soil protection against erosion at the basin scale.
As highlighted by the EU Water Framework Directive from 2000, the hydromorphology of a stream, besides water quality and biological aspects, is one of the main elements to be evaluated to correctly assess its ecological state. Notwithstanding this, there are no such studies in peninsular Southern Italy. This study provides a contribution to filling this gap by assessing the morphological quality of one of the major rivers of this area, i.e., the Calore River, by using the IDRAIM method. The latter presents the advantage of taking into account the specific Italian context in terms of channel adjustments and human pressures, together with pre-existing geomorphological approaches developed in other countries. The method is based on data obtained by means of GIS analysis, remote sensing, and field survey. The analysis provided encouraging results, highlighting the good morphological quality of the Calore River. To maintain such quality, accurate monitoring of the human activities and/or careful planning of structures that could negatively affect the river’s morphological quality is unquestionably needed. The Calore River morphological quality seems to be controlled by artificiality rather than by the channel changes experienced since the 1950s. The results will be fundamental for already planned studies dealing with flood hazard and risk assessment.
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