In this paper we present the land units map of Italy, covering an area of ca. 300,000km(2) between 47 degrees 05 N-35 degrees 29 N and 6 degrees 37 E-18 degrees 31 E. The map was created by means of a Geographic Information System (GIS) and is based on the overlay of various thematic maps according to a hierarchical classification. The map scale is 1:250,000, with a minimum mapping unit of 50ha. The GIS integration of different layers, covering the main environmental components (climate, lithology and geomorphology), resulted in a number of hierarchically arranged land units, homogeneous in terms of biotic potential and ecological processes. These units highlight the role of physical determinism in characterizing the Italian territory with a high degree of environmental heterogeneity. The proposed land classification scheme could be taken into consideration when planning initiatives aimed at surveying, monitoring, managing and sustainably developing the territory
In watershed mountain basins, affected in the last decades by strong rainfall events, the role of debris-flow and debris flood processes was investigated. Morphometric parameters have proven to be useful first-approximation indicators in discriminating those processes, especially in large areas of investigation. Computation of morphometric parameters in 19 watershed mountain basins of the western side valley of the Vallo di Diano intermontane basin (southern Italy) was carried out. This procedure was integrated by a semi-automatic elaboration of the potential susceptibility to debris flows, using Flow-R modelling. This software, providing an empirical model of the preliminary susceptibility assessment at a regional scale, was applied in many countries of the world. The implementation of Flow-R modelling requires a GIS application and some thematic base maps extracted using DEMs analysis. A 5-meter-resolution DEM has been used in order to produce the susceptibility maps of the whole study area, and the results are compared and discussed with the real debris flow/flood events that occurred in 1993, 2005, 2010, and 2017 in the studied area. The results have provided a good reliability of Flow-R modelling within small catchment mountain basins.
In this work, we tested the reliability of two different methods of automated landform classification (ACL) in three geological domains of the southern Italian chain with contrasting morphological features. ACL maps deriving from the TPI-based (topographic position index) algorithm are strictly dependent to the search input parameters and they are not able to fully capture landforms of different size. Geomorphons-based classification has shown a higher potential and can represent a powerful method of ACL, although it should be improved with the introduction of additional DEM-based parameters for the extraction of landform classes.
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