Millstone coastal quarries of the Mediterranean: A new class of sea level indicator

Abstract

a b s t r a c tThe coasts of Italy still preserve several remnants of coastal quarries built in antiquity, that now provide insights into the intervening sea-level changes occurred during the last millennia. In this paper, we show and discuss a new class of sea level indicator consisting of millstones carved along the rocky coast of southern Italy since 2500 BP, that are currently submerged. They were extracted from beachrocks, sandstones or similar sedimentary rocks, easier for carving by ancient carving tools. Our study focuses on 10 coastal sites located at Capo d'Orlando, Avola, and Letojanni, in Sicily; Soverato, Tropea, and Capo dell'Armi, in Calabria; Castellabate, Palinuro, and Scario, in Campania; and Polignano San Vito, in Apulia.Unfortunately, only limited archaeological information is available for these anthropic structures. Scario, one of these millstone quarries discussed here, has been dated through independent archaeological remains, allowing us to restrict the exploitation age to the end of XVII century. Present day elevations of these coastal sites were obtained through geo-archaeological surveys calibrated using the nearest tidal stations, together with geomorphological and tectonic interpretations. Data were compared against the latest sea level predictions based on glacio-hydro-isostatic models. Our results allow proposal of the age-range of these millstone quarries and to estimate the intervening relative sea level changes since the time when they were carved.

Tsunami Vulnerability Evaluation for a Small Ancient Village on Eastern Sicily Coast

“…In particular, the Italian (Calabrian and Sicilian ones) coastal areas are among the most exposed sites to seismogenic tsunami hazards. We state this to point out that the Sicilian coastal areas have a strong anthropization, which makes them more vulnerable [18]. The biggest tsunami in recent time (1908) was registered in Messina; in this case, the maximum observed run-up was about 12 m. The Sicilian coast is densely populated.…”

Dipping Tidal Notches (DTN): Exposed vs Sheltered Morphometry

“…The occurrences of MTN and roof MTN were located and mapped, and notch morphometry was measured by fixed or extensional rods, following Antonioli et al [2]. Data reported in Table 1 were corrected for tides and pressure using the methodology described in [34], using tidal data from the nearest tide gauge station [35] (www.mareografico.it;ioc-sealevelmonitoring.org/), in particular at Lampedusa where measured data have been collected (Figure 4), while positions have been estimated at the surface by GPS handheld receivers.…”

Tsunami Propagation and Flooding in Sicilian Coastal Areas by Means of a Weakly Dispersive Boussinesq Model

“…The tectonic structure of this area includes also several smaller plates [19] making more difficult the analysis of earthquake-induced tsunami (Figure 1). The outer Calabrian Arc has impressive deep reverse fault systems (Figure 1), with a predominantly NW-SE direction [14,22], which could originate earthquakes with significant magnitudes [23]. The Hellenic Arc (about 1000 km long) is also one of the most seismically active areas near Greece (Figure 1).…”

“…In particular, the Greek and Italian (Calabrian and Sicilian ones) coastal areas are among the most exposed sites to such a hazard. These coastal areas, have a strong anthropization which makes them more vulnerable [14]. In order to plan actions useful for risk mitigation, it is necessary to produce flooding and exposure maps that can be used for prevention and protection purposes.…”