Carta geomorfologica dell’Arcipelago Toscano

This volume is the final issue of a research project on geomorphological mapping at different scales,carried out in the Tuscan Archipelago within an agreement between ex APAT-Geological Survey of Italy-Department Soil Defense and the Department of Geological Sciences of “Roma Tre”University.The resulting maps,digital data-base and explanatory notes (in this volume) represent, without any doubt,an important event.In fact,it introduces geomorphological information to the environmental knowledge of the archipelago, that has been deeply investigated just from the geological and petrological points of view. After an introductory chapter concerning the archipelago geology and climatology,the volume presents a detailed description of the geomophological features of each island. Exception made for Pianosa and Giannutri, all islands are characterized by a rough topography, essentially resulting from the selective erosion of the bedrock, made of a large variety of rock-types.Erosional landforms are predominant with respect to depositional landforms. Among coastal features,cliffs are frequent and well developed,whereas inactive abrasion platforms are few and sometimes of uncertain interpretation.Old dune deposits are relatively frequent along the coast of the Elba and Pianosa islands. Fluvial-denudational and weathering processes are dominant in the inner sectors; karstic landforms are present in Pianosa and Giannutri. Fluvial-denudational landforms are mostly erosional (fluvial valleys,gullies,rills),whereas depositional landforms (alluvial and coastal plains) are less frequent.The weathering processes originate tors, honeycomb sculptures, tafoni and thick weathering mantles. Gravitational processes include degradational escarpments, rockfalls, slides, and rare flows. Talus is widely developed at the foot of slopes. The islands of the Tuscan Archipelago are inhabited since prehistoric times. In protohistoric and historic times, mining in the Elba and Giglio islands, farming, and pasturing induced strong environmental changes. In the last centuries,new and more intensive man-made landforms (urban areas,penality buildings,hydraulic regulation of streams,portual infrastructures) have increasingly modified the landscape of the Tuscan Archipelago.