Establishing a Geopark in the Alta Murgia (Italy)

ItalyApulia is an elongated peninsula of south-eastern Italy, almost entirely developed in carbonate rocks, intensely affected by karst processes: more than 2,000 karst caves, with a great variety of karst landscape and land- forms, characterize the region at the surface and under- ground. Its central part is called Murgia, a name coming from a pre-indoeuropean language meaning rock, due to its bare aspect. From the geological and palaeo-geographical standpoints, this sector belongs to the Apulia Platform, one of the Peri-adriatic platforms developed on the Adria Plate and that survived until the end of the Cretaceous. It is the only one that was not involved in orogenic processes, still rooted to the base- ment, thus representing a geological uniqueness since Murgia karst could record some phases of the post-Cretaceous Adria development.In 2004 the National Park “Alta Murgia” was estab-lished: it includes 70 hectares, in 13 municipalities, and is subdivided into three zones with different levels of protection. Further, the area is included within the largest Site Nature 2000 in Italy. Karst is definitely the main process shaping the landscape in the Murgia, with collapse dolines as the “Pulo” (700 m-large, and 90 m-deep), and the Gravina “Pulicchio” (500 m-large and 110 m-deep). Among the most remarkable evidences of the area, the limestone surface at the Pontrelli quarry, hosts thousands of dinosaur footprints, and an extraordinary well-preserved Neanderthal skeleton. This poster illustrates the main geological and karst features of Murgia, aimed at establishing a Geopark in the area.