Occurrence of sinkholes related to presence of artificial cavities is a very common hazard in many towns and villages of Italy, and is not limited to karst settings. Actually, the use of underground by humans involved a large part of the Italian territory, due to its very long historical and cultural history. At some locations, such a use has been so extensive that, in the historical part of towns, it is very difficult to find areas without subterranean voids. In the recent years, a chronological catalogue of sinkholes (of both natural and anthropogenic origin) in Italy has been published, based upon the classification of artificial cavities developed by the specific Commission of the Italian Speleological Society (Galeazzi, 2013), later on adopted at the international level by the Commission on Artificial Cavities of the International Union of Speleology (Parise et al., 2013). In this contribution we intend to extract and discuss the sinkholes evolution in time, related to artificial cavities. The study area covers one of the largest hydrographic districts of Europe, that is the Hydrographic District of Southern Apennines in Italy. It includes five entire Regions (Puglia, Calabria, Campania, Basilicata, Molise) and a portion of Lazio and Abruzzo Regions. Even though the catalogue is inevitably affected by inhomogeneity, due to the variety of sources used to fill the database, and the possible incompleteness of data, it offers a first analyses on the effect that sinkholes related to artificial cavities may produce on the society and infrastructures. A good knowledge of the cavity genesis and timing of sinkhole phenomena occurred in the past is the first step to be reached in order to improve the societal resiliency toward natural and anthropogenic hazards; this is particularly true in complex geological settings such as the territory of the Italian Hydrographic District of Southern Apennines.
A chronology of sinkholes related to artificial cavities in the hydrographic district of the Southern Apennines of Italy
Liso I. S.;Parise M.
2023-01-01
Abstract
Occurrence of sinkholes related to presence of artificial cavities is a very common hazard in many towns and villages of Italy, and is not limited to karst settings. Actually, the use of underground by humans involved a large part of the Italian territory, due to its very long historical and cultural history. At some locations, such a use has been so extensive that, in the historical part of towns, it is very difficult to find areas without subterranean voids. In the recent years, a chronological catalogue of sinkholes (of both natural and anthropogenic origin) in Italy has been published, based upon the classification of artificial cavities developed by the specific Commission of the Italian Speleological Society (Galeazzi, 2013), later on adopted at the international level by the Commission on Artificial Cavities of the International Union of Speleology (Parise et al., 2013). In this contribution we intend to extract and discuss the sinkholes evolution in time, related to artificial cavities. The study area covers one of the largest hydrographic districts of Europe, that is the Hydrographic District of Southern Apennines in Italy. It includes five entire Regions (Puglia, Calabria, Campania, Basilicata, Molise) and a portion of Lazio and Abruzzo Regions. Even though the catalogue is inevitably affected by inhomogeneity, due to the variety of sources used to fill the database, and the possible incompleteness of data, it offers a first analyses on the effect that sinkholes related to artificial cavities may produce on the society and infrastructures. A good knowledge of the cavity genesis and timing of sinkhole phenomena occurred in the past is the first step to be reached in order to improve the societal resiliency toward natural and anthropogenic hazards; this is particularly true in complex geological settings such as the territory of the Italian Hydrographic District of Southern Apennines.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
