Coastal Erosion

Italy, like Monterey, is a peninsula.  There is a lot of Coastal Erosion.  The Italian coastline

has a length of about 7500 km, of which about 3950 km (53%) are low or delta coastlines.

Sand or gravel beaches stretch for approximately 3,240 km, whereas the remaining part

are cliffs plunging into the sea and enclosing small pocket beaches.  About 1600 km (42%)

of the low or delta coastlines, including 42% of Italian beaches, are already under erosion.

Abruzzo, Basilicata, and Calabria regions have the highest recorded amount of coastal erosion with an estimated  58-63% of their coastlines eroded.  


It seems as though this is one of the hazards that Italy is taking seriously.  In the Marche

Region, where significant coastal erosion has occurred.  Steps taken to address it are beach

nourishment, cliff stabilization and removal of a portion of artificial reef.  The leading

cause of coastal erosion in Italy are dam construction in rivers (thus restricting sediment

supply to the coast) and land subsidence of river deltas.  Rapid urbanization and tourism

have also assisted with the rapid rate of erosion.  By far the most effective measure taken

to help reverse the process of erosion while also increasing tourism is beach nourishment. 

A strict qualification of dirt brought in from quarries must be met in order to maintain the

natural look of the beach. The picture below shows how much improvement implemented

measures have helped.   


(Comparison of satellite images of San Michele and Sassi Neri beaches in Sirolo municipality

(2008 left and 2019 right). Different measures have been implemented under the ICZM: beach

nourishment, removal of masses in front of a cliff face and nature restoration. Source: Marche

Regional Administration)


In 2019, 290 million Euros were spent on structural interventions alone.  In order to

maintain a positive trend utilizing interventions, governments must continue to implement

new measures while maintaining those already in place. 


Coastal erosion - Italy - Climatechangepost.com


Addressing coastal erosion in Marche region, Italy — English (europa.eu)


Italy: share of coastal erosion by region | Statista

Comments

  1. Vincent BilacNovember 19, 2023 at 1:28 PM

    Hello, Justin!

    Your research for Italy's coastal erosion has been such an interesting blog so far. I surprised about the measures that Italy had in 2019 compared to 2008. Italy is one of the closest countries to be near the Adriatic Sea is, which is where Croatia stands and that is why this concept of date is similar to my data of Croatia.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lucia CardinaleNovember 19, 2023 at 7:03 PM

    Hey Justin,
    That is so cool I did not know Italy is a peninsula like Monterey. 63% of Italy's coastlines are eroded are you kidding me that is such a large number wow! I am so glad to hear that Italy is taking steps to nourish its coastlines. I really think building Dams is a grand idea. Thanks for your blog friend!!
    all the best,
    Lucia

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Final Blog

Image
I picked Italy because it is a country that is rich in history, and is the most fascinating country to me.  Throughout my research, I've learned that rapid urbanization and overuse of fossil fuels has contributed heavily to the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.  These factors are generally starting points when it comes to climate change.  Italy is a small and densely populated country.  Climate change, global warming, and tectonic plate movement are all sources for Italy’s natural hazards.  The two natural hazards that present a significant threat to Italy are earthquakes and landslides.   Italy is situated next to the Eurasian and African tectonic plates.  Much of Italy’s mountainous terrain was formed due to these plates colliding.  This presents a huge problem to Italy’s buildings because they were not built to withstand the violent shaking of an earthquake.  It also endangers what I would consider to be a bigger problem.  Italy is known for its preservation of historical sites,
Read more

Italy and tectonic plates

Image
Italy has had its fair share of disasters caused by tectonic plates.  The country sits on top of two tectonic plates, the African and Eurasian plates.  Below you will see that Italy is covered mostly by the Eurasian plate with the African plate at its southern border.  It was interesting to learn that volcanoes are generally found at the border of tectonic plates and it is the case where most of Italy's volcanoes are found.   While Italy sits on top of two tectonic plates, there is a third plate that has and still does affect Italy known as the Adriatic plate.  Approximately 100 million years ago the formation of a lot of Italy's mountains were caused by the collision of the Adriatic plate and present day Europe.  This caused the plate to begin subducting and brought upon the loss of the microcontinent known as Adria.   The plates have caused high magnitude earthquakes as well as the formation of volcanoes, which have caused catastrophes dating back to the infamous eruption (Mo
Read more

Earthquakes in Italy

Image
As I learned last week, Italy is the resident of two major tectonic plates.  It comes to me no surprise that almost the entire country is either in a moderate or major earthquake hazard area.  Looking at the seismic hazard map, the biggest and most likely seismic occurrences primarily occur smack dab in the middle of Italy running south along the mountain ranges.  On the "latest quakes" link you can input Italy and in a 1 year time span Italy has experienced roughly 50 earthquakes with an average magnitude around 5.  Below I've included a chart from National Geographic that simplifies and puts into perspective the energy created from a seismic event.  While the magnitude of 5 energy shows the energy exhausted in relationship with candy bars, the next step up at 6 shows how devastating these events truly are.   Italy currently does not seem prepared to deal with another major seismic event.  Italy is inundated with historical building which not only require cutting through
Read more