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Apulian Karst Springs: A Review
No full textApulia (southeastern Italy) is an elongated peninsula, located between the Ionian and the Adriatic seas,
characterized by a semi-arid climate. It is an almost entirely karst region, with very limited availability of surface freshwater resources. The groundwater, the only water resource of Apulia, is affected by severe pollution problems related to both antropogenic and seawater intrusion phenomena. This is further exacerbated by the strong tourist vocation of the area, with heavy pressure by touristic water demand, especially during summertime. The Apulian geography and related freshwater problems require a thorough knowledge about karst processes, with specific regard to springs and aquifers. Despite this, in recent decades the attention on regional karst water resources was quite limited, and there is the huge need to implement new research in this field, aimed at reaching a better understanding of the Apulian karst. In this work we present a review on the main Apulian karst springs, divided in the three main sub-karst areas (Gargano, Murge, and Salento), based upon critical revision of the existing scientific literature. The aims are to build a database of known karst springs, and, further, to highlight the widespread and remarkable presence of karst phenomena in the region
Alcuni aspetti idrogeologici della circolazione idrica sotterranea dell’Inghiottitoio di Masseria Rotolo
No full textLa Puglia presenta una elevata percentuale di rocce solubili in affioramento che coprono i distretti di Gargano, Murge e Salento; tale condizione la elegge a regione carsica per eccellenza dell’Italia meridionale. Le forme carsiche di superficie si riconoscono nell’intero territorio regionale, con grande varietà di morfologie, sia nelle aree interne che lungo la costa (Palmentola,
2002; Parise, 2008; De Waele et al., 2011) e la numerosissima
presenza di grotte testimonia lo sviluppo del carsismo
anche al di sotto della superficie (Inguscio et al., 2007; Parise, 2011); vi sono, infatti, più di 2000 grotte registrate nel Catasto delle Grotte e delle Cavità Artificiali della Puglia (http://www.catasto.fspuglia.it ), gestito dalla
Federazione Speleologica Pugliese. Il territorio pugliese, come in generale tutti i territori carsici (Palmer, 2007; Williams, 2008), si suddivide in tre zone principali che, dalla superficie verso il basso, si distinguono in epicarso, zona vadosa e zona freatica
Karst system response to climatic events: the case of Vora Bosco (Salento, Southern Italy)
Full text linkRemarkable surface and subsurface karst landforms characterize the Apulia Region (Southern Italy). Vora Bosco is a cave located in Salento Peninsula, the southernmost sector of Apulia, and precisely in the Galatina countryside. It reaches groundwater at a depth of about 60 m from the topographic surface (elevation of the cave entrance: 64 m a.s.l.). The interception of water table makes Vora Bosco one of the most important caves in Apulia to study the complex hydrogeological dynamics in karst environment. Numerous monitoring actions have been implemented in order to collect meteorological data (external and internal temperature, relative humidity, rainfall, etc.), beside periodically controlling the chemical and microbiological parameters of groundwater, and the groundwater level as well. The processing of cave temperature values is extremely interesting at the site. Three HOBO sensors, installed along the cave pathway at different depths, have collected so far interesting temperature and humidity data (monitoring active since November 2017). In detail, we will examine here two events that occurred in February 2018, during which a significant and sudden (one day) temperature values decrease (about 10 ◦C) was recorded in the cave environment. The sudden lowering of temperature is positively related with others data like external temperature, and groundwater temperature and level. More specifically, when sensors detect the lowering temperature, the external and groundwater temperature decrease, while groundwater level rises according to intense rain phenomena. The monitoring, still ongoing, will proceed aimed to quantify the time in which the cave returns under steady state condition (as both concerns water and air temperature) and to comprehend the reasons why the sensors reveal the sudden temperature lowering also in cave sectors far away from the entrance. Acknowledgments: this work was funded through the Protocollo d’intesa con Regione Puglia per l’attuazione dell’art. 45 “Interventi per esplorazione dei fenomeni carsici”, comma 1 della L.R. n. 45 del 30/12/2013
Risorsa idrica sotterranea e cambiamento climatico: il caso della Puglia (Italia meridionale)
No full textLa Regione Puglia (Italia meridionale) presenta un assetto peninsulare, bordata da più di 800 km di costa e caratterizzata da clima mediterraneo arido/semiarido. La geologia regionale mostra più dell’80% del territorio con rocce solubili in affioramento, ovvero i Calcari del Cretaceo appartenenti alla piattaforma
carbonatica apula Mesozoica, e calcareniti di età compresa dal Miocene
al Quaternario; tale condizione elegge la Puglia a regione carsica per eccellenza
dell’Italia meridionale. In contesti di cambiamento climatico, tali fattori
naturali possono favorire il degrado quali-quantitativo della risorsa idrica
sotterranea, contribuendo alla diminuzione della ricarica naturale e rendendo
gli acquiferi ulteriormente vulnerabili all’intrusione marina
Micro-climatic aspects at the karst system of Vora Bosco (Salento, Southern Italy)
No full textApulia Region (Southern Italy) presents a very high percentage of soluble (carbonate) outcropping rocks. Karst phenomena are therefore widespread, and mark the territory with typical landforms and features. Among these, the Vora Bosco swallow hole, located in Salento, is one of the two sites in the region that allow man to move within a cave system, eventually reaching the groundwater. Interception of the water table, at a depth of – 60 m below the ground (altitude of the cave entrance: 64 m a.s.l.), makes Vora Bosco one of the most important caves to direct study the complex hydrogeological dynamics in the Apulian karst. The underground environment is characterized by very narrow passages, and the system is almost entirely developed inside calcarenitic formations (Plio/Pleistocene – Miocene), with only the few last meters within the Cretaceous limestones. The Vora Bosco plan, realized by speleological surveys, draws a predominant E-W elongation direction of the cave system. Numerous monitoring actions have been started since October 2017 inside the karst system and in the surrounding superficial areas, in order to collect geological, hydrogeological and biological data from both surface and subsoil. Among the informations collected so far (internal and external meteorological data, water level, temperature and electrical conductivity, petrological and structural data) the processing and analysis of the cave climate values has revealed extremely interesting. Karst scientists typically consider the cave environment quite stable, with a temperature about equal to the mean external temperature value at the access of the cave. However, in at least two cases, during February 2018, the Vora Bosco temperature fell down very quickly. The three HOBO sensors, installed along the cave pathway to register temperature and humidity data, with a pace of one measure per hour, detected significant and sudden temperature values decreases (about 10 °C in 24 h), through the whole cave system. In addition, such a decrease in temperature is accompanied by a correspondent lowering in the groundwater temperature, and by a significant rise in the groundwater level, following intense rainfall. This behavior could be explained considering that Vora Bosco is a shallow karst system that, since it develops prevailingly within porous calcarenites, rapidly drains the rainfall towards the deepest sectors of the cave. The cold water remains inside the rock mass pores, thus influencing the HOBO temperature records. In addition, the turbulent flux of rainwater, which disappears within the subsoil crossing the cave entrance, produces a cold spray, adding its effect to the previous one. Analysis of these events, and of the related micro-climate changes, is still going on, aimed at quantifying the time required by the Vora Bosco karst system to return to steady state conditions (that is, to the situation present before the rainstorm)
Sinkhole evolution in coastal settings: some examples from Southern Italy.
No full textThe southernmost sector of Apulia Region can be described as a karst peninsula surrounded by the Adriatic and the Ionian Seas. The process of seawater intrusion, together with groundwater outflow, mainly coming out at the coastline, produces a water mixing that enhances the solution of soluble carbonate rocks. The effect of these processes can be observed along the coastline, characterized by several areas interested by sinkhole development and evolution. In some cases, they have become famous touristic attraction as at Grotta della Poesia, visited every summer by thousands of tourists; in other cases they represent spectacular sites of high ecological values, since they host peculiar ecosystems, with many fauna and flora species. At several sites along the
Apulian coasts, sinkhole evolution form elongated bays, completely protected from sea waves, as in the sector between Fasano and Brindisi. Along this coastal stretch, field surveys revealed different sinkholes stages that can be described as successive phases in the development of bays: from opening of individual collapse sinkholes, typically at distance lower than 20 m from the coastline, to evolution in elongated sinkholes deriving from coalescence of nearby features,
eventually leading to the final stage, with formation of protected bays, which main elongation depends upon the main discontinuity systems in the rock mass, and the main direction of sea storms as well. These examples highlight the importance of sinkhole processes in predicting the future evolution of the coast, and may be of help to local authorities for the most proper management of such a fragile environment
Il contributo della speleologia alla ricerca scientifica
No full textCavità prodotte dai processi carsici, sia sotto forma di ambienti esplorabili dall’uomo che di condotti di piccole dimensioni ma di alta frequenza
nell’ammasso roccioso solubile, sono di enorme importanza ai fini della comprensione della circolazione idrica sotterranea in contesti carsic
The link between man and water in karst, through examples from Apulia (S Italy)
No full textIn this contribution three different sites from the Apulian karst of southern Italy are illustrated about the issue of water flowing out in caves, and of how these latter represented remarkable sites for the historical development of ancient local communities. The goal of the work is to highlight the strong link between water and human presence, and the related cults, in the karst settings of Apulia. The study areas cover all main karst sub-regions of Apulia, from the Gargano promontory to the Murge plateau, and Salento peninsula, and are examined through an integration of detailed scrutiny of the historical and archaeological research and field work con-sisting in geological and hydrogeological surveys. Scaloria Cave, in Gargano, pre-serves testimonies of the water cult during Neolithic times, as documented by ves-sels and containers, located in remote places of the cave system. At Minervino Murge, the cave dedicated to Saint Michael Archangel, that played an important role in the pilgrimages along the main religious routes of southern Italy, also hosts places to collect water, dripping from both cave ceiling and speleothems. Eventu-ally, at Manduria, in the Taranto province, Fonte Pliniano is the spring originally documented by Pliny the Elder in his work Naturalis Historia; given the archeolog-ical relevance of the site, the spring has always been a remarkable place of cult. Describing these sites provides interesting hints for further analysis about the con-nection of water with human settlements, in Apulia and in other karst areas of the Mediterranean Basin
Classification and hydro-geochemistry of karst springs along the southern coast of Albania
No full textThe southern Albania coast, about 147 km long, represents one of the fastest growing areas of the country for tourism and local economy, resulting in serious problems concerning water supply. Due the karst nature of the territory, groundwater is the only remaining promising resource. The aim of this research is to describe the main characteristics and influencing factors on karst groundwater quantity and quality and the drainage type in the study area. In general, the area is very rich in groundwater resources; the estimated total renewable karst water resources being about 20 m3/s. Based on the different geological-structural conditions and the development of karst processes, their drainage occurs in different ways. Five main types of drainage can be distinguished along the Southern Albanian coast: (a) overflowing springs, (b) descending springs,
(c) coastal springs, (d) submarine spring, and (e) diffuse drainage. Regarding water quality, only the overflowing springs have a good quality, due to the presence of impervious rocks isolating freshwater from the sea water. Good-quality springs represent 28% of the total discharge of karst water resources drained to the Adriatic and Ionian Seas. In addition, the situation becomes more difficult, because about 83% of the fresh quality karst water resources drain along a 1.5 km-long coastal strip located in the northernmost sector of the studied area. Beside this, the strong increase in population, particularly during
the summer due tourism activities, as well as construction of new urban areas, are the main sources of likely pollution for some of the good-quality springs. The high anthropic pressure on groundwater resources increases the seawater intrusion phenomena, reducing the availability of freshwater resource and in specific areas, contributing to spring salinization
Fattori predisponenti, preparatori e innescanti I fenomeni di instabilità nel territorio delle gravine Apulo-Lucane
No full textThe territory of gravine (a local term to designate fluvio-karstic valleys in Apulia and Basilicata regions) is highly susceptible to a variety of geological and hydrological processes. These are partly due to intrinsic characters of the local geology, but are also prepared by other factors acting with frequency such as
particular types of rainfall (in terms of duration and intensity), seismic shocks, anthropogenic actions, etc. The latter actions include excavation of intensive systems of underground networks inside the walls of the karst valleys, inducing an overall reduction in the physical and mechanical properties of the calcarenites.
In this contribution we describe the main types of slope instability, sinkholes, and flooding processes affecting the gravine system, and their effects and impacts on the cultural and historical heritage, and on society as well. The sector at the boundary between Apulia and Basilicata has been historicall affected by a great number of events, some of which are recalled here. On the other hand, it is extremely rich in history and culture, and could represent a wonderful opportunity of valorization, and a source of income for the local economy, if carefully managed, taking into the due account its peculiar geological characteristics
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