Ongoing channel changes in some major rivers in southern Italy

Vittoria Scorpio (a,b), Carmen M. Rosskopf (b), Pietro P.C. Aucelli (c) & Luca Pisano (b,d)
(a) Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Piazzetta Università, 5, 39100, Bolzano, Italy. E-mail: Vittoria.Scorpio@unibz.it (b) Department of Biosciences and Territory, University of Molise, Contrada Fonte Lappone, 86090 Pesche, Italy. (c) Department of Environmental Sciences, University Parthenope of Naples, Centro Direzionale, Isola C4, 80143 Napoli, Italy. (d) CNR-IRPI, Via Amendola 122-I, 70126 Bari, Italy.

Some major rivers in southern Italy (Trigno, Biferno, Fortore and Volturno), as most of Italy's rivers, have suffered significant channel changes during the last 60 years. Channel adjustments mainly consisted in channel narrowing and bed lowering coupled with pattern changes. Over the last 10-15 years, these rivers have undergone some important modifications in their evolutionary trends. More specifically, the Trigno River and the reaches of the Fortore River located upstream the Occhito dam are interested by moderate channel recovery, while the Volturno and Biferno rivers and the Fortore reaches located downstream the dam are affected by slight channel recovery or no significant changes in morphology. Key driving factors of these recent evolutionary trends seem to be the occurrence of major flood events and the degree of channel mobility that is conditioned by channel works and riparian woody vegetation.

channel changes, channel recovery, control factors, evolutionary trajectories