Channel pattern medium-term changes in four rivers of Southern Italy: a summary

Abstract

In this paper, a summary of the channel morphologies changes experienced by four rivers of the Campania Region (Southern Italy) over a time-span of ~150 years were reported. The investigated rivers were Calore, Sele, Tammaro and Sabato Rivers, which markedly differ from the standpoints of length, flow discharge and channel mean width. To this aim, a geomorphological analysis in GIS environment of historical maps, topographic maps, orthophotos and Google Earth imagery from different dates (1870, 1909, 1955, 1998 and 2023) was carried out, with a mean temporal resolution of ~38 years. The results showed a dominance of sinuous morphologies between the end of XIX century and the first decades of XX century, which was clearer in the minor rivers (i.e., Tammaro and Sabato Rs.). During the 1950’s, sinuous morphologies remained dominant, but transitional morphologies (wandering and sinuous with alternated bars) significantly increased. From the end of XX century onwards, sinuous channel morphologies returned strikingly dominant in all the investigated rivers. The coherence of the obtained results was discussed in the framework of the pre-existing literature, also highlighting the central role played by the scale of the used materials for a correct analysis of channel morphology changes, with the aim to provide new insights for the definition of a common morphoevolutionary trend for rivers of Southern Italy.