Sedimentological and morphological evolution of the Crati River delta (Calabria, Italy)

Abstract

The Crati River is the main river in Calabria. Its lower part runs through the plain of Sibari, and flows into the Ionian Sea where it builds a cuspate delta. Features and evolution of the emerged delta are inferred, over the last 3000 years, from historic and archaeological data going back to the foundation of Sibari. Infilled lagoons and beach ridges mark the delta progradation. Medium-coarse sand forms the beaches, medium-fine sand develops the dunes, while sandy mud dominates the inner areas as the product of repeated floods. Mud prevails in the palaeochannels. Sandy and gravelly bodies packed in pelitic sediments showing depositional regression make the Pleistocene-Holocene sedimentary facies sequence. Delta front and upper prodelta are not well developed. A part of sediments bypasses and feeds the deep-sea basin through canyons headed near the river mouth.