ACTIVE GEOMORPHOSITES IN DIFFERENT MORPHOCLIMATIC ENVIRONMENTS: PROCESSES, EVOLUTION, EROSION RATES AND STRATEGIES FOR EDUCATIONAL DISSEMINATION

Geomorphosites are a recent research topic in geomorphology and they represent one of the most important vehicle for dissemination of Earth sciences. More in particular active geomorphosites are the most suitable at this scope for the evidence of processes and deriving landforms. These sites have been chosen in order to structure a research project that focus on monitoring, evaluating and disseminating of data regarding modeling processes interesting meaningful geomorphosites, always in relation with the geological component of the landscape. The importance of monitoring active geomorphosites and reconstructing the main geomorphological past events affecting them is twofold. On one side, the investigation of processes modalities may be useful for predicting the velocity of evolution of these sites that can be considered natural assets, often threatened by the same geomorphic processes ongoing. On the other side it has to be considered the educational importance of active geomorphosites in particular because of their high representativeness in term of geomorphic processes and their evolution characterized by times that are comparable to human timescale, and for this reason more comprehensible by the educational targets. So their importance as educational tools requires a rigorous characterization of geomorphic processes from a scientific point of view, also because they may represent source of hazards that can be translated in risk scenarios, especially in touristic contexts. The aims of the research project have been the structuring and testing of a general procedure to be proposed to work on geomorphosites. At this scope the research project has been articulated in three main sections: quantification of evolution rates of selected geomorphosites, structuring of a database for evaluation and selection of active geomorphosites for different scopes, and elaboration of educational applications starting from the scientific data that derive from the monitoring of sites and basing on the results obtained from evaluation of sites through the database. More in detail for the first section, the integration of different investigation techniques has been applied. In the different morphoclimatic and morphogenetic contexts (Monte Oliveto Maggiore, Trebbia River, Pyramidés d’Euseigne) the dendrogeomorphological techniques have been compared to quantitative geomorphology, topographic survey and ortophoto analysis in order to obtain different sets of data, to be calibrated each others. Dendrogeomorphology allows also a more detailed analysis of the ecological support role of geomorphosites, that is an important feature characterizing the scientific value of sites. The structuring of the database allows to take into consideration the importance of sites not only from a geomorphological point of view but also for the interactions with geological and vegetation elements of the landscape as well as with the human components inserted in it. The results of evaluation through the database, that are presented here, derived from two testing areas (Trebbia River and Miage Glacier). For what concerns educational applications, they have been thought in order to consider all the aspects herein described and three main proposals are presented. An educational project has been developed with a secondary school along the Trebbia River, in order to focus on the time concept in evolution of a complex geomorphosites like the fluvial landscape, taking into consideration geomorphology, geology, vegetation and human components of the landscape. Then the geological and vegetation aspect have been deepened through the investigations respectively of climbing walls (Montestrutto and Arnad), in order to make people more confident to lithological aspect using recreational activities, and of a coniferous stand along an artificial channel (Torrent Neuf) in order to understand the interaction of vegetation with human components of the landscape. The monitoring of sites, integrating different techniques basing on both biological and a-biological components of the landscape, allows the acquisition of scientific data on the evolution of active geomorphosites in different morphoclimatic and morphogenetic contexts (i.e. fluvial, glacial and calanchi landscapes). The results of dendrogeomorphological investigations well integrate and refine the data obtained with other geomorphological applications, for important active geomorphosites, for both erosion rates (e.g. at Monte Oliveto Maggiore through quantitative geomorphology, 1,5 cm a-1, and through roots exposure, 1,86 cm a-1) and evolution rates (e.g. anticipation of the age of bankfull maximum shrinkage to 1985-1987 through dendrochronological dating of stable surfaces, instead of 1990, obtained through ortophoto analysis). The elaboration of an evaluation and selection methodology for both single sites and complex itineraries may be considered a useful tools for researchers and operators in the framework of touristic sector. On the base of historical and new acquired data, the structuring of the database allows to select sites for educational purposes basing on ad-hoc criteria for geomorphosites selection suitable to varied scopes. The results from the deriving different educational applications allow, in the case of the project with the secondary school, to confirm the importance of both classroom lessons and fieldwork in raising the awareness of time role and interactions among the different physical components in the evolution of physical landscape (e.g. the influence of geological substrate on fluvial landforms). Then, the preliminary results of using climbing sport as vehicle for Earth sciences dissemination confirm the possibility of linking the geological and geomorphological features of climbing walls with the modalities of climbing progression. Finally the results deriving from the study on vegetation-artificial channel interaction illustrate both the role of climate and water availability deriving by human infrastructure on vegetation and they may be proposed as additional elements in already started touristic itineraries. Generally, the importance of dissemination of Earth sciences, and in the specific case of processes that model Earth surface affecting geomorphosites, lays in the possibility of using these situations for raising awareness in tourists, and people in general, of the dynamicity of the environment in order to consciously travel inside the natural environments. In addition the evolution rate of geomorphosites should be taken into consideration for touristic planning activities and revision of geomorphosites evaluations. All these results highlight that the proposed methodology may be considered a good practice for valorizing these natural assets. The further perspective may be the extension of this investigation methodology to more numerous study cases in order to find out more differentiated educational strategies basing on the different natural and human features that characterize each morphoclimatic and morphogenetic environment.