The Leghorn area is located in the North West of Italy, on the Ligurian Sea coast. This is a highly urbanized area with all its consequent environmental issues, including soil pollution, saltwater intrusion, groundwater contamination and soil sealing which led to an increasing attention of the public administration and to the development of scientific research in environmental field. While the morphological alteration of the territory connected with the rapid urbanization has caused the obliteration of most of the outcrops, on the other side the development of building activities provided new elements for the subsoil stratigraphic knowledge as boreholes and ephemeral outcrops. Through a multidisciplinary study of these data, involving stratigraphical, lithological-sedimentological and micropaleontological information, a subsoil geological model was realized, aimed at the study of the groundwater resource. This model, taking into account literature data as well (Barsotti et al., 1974; Dall'Antonia et al., 2004; Bossio et al., 2009; Ciampalini et al., 2013), provides 12 stratigraphic-depositional units, which constitute the neogenicquaternary sedimentary sequence in the subsoil of the Leghorn area, corresponding to the polycyclic "Leghorn Terrace" (Barsotti et al., 1974; Boschian et al., 2006). Biostratigraphic data, focused mainly on ostracods, foraminifers and calcareous nannofossils, and facies analysis of identified stratigraphic units, were used for defining the palaeoenvironmental evolution, that represents an important element in providing a detailed reconstruction of the subsoil geology. Such a model is an essential tool to constrain aquifer dynamics, supporting the management of the natural resources.
Subsoil geological model of the Leghorn area (Ligurian sea cost, Italy): a stratigraphic approach
Da Prato S;Catanzariti R;Ellero A;Masetti G
2015
Abstract
The Leghorn area is located in the North West of Italy, on the Ligurian Sea coast. This is a highly urbanized area with all its consequent environmental issues, including soil pollution, saltwater intrusion, groundwater contamination and soil sealing which led to an increasing attention of the public administration and to the development of scientific research in environmental field. While the morphological alteration of the territory connected with the rapid urbanization has caused the obliteration of most of the outcrops, on the other side the development of building activities provided new elements for the subsoil stratigraphic knowledge as boreholes and ephemeral outcrops. Through a multidisciplinary study of these data, involving stratigraphical, lithological-sedimentological and micropaleontological information, a subsoil geological model was realized, aimed at the study of the groundwater resource. This model, taking into account literature data as well (Barsotti et al., 1974; Dall'Antonia et al., 2004; Bossio et al., 2009; Ciampalini et al., 2013), provides 12 stratigraphic-depositional units, which constitute the neogenicquaternary sedimentary sequence in the subsoil of the Leghorn area, corresponding to the polycyclic "Leghorn Terrace" (Barsotti et al., 1974; Boschian et al., 2006). Biostratigraphic data, focused mainly on ostracods, foraminifers and calcareous nannofossils, and facies analysis of identified stratigraphic units, were used for defining the palaeoenvironmental evolution, that represents an important element in providing a detailed reconstruction of the subsoil geology. Such a model is an essential tool to constrain aquifer dynamics, supporting the management of the natural resources.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
