Carta Geomorfologica del bacino idrografico del Rio Spinasanta e note illustrative(Sicilia centro-settentrionale).

Abstract

Geomorphological map of the Rio Spinasanta river basin and illustrative notes (Central-northern Sicily). The present paper aims to illustrate the geomorphological map of the Rio Spinasanta river basin, in which landforms recognizable on the area are mapped and distinguished according to the responsible geomorphological process. The Rio Spianasanta river is a tributary of the head sector of the Imera Settentrionale river and is contiguous to the regional water divide that separate the northward and southward flowing Sicilian rivers; the geomorphological map has been produced using as support a topographic map on scale 1:10,000. The geomorphological map has been carried out by means of different methodologies, namely geological and geomorphological field surveys, analysis of aerial photos and orthophotos.Moreover, the geomorphological characterization of the area has been supported by the study of the pluviometric conditions and by the analysis of the landforms’ spatial distribution; the latter, which has been carried out using a GIS software, allowed to evaluate the density of landforms on the classes of the lithology parameter and on the classes of slope angle and aspect. The GIS analysis showed that the combinations of the selected parameters control the intensity of the processes and the spatial distribution of the shaped landforms; this fact led to different landscapes recognizable in the studied area. The landforms mapped in the Rio Spinasanta river basin have been distinguished according to the modeling processes in: a) landforms shaped by water erosion processes; b) landforms produced by gravitational processes.