PROPOSAL FOR A THEMATIC ITINERARY ON GEOMORPHOLOGICAL SITES ALONG THE WESTERN COAST OF THE SALENTO PENINSULA, SOUTHERN ITALY

Abstract

G. Palmentola & M. Lazzari, Proposal for a thematic itinerary on geomorphological sites along the western coast of the
Salento peninsula, southern Italy. (IT ISNN 0394-3356, 2005).
Researches carried out on the Quaternary coastline modifications along the western Salento Peninsula of Apulia, permitted to survey
a succession of well-preserved geomorphological sites. These sites testify the events which interested the studied coastal sector
during the Quaternary time from mid-late Pleistocene (MIS 9?) to Holocene (MIS 1). The coastal sector of great landscape value, along
which geomorphosites are exposed, is wide some kilometres from Gallipoli town toward north as far as the Punta d’Alto Lido promontory (locally known as the “broken mountain”). In particular, a series of landforms is exposed there, shaped by the sea and by sessile organisms which live along the sea cliffs, as well as by aeolian accumulation and deflation landforms. The variety of well-preserved and easy accessible landforms and their concentration in a not wide coastal sector constitute a good opportunity for both didactic and popularization of the processes which characterize the coastal dynamics, as well as the relative diagnostic elements.