PROPOSAL FOR PRESERVATION AND PROTECTION OF THE MARCHE REGION MUD VOLCANOES (CENTRAL ITALY)

Abstract

P. Farabollini et al., Proposal for preservation and protection of the Marche region mud volcanoes (central Italy). (IT ISSN
0394-3356, 2005).
have been in the past the subject of several studies by different Authors; mentioned in classical scripts, they have been treated more
in detail starting from the 17th century in naturalistic studies published by Scientific Academies or Cultural Associations.
In the Marchean region, these phenomena have been observed only in the peri-Adriatic sector where Pliocene and Pleistocene formations crop out; they are well represented with respect to typology, number and extension.
The present paper proposes several strategies for their preservation and protection: in particular these aim to avoid the characteristic
morphologies, produced by leaking mud (also several times per year in some cases), being suddenly demolished by anthropic or natural agents. Mud leakage generally occurs on a flat surface called “piano della salsa” prevalently on a thalweg or along a very gentle portion of the slope.
Typical, in mud volcano morphology, is the presence of one or more cones of different height and extension with emission of mud
with different fluidity; sometimes natural boundaries exist and the leakage remains confined inside a depression, but in other cases the mud emissions can reach the hydrographic network.
The Marches Region Administration, as those of other Italian Regions, have no rules yet (except for some indications in the PPARRegional Plan for Landscape and the Environment) for preventing and protecting these geo-sites. The procedure for safeguarding
them should start from an analysis of the territory and a study of its resources, in particular defining characteristics, potential risks,
and the objectives to be reached; in addition, it should formulate proposals for their use and enhancement, also indicating possible
thematic routes (geological and geomorphologic pathways) in particularly significant areas.