Karst geomorphology of the Vallone di Furore, Sorrentine Peninsula (Italy)

Abstract

The discovery of endokarst forms and in-fills, during the construction of a water-pipe tunnel in the rock wall of the Furore valley, has moved us to a new understanding of the geologic and geomorphologic setting in which karst developed. In the area, in fact, limestone outcrops display a long evolutionary history of karst, ranging in age from Jurassic up to Present, strongly controlled by litho-logy and neotectonics. Paleokarst occurred during the formation of the Jurassic carbonate platform, whereas a long stage of continental karst affected Jurassic limestone during a pre-Miocene phase of emersion. A neokarst stage begiame in the Pliocene, during the development of a low-gradient erosion surface, but during the Early Pleistocene block-faulting, the karst systems were disconnected and truncated by faults. A last stage of neokarst occurred in the Middle-Late Pleistocene, during the uplift of the whole area in respect to the sea level. The large cave discovered in the tunnel and the small phreatic caves, formed by the mixing of continental and sea waters, developed during this stage.