An Integrated Approach to Analyze Sedimentary Stock and Coastal Erosion in Vulnerable Areas: Resilience Assessment of San Vicenzo’s Coast (Italy)

Abstract

The assessment of coastal erosion risk is a major challenge, since environmental and geomorphic features, together with sea state parameters, can seriously change the configuration of coastal areas. In addition, the anthropic actions of the coastal communities may also drastically modify the configuration of the coast in vulnerable areas. In this study, a linkage between regional mapping guidelines and national geological cartography procedures is presented as a meaningful tool in the geomorphic trends analysis for the integrated mapping of the main morphological patterns of San Vincenzo’s coastal area, in the region of Tuscany (Italy). Comparing and joining different procedures—which have different scales and topics—requires adapting the fields and the information provided in maps and databases. In this case study, a GIS morpho-sedimentological approach is developed. This GIS approach enables us to cover several issues simultaneously, such as the representation of coastal active processes, the adaptation of regional and national cartography to coastal erosion assessment, and lastly the calculation of the sedimentary stock analysis, since it represents the first attribute of coasts to be preserved in a resilience-oriented integrated assessment.

Assessment of the Vulnerability of the Lucana Coastal Zones (South Italy) to Natural Hazards

“…A correct approach to define the limits of the coastal stretches should be based on the identification of physical, geographical and socioeconomical discontinuities and on the hydro-sedimentary processes. In the literature, different parameters are used to divide the coastal system such as harbors' jetties, perpendicular structures, fluvial mouths, headlands, coastal morpho-types and morpho-evolutive characteristics [51][52][53][54]. Ref.…”

Diffuse Anthropization Impacts in Vulnerable Protected Areas: Comparative Analysis of the Spatial Correlation between Land Transformation and Ecological Deterioration of Three Wetlands in Spain

“…In estuarine seaside protected areas and coastal lagoons formed from dune ridges or mangroves, coastal infrastructures such as ports or breakwaters and other anthropogenic elements that generate impacts on the sedimentary dynamics of the wetlands are considered [50]. [38,39,42] areas may be included [46].…”

Vulnerability of Coastal Areas Due to Infrastructure: The Case of Valencia Port (Spain)

“…Adaptation plans to climate change are being considered worldwide [12]. Coastal erosion is a sedimentary process that occurs whenever sedimentary transport away from the shoreline occurs and it is not balanced by new material being deposited onto the shoreline [13][14][15][16][17]. Many factors are involved in this event, in particular environmental and human factors.…”

“…Additionally, global climate change and regional and local conditions are eroding the coasts of the world at troubling rates [18,19]. Some experiences of monitoring systems of coastal areas have been developed to improve the scientific knowledge and improve the tools for managing coastal hazards, thus reducing exposure to risks [14,20,21]. Coastal erosion in Europe is a major problem, where about 20,000 km of shoreline (circa 20% of the coastal territory) has already faced serious coastal erosion in the past, and about 15,100 km of shoreline are actively retreating or have been seriously affected by erosion [22,23].…”