Traditional use of shore platforms:a study of the artisanal management of salinas on the Maltese Islands (Central Mediterranean)

Shore platforms and salinas in the Mediterranean region have a long-standing relationship, rooted in the traditional practice of salt making. On small islands with limited natural resources, the production of salt from seawater, through insolation and intense human endeavour, offered numerous economic benefits. Salt has been a foremost natural resource for millennia with a range of uses from preserving edible foods to cooking, cleaning, laundry, and hygiene, and for medicinal uses in dilute solutions. Within the Maltese Islands, this traditional activity was developed primarily on the soft limestone shore platforms situated along low-lying rocky coasts. Although coastal production has declined in number over the years, a few salinas have persisted in their artisanal practice and are becoming a cultural geo-heritage attraction. The aim of this article is to explore the multiple geographies of this industry on two shore platforms by examining the complicated relationships that have emerged and molded between the physical landscape and human culture. Mapping out these relations through the traditional but complex management systems at two salinas, that is, the salinas at Delimara Point (Malta) and those at Xwejni Bay (Gozo), highlights the delicate nature of these relations as well as the need to support them in order to continually reproduce the cultural micro-landscape. The resultant micro-landscape is becoming an increasingly important living expression of the cultural geo-heritage of the Maltese Islands, which requires careful understanding and management of these relations if it is to be maintained as a vibrant geo-tourist attraction.peer-reviewe

Coastal flood risks and the business community : stakeholders’ perception in Malta

Resilience of coastal communities is increasingly required to adjust to the effects of climate change and its coast-related threats. Climate change is a major global threat to the environment, economy, and health of urban coastal lowlands. Flooding risks from both rising sea levels and increases in the frequency and severity of storm surges are considered to be amongst the most threatening consequences associated with climate change. The aim of this study was to assess the levels of socio-economic preparedness of low-lying urbanized towns in Malta for the impacts of coastal flooding through the triangulation of stakeholders’ participation from three sectors: the business community, local councils, and specialized experts from the governmental and private sectors. The study also included field collection of elevation data for each locality to capture the businesses’ distribution in relation to their height above sea level along the urban waterfront. Oneway analysis of variance and NVivo were used to test and compare the business owners’ responses and the experts’ feedback, respectively. The main findings from the business community suggest that there are no long-term contingency plans or strategies in place to address potential flooding impacts from rising sea levels and storm surges, and that the risks of driving owners out of business is high. From the feedback received by the local councils, it was observed that all of them significantly lack the physical and financial resources to effectively manage long-term coastal flooding within their locality, forcing them to completely rely on central government for any future needs caused by the impact of coastal flooding. From a central government perspective, it seems that all interviewed experts operate within a fragmented governance model, and mainly adhere to the set of responsibilities aligned with their respective roles within such a governance model. This evidence of governance disconnect requires more horizontal and vertical integration of cross-sectoral strategies to address coastal flooding, within the broader framework of integrated coastal zone management as established by the Mediterranean ICZM protocol.peer-reviewe

Spatial analysis of eroding surface micro-topographies

Analysis of the spatial variability in erosion rates at the micro-scale has the potential to improve our understanding of how shore platforms erode. Comparing the erosion rate of a single measurement reading with the erosion rate of other increasingly distant readings would indicate whether average variation in erosion rate is homogeneous and at what spatial scale. Little variation in erosion rate from one measurement reading as distance increased would indicate that an area is eroding homogeneously and that the surface measured is responding as a single spatial unit. An increase or decrease in the variation in erosion rate difference with increasing distance from one reading would suggest that the area was not acting as a single spatial unit and that surface responses differ with scale. This study used a two-year dataset of traversing micro-erosion meter (TMEM) readings, collected from two limestone shore platforms on the north of Malta, at Ponta tal-Qammieħ and Blata l-Bajda, in order to explore the relationship between difference in erosion rate and distance from TMEM readings. A Microsoft Excel macro was developed and applied to calculate and analyse the average variation in erosion rate difference between all possible pairs of measurement readings over a set of fixed distances. The resultant analysis suggests that there are some consistent patterns between measurement periods and locations on a platform in terms of how erosion rate difference varies with distance between readings. These are not simple relationships to either characterise or explain but nevertheless, they suggest variations in how the same surface responds to erosional forces. These findings are significant for erosion research as they imply that spatial scales to erosion within even small areas may impact upon the representativeness of an average erosional loss for the platform site. It raises issues about how representative rates really are and contributes to the discussion about the wider understanding of erosion rates across spatial scale.peer-reviewe

Degradation risk assessment: understanding the impacts of climate change on geoheritage

Several factors and processes, both natural and anthropogenic, can threaten the integrity of any geosite, leading to their degradation. For this reason, geoheritage degradation risks should be considered a fundamental step in any geoconservation strategy, all the more when the aim is to tackle the effects of climate change. The present work proposes a quantitative methodology for the degradation risk assessment of geosites by considering the extrinsic factors that can damage the geoheritage. The methodology has been tested on the Maltese Islands, where considerable previous research has been undertaken in order to highlight the international significance of the Maltese landscapes. Three criteria to assess the degradation risk are proposed: natural vulnerability, anthropogenic vulnerability and public use. For each criterion, several parameters have been identified in order to propose a detailed numerical evaluation. The results show that the degradation risk of geosites is mainly related to negligence and lack of knowledge of its inherent geological heritage, and which leads to public misuse and mismanagement of the geosites. The results give an overview of the condition of the geosites and provide information for the design and management of suitable protection measures, especially in the light of future threats related to climate change.Project “Training new generations on geomorphology, geohazards and geoheritage through Virtual Reality Technologies” (GeoVT), funded by the Erasmus+ Programme, KA220 (Agreement number: 2021-1-SE01-KA220-HED-000032142). The research has also benefitted from the FAR2021 Project of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Project responsible: Paola Coratza

A multi-hazard historical catalogue for the city-island-state of Malta (Central Mediterranean)

The city-island-state of Malta is traditionally viewed as a low-hazard country with the lack of a long historical catalogue of extreme events and their impacts acting as an obstacle to formulating evidence-based policies of disaster risk reduction. In this paper, we present the first multi-hazard historical catalogue for Malta which extends from the Miocene to 2019 CE. Drawing on over 3,500 documents and points of reference, including historical documentary data, official records and social media posts, we identify at least 1,526 hazard events which collectively have caused the loss of at least 661 lives. Recognising that historical materials relating to Malta are complicated by the presence of a strong temporal bias, we establish a four-point reliability indicator and apply this to each of the 1,062 recordings, with the result that some 78 % show a high degree of reliability. For an island state where there are significant gaps in the knowledge and understanding of the environmental extremes and their impacts over time, this paper addresses and fills these gaps in order to inform the development of public-facing and evidence-based policies of disaster risk reduction in Malta.peer-reviewe

Geoheritage as a tool for environmental management : a case study in Northern Malta (Central Mediterranean Sea)

The recognition, selection and quantitative assessment of sites of geological and geomorphological interest are fundamental steps in any environmental management focused on geoconservation and geotourism promotion. The island of Malta, in the central Mediterranean Sea, despite having a steadily increasing growth in population and tourism, still conserves geological and geomorphological features of great relevance and interest, both for their contribution to the understanding of the geological processes acting through time on landscape and for their aesthetic importance. The present work proposes an inventory for northern Malta, through three main stages, with the outcome of a final list of geosites that have the potential to be recognized as both natural heritage and tourist resources with potential economic benefits. In particular, the assessment methodology applied combines scientific value and additional and use-values, showing the links existing between geoheritage and other aspects of nature and culture of the sites. The results provide useful knowledge for the definition of strategies aimed at the development of a sustainable and responsible tourism.peer-reviewe

A multi-hazard historical catalogue for the city-island-state of Malta (Central Mediterranean)

This is the final version. Available on open access from Springer via the DOI in this recordThe city-island-state of Malta is traditionally viewed as a low-hazard country with the lack of a long historical catalogue of extreme events and their impacts acting as an obstacle to formulating evidence-based policies of disaster risk reduction. In this paper, we present the first multi-hazard historical catalogue for Malta which extends from the Miocene to 2019 CE. Drawing on over 3500 documents and points of reference, including historical documentary data, official records and social media posts, we identify at least 1550 hazard events which collectively have caused the loss of at least 662 lives. Recognising that historical materials relating to Malta are complicated by the presence of a strong temporal bias, we establish a four-point reliability indicator and apply this to each of the 1065 recordings, with the result that some 79% show a high degree of reliability. For an island state where there are significant gaps in the knowledge and understanding of the environmental extremes and their impacts over time, this paper addresses and fills these gaps in order to inform the development of public-facing and evidence-based policies of disaster risk reduction in Malta.Liverpool Hope UniversityUniversity of Malt

Marine notches in the Maltese Islands (central Mediterranean Sea)

We present the first detailed survey of tidal notches in the central Mediterranean area, in particular along the coastline of Gozo and Comino (Malta). The Maltese Islands represent one of the few sites in the Sicily Channel which exhibits coastal carbonate rocks. Marine notches on the islands of Gozo and Comino were surveyed by means of a seven day continuous snorkeling survey around the entire perimeter of the two islands. We surveyed the occurrence, lack and typology of marine notches and we correlated them with late Holocene sea level changes. Sea temperature (T) and electrical conductivity (EC) were collected along the route in order to locate the submarine springs and to relate them to the surveyed notches.A well-carved continuous roof notch was discovered along most of the plunging cliffs. It is well-carved out, in particular along the northern and western coast of Gozo. It develops from about 0.2 m above the mean sea level down and it can be up to 1.5–2 m deep. On the contrary, tidal notches are localised only in 8 sites. In 2 sites, Vermetid trottoirs develop at low tide level. In addition, at about −7 m to −10 m m.s.l., a 2–5 m wide marine terrace develops along extensive tracts of plunging cliffs, always in correspondence with the roof notches. This submerged terrace seem to be the result of the late Holocene slowdown of the sea level rise, which started to smooth the terrace and to carve out the submerged part of the roof notch, thanks to the exposed location of the islands and the favourable lithology.Through the collection of hydrological data, the presence of 21 submarine springs were detected. They occur mainly in the south-western coast of Gozo and on eastern coast of Comino. Anyway, marine notches seem not to be related to the freshwater outflow, such as those in the Adriatic Sea, because the studied islands are very exposed. As a consequence, along the Maltese islands bioerosion seems to be the most effective process in notch development.peer-reviewe

The city‐island‐state, wounding cascade and multi‐level vulnerability explored through the lens of Malta

In this paper, we introduce the concept of “city‐island‐state” into a discussion of small highly urbanised islands. We place the “city” at the forefront of our analysis by bringing together the geographies of the “city” and “state”, together with a wider discussion of factors that may cause both the wounding of the city and increase the precariousness of the “island”. We apply this concept to the advanced city‐island‐state of Malta (Central Mediterranean), which is a densely populated, urbanised small island archipelago with ca. 500,000 inhabitants and operates as a single city with: an urban core; suburbs and a rural hinterland which is rapidly decreasing in size. This city‐island‐state is frequently considered as being “safe” from external geophysical, climatic and anthropogenic wounding, but, in reality, Malta, as a city, an island, and an independent nation‐state, is faced with multiple internal and external pressures that increase its precariousness and vulnerability to such externalities. Some of these are socio/economic, but others are environmental. We argue that the potential for wounding is particularly marked in Malta, is exacerbated by the contemporary globalised neoliberal world of flows and interconnectivities and that this represents a multi‐level wounding cascade: wounding the city, wounds the island and, by extension, the state