A Comparison of Landforms and Processes Detection Using Multisource Remote Sensing Data: The Case Study of the Palinuro Pine Grove (Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park, Southern Italy)

The automated recognition of landforms holds significant importance within the framework of digital geomorphological mapping, serving as a pivotal focal point for research and practical applications alike. Over the last decade, various methods have been developed to achieve this goal, ranging from grid-based to object-based approaches, covering a range from supervised to completely unsupervised techniques. Furthermore, the vast majority of the methods mentioned depend on Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) as their primary input, highlighting the crucial significance of meticulous preparation and rigorous quality assessment of these datasets. In this study, we compare the outcomes of grid-based methods for landforms extraction and surficial process type assessment, leveraging various DEMs as input data. Initially, we employed a photogrammetric Digital Terrain Model (DTM) generated at a regional scale, along with two LiDAR datasets. The first dataset originates from an airborne survey conducted by the national government approximately a decade ago, while the second dataset was acquired by UAV as part of this study’s framework. The results highlight how the higher resolution and level of detail of the LiDAR datasets allow the recognition of a higher number of features at higher scales; but, in contrast, generally, a high level of detail corresponds with a higher risk of noise within the dataset, mostly due to unwanted natural features or anthropogenic disturbance. Utilizing these datasets for generating geomorphological maps harbors significant potential in the framework of natural hazard assessment, particularly concerning phenomena associated with geo-hydrological processes

An integrated approach to monitor the two main rivers of the “Cilento, Vallo di Diano e Alburni” National Park

The Bussento and Calore Salernitano are among the most important rivers of the “Cilento, Vallo di Diano e Alburni” National Park. In order to develop informed and clever protection of these areas, a 3 year integrated monitoring is underway, combining physico-chemical water monitoring and biomonitoring. The analyses, performed with an average spatial resolution of 1.5 Km (21 sampling sites) and 3.0 Km (18 sampling sites) on the Bussento and Calore Salernitano, respectively, encompass 7 anions, photosynthetic pigments, dissolved oxygen, pH and conductivity in water, as well as 21 chemical elements both in water and in roots of two aquatic plants, Apium nodiflorum (L.) Lag. and Mentha aquatica L. Multivariate identification of spatial outliers, based on indicators of different pollution sources, is employed to identify critical sites and infer on the causes of environmental contamination. According to the results of the 1st year of monitoring, water had an overall outstanding quality in most of the areas at the sampling time, with localized pollution from wastewater discharges, metallic structures/wastes in the riverbed and sulfate leaching from agricultural soils in a few sites. Accumulation of Ni, Cd and Cr in plants sampled in the two springs, one in the Bussento and one in the Calore Salernitano, as well as accumulation of Fe, Mn and As in plants from one site of each river, were highlighted. Laterite inclusions within the carbonates forming the geologic substrate of the areas may account for Cr in springs, but not for Ni and Cd, or Fe, Mn and As, which have likely an anthropogenic origin. Anyway, environmental contamination appears to be extremely localized and with little ecological relevance at river scale

Moving geosites: how landslides can become focal points in Geoparks

Landslides are both landforms and geomorphic processes contributing to the long-term landscape evolution and one of the deadliest sources of natural hazard which endanger lives, property and activities. Many people in the world have experienced historical coexistence with landslides and related hazard, adapting settlement location and typology, land use and best practices. At large, local cultural identity is strongly influenced by this adaptation, while, in a few cases, landslides are expressions of both geodiversity and cultural identity. In these cases, it seems appropriate to refer to “moving geosites”, where academic researches supported by geoparks provide insights to educational system and dissemination to the public administrations, both as geodiversity functioning and effective approach to landslide risk reduction by raising public awareness