Geomorphological map of the Tyrrhenian coastal sector of the northern Calabria-Basilicata (southern Italy)

In this work, we present the 1:20,000 scale geomorphological map of the Basilicata-northern Calabria coastal stretch of the Tyrrhenian coastal sector of the southern Apennines (Italy). The study area spans for c. 20 km from Maratea in the North to Scalea in the South, and is particularly interesting for the presence of a well-preserved staircase sequence of marine terraces located from a few m up to ~ 170 m a.s.l. They consist of both erosional and depositional paleo-shorelines in several instances covered by alluvial fans. In addition, evidence of crosscut relationships between the paleoshorelines, deposits (e.g., slope/alluvial fan deposits and speleothems) and landforms (karst caves and conduits) of terrestrial environment occurs. The geomorphological map synthesizes the results of a detail-scale study carried out in the last years that was based on the combination of field surveys with the geomorphological analysis of detailed topographic data (1:5,000 scale topographic map, LiDAR data with 1 and 2 m resolution and a 5 m resolution DEM) and integrated by geochronological dating of several marine and continental environment deposits. The new chronological data provide constraints to the formation of the marine terraces in the elevation range of 2 - 60 m a.s.l. and, therefore, allow us to extend the sequential reconstruction to the marine terraces located above 60 m a.s.l. In addition, marine terrace dating allows us to reconstruct the main stages of both coastal and continental landform sculpturing and, therefore, constrain and distinguish several stages of alluvial fan growth and progradation. All such information has been reported in the geomorphological map. In fact, besides careful and detailed mapping of the coastal and alluvial/slope landforms that occur in the study coastal stretch, information in the map synthesizes the stages of the geomorphological evolution of the study area during a time frame that spans from the Middle Pleistocene to the latest peaks of the Last Interglacial (LIG).