The constant rising demand for water caused by drought periods and the increasing of population is leading to the research and revaluation of minor springs and aquifers. In the hilly area of the Periadriatic area in Central Italy, foredeep basin deposits (Plio-Pleistocene age) show a stratigraphic sequence with marly-clayey deposits at the bottom and arenaceous deposits and even conglomerates in the upper portion. This stratigraphic framework combined with the geomorphological features, flat shapes and sub-vertical slopes, has allow the presence of springs at the base of the scarps, where the interface between coarse and fine deposits can be found; in this set-up, the arenaceous lithologies work as aquifer, while the marly-clayey as aquiclude. These springs were mostly used until the middle of the last century, when they were the only water resource for every purpose; groundwater was exploited by historical complex systems of wells and drainage tunnels, nowadays abandoned, and replaced by the more complex aqueduct systems coming from the close Apennines carbonate aquifers. Since the beginning of the last century, the urbanization of the hilly areas has spread more and more, increasing the impermeable zones and decreasing the possibility of infiltration; for these reasons the role of impermeabilization and how it has influenced the recharge of these aquifers has been considered. In this work, to evaluate the variation in groundwater due to towns’ expansion, a preliminary and simplified numerical model has been built and the water balance and the potentiometric maps have been estimated considering different urban scenarios over the last decades. A sample area, located in the hilly zone in Central Italy, has been taken into account for the modelling; the final aim is to understand how much these variations in recharge have affected the groundwater and if the potentialities of these aquifers make them still exploitable for coping the increasing demand for water.
Modelling Plio-Pleistocene Arenaceous Aquifers in Central Italy to Evaluate Variations in Water Potentialities Due to Urbanization
Alessia Di Giovanni
;Diego Di Curzio;Sergio Rusi
2023-01-01
Abstract
The constant rising demand for water caused by drought periods and the increasing of population is leading to the research and revaluation of minor springs and aquifers. In the hilly area of the Periadriatic area in Central Italy, foredeep basin deposits (Plio-Pleistocene age) show a stratigraphic sequence with marly-clayey deposits at the bottom and arenaceous deposits and even conglomerates in the upper portion. This stratigraphic framework combined with the geomorphological features, flat shapes and sub-vertical slopes, has allow the presence of springs at the base of the scarps, where the interface between coarse and fine deposits can be found; in this set-up, the arenaceous lithologies work as aquifer, while the marly-clayey as aquiclude. These springs were mostly used until the middle of the last century, when they were the only water resource for every purpose; groundwater was exploited by historical complex systems of wells and drainage tunnels, nowadays abandoned, and replaced by the more complex aqueduct systems coming from the close Apennines carbonate aquifers. Since the beginning of the last century, the urbanization of the hilly areas has spread more and more, increasing the impermeable zones and decreasing the possibility of infiltration; for these reasons the role of impermeabilization and how it has influenced the recharge of these aquifers has been considered. In this work, to evaluate the variation in groundwater due to towns’ expansion, a preliminary and simplified numerical model has been built and the water balance and the potentiometric maps have been estimated considering different urban scenarios over the last decades. A sample area, located in the hilly zone in Central Italy, has been taken into account for the modelling; the final aim is to understand how much these variations in recharge have affected the groundwater and if the potentialities of these aquifers make them still exploitable for coping the increasing demand for water.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
