Automatic procedures for landform extraction is a growing research field but extensive quantitative studies of the prediction accuracy of Automatic Landform Classification (ACL) based on a direct comparison with geomorphological maps are rather limited. In this work, we test the accuracy of an algorithm of automatic landform classification on a large sector of the Ionian coast of the southern Italian belt through a quantitative comparison with a detailed geomorphological map. Automatic landform classification was performed by using an algorithm based on the individuation of basic landform classes named geomorphons. Spatial overlay between the main mapped landforms deriving from traditional geomorphological analysis and the automatic landform classification results highlighted a satisfactory percentage of accuracy (higher than 70%) of the geomorphon-based method for the coastal plain area and drainage network. The percentage of accuracy decreased by about 20–30% for marine and fluvial terraces, while the overall accuracy of the ACL map is 69%. Our results suggest that geomorphon-based classification could represent a basic and robust tool to recognize the main geomorphological elements of landscape at a large scale, which can be useful for the advanced steps of geomorphological mapping such as genetic interpretation of landforms and detailed delineation of complex and composite geomorphic elements.

The Volturno alluvial-coastal plain is a relevant feature of the Tyrrhenian side of southern Italy. Its plan-view squared shape is due to Pliocene-Quaternary block-faulting of the western flank of the south-Apennines chain. On the basis of the stratigraphic analysis of almost 700 borehole logs and new geomorphological survey, an accurate paleoenvironmental reconstruction before and after the Campania Ignimbrite (CI; about 40 ky) eruption is here presented. Tectonics and eustatic forcing have been both taken into account to completely picture the evolution of the coastal plain during Late Quaternary times. The upper Pleistocene-Holocene infill of the Volturno plain has been here re-organized in a new stratigraphic framework, which includes seven depositional units. Structural analysis showed that two sets of faults displaced the CI, so accounting for recent tectonic activity. Yet Late Quaternary tectonics is rather mild, as evidenced by the decametric vertical separations operated by those faults. The average slip rate, which would represent the tectonic subsidence rate of the plain, is about 0.5 mm/year. A grid of cross sections shows the stratigraphic architecture which resulted from interactions among eustatic changes, tectonics and sedimentary input variations. On the basis of boreholes analysis, the trend of the CI roof was reconstructed. An asymmetrical shape of its ancient morphology—with a steeper slope toward the north-west border—and the lack of coincidence between the present course of the Volturno River and the main buried bedrock incision, are significant achievements of this study. Finally, the morpho-evolutionary path of the Volturno plain has been discussed.

The Gorgoglione Formation represents the infill of a thrust-top basin, which records the tectonic evolution of the southern Apennines (Italy) since Upper Miocene times. The Upper Miocene basin was divided into two main sub-basins, showing both about NNW-SSW elongation. During ongoing contractional deformation, the Gorgoglione basin was incorporated into the allochthonous units of the Apennine fold-and-thrust belt, as outlined by the emplacement of thrust sheets of internal provenance (Sicilide Unit) and by the development of two main generations of tight to open folds. In this work, the modalities of deformation associated to the incorporation of the Gorgoglione Formation into the fold-and-thrust belt has been documented by means of mineralogical and structural analyses. Mineralogical data show that, in the northeastern sub-basin of the Gorgoglione Formation, the illite content and the order of illite/smectite mixed layer increase near the contact with the overlaying Sicilide Unit. These data are hence used to estimate the relative tectonic load produced by thrusting of the aforementioned tectonic unit. Structural data are consistent with tight, NNW-trending, meso-scale folds particularly frequent in the upper pelitic/arenaceous portion of the Gorgoglione Formation. Within these folded pelitic levels, a well-developed axial-plane foliation, and an ordered I/S (R1 and R3) with higher illite content, is documented. Instead, other folds developed far away from the Sicilide klippen show an incipient axial-plane foliation and a random I/S (R0) with lower illite amount is found in pelites. The data suggest that the eastern sub-basin of the Gorgoglione Formation underwent variable tectonic load, increasing from E to W, as well as deformation produced by thrusting of Sicilide sheet. The mineralogical data also indicate that illitization process is favoured for the high availability of potassium due to the dissolution of k-feldspar. High potassium availability affects the samples subjected to the highest diagenetic degree, characterized by kaolinite illitization process.