Contemplating what the future holds

Naples, Italy offers many geographic characteristics that not only catch the eye, but allow us to formulate an idea of how its scenic qualities came to be and how to predict what the future may bring for its coastal landscape and the volcanic area of Mt. Vesuvius. 

Naples is located in the Campania region by the Almafi coast, which consists of rocky coastal cliffs and formations such as caves, arches, stacks, and coastal valleys.

Located in the bay of Naples, these caves are over 100 ft tall! Photo credit: Stuck in Customs Photo Blog

Marine erosion is the sculptor of these caves, who carved its way through weaker zones of rock. The Bay of Naples is made up of many limestone coasts where the sea was able to carve away at cracks and joints, and widen gaps that may have began as solution caves before the Holocene marine transgression. Solution caves are often identified with limestone, and are created when rock is dissolved by water with natural acids, such as H2CO3 (carbonic acid). 

Photo Credit: Stuck in Customs Photo Blog

In the Bay of Napoli. Photo Credit: Stuck in Customs Photo Blog

The next process that would follow the creation of a coastal cave is the formation of a structure shaped like an arch. The caves are widened by wave action, until finally two backsides of a cave erode into each other. 

Arches off of the island of Capri located in the Campania region shared by Naples. The formations you see here are the strong zones of the rock that haven't yet fallen or degraded by wave action. Photo credit: Masterfile.com

Another view of the arches of Capri just off the coast of Naples! Photo credit: The Happy Explorer at thehappyexplorer.com. Sounds like a good person to vacation and explore with. . .

Stacks are the next formation that occur after arches, and are formed when the roof of an arch rises to the point where the ceiling gives way and collapses. Wind and rain can also contribute to this process. Stacks will also continue to be eroded by marine erosion, and will eventually become a "stump" and a "basement platform". 

Here is a stack located in the Bay of Napoli. At one point it was a part of the cliff, but after being a support of a cave and then an arch, it was the only part left standing after the arch's ceiling collapsed. 

The formations of caves, arches, and stacks go through a weathering-limited process.

 

Here is a nice little chart that goes through the different formations!

Now, when taking a look at the coastline near Naples, Italy, you can see these separate formations all in the big picture! 

Here you can see the terrace, wave-cut platforms, and the sea cliff, along with a distant arch and sea stack!
Photo credit: images.travelpod.com

Photo credit: clasfaculty.ucdenver.edu/callen/1202

Let's not forget about the volcanic site! Another highly distinctive characteristic of Naples, Italy is the formation of Mt. Vesuvius and the caldera that surrounds it. The cone of Mt. Vesuvius began in the caldera of Mt. Somma, which erupted 17,000 years ago. These volcanoes sit on a subduction zone that resulted from the convergence of the African and the Eurasian plates many thousands of years ago. 

Vesuvius in the context of the convergence of the Eurasian and African plates
Photo credit: geology.com

Here you can see the cone of Vesuvius sitting in the Somma Caldera.
Photo Credit: geo.arizona.edu

Vesuvius is a dangerous and unpredictable volcano, and many fear its next eruption with the fact that it lies in a very populated area. 

Volcanos aren't the only concern - landslides are common on the western slopes of Italy as well! Steep slopes, waves, drainage problems, and loosened soil from volcanic areas all contribute to the likelihood of landslides taking place in this part of Italy. Here's a video:

In trying to understand how the coastline and volcanic area relate to each other, we can predict the changes of the landscape surrounding Naples that will occur in the future. Here are some predictions:

10 Years From Now

It is very likely that the area surrounding Naples will experience a landslide. According to the article titled "The May 1998 Landslides in the Sarno Area in Southern Italy: Rethinking Disaster Theory", deforestation of mountain slopes, lack of flood and landslide control systems, and extensive illegal building are all issues that are still being handled.
A landslide would probably take place during the rainy months of the year. This transport-process would make the erosion of the coastline happen more quickly. 

100 Years From Now

Perhaps by this time Vesuvius will have undergone another eruption. Vesuvius is known to experience smaller scale Strombolian activity every few decades. This eruption would lead to more landslides as vegetation would be cleared and there would be an increase in loose rocks and sediments. 

Also, perhaps one of the arches will fall and result in sea stacks. Although 100 years isn't far away, the weathering of a coastline is constant because of the salt and wave movement. 

1,000 Years From Now

It is in this time frame that the coastline will undergo changes through a weathering-limited process. Perhaps new caves will be carved, new arches will be formed, and sea stacks will stand where arches once stood. 

Generally, Vesuvius experiences larger, Plinian eruptions every few thousand years. If an eruption of this size were to occur, the volcano might not be able to support the weight of the rock above it, and a ring fault could form along the outside of it, bringing the center of the volcano to collapse into a caldera, like Mt. Somma once did. Inside this caldera, a lake may form, along with a new volcanic cone.

The location of Naples, Italy is a geographic site full of beauty, danger, and an ever-changing appearance.

Sources:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1342820/Vesuviuss-big-daddy-supervolcano-Campi-Flegrei-near-Naples-threatens-Europe.html

http://books.google.com/books?id=raVksgTZQSAC&pg=PT104&lpg=PT104&dq=are+rocky+coasts+weathering-limited?&source=bl&ots=Se2TXZdn4q&sig=8wgY7o8FAhhfKh7dJN7eHEleLnU&hl=en#v=onepage&q=are%20rocky%20coasts%20weathering-limited%3F%20italy&f=false

http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/research/qr/qr131/qr131.html

http://geobytesgcse.blogspot.com/2007/08/coastal-erosion-landforms-features-and.html

http://geology.com/volcanoes/vesuvius/

http://saarc-sdmc.nic.in/pdf/landslide.pdf

The Climate of Naples

Naples, Italy is a part of a Mediterranean Chaparral climate. This type of climate is a result of being on the west coast of Italy, and being located at approximately 40 degrees N and 14 degrees E. This type of climate exists between 30 and 40 degrees N and on the west coasts of areas (blueplanetbiomes.org). Naples exemplifies the typical plant growth and area descriptions of a Mediterranean climate as the 25 mile radius of Naples is 40% croplands, 34% oceans and seas, 16% forests, 6% shrublands, and 3% "built up" areas (weatherspark.com).

Mediterranean Chaparral areas can also be defined by their seasonal precipitation patterns. The summers in Naples are typically hot and dry, while the winters are mild and wet. In the summer months it gets very hot. On average, temperatures reach about 86 degrees F during these months. According to holiday-weather.com, it is not uncommon for people in Naples to take a nap in the middle of the day to avoid the hottest part of the day.

Visual representation of averages in temperature throughout the year in Naples.

Naples's precipitation patterns can be explained by the process of the subtropical high shrinking and deviating from the climate while a sub-polar low and its cyclone belts take their place (Ritter, The Physical Environment). Precipitation usually is experienced through moderate rain, thunderstorms, and light rain.

What to expect out of types of precipitation in Naples.
courtesy of weatherspark.com

Conditions tend to be comfortable in Mediterranean climates, thanks to the nearby bodies of water that moderate the temperature. According to weatherspark.com, the median cloud cover ranges from mostly clear (22%) to partly cloudy (58%).

A graph of cloud cover types over the course of a year in Naples.
Courtesy of weatherspark.com

Naples, Italy experiences Land-Sea Breezes, a type of local scale wind. This means that differences in the way that land and water heat and cool result in pressure variations. In the day time, the land area will be warmer, which results in less pressure because heat rises. Thus, the cooler area of the body of water contains high pressure. The pressure gradient ensures that air will move from water towards land, known as a "sea breeze". The opposite will happen in a "land breeze."

Here you can see how a Sea Breeze comes to be!
Courtesy of brisbanehotairballooning.com

Look at those pretty cumulus clouds! Typical in fair weather.

Soils of Naples

The area surrounding Naples proves to be a structural landform due to its formation caused by the movement of plate tectonics, the presence of the volcano Mt. Vesuvius, and the solidification of its magma. 

The thick deposits of tephra that come from an eruption create rich soils. In this case, Naples has an advantage in farming over other regions in Italy that have poor soil as a result of limestone forming the basement rock. 

These rich soils include andisol (from volcano ash), vertisol (dark black soils rich in expandable clay materials), mollisol (one of the most fertile), and inceptisol (a "young" soil). 

A durable volcanic sandstone called tuff is found in the Campi Flegrei geothermal zone. Tuff is rock composed of compressed and compacted volcanic ash that is sent out in an eruption, and in this location it has earned its own name - "Neopolitan Yellow Tuff". 

The lavas, scoria (a cinder-like basic cellular lava), alluvial, and pyroclastic deposits that are found near Vesuvius and the Phlegrean Fields allow for medium to high permeability (the capability of porous rock or sediment to allow flow through pore spaces). The piezometric surface of this area suggest that radial groundwater flows towards the aquifers of nearby plains. The Vesuvius aquifer has unconfined groundwater stored deep beneath the soil surface. The main aquifers of this region in Italy can be located in carbonate massifs, and demonstrate very high permeability due to a karstic network. 

Karstic is an area of limestone terrain that can be recognized by sinks, ravines, and underground streams, and is an example of a weathering landform.

Naples is a polygenetic area as it demonstrates many different types of landforms!

Vesuvius as a Composite/Strato Volcano

Mt. Vesuvius is a convex-concave composite/strato volcano, and its volcanic cone sits in a the summit caldera of Mount Somma. Most sources claim that the collapse of the Somma rim occurred about 17,000 years ago, creating the foundation in which Mt. Vesuvius came to be.

Monte Somma rose through the convergence of the African and Eurasian plate. The African plate was older, thus more dense, so it pushed beneath the Eurasian plate causing a subduction.

When subduction occurs, a trench forms where the more dense plate sinks. In this case, the trench was formed by the process of the African plate sinking under the Eurasian plate and hitting the mantle. The Vesuvius trench is very long, and runs parallel to the volcano.

            The caldera in which Vesuvius sits formed after the highly explosive eruption and collapse of Monte Somma. The emptying of the magma chamber through this kind of eruption pulls the cone in, and creates a massive crater, or a caldera. 

          A mixture of deposits make up the composite Somma-Vesuvius complex, and when it erupts, viscous magma is released from the earth's crust through the large craters or many vents at the top. An eruption takes place when the plates either converge and heat the magma through friction or when the plates separate and magma seeps up. 

The eruptions of the Somma-Vesuvius complex produce large ash deposits through the igneous process of erupting from the volcano, and the sedimentary process of being blown for stretches of miles and deposited as a layer. Fragments of rock and lava (tephra) make up the ash deposit.

Mount Vesuvius's eruption in 79 AD was catastrophic, killing thousands and burying the city of Pompeii in ash. Erupting 200 times since, its eruption's pyroclastic flows pose great danger to Naples. 

Presenting... Mt. Vesuvius

An Introduction to Naples, Italy

Andy Sydow and Julia Mendiolea are undergraduates in the music program. We chose Naples due to our interest in the surrounding area, specifically Mt. Vesuvius. This site holds an important place in history as it devastated the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 AD. While its last eruption occurred in 1944, it still poses as a threat to its surrounding area, the metropolis of Naples being a main concern. 

The surrounding geographic area of Naples seems to be varied, what with its proximity to large bodies of water and a volcanic site. We are interested in understanding how these components work together.