GEOMORPHOLOGICAL EVOLUTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL RECLAMATION OF FUSARO LAGOON (CAMPANIA PROVINCE, SOUTHERN ITALY).

Analysis of geomorphological and geological features of the Fusàro lagoon has shown the dynamic evolution of this transitional environment. The lagoon developed in the western part of the active volcanic area of the Phlegrean Fields during the mid-Holocene, within a wide marine bay bounded by the volcanic structures of Mt. Cuma, on the north, and by Torregaveta, on the south. Subsequently, the bay was gradually filled with pyroclastic products from phlegrean eruptive vents and sediments carried by the rivers Volturno and Clanis thus creating an open lagoon. During the late Holocene it evolved into a partially closed lagoon because of the formation of a continuous littoral spit, probably wider than the present-day one, characterised by dune ridges and surrounded by marshlands. In the Graeco-Roman period, the total closure of the lagoon took place, following the stabilization of the foreland dune ridge. At the end of the 18th century the Lagoon assumed a shape similar to present-day one. Between the Roman period and 1941 three lagoon channels were opened in order to avoid the frequent environmental crises which continue to affect, although for different reasons, this salt-water basin. Moreover, in the 1980s, in order to reduce the effects of these environmental crises, dredging of the lagoon bottom has been carried out, altering both the morphological and sedimentary characteristics of the basin. Finally, since the second half of the 1950s the littoral to the S of Volturno River mouth has registered a general retreat, locally of several hundreds meters, due to marine erosion as well as reduced river supply.