Genesis and evolution of some lagoons in Greece and Italy: a key to geomorphological model interpretation

Geomorphological, stratigraphical and paleoecological surveys as well as historical cartography and bathymetric map analysis of some lagoons carried out along coastland sectors in Greece and Italy, highlighted their complex morphodynamics and paleoenvironmental evolution starting from the Plio-Pleistocene until the present-day. For the first time the comparison of geo-environmental preliminary data of eight case studies are presented: the Italian lagoons of Sabàudia (Lazio region) and Fusàro (Campania region) in the Tyrrhenian Sea, Lèsina and Varàno (Apulia region) in the Adriatic Sea, and the Greek ones of Messolonghi (Central Greece region), Kaiafas, Kotychi and Papas (Peloponnese region) in the Ionian Sea. The morphodynamic evolution models of these lagoon case studies depict the progressive development of a lagoon in three consecutive environmental phases: a primitive open, then a partially closed and finally a modern closed lagoon with one or more mouths. In the last phase also the morphological changes of the lagoons are mainly due to gradual sediment filling or to rapid overwash phenomena as well as to anthropogenic interventions during the last centuries.