INTEGRATED OBSERVING SYSTEMS SUPPORTING CIVITAVECCHIA PORT DEVELOPMENT
MARCELLI M; BONAMANO S; BOSCHI M; BURGIO C; CAFARO V; CAPORALE G; CARUSO G; FERSINI G; MADONIA A; MANCINI E; PIAZZOLLA D; PIERMATTEI V; SCANU S; ZAPPALA G;
Industrial and commercial, together with touristic and ecological, are two of the main uses of the
Civitavecchia coastal area that bring wealth and of course influence this marine ecosystem. The port,
one of the most important in the Mediterranean Sea, recorded in the last three decades a major increment
of its commercial traffic, becoming also strategic for important Mediterranean cruise routes and for
passenger flow. New passenger facilities and enhanced and enlarged wharfs allowed to increment the
hosted cruise liners from 50 ships in 1996 to 500 in 2003. The creation of new quays and the extension
of the anti-mural dame caused on the ecosystems a direct and indirect impact due to the modification
of the currents and the dispersion of the dredged materials. The characterisation and assessment of the
coastal marine environment of Civitavecchia and its surroundings constitutes, since its creation in 2001,
is one of the main activities of the Laboratory of Experimental Oceanology and Marine Ecology
(LOSEM) of Tuscia University, who studied the impact of anthropic activities and the influence of
climatic events, investigating the chemical and physical parameters of both water column and
sediments. Benthic biocenoses and Posidonia oceanica were used to evaluate benthos geochemical and
ecological characteristics and a specific effort was devoted to hypothesize the possible incidence of
dredging works on the benthic ecosystem. The results of the research activities are synthetically
reviewed in this paper.
2019 - Articolo in rivista
WIT transactions on the built environment (Online) 187 (2019): 31–41. doi:10.2495/MT190041
Keywords: observing system, anthropogenic impact, sediments, environmental monitoring