The Italian north Ionian coast: Tendency towards erosion

At the present time the north Ionian coast (southern Italy), which consists of low sandy beaches delimited landward by swampy areas or dune ridges, is subjected to active erosion processes averaging 4 m per year in some areas.The study of several sets of aerial photographs, dating from 1943 to 1974, shows that as from 1954 erosional processes have acted on this coast. This erosion follows a general progradation which in some zones during the last century involved a coastline displacement of hundreds of metres. The shoreline retreat is mainly related to the reduction of sediment transport following the artifical damming of the main rivers.