Tectonic significance of geomorphological features in the Telesina Valley (Campanian Apennines)

In this paper, the results of a geomorphological study carried out in the Telesina Valley, a morphostructural depression located in the axial sector of the Campanian Apennine chain, are presented. The aim of this paper is to check morphological features which highlight the tectonic significance of some Quaternary landforms occurring in the valley. This area, according to many authors, is characterised by active tectonics, as pointed out by many catastrophic earthquakes, also occurred in historical times. The study has been based on a detailed geomorphological survey, performed concurrently with the analysis of aerial photographs and topographic maps, also supported by literature data. It pointed out that some escarpments, nowadays rather degraded, display morphological features and field evidence of faulting, which allow us to hypothesize a tectonic origin for such escarpments. A tectonic control has been also highlighted by displacements of alluvial terraces, simultaneous increases of both the riverbed gradient and sinuosity of the channel, anomalous geometry of the meander belt and rectangular pattern of the general hydrographic network. By means of a combination of such data, a map of the frame of faulting interesting the study area has been obtained as a final result. The inferred morphotectonic framework of the Telesina Valley confirms the presence of tectonic activity which could have played, at least from the Middle Pleistocene, a significant role in the geomorphological evolution of the valley.