Karst of Sicily A Journey Inside and Outside the Island's Mountains

About this book

This book describes Sicily's unique and varied karst features, discussing the notable geographical areas, their lithology and genesis and, in a number of cases, their value as geosites to be preserved for scientific or tourism purposes. The rich variety of Meso-Cenozoic outcropping rocks in Sicily make the island highly significant in terms of the geological history of the Mediterranean area.

The soluble rocks (limestones and gypsum), widely present on the island, play an important role in shaping and continuously altering the landscape, both in the reliefs with spectacular fluviokarst cayons and suggestive gorges, and below ground where there is a wide range of speleogenically and speleologically important caves.

Contents

Introduction
1. Geological contest of Sicily
2. Geomorphological aspects
3. General hydrogeological note
4. Karst features
      4.1 Karst in the limestones
            4.1.1. North-western Sicily
            4.1.2 North-eastern Sicily
            4.1.3 South-eastern Sicily
      4.2 Karst in the gypsum formation
            4.2.1. South-eastern Sicily
            4.2.2. Central-southern Sicily
            4.2.3 North-western Sicily
5. Lava caves
      5.1. Etna lava caves
6. Karst geosites
7. Speleology in Sicily

Acknowledgments
Bibliography

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