Grain-size distribution and composition of sandy-spit system between Capo Suvero and Gizzeria village (Calabria, southern Italy)

Fabio Ietto¹ & Massimo Conforti^2
1Dipartimento di Biologia, Ecologia e Scienze della Terra (DiBEST), Università degli Studi della Calabria, Arcavacata di Rende, Via P. Bucci, Cubo 15B, 87036 Cosenza, Italy.
²Consiglio Nazionale Ricerche (CNR), Istituto di Ricerca per la Protezione Idrogeologica (IRPI), Via Cavour, 4, 87036 Rende, Cosenza, Italy.
Corresponding author e-mail: fabio.ietto@unical.it

The study analyses the sand composition and grain-size distribution of the backshore beach sediments forming a barrier spit between Capo Suvero promontory and Gizzeria village on the Calabria Tyrrhenian coast (South Italy). The present study extends previous works by providing a detailed composition and granulometric analysis of the beach sediments that formed a spit in 2005, which was dismantled a few years later. Twenty-seven beach samples were collected in 2005 within the backshore zone along three transects and analysed in this work. The achieved goals indicate that the sediment mineralogy consists of an assemblage dominated by Schist+Phyllite+Serpentinite lithic fragments. Therefore, metamorphic rock fragments are the dominant grain type in the backshore environment. Serpentinite lithic fragments testify their provenance from a small high-pressure and low-temperature complex of blueschists outcropping in the Calabria Coastal Range. The detrital modes reveal a provenance from the intermediate-lower crustal rocks forming the Coastal Range. It is crossed by the Savuto River, which represents the principal input to the studied sands. Moreover, the collected data indicate that the Capo Suvero promontory does not obstruct longshore sand transport, which bypasses the rocky headland and influences the sand composition in its southern part.

grain-size, sand composition, Spit, Gizzeria, Calabria Tyrrhenian coast.