The Sena Gallica Roman town was settled on the Adriatic coast in the 5th to 4th century BC. The choice of the site was largely influenced by the geomorphological and physiographic conditions near the Misa river mouth. The interactions among climate variation, river dynamics, and marine oscillation determined the anthropic development. At the same time, the new settlement strongly influenced the evolution of this sector in both medieval and in recent times. This work aims to highlight the geological setting and geomorphological evolution of the Senigallia area within the Northern Marche region, taking into account the main scientific literature and new studies to propose a new interpretation of the Holocene history.

The northern Marche coastal area epitomizes many of the elements forming the rich natural, historical and cultural tissue of the Adriatic seaside of central Italy. The natural heritage, partly protected in natural reserves, also amalgamates with tourist facilities that exploit several renowned beach resorts. The northern Marche coastal area, consisting of a coastal plain interposed between two rocky shore sectors, forms a peculiar blend of different geomorphological units with distinctive landforms. The coastal plain joins landwards fossil cliffs and includes the major river mouths. The rapidly recessing rocky shores develop structural landforms, sea-stacks and benches. Both active and relict cliff retreat induces extensive landsliding in the whole sea-facing hillslopes.

The geomorphological analysis of historically urbanized areas is the best scientific way to understand how the extant geomorphological factors conditioned urbanization. It also provides a baseline to enable comparisons to be made with the modern environment. This paper considers four urbanized historical sites on the Adriatic coast (Italy) that owe their urban development to particular geomorphological and environmental conditions that were modified over the centuries from the Roman age to the present day. The focus here is on the evolution of the shoreline and associated geomorphic variables (streambeds and river mouths migration). These factors are fundamental for determining the development of a city, both as basic boundary elements – therefore including defence and protection – and also for the development of harbours.

Sena Gallica (Senigallia), in the northern Marche region, was the first Roman colony on the Adriatic coast founded at the beginning of the third century BC. This research adopted an integrated approach to different information sources that combines old and new data, archaeological excavations, topographic and geophysical surveys, and geological and geomorphological analyses. The data are managed within a GIS and supported by 3D modelling. One of the results of this work is a map which represents the geomorphological setting of the Roman colony, close to the mouth of the Misa river. The settlement exploited the top-surface of the uppermost Pleistocene-early Holocene coastal fan of the Misa river, now only preserved at the apex sector truncated seaward by wave erosion. The top-surface of the fan apex, in turn, was partly re-incised by stream erosion producing a series of slight topographic mounds, which were selected for the earliest human settlement (V-IV c. BC). Some of the mounds resulted in a protected, slightly elevated, area enclosed by the meandering course of the Misa River and the Sant'Angelo/Penna streams, where the Romans decided to found their colony (284 BC). The tight interaction between human activities and the natural environment has always influenced the development of the town, from the earliest phases to the modern age. This map focuses on the time when the Roman colony was founded, but the combined study in progress allows understanding of the main transformations that occurred during the following centuries.

Creatine supplementation has been shown to protect neurons from oxidative damage due to its antioxidant and ergogenic functions. These features have led to the hypothesis of creatine supplementation use during pregnancy as prophylactic treatment to prevent CNS damage, such as hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. Unfortunately, very little is known on the effects of creatine supplementation during neuron differentiation, while in vitro studies revealed an influence on neuron excitability, leaving the possibility of creatine supplementation during the CNS development an open question. Using a multiple approach, we studied the hippocampal neuron morphological and functional development in neonatal rats born by dams supplemented with 1% creatine in drinking water during pregnancy. CA1 pyramidal neurons of supplemented newborn rats showed enhanced dendritic tree development, increased LTP maintenance, larger evoked-synaptic responses, and higher intrinsic excitability in comparison to controls. Moreover, a faster repolarizing phase of action potential with the appearance of a hyperpolarization were recorded in neurons of the creatine-treated group. Consistently, CA1 neurons of creatine exposed pups exhibited a higher maximum firing frequency than controls. In summary, we found that creatine supplementation during pregnancy positively affects morphological and electrophysiological development of CA1 neurons in offspring rats, increasing neuronal excitability. Altogether, these findings emphasize the need to evaluate the benefits and the safety of maternal intake of creatine in humans.

In the axial zone of the Umbria-Marche Apennines, several fault-bounded intermontane basins (i.e., Colfiorito, Norcia, Castelluccio and Leonessa) were generated at the end of Lower Pleistocene. The analysis of the master fault of the basins, the relicts of planation surfaces and the drainage network arrangements, allowed us the improvement of knowledge on the Pleistocene morphotectonic evolution of those basins. Morphometry and geostatistics of the topography have been performed to obtain indexes suitable for assessing the role of faults displacements on the landscape development. Furthermore, a gravimetric analysis realized along some basins has furnished new data on their sedimentary infill. The basins are filled by Pleistocene to Holocene fluvial-lacustrine coarse-grained deposits, and the bedrock consists of Jurassic to Miocene limestone and marls belonging to the Umbria-Marche succession. Several historical and instrumental highly destructive earthquakes occurred in this area: January 14, 1703 (X MCS, M = 6.6); September 19, 1979 ( M s = 5.9, focal depth of 6–8 km); September 26, 1997 ( M w = 6.0, focal depth of 6–8 km). Faults and earthquake focal mechanisms are compatible with a predominant NE–SW extension, but strike-slip and reverse mechanisms have been also documented. The fault activity appears to have had a predominant role in controlling the sedimentation processes inside the intermontane basins, as well as in controlling their Pliocene to Quaternary evolution.

In the early Holocene a small lake formed by landslide-damming of the Fosso del Lago stream close to Montelago (Sassoferrato, Province of Ancona), a village of the northern Marche sector of the Adriatic side of the Umbria-Marche Apennines (central Italy). A targeted comprehensive and multidisciplinary project, consisting of a geomorphological survey, seismic tomography, and sediment core drilling, was carried out in this area and complemented by radiocarbon dating and pollen analysis. Geomorphological, chronological and paleoenvironmental constraints for the lake formation, evolution and extinction, also accounting for some apparently contradictory information from the Gregorian Cadastre (1816-1835 AD), were thus obtained and are presented and discussed in this work. We propose an evolutionary frame where the damming landslide (Montelago Landslide, MLL) is the reactivation of a larger first time landslide post-dating the upper Pleistocene coldest stages. Large amounts of calcareous breccia boulders incorporated into the MLL runout caused an effective stream blockage and the formation of a small lake. The radiocarbon dating of the lacustrine sediment was useful for roughly constraining the landslide blockage at about the Boreal-Atlantic transition. Both the stream blockage and some secondary landslide movements brought about important changes in the Fosso del Lago catchment. Besides the production of the lacustrine trough, key modifications include a marked convexity of the longitudinal stream profile, an associated epigenetic gorge and distinctive knickpoints on residual landslide boulders. Our study allowed the reconstruction of a preliminary Holocene pollen sequence that, to date, is unique for this sector of the Central Apennines. The pollen record revealed that in the Montelago site, a pre-forest environment with Corylus, Ulmus, Fraxinus and Tilia characterizes the early stages of lake existence and is followed by a beech forest expansion culminating at about 6640-6490 cal. BP with a delayed spread of Abies. Starting from 5910-5750 cal. BP, an increasing human agro-forestry-pastoral activity is recorded in association with beech forest reduction and concomitant expansion of xerofile and herbaceous taxa. The major environmental modifications recorded by the sediment core can be related to climate changes as well as to human activity, displaying both specific behaviours and similarities with already known sites of the Mediterranean area. Although the age of the landslide-dammed lake extinction is not strictly constrained, it is yet ascertained that the water pond represented in the 19th century Gregorian cadastral maps a little further upstream the paleolake site, far from being a relic of the landslide-dammed lake, is rather a small man-made reservoir dug long after the former lake dried up.

GIS and 3DModellig for Geo-Archaeology in Senigallia (Italy): new discoveries and new hypothesisA collaborative project on Sena Gallica is carrying out by archaelogists (Bologna University) and geologists (Urbino University). Classical methods and digital techniques have been combined for getting new information and interpretations of evolution of the urban landscape of the first maritime colony of Roma on the Adriatic coast. New discoveries of Republican age demonstrate the strong influence between geomorphology and human activities, as the anthropic interventions on the course of Misa river. This work-in-progress suggests new scenarios and open questions on both Quaternary geology and urban archeology.

The hamlet of Montelago (‘Mountain of the Lake’) lies within the northern Marche Apennines close to the watershed of Fosso del Lago (‘Stream of the Lake’): both Italian toponyms clearly suggest the presence of a paleolake. Official geological maps reported lacustrine sediments within the upper basin of the Fosso del Lago stream, where outcrops of lacustrine sediments have also been noted for about five decades. The nineteenth-century Gregorian cadastral map also reports water ponds roughly in the area where lacustrine sediments were found: nonetheless, their position is clearly shifted upstream with respect to the reported lacustrine sediments. In this context, we have recently performed a targeted geomorphological survey addressed at unravelling such apparent discrepancy. Our study confirms the occurrence of lacustrine sediments spanning from Atlantic up to Sub-Boreal exactly in the place reported by previous geological works. The detailed geomorphological map created for the area allowed us to adequately locate previously published subsurface prospecting both highlighting landslide damming as the process responsible for lake formation and providing information for an adequate morphoevolutive reconstruction of the area. Geomorphological mapping also resolved the problem of the different position of the ponds mapped by the Gregorian Cadastre, stating that these had no direct relationships with the former lake but rather consisted of a small man-made reservoir directly connected by broad channels to springs which are currently dried-out.

This paper conducts a statistical analysis to determine shallow-landslide susceptibility in an approximately 7500-km2 region of the south-eastern Alps (South Tyrol, Italy). The study applies the weight of evidence (WofE) method, which is useful in determining landslide susceptibility in large areas with complex geological and geomorphological settings. The statistical analysis and landslide susceptibility mapping are based on 882 past landslides, three geometric/topographic factors and two anthropogenic factors, which are the most relevant landslide predisposing factors. The quality of the proposed model, particularly the fitting performance, was assessed; the landslide database was divided into a training set to obtain the model and a validation set to estimate the model quality. The results show that the developed susceptibility model predicts an acceptable percentage (75%) of landslides. Therefore, the model can be useful and reliable for land planners and decision makers also due to its cost-effectiveness ratio.

The first rescue excavations in the historic center of Senigallia began in October 2010, in connection with the project ‘Urban Archaeology at Senigallia’. During the work of reconstruction of an eighteenth century building geophysical investigation was undertaken of its ground levels, followed by an excavation in which numerous structure attributable to the Roman colony of Sena Gallica (284-3 B.C.) came to light. A complex orthogonal network of walls, emerged, defining at least four rooms, within which were created at different times at least two wells and some functional structures, including the preparation for a torcular in brick and clay. These structures all appear to date from the III century B.C. The cardinal orientation of the walls allows some interesting hypotheses about the urban topography, which, in the later Roman phase, was oriented northeast-southwest. But the most surprising discovery was that of an earlier settlement, below the Roman structures. Almost obliterated by the later buildings, it had the same orientation, and is dated by the material found to the V—IV century B.C. The settlement is probably to be attributed to the Picene culture.

The excellent preservation, together with a large number of exposures of Quaternary terrace-alluvium and related deposits, made since a long time the northern Marche (central Apennines) an object of targeted scientific work. The stream terraces exposed in the area can be taken as representative of both arrangement and development of terrace staircases in several river basins draining the Adriatic side of the Apennines. In this frame, this paper focuses on types and development of stream terrace staircases in the northern Marche Apennines both reviewing pre-existing data and providing some appraisals on recent achievements. In this area, the overall pattern of main valleys, which flow eastwards into the Adriatic Sea, was already delineated in the Early Pleistocene-Early Middle Pleistocene, thus allowing initial almost-flat surfaces to be gradually furrowed by valleys where stream terraces could develop. Initially, likely accounting mainly for tectonic controls, only erosive terrace-staircases were formed, which at present are arranged on several levels at the highest elevations above the thalweg. Later on, likely following the so-called "Mid-Pleistocene Revolution", fill terraces started to develop extensively all along the main valleys. In the northern Marche main valleys, four principal climate-driven fill terraces are found at approximately 100 ka cycle, to which an undefined number of minor and/or local recent units are overlapped. Modes of both fill terrace re-incision and stream entrenchment in bedrock in downcutting regimes also suggest that both warming- and cooling-limb forcing of incision were effective.

O. Nesci O. et al., Late Quaternary alluvial fans in the northern Marche Apennines: implications of climate changes. (IT ISSN 0394-3356, 2010) Alluvial fans, fan-like deposits, and piedmont aprons are widespread at mountain-front and foothill sectors of the Umbria-Marche Apennines. They are currently regarded as significant geomophological features strictly dependent on either tectonic or climatic controls. Close relationship with tectonics, that are usually stressed by the location of such landforms along fault scarps or other active morphostructures, can be assessed only in the most internal areas of the Umbria-Marche Apennines, dissected by extensional tectonics. Conversely, in the piedmont and foothill sectors of the chain, the climatic control on fan deposition and entrenchment become dominant, whereas tectonic constrains can be only indirectly detected. Namely, within the Umbria-Marche Apennines, the late Quaternary cyclical and systematic episodes of fan deposition and entrenchment at the mouth of tributaries, usually following the main fluvial filling along the trunk valleys, are well known. Nonetheless, the main causes that have cyclically controlled the fluvial and alluvial-fan deposition and their subsequent dissection have not been thoroughly investigated yet. In this work we report a general overview on the geomorphological setting of the late Quaternary alluvial fans associated with the major fill-terraces that compose the typical staircase of river terraces in the Northern Marche territory. In particular, for the aggradational suites of the late Quaternary fillterraces, we discuss the meaningful stratigraphic relations between the fluvial sediments of the trunk streams and the alluvial-fan deposits originating from the tributaries. We also suggest a possible correlation between the cyclical recurrence of the principal episodes of fluvial aggradation/alluvial-fans formation and dissection and the principal late Quaternary climate fluctuations. RIASSUNTO: Nesci O. et al., Conoidi alluvionali tardo Quaternarie nell’Appennino Marchigiano settentrionale: implicazioni paleo-climatiche. (IT ISSN 0394-3356, 2010) Conoidi alluvionali tardo quaternarie (isolate e/o coalescenti) sono ampiamente diffuse lungo il fronte montuoso e l’area pedemontana dell’Appennino Umbro-Marchigiano. Le conoidi alluvionali sono correntemente considerate come significativi elementi geomorfologici in stretta connessione con la tettonica e/o con controlli di tipo climatico. Relazioni molto strette con la tettonica attiva, generalmente evidenziate dalla localizzazione delle conoidi lungo scarpate di faglia o altre morfostrutture attive, sono riconoscibili solo nelle aree interne dell’Appennino Umbro-Marchigiano, interessante da tettonica attiva di tipo estensionale. Al contrario, lungo i settori pedemontani della catena è più evidente il controllo climatico sulla deposizione e successiva dissezione degli apparati di conoide alluvionale, mentre il controllo da parte della tettonica può essere riconosciuto solo in parte e indirettamente. Lungo l’Appennino Marchigiano settentrionale, dove è incentrato il presente lavoro, da molto tempo è nota in letteratura la ciclica e sistematica ripetizione, in corrispondenza delle foci dei tributari, di alterne fasi di deposizione e re-incisione di conoidi alluvionali, le quali seguono sistematicamente fasi di aggradazione fluviale lungo i corsi d’acqua principali. Nonostante ciò, le cause principali che hanno ciclicamente controllato la deposizione di ampi apparati di conoide e la loro successiva re-incisione, ancora oggi non sono state studiate nel dettaglio. Nel presente lavoro viene descritto in alcune aree campione l’assetto geomorfologico delle conoidi alluvionali tardo quaternarie associate ai principali terrazzi deposizionali componenti la tipica successione di terrazzi fluviali all’interno delle principali valli marchigiane settentrionali. In particolare, vengono descritti in dettaglio i rapporti stratigrafici esistenti all’interno dei principali corpi alluvionali, di età compresa fra il Pleistocene medio e il Pleistocene superiore, fra le sequenze deposizionali di tipo fluviale appartenenti al corso d’acqua principale e quelle di conoide alluvionali presenti alla foce dei principali tributari. Gli episodi che hanno portato alla formazione di ampi sistemi deposizionali di conoide alluvionale nei bacini marchigiani settentrionali sono ciclici e seguono sistematicamente le maggiori fasi di aggradazione fluviale lungo i corsi d’acqua principali. I depositi fluviali, fatta eccezione per i settori a ridosso dell’attuale fascia costiera, sono preservati nei principali terrazzi vallivi e vengono generalmente considerati come episodi deposizionali direttamente connessi con i principali cicli glaciali. Alla stessa maniera dei depositi fluviali lungo le valli principali, anche la deposizione e successiva reincisione degli apparati di conoide in corrispondenza delle confluenze dei tributari con il corso d’acqua principale sono da ritenersi strettamente connessi con le principali fluttuazioni climatiche tardo quaternarie. Inoltre, quando all’interno di un corpo alluvionale terrazzato i depositi strettamente fluviali coesistono con quelli di conoide alluvionale, fra le due tipologie di deposito esistono relazioni stratigrafiche precise e sistematiche. In particolare, i depositi di conoide seguono sistematicamente quelli fluviali; normalmente la transizione fra i depositi di conoide e quelli fluviali consiste in una rapida (fino a 2-3 m di spessore) interdigitazione di facies o, a volte, in limiti netti (anche di tipo erosivo). In ogni caso, i depositi di conoide giacciono generalmente sulla superficie non ancora rimodellata dei sottostanti depositi fluviali. Il ripetersi ciclico delle fasi deposizionali ed erosive, l’esistenza di precise e sistematiche relazioni stratigrafiche fra i due depositi e la disponibilità in letteratura, almeno per i depositi più recenti (Pleistocene superiore), di numerose età numeriche, hanno permesso di ipotizzare, tenendo anche in considerazione le analisi già effettuata per aree limitrofe e disponibili in letteratura, alcune correlazioni con le principali fluttuazioni climatiche tardo quaternarie. Parole chiave: River terraces, Alluvial fans, Climatic controls, Northern Marche Apennines.