SAURO U.
The Monti Berici: guide of the fieldtrip – I Monti Berici: guida alla escursione
Pages 367-372
Abstract
The Monti Berici plateau is the most southern karst morpho-un it of th e Southern Alps and rep resent s a peculiar type of karst. The analysis of its top ograp hy, the identification of a «morphostra tigraphy» based on th e rel icts of planation surfaces and on th e di fferent types of fluvial forms, th e recognition of the few elements of chronological significance pr esent in thi s context , allow for th e delineation of a pr elimin ary model of th e geomorphological evolution of this mountain group. The main geomo rphological types are of fluvial origin and have b een influenced not only by the climatic changes, but also by the tectonic upli fting and /o r by changes of the ba se level. Th e karst landforms have mostly evolved on th e relict fluvial forms or in the context of relatively inactive fluvial forms. The age of th e main forms extends over a very lon g time span, probably in the order of 15 million s years. Th e pres ervation of very old forms can be explained by the peculiar geomorphological environme nt , which was not affected by glacial ero sion du ring the Pleistocene. The comparis on between the evolution model s of several karst morpho-units in the Southe rn Alps helps to understand the differences in their geomorphologic al styles.