Evoluzione della rete idrografica nell’appennino centro-settentrionale

Abstract

The hydrographic net of the Northern and Central Apennines is asymmetric. The Adriatic slope is characterized by parallel transversal valleys; the Tyrrhenian slope by many longitudinal streams cutting flooded lacustrine deposits. The Adriatic drainage pattern is connected with the fold system of recent compressive tectonics; the rivers cut the anticlines as a consequence of a complex evolution implying both processes of superimposition and antecedence. In the Tyrrhenian slope, the different drainage pattern has been determined by rapid vertical movements of distensive structures, giving rise to a graben system, and by slower and more extended isostatic readjustments. The main apenninic divide has followed the northeastwards migration, from the upper Miocene to Present, of the boundary between distensive and compressive structures.