Evoluzione storica dell’uso del suolo nel bacino del fiume Ombrone Grossetano (Toscana Meridionale) ed effetti sulla produzione dell’apporto solido alla foce

Beach erosion is an actual and remarkable matter, which causes damage to both environment and economy of extensive coastal area. One of the most important factors in shoreline evolution is represented by fluvial transport dynamics, which are strongly influenced by changes in the characteristics of the drainage network and catchment’s land use. These characteristics depend on two categories of factors: environmental factors, like climate, geomorphology, vegetation of the basin, and anthropogenic factors, like variations in land use, training works on the river and hill slope stabilization. In this study, the effects of land use changes on the sediment transport at a basin scale have been analyzed in the river Ombrone Grossetano, sited in the southern Tuscany, Italy. The analysis is based on a comparison between historical and actual land use maps, and an application of the R.U.S.L.E. equation aimed to evaluate the annual soil loss in different periods.