Coastal models and beach types in NE Sicily: how does coastal uplift influence beach morphology?

This paper compares morphological and sedimentary characters of beach types occurring along the Ionian coastline of NE Sicily and local coastal uplift rates, with the aim of evaluating how vertical coastal movements influence beach morphologies. The Ionian coastline of NE Sicily may be divided into many coastal provinces and subprovinces, following the relative positions that each segment of littoral occupies within the general geological setting of the central Mediterranean. This coastline runs perpendicularly along the Africa-Europe plate boundary, crossing successions belonging to the chain, volcanic products, a foredeep and a foreland sector. In this paper only the northern sector, pertaining to the chain and volcanic coastal provinces, is examined. From the south to the northern edge of NE Sicily, four main localities were chosen for examination: (i) Capo Peloro/Messina; (ii) Taormina/Giardini-Naxos; (iii) Riposto/Praiola; (iv) Ognina/Catania. In these sites, a series of combined observations on the gradient of the nearshore profile, grain size of sediments, local water dynamics, and uplift rates identified classes of distinct beach types and models. Results indicate that all these coastal profiles developed recently, due to vertical local tectonic movements rather than control by the width of the continental shelf, the morphology of which is strongly influenced by the Malta escarpment fault system. Differing coastal uplift rates define classes of beach types in which patterns of morphological and sedimentological characters, together with the hydrodynamics of the nearshore zone, are closely related to Recent tectonic vertical movements of the coast.