Geomorphological properties of a lagoonal system
Analyses of the observational morphological structure of a lagoonal landscape are performed aimed at examining key assumptions on the geomorphological evolution of wetlands, lagoons, estuarine areas and tidal environments in general. The present note briefly refers about analysis (Feola et al. 2005) regarding statistical measures, morphodynamic implications of topological or metric properties of the observed landforms. In order to accurately characterize morphodynamic features of a lagoonal environment with particular attention to their scale-dependent (or invariant) characters, field surveys and remote sensing are employed.The structure of landscape-forming shear stresses is calculated in unchanneled portions of the landscape suggesting the viability of threshold models of incision for the formation of tidal channel networks. Distinctive geomorphic indicators, suitable for comparative purposes with modelling of the long term evolution of tidal systems, are also pointed out. Space-distributed analyses of eco-geomorphological properties which strongly suggest the dominance of sub-vertical processes in the control of the distribution of halophytic vegetation are finally discussed. © 2006 Taylor & Francis Group.
