Stima dell'erosione del suolo in ambiente montano

Soil erosion is a worldwide phenomenon of fundamental importance for the scientific community. In the past decades, erosion has been widely investigated, with special regard to the often extreme effects it has had in many regions on our Planet. A correct assessment of the erosion process turned out to be an extremely effective tool not only for environment protection but also for soil management. The aim of the present work is, first of all, to provide a general overview of erosion as such. This phenomenon has been analyzed, together with its main causes, referring to the world, European and Italian situation. Subsequently, soil vulnerability has been investigated, related to erosion processes due to the action of intense and sudden precipitations, that are increasingly frequent, in particular at our latitude: therefore, an overview on flash-flood phenomenon has been provided, clearly related to the global weather changes, together with a summary of the most commonly used structural soil vulnerability indices, such as WAS index, ATTERBERG index, SOIL HYDROLOGIC GROUP and PIELOU index. The most important soil erosion assessment models, for both slope and watershed, have been analyzed, providing a short description and classification. The models RUSLE, PESERA, PSIAC and CORINE have been considered, indicating advantages and disadvantages of each application. The final part of the present work describes the erosion in mountain environment, with specific reference to Alps. A description of the Alpine soil properties and the related erosion riks has been provided for the Aosta Valley region. Moreover, soil vulnerability information has been given with reference to this area, together with the indexes used for vulnerability estimation, soil redistribution due to snow cover and avalanche phenomena. The Cs-137 method of experimental soil redistribution evaluation following an avalanche has been described as well.