A new approach to identify contributing fractures and ambient wellbore flow in fractured and karst aquifers is presented. It is time efficient, low cost and based on a benign tracer: the dissolved oxygen (DO). The method was already applied by other scientists to test fractured crystalline rock wells. The DO method consists in elevating water DO concentration in a borehole by bubbling air at assigned water depths using a porous polypropylene tube (bubbler) connected to a compressed air tank with tubing. After the aeration, the resulting profile should be a linear increase in DO with depth due to the effects of water pressure on oxygen solubility. Any changes in the DO profile will be then observed when water flows into and through the well. DO dilution can be used to locate inflowing fractures and to define active flow zones in wells. Where there is no change in the DO profile “dead zones” in the well, where no flow is taking place, can be identified. The DO tests in this work have been carried out in the industrial area of Bari, at the experimental station of five wells drilled at the CNR-IRSA. The wells penetrate karstic limestone. Results show enhanced flow through at depths between 32 and 37 meters below the water level and connecting patterns between the studied wells. The benefits of utilizing DO as a tracer include ease of accessibility, low cost and time-efficiency as well as non-toxic nature of the tracer and no impact on flow conditions.

Erosion affects about 25% of the coast of the Apulia region, with the severest consequences being along sandy coastlines. Beach retreat is mainly due to the decrease of solid material transport, the destruction of dune deposits and the building of docks that obstruct the longshore current. A survey was conducted around Capitolo, the main sandy coastline near Bari, to examine the hazards affecting beaches and to provide guidelines for the management of human activities along the coasts. The survey was carried out along a coastal stretch of about 3 km, extending in a South Easterly direction from 178 21′ 30′′ E, 408 54′ 20′′ N to 178 23′ E, 408 53′ 40′′ N. The map, at a scale of 1:3000, shows three levels of hazard, determined as follows: (i) the state of preservation of the dunes and watercourses, based on the geomorphological map of the Apulia region; (ii) data collected from July 1989 to April 2008 by the Monopoli buoy of the National Wave Measuring Network; (iii) the shoreline change rates computed within a geographic information system (GIS). A matrix was established taking into account of these features, weighting each parameter in order to develop a hazard-level measurement for shoreline lengths of about 25 meters. The results show that all Capitolo beaches have a high level of shore preservation hazard. The results of this study should be a factor in any decisions made on the management of the present day village, both existing commercial activities and the future development of the area.

A general coastal retreat affects almost all the beaches of the Apulia region (southern Italy). In particular, the coastal strip of the Gulf of Manfredonia shows an evident retreat due to human activity. To control coastal erosion, several defence interventions have been realised: breakwaters, shore parallel defences, and, above all, sev- eral types of groynes (rectilinear, hook-shaped, T-shaped) were built along the shoreline in accordance with local request. Nowadays, there are about 300 coastal defences built up to protect against human activities. A laser scanner survey of these defences, using a Leica Geosystems HDS3000, was carried out between April 2006 and September 2008 to collect data about the beach profiles and changes occurring in the defence framework. The survey work consists of 3D rendering of defences in order to make comparisons between scans of different periods. Overlap between the points cloud of the whole coastline showed that defences preserved their own profile when no human interventions took place. Moreover, throughout the length of the investigated area, not a single trend occurred in the beach profile: according to the defence framework, some stretches of coast display advancing trend, while others are stable or retreating. Therefore, this preliminary study indicated that the changes that occurred in the beach pro- files and defence structures are mainly due to human interventions.

This manuscript outlines the different sedimentary deposits that characterise the Tavoliere di Puglia plain (the second largest Italian plain). The plain is largely covered by Quaternary terrace deposits that unconformably lie on older deposits, most commonly the argille subappennine unit. The outcropping units have been divided into categories of descending rank: the first subdivision is made on the basis of geological domain; within each domain a subdivision of lower rank is based on age; within each age a further subdivision is based on the nature of the sediments. The main map presents an updated synthesis of the geology and geomorphology of the Tavoliere di Puglia plain and provides a firm foundation for further, more detailed studies.

We studied the coastal zone of the Tavoliere di Puglia plain, (Puglia region, southern Italy) with the aim to recognise the main unconformities, and therefore, the unconformity-bounded stratigraphic units (UBSUs; Salvador, 1987, 1994) forming its Quaternary sedimentary fill. Recognising unconformities is particularly problematic in an alluvial plain, due to the difficulties in distinguishing the unconformities that bound the UBSUs. So far, the recognition of UBSUs in buried successions has been made mostly by using seismic profiles. Instead, in our case, the unavailability of the latter has prompted us to address the problem by developing a methodological protocol consisting of the following steps: I) geological survey in the field; II) draft of a preliminary geological setting based on the field-survey results; III) dating of 102 samples coming from a large number of boreholes and some outcropping sections by means of the Amino Acid Racemization (AAR) method applied to ostracod shells and 14C dating, filtering of the ages and the selection of valid ages; IV) correction of the preliminary geological setting in the light of the numerical ages; definition of the final geological setting with UBSUs; identification of a “hypothetical” or “attributed time range” (HTR or ATR) for each UBSU, the former very wide and subject to a subsequent modification, the latter definitive; V) cross-checking between the numerical ages and/or other characteristics of the sedimentary bodies and/or the sea level curves (with their effects on the sedimentary processes) in order to restrict also the hypothetical time ranges in the attributed time ranges. The successful application of AAR geochronology to ostracod shells relies on the fact that the ability of ostracods to colonise almost all environments constitutes a tool for correlation, and also allow the inclusion in the same unit of coeval sediments that differ lithologically and palaeoenvironmentally. The treatment of the numerical ages obtained using the AAR method required special attention. The first filtering step has been made by the laboratory (rejection criteria a and b). Then, the second filtering step has been made by testing in the field the remaining ages. Among these, in fact, we have never compared an age with a single preceding and/or following age; instead, we identified homogeneous groups of numerical ages consistent with their reciprocal stratigraphic position. This operation led to the rejection of further numerical ages that deviate erratically from a larger, homogeneous age population which fits well with its stratigraphic position (rejection criterion c). After all the filtering steps, the valid ages that remained were used for the subdivision of the sedimentary sequences into UBSUs together with the lithological and palaeoenvironmental criteria. The numerical ages allowed us, in the first instance, to recognise all of the age gaps between two consecutive samples. Next, we identified the level, in the sedimentary thickness that is between these two samples, that may represent the most suitable UBSU-boundary based on its lithology and/or the palaeoenvironment. The recognised units are: I) Coppa Nevigata sands (NEA), HTR: MIS 20-14, ATR: MIS 17-16; II) Argille subappennine (ASP), HTR: MIS 15-11, ATR: MIS 15-13; III) Coppa Nevigata synthem (NVI), HTR: MIS 13-8, ATR: MIS 12-11; IV) Sabbie di Torre Quarto (STQ), HTR: MIS 13-9.1, ATR: MIS 11; V) Amendola subsynthem (MLM1), HTR: MIS 12-10, ATR: MIS 11; VI) Undifferentiated continental unit (UCI), HTR: MIS 11-6.2, ATR: MIS 9.3-7.1; VII) Foggia synthem (TGF), ATR: MIS 6; VIII) Masseria Finamondo synthem (TPF), ATR: Upper Pleistocene; IX) Carapelle and Cervaro streams synthem (RPL), subdivided into: IXa) Incoronata subsynthem (RPL1), HTR: MIS 6-3; ATR: MIS 5-3; IXb) Marane La Pidocchiosa-Castello subsynthem (RPL3), ATR: Holocene; X) Masseria Inacquata synthem (NAQ), ATR: Holocene.