Chapter Remote sensing for reconstruction of ombrone river delta beach ridges

Overview & Synopsis

The study area is the Ombrone River delta (South of Tuscany, Italy), a wave dominated delta, formed during the last 2500 years. Beach ridges, a characteristic depositional landform of wave dominated delta, cross the entire coastal plain. They are associated with ancient shorelines, representing the result of river input and longshore transport variation. The aim of this study is combining different remote sensing data to obtain a very detailed mapping of all the beach ridges present in the area. Satellite images and aerial photos were used to discriminate beach ridges; Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) photogrammetric survey and LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data were used also. A topographic survey was carried out as well to calibrate UAV imagery and to verify LiDAR data accuracy. This research showed how high resolution DTMs produced from Lidar and UAV, combined with other remote sensing data, could be a helpful tool for the reconstruction of ancient morphologies also in large areas like delta plains. A complete beach ridges mapping was produced to better understand the delta evolution also through the analysis of the different geometries of these morphologies.