An integrated approach to analyze sedimentary stock and coastal erosion in vulnerable areas: Resilience assessment of San Vicenzo’s coast (Italy)

The assessment of coastal erosion risk is a major challenge, since environmental and geomorphic features, together with sea state parameters, can seriously change the configuration of coastal areas. In addition, the anthropic actions of the coastal communities may also drastically modify the configuration of the coast in vulnerable areas. In this study, a linkage between regional mapping guidelines and national geological cartography procedures is presented as a meaningful tool in the geomorphic trends analysis for the integrated mapping of the main morphological patterns of San Vincenzo’s coastal area, in the region of Tuscany (Italy). Comparing and joining different procedures—which have different scales and topics—requires adapting the fields and the information provided in maps and databases. In this case study, a GIS morpho-sedimentological approach is developed. This GIS approach enables us to cover several issues simultaneously, such as the representation of coastal active processes, the adaptation of regional and national cartography to coastal erosion assessment, and lastly the calculation of the sedimentary stock analysis, since it represents the first attribute of coasts to be preserved in a resilience-oriented integrated assessment.The present study has been carried out within the MAREGOT project from the European INTERREG program 2014–2020, of which the Department of Earth Sciences of the University of Florence (Italy), and the Department of Coastal and Marine Environment Protection at Regione Toscana are partners