3. Hydrogeological Instability
Hydrogeological risk belongs to the four categories of environmental risk, together with weather, volcanic and seismic ones. An environmental risk occurs when a natural event causes significant damages to people and their economics and can be computed by multiplying the danger by the vulnerability of a territory
[30]. The danger is the probability that an event occurs with an intensity and size higher or equal to a default limit, while the vulnerability is the degree of sensitivity to an environmental event of determined intensity. Hydrogeological instability was defined by Gisotti
[31] as a disease of civilisation: humanity accelerated the speed of natural events that otherwise would be slower, so they became natural disasters caused by humans.
The Mediterranean climate fosters the occurrence of hydrogeological instability, because it is characterised by rainy winters and dry summers. These events almost always occur in mostly clay soils existing along hilly and mountain slopes and, above all, where layers of siliceous sandstones are alternated with marls or clays when rains of high intensity happen over a short period. These events are more intense if an appropriate soil reclamation is not carried out, a continuous coverage of soil surface is not guaranteed, drainage lines allowing water downflow along slopes are not dug, etc. All territory transformations, building up villages and infrastructures, and unauthorised development, without respecting the environmental limits, become an obstacle to water downflow. Moreover, infrastructures change the permeability of the soil surface by decreasing the infiltration of rainwater and increasing the speed of surface downflow. Hydrogeological instability causes events that can be distinguished in surface erosion, landslides, floods and water stagnation. Surface erosion, caused by water, is the transport of soil mass from the top to the bottom of a slope. The first step of this kind of instability is erosion, which can occur in different ways: layer erosion, rill erosion, gully erosion and, finally, the formation of ravines. A landslide can be defined as deep erosion or mass movement, as it concerns a higher soil thickness. Its main causes are site geology, topography, gradient, overloads due to water, plant presence and growth, human buildings, traffic of vehicles, earthquakes, etc. Additionally, digging out the bottom of the slope carved by rivers and streams, as well as side pushes, e.g. those caused by the swelling of clay soil mass, can cause landslides. The following types of landslides can occur: collapse landslide (free falling down and stockpiling at the bottom); overturning landslide (rotation of a mass around a point below its centre of gravity); rotational slip landslide (movement of the soil mass along the surface); translation slip landslide (same as the previous one but concerning a larger surface); enlargement landslide (surface enlargement through fractures); drainage landslide (continuous deformation of loose materials). Another event of hydrogeological instability is flooding, i.e. “temporary flooding of areas that are not usually covered by water” (Directive 2007/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 on the Assessment and Management of Flood Risks). The overflow occurs after “a rainy event having exceptional intensity and time, however higher than the average”
[31]. The factors influencing surface downflow are: path that water must follow inside the hydrographic basin; gradient; natural or artificial obstacles existing in the hydrographic network; time needed for filling up the existing reservoirs; basin area and shape. During the downflow, solid materials existing in the riverbed are transported via suspension or rolling, according to their weight and size.
These events can cause extensive damage such as the breaking of banks, damage to crop production, infrastructures, dwellings and their inhabitants, as well as changes in the soil parameters, because of the deposit of the transported materials. Yet, flooding can improve soil fertility, which man can use. Among the types of hydrogeological instability, there is also water stagnation, occurring when the water coming from rains, raising of aquifers or floods submerges the soil by removing its air. This event generally happens in flat soils of any texture, although clay soils are the most sensitive to this.
Moreover, in some cases of hydrogeological instability, when up–down ploughing or contour ploughing by rotating the soil slice downstream is carried out on a hilly field, soil erosion becomes prominent
[32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39].
In order to prevent or minimise soil compaction and erosion, many scientists proposed techniques of conservative soil tillage, by using implements different from mouldboard plough
[40] e.g. subsoiler
[41], rotary tiller and chisel plough
[42].
4. Case studies of Hydrogeological Instability
Three case studies were selected in three sites of a hilly area of inland Western Sicily, located in the territory of Corleone (Palermo, Sicily, Italy). These case studies provided the input data needed for obtaining the work results, i.e. the hydrogeological instability risks observed during some surveys, on which the nomenclature proposed for these risks is based.
The excerpt of the Map of Instability n. 19 (Sicilian Region - Territory and Environment Department, Basin Shred Plan for Hydrogeological Layout, 2005) including the above area is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Hydrographic basin of Belice river (057) - excerpt of the Map of Instability n. 19, including the surveyed area: the areas where soil erosion caused landslides are highlighted, i.e. those having active landslides are in red colour, while those having landslides at rest are in yellow colour (Sicilian Region - Territory and Environment Department, Basin Shred Plan for Hydrogeological Layout, 2005).
From March to September 2015, surveys were carried out in this area to identify the human activities that caused hydrogeological instability.
Thus, it was possible to focus on the unethical human activities that reduced the productivity of soils and caused damages to their infrastructures.
The above three case studies were selected for the surveys, as they are characterised by three different types of hydraulic instability risk:
- at the first site, a landslide was observed on a hilly slope (arable land) cultivated with a cereal and legume (Italian sainfoin) crop rotation;
- at the second site, an area degraded because of flooding, gully erosion and water stagnation was observed;
- at the third site, the damages caused by incorrect crop operations, implemented for an unsustainable field improvement (not suitable for the natural conditions of the hydrographic network), were observed.
The surveyed area is located at an altitude between 500 and 700 m a.s.l.
In this area, soils are mostly clay and calcareous, specifically Vertisols and Inceptisols. Entisols are slightly distributed where floods occur and on tender and hard rocks. The soils generally originate after a long pedogenesis and often have a high depth.
In the surveyed area, it is possible to observe dry arable lands cultivated with cereal and legume crop rotations on clay formations, as well as olive orchards, vineyards, small arable lands and pastures on the roughest soils.
This area is highly sensitive to hydrogeological instability, because of its soil and climate parameters. In fact, some areas subjected to landslides and damages caused by floods and water stagnation were identified during the surveys.
5. Nomenclature Proposed for Hydrogeological Instability Risks
The data and information provided by many authorities are fundamental for implementing appropriate strategies for reducing the hydrogeological risk through correct territory planning, structural interventions, alerting and monitoring tools, as well as territory maintenance and the best agricultural and forestry practices. All of this information should be communicated through the previously proposed Soil Cadastre.
In order to minimise surface erosion, appropriate hydraulic-forestry soil reclamations must be carried out in collection basins. After studying the basin parameters, it is possible to carry out, along the slopes, the transplanting and/or seeding of soils, terracing or building up of cagesor concrete walls or installation of retention nets to prevent rocks from falling down. Instead, the intensive works change the slope and the longitudinal outline of streams, building up thresholds and weirs, walls, gabions or side coverages along the bed, as well as repellents or panels. Moreover, appropriate agronomic techniques must be implemented, such as those described in the Code of Good Agricultural Practice [43].
Furthermore, the danger of landslides needs to be evaluated, preventing these landslides by means of hydraulic-forestry land reclamation, drainage works, the geo-referenced monitoring of crevasses on the soil surface by means of a GNSS receiver [19] and alarms.
According to the EU Floods Directive (Directive 2007/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 on the Assessment and Management of Flood Risks), the management of flood risk is needed when an unsustainable work exists in a site. Therefore, it must be removed or changed to make it suitable for the site itself, thus minimising flood risk. Hydrological and hydrodynamic simulation tools can monitor rainfall and temperature. Another effective practice can be water canalisation, by building up banks, massive walls and canals, in order to increase the downflow capacity in the bed. Furthermore, expansion cases, artificial flood control channels and diversions can be built up to remove water from the current, even if these works are expensive and have a large environmental impact.
Finally, in order to face water stagnation, drainage works need to be built up, e.g. ditching or the use of pipes and drainage wells.
Based on the observations carried out during the surveys, it was possible to deduce the causes of hydrogeological instability aside from ongoing climate change and human activities, i.e. building up infrastructures to obstruct the downflow of the excessive water and accelerate the degradation process of natural resources, able to minimise soil fertility.
The EU communication COM (2006)231 that addressed the “thematic strategy for soil protection” (Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions-Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection) stated that in Sicily, like elsewhere, threats are caused by incorrect crop operations and unethical agricultural and forestry practices, excessive soil exploitation and the abandonment of rural areas. Therefore, human activities are factors of hydrogeological instability. Thus, sustainable human activities can prevent from hydrogeological instability and farmers must be educated and become aware of these activities, as well as addressed to the principles of Soil Cadastre, only if their management is harmful to the environment. Moreover, farmers are increasingly aware of acting with maximum safety by reducing, for instance, tractor overturning risks in hilly areas and, thus, work accidents and expenses for medical and hospital care [44].
All the best agricultural practices able to protect soil structure will be promoted: minimum tillage and zero tillage; permanent soil cover with grass and diversified crop rotations and associations, leaving crop residues in the soil.
These best practices will:
- maintain the active soil layer;
- increase water retention capacity;
- maintain soil organic matter and reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and the consumption of fuel;
- increase carbon sequestration in the soil and, therefore, reduce the emission of CO2 into the atmosphere.
Therefore, in order to specify the causes of hydrogeological instability due to human activities, a nomenclature is proposed for the instability caused by downflow water. The proposed nomenclature allows brief communications with farmers, reminding them of more sustainable soil management. This nomenclature includes four main risks, which are distinguished according to the risk causes. The first risk occurs in environments where human activities are minimal (i.e. woods, forests and mountain pastures), while the other three risks are caused by incorrect human activities. The structure of this nomenclature proposed for hydrogeological instability is shown in Table 1.