Geomorphology of the Castel de' Britti area (Northern Apennines, Italy): an example of teaching geomorphological mapping in a traditional and practical way

Teaching how to map the geomorphology of an area cannot be performed in a satisfying manner only in the lecture room, but requires practical exercises both in the laboratory and in the field. A preliminary study of existing geological maps, geomorphological legends and symbols used in Italy and of the landslide inventory preceded a detailed four-day-long field mapping campaign carried out by students in the framework of their MSc course on ‘Geomorphological Mapping’ at Bologna University. The Geomorphological Map at 1:5000 produced by some of these students is presented in this paper. The study area is located in the northern Apennines, a few kilometres East of Bologna, along the Idice Valley (N-Italy). Lithologies are mainly composed of clayey and marly sequences ranging in age from Cretaceous to Plio-Pleistocene, sands and sandstones of Pleistocene age, and Messinian gypsum, these last being the most resistant rocks. Besides the greater scale used in this map, allowing for a more detailed representation of the mapped features, this map also shows the recent evolution of landslides in this actively mass wasting area.