The extent of Pleistocene glaciations in the western part of the Campo Imperatore (Gran Sasso Massif, Central Italy)

The Campo Imperatore is a virtually undrained tectonic depression located in the inner part of the Gran Sasso Massif, the highest relief within the Apennines (2,912 m a.s.l. at Corno Grande). This paper reports some major géomorphologie features of the western part of this depression, which   represents a specific and very fine example of glaciated mountain landscape, where landforms typical of glacial erosion are commonplace over l ,800 m a.s.l. Most of the glacial cirques are characterized by karstified bedrock topography, in places covered with thin drift deposits. Distinct recessional moraines are also present at various altitudes (i.e. around 2,250; 2,180; 2,000 and 1,740 m a.s.l). However, the most typical landforms on the floor of the main depression are those due to glacial deposition. There, at altitudes ranging around 1,640—1,590 m a.s.l., stagnant ice déglaciation patterns dominate in the form of a wide lobate moraine system which rises 25—30 m above an outwash plain covered by glaciofluvial, lacustrine and alluvial deposits. Within the latter, small (less than 10 m high) hills, comprising glacial drift, protrude from the flat valley floor. The remnants of these strongly degraded, transformed and laterally-eroded moraines denote the maximum extent of an older glaciation, some 1.5 km remote from the main system.