Coastal zone evolution - evidence of climate change

The aim of this work is to consider the influence of climate change on the evolution of the coastal zone and the possible present-day implications of human activity on the configuration of the present coastline. The evolution of the Adriatic coastal zone from the Po river delta up to the Ancona promontory is used as an example. In this area there are three distinct physiographic geomorphological units: the Po delta; the sandy coastal zone with the padan plain on the back; and the cliff around Ancona. The results demonstrate the influence and the superimposition of climate cycles at different time-scales, which produce a general regression of the shoreline, but with different values, sometimes even oscillations, dependant upon the different gemorphological characteristics and the influence of human activity during the last fifty years.