An integrated approach for the delimitation of a groundwater basin: the case study of the Conca di Acerno (Campania, Southern Italy)

Abstract

The Conca di Acerno is an intra-Apennine graben located in the south-western sector of the carbonatic Mts. Picentini (Campania, province of Salerno). In the past, the graben hosted a lake basin, filled lat a later stage by fluvial-lacustrine deposits, cut in turn by the Tusciano River and by the Isca della Serra Creek. The town of Acerno lies on one of the terraced surfaces. Along the banks of the Tusciano River and the Isca della Serra Creek, on the outskirts of the town of Acerno, two important groups of springs (with a total discharge of about 1000 L/s) are located and tapped by the Ausino Consortium public water supply. All previous data concerning the various groundwater catchment plants, implemented by new measurements (piezometric, hydrochemical and isotopic - 18O and 2H), have led to improve the knowledge on the various hydrogeological aspects related to the origin of the springs and their recharge areas. In detail, the main achieved results are the following: • all the springs are, in different ways, exits of the same groundwater body hosted within the dolomitic bedrock, buried by the detritic-alluvial deposits of the graben; • a significant groundwater flow to the Tusciano River comes from the right bank of the river, in contrast to the present hydrogeological interpretation; • the limits of the groundwater basin feeding the Acerno spring groups have been established more accurately, especially on the basis of the groundwater balance.