Geological map at 1:1,250,000
The Soil Protection Department - Geological Survey of Italy has created, on the occasion of the 32nd IGC, the Geological Map of Italy at the 1:1,250,000 scale based on the re-elaboration of a new geological map at the 1:500,000 scale developed by the same working group.
The main innovation of this new edition of the Geological Map of Italy at the 1:1,250,000 scale consists in the use, in the processing phase, of the cartographic products acquired as part of the national geological mapping project (CARG project) at the 1 scale :50,000, derived from the most recent geological field surveys. In those geographical sectors not yet subject to surveys for the new geological sheets, the geological information was taken from the previous edition of the official geological cartography at the 1:100,000 scale or from the most recent scientific publications available in the literature.
For the creation of the Geological Map of Italy at the 1:1,250,000 scale, original criteria were adopted, based on a subdivision by orogenic cycles and geological events.
In particular, for the sedimentary successions, the legend was prepared based on a litho-chronostratigraphic subdivision correlated with geodynamic events and subsequently considering the different paleogeographic environments. The volcanic units have been subdivided taking into account the orogeny or geodynamic context to which the volcanic processes that generated them refer. Within each grouping, the chemical character or petrogenetic affinity of the rocks was chosen as a further differentiation criterion; the emplacement age was finally a distinctive tool for rocks belonging to the same type of volcanism and with similar petrographic characters.
Regarding the intrusive units, these rocks were divided into two main categories based on the age of emplacement, and subsequently grouped based on the petrographic characters linked to the magmatic evolution.
Finally, regarding the metamorphic rocks, a first distinction was made on the basis of the age of the metamorphic event and, subsequently, these units were grouped by the metamorphic grade and by the possible high pressure overprint; for the cases in which the protolith was still recognisable, the same units were assimilated to the original rock.
The main result is to have produced a new synthetic geological map from which to obtain a key to understanding the geodynamic evolution of the peninsula, in parallel with a traditional lithostratigraphic "reading". The synthesis procedure developed in this work has also highlighted geographical areas and geological themes for which it is essential to develop studies and research aimed at an in-depth study of the geological evolution of the Italian peninsula.