GNGTS 2013 - Atti del 32° Convegno Nazionale

Quaternary Travertine deposits represent the top part of the sedimentary succession and they constitute a peculiar feature of the area (Boni and Colacicchi, 1966). Travertine are hundreds of metres thick and they have several square kilometres of extension. These deposits are present only on the right side of the Tronto River and they have been associated to oversaturated thermal water rising up along deep fractures (Farabollini et al., 2003). Hydrogeological framework. The reference catchment area for our study consists of the Tronto River and its tributaries. These river and tributaries have an irregular discharge due to the low permeability of the bed rocks and to the contribution of snow thawing from the mountains. Groundwater mainly consists of thermal sulfidic water that rises from the capped aquifer hosted in the carbonate sequence. The most important hot spring in the area is in Acquasanta Terme town at the outflow of the Acquasanta Cave. This spring is located in the Fig. 1 – Geological and structural map of the Laga Basin (modified from Bigi et al. , 2011); red box identifies the study area. 252 GNGTS 2013 S essione 1.3