Comparison between coastal and inland Karst limestone lowering rates in the northeastern Adriatic Region (Italy and Croatia)

A comparison among lowering rates collected in the limestones of the northeastern Adriatic Region (Italy and Croatia) gives a picture of the erosion patterns in the inland and coastal Classical Karst and Istrian Karst. Erosion rates were measured using either a micro-erosion meter or a traversing micro-erosion meter. Beginning from a large dataset spread over a maximum of 26 years, significant differences in limestone lowering rates have been recognized in the surveyed area: the mean lowering rate for the inland Classical Karst area is 0.018 mm/yr whereas in the inland Istrian Karst it is 0.009 mm/yr. In the coastal sectors, the mean erosion rate varies between 0.14 mm/yr in the Gulf of Trieste and 0.04 mm/yr in the sites located along the Istrian shoreline.