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“GeoSUB – Underwater geology” – Ustica, 13-17 September 2016

UNDERWATER ENVIRONMENT EXPLORATIONS: THE CASE STUDY OF THE
MARGIONE CAVE (RG)

1 Leonardi R.

1 Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, Earth Sciences, University of Catania, Italy

In the Hyblean area (south-eastern Sicily), carbonatic successions mostly crop out. For this
reason, this area is largely affected by karst processes. The Margione cave, object of the present
study, is located along the right side of the Tellesimo torrent (tributary of the Tellaro river), in the
administrative territory of Modica. It sits on the Ragusa formation, along an east-west oriented
fracture. The Hyblean speleological Club explored and mapped the Margione cave for the first time
in 1993. The cave is quite difficult to be explored in wintertime, because of heavy rainfall, which
causes overflowing of a large amount of water in the entrance. The aerial section of the cave extends
for about 70 meters from the entrance; afterwards, the exploration continues under submerged
conditions (which was carried out for the first time in May 2014 with ARA equipment) along the
small terminal lake extending for about 180 m. At the end of the submerged part there is a large
aerial chamber; here the air is not breathable because of the large amount of CO2. Many surveys
are currently to be carried out in order to complete the cave mapping and to define the nature and
provenance of CO2.

CITIZEN SCIENCE PROJECTS FOR MONITORING ALIEN MACROPHYTES

2
1
3
Mannino A.M. , Broglio E. , Tomas F. , Donati S. , Balistreri P.
1, 4
4

1 University of Palermo, Italy
2 Institute of Marine Sciences, ICM-CSIC, Barcelona, Spain
3 Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (IMEDEA-UIB-CSIC), Balearic Islands, Barcelona, Spain
4 Egadi Islands MPA

To understand the invasive potential and the spread dynamics of an alien species, any newly
colonized area needs to be quickly detected. Therefore, regular monitoring programs and public
awareness campaigns are essential. Since intensive monitoring activities involving scientists are
expensive, the occurrence and spread of marine species could remain undetected or could be
detected only years after the initial colonization. Citizen Science initiatives, a potential solution to
this problem providing supplemental information that would otherwise be lost, are able to involve
different groups of volunteers: students, tourists, divers, underwater photographers, amateurs and
fishermen.
Volunteers are encouraged to collaborate by providing data on the occurrence of alien species
together with photos and environmental information which are published after validation by
taxonomic experts. Websites and social networks play a fundamental role in the coordination,
sharing and flow of all the collected data. The aim of this paper is to report the experience of two
citizen science projects. The Participated Project “Caulerpa cylindracea – Egadi Islands” and the

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