Coastal Defence in Zafaglione Cape

The concerned litoral area extends about 11,2 kilometers, from the Acate-Dirillo river’s mouth to Zafaglione cape.

During the first phase of the service, HIPRO’s staff has been involved in many site visits and investigations, necessaries to carry out the collection data and observe the most distinctive parameters of the shore. The parameters values have been the imput informations in the analysis of the shore line evolution.

The elected solution consisted in a combination of two types of intervention: the construction of trasversal breakwaters and the realization of beach nourishments. The construction of perpendicular breakwatres is necessary as the flow, which is responsable of the solid material’s transport, is parallel to the shore line. With their disposition the breakwaters raise this transport and keep a small portion of the solid material. The process involves the advance of the shore line and minimizes the erosion problems.

The breakwater system consist of twenty-five units with variable extensions and a structure of calcareus rocks weighing 25 kN/ m³. Each unit is distant two hundred or four hundred metres from the nearest one.

The altimetric  profile of each unit  follows the slope  of the floor; most of it is projected to be submerged and to  guarantee some permeability.

The beach nourishments are made up bringing on the shore a calculated quantity of sand.  It fills the strips of beach included between two following units of breakwater and involve an artificial advance of the shore line. The  sand will have the same geological parameters of the sand in site and will be digged up  from selected  quarries , close to the concerned area, after  verifications of the chimical,  chromatographic, and mineralogical compatibility  with the existing one.