Justification for inscription

The “Evaporitic Karst and Caves of the Northern Apennines” (EKCNA) is a natural system that represents an outstanding testimony to evaporitic karst phenomena.

The nomination is therefore proposed under criterion (viii):

“To be outstanding examples representing major stages of Earth’s history, including the record of life, significant ongoing geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features.”

The nominated property hosts a globally unmatched density of surface karst forms, caves, saline springs, minerals, speleothems, and paleontological content, due to its unique geological and climatic context. For this reason, these phenomena have been studied since the 16th century, and many modern scientific theories on evaporitic karst originated here. The richness of both surface and underground karst forms—some of which were first described in this area—and the uncommon presence of rare speleothems and cave minerals, some of them unique worldwide, contribute to the exceptional value of this site.

The evaporites of Emilia-Romagna were formed as a result of two of the most impressive geological events in Earth's history: the breakup of the supercontinent Pangaea about 200 million years ago, and the ecological catastrophe that affected the Mediterranean Sea about 6 million years ago, known as the Messinian Salinity Crisis. In the Northern Apennines, evaporitic deposits bearing witness to both of these temporally distant events are exposed in a compact area, brought into proximity by the Apennine orogeny, which was triggered by the collision between the African and European plates.

Since the Late Cenozoic, these rocks have progressively taken on their current configuration and have been affected by the action of surface and underground water under a humid subtropical climate, as defined by the Köppen-Geiger classification. Typically, such warm and humid conditions would lead to the widespread dissolution and obliteration of evaporitic features. However, in the Northern Apennines, the peculiar setting of the rocks and the alternation of glacial and interglacial periods not only preserved them but also created the conditions for the development of unique karst phenomena.

The geomorphological, mineralogical, and hydrogeological features are not the only remarkable aspects of the evaporitic karst and caves of the Northern Apennines. These areas have also yielded rare and well-preserved paleontological remains of intramessinian fauna and fauna from the Late Pleistocene. The oldest karst systems contain continental fauna from the Upper Miocene (5.6 million years ago), which are of global reference, as well as prehistoric archaeological finds that laid the foundations for Italian paleoethnology in the second half of the 19th century.

Moreover, the area has played a key role in the development of numerous scientific disciplines, including speleology, mineralogy, and hydrogeology. Even earlier, empirical knowledge and the use of evaporitic deposits were already notable: almost 2,000 years ago, some of the natural caves were transformed by the Romans into mines for the extraction of beautiful transparent crystals, used in window structures as a substitute for glass.

Due to its proximity to major communication routes since Roman times and the cultural vitality of the region—enhanced by the presence of renowned universities since the 1600s—the karst and caves of the Northern Apennines represent the first and most extensively studied evaporitic karst in the world.