Morphology and origin of coastal karst landforms in Miocene and Quaternary carbonate rocks along the central-western coast of Sardinia (Italy)

In the area of Punta Funtanas (Arbus, Central-West Sardinia) some small surfaces of Miocene limestones crop out, partially covered with Quaternary calcarenites and Plio-Quaternary basalts. The biggest of these outcrops forms a fossil wave-cut shore platform of up to 50 meters wide with an altitude above sea level of approximately 4-5 m. On this platform a wide variety of dissolution landforms can be observed. These morphologies are related to the influence of the seawater (zone of wave action, marine splash and spray zone, up to progressively more continental environments) and to biokarst processes (erosional action of marine organisms, algae and micro-organisms) and are arranged in bands parallel to the coast, corresponding to different morphological zones. This paper describes all the karst landforms observed in this coastal area from a morphological and genetic point of view.