How Will Rome Change in the Future?

Rome’s most prominent features are all affected by geography. The ruins are weathered slowly every day, the Apennine Mountains raise up due to plate collision, and the beautiful coasts are tossed by water. These are simple concepts that we can easily grasp, even from our most basic knowledge of geographical concepts. All of these landscapes are beautiful today, but what will they look like in the future? Will they continue being sights to see or will they decay and rot into shells of what once was an immaculate city?

Let’s start by looking at the coast of Rome. This is probably the easiest place to start, because water changes everything so often. In the image below, you’ll see some cliffs on the coast of the city. There are a couple of things that will change about these cliffs over the years. First off, the waves will it the cliffs and cut in, creating wave cut notches. These notches will become more and more severe, until the cliff gives way and cannot support the weight any longer. The rocks above will fall into the ocean. I know I make this sound dramatic, but this would actually be quite an amazing sight to witness. Think about it. You get to watch the side of a cliff fall off. How cool is that? It won’t happen for thousands of years, but when it does, I hope there’s someone watching in awe.

We’ve already talked about how the ruins of Rome have weathered in the years since their erection. Consider this: Rome has been around for approximately 3000 years. So how will the ruins that are there right now change within the next 1000 years? Well, obviously the ruins will still be there. They’ll continue to weather as they are. They will continue to decay slowly. In 10,000 years, there may be just small remnants of what was once there.

The Apennine Mountains outside of Rome were formed by the collision of the Adriatic Plate and the Eurasian Plate. The foundation of the mountains was set about 65 million years ago. But how will they look years from now? The answer is simple. Look at other ranges that were formed similarly, or even in the exact same way. A perfect example here is the Atlas Mountains. They formed in the exact same way as the Apennines, and their foundation was set as little as half a billion years ago. The Apennines will likely follow the same path as the Atlas Mountains.

Rome will constantly be changing, along with the rest of the world. Geography mandates change, and we can predict certain changes based on our knowledge. Of course, I’ve only scratched the surface of things that will change about Rome, but, as with life, the only constant in geography is change. It’s just a matter of how.

Image sources: http://files.campus.edublogs.org/blog44.ca/dist/6/18/files/2011/12/PA225543-u1ukao.jpg

http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/romanpantheon/frontdet.jpg

http://www.digitalapoptosis.com/archives/italy/Apennine.jpg

Climate Patterns of Rome

No one wants to go on a trip and get rained on the entire time, or go in the summer expecting warm temperatures, and top out at 40 degrees (That’s Fahrenheit, folks.  It’d be about 4.5 degrees Celsius.). So, let’s take a look at Rome’s weather patterns and see when would be the best time to travel.

First off, let’s identify that the majority of Rome is in a mild mid-latitude (C) climate. It is a common misconception that Rome has a Mediterranean climate. The city itself actually sits right in the middle of a Mediterranean climate and a temperate climate. The two factors for this are the Mediterranean Sea to the west, and the Apennine Mountains to the east. The coast of Rome has very small temperature changes, mainly because the sea keeps the temperature stays consistent by moving cooler air onto the coast during the day, and the cool air moves from the land back to the sea at night. The closer you get to the Apennine mountains, the more temperature flux you’ll get, due to the distance from the sea and the altitude of the mountains themselves.

Personally, I’m a hot temperatures and little rain kind of guy when traveling. The summer in Rome essentially lends to that. Temperatures are essentially like Denver in the way they vary (warm/hot summers, colder winters). The rainfall is a little less consistent than Denver, having drier summers and wetter winters, as opposed to Denver’s generally dry climate. These patterns are illustrated in the chart below.

For me, the ideal time to travel to Rome would be July or August, but when you travel is for you to decide. Many people favor the Spring and Fall, but your travel is your choice!

Image Sources:

http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/images/rome_Cs.jpg 

 http://www.kidport.com/reflib/worldgeography/italy/Images/Mountains.JPG

http://www.destination360.com/europe/italy/images/s/amalfi-coast.jpg

Information source:

http://www.romanlife-romeitaly.com/climate-in-rome-italy.html

Weathering of Ruins

Weathering is something I think that most of us don’t even consider. We look at things like Roman ruins and just think “They’re old. Of course they’re decaying.” Of course, there is always a reason for such decay, and Roman ruins are absolutely full of it.

Pictured to the left are the remains of the Temple of Castor and Pollux in the Roman Forum. Let’s begin by pointing out the obvious: there’s a bit of flaking on the surface of the marble. The can be explained by a process of mechanical weathering called “Wetting and Drying”. The marble absorbs water (we can assume rain here) and expands, then contracts as it dries. This causes internal stresses in the marble. After, when the marble heats up, a “baking effect” occurs and leads to surface flaking.

Let’s now travel into the Mamertime Prison, or the Tullianum, and take a look into its depths. It is pictured at the right. You’ll probably notice quickly that the walls look green. The walls look that way due to a process called oxidation, which is a chemical weathering process. I always thought oxidation created a red color, but consider that the walls are full of copper, and the process makes complete sense. Copper turns green when it is oxidized. Cool stuff, huh?

Finally, pictured below are some ruins just outside of Rome. What stick out to me most about these ruins are the little holes in the stone. These holes are created by salt weathering. Salt crystals form and exert pressure, creating the little holes and general decay we see in the rock.

Image sources: 

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr1pCJQeEtLFW-HABv3xBzZDDBsMwZvKQ2xdhddDN6a3OyQGRqOYej2UHySuoIGCw1XELiK6fjzsvjsYn6Ra7agpOqvChHR0YkWs2Oq2IKCrHk40DQzP-IvR2gkgXe15gLmuFP0IL2SKTY/s400/pergeperfect.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/RomaForoRomanoTempioCastori.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Mamertine_Prison.jpg

Information Sources: 

http://www.stonecaretechniques.com/8_m.htm

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CEEQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fstaff.harrisonburg.k12.va.us%2F~esutliff%2Fforms%2Fweathering_erosion_soils_1327072876.ppt&ei=GkZ3UK3vGenFiwKNr4DIBQ&usg=AFQjCNHiE1yJnOH7rMrFIGWvCHjj8AC5Ug&sig2=qBHowA2wBiTh9BT2NIFQnQ

The Seven Hills and Volcanic Activity

As I discussed in my first entry, there are 7 distinct hills in Rome that form the geographical heart of the city. These hills are named the Capitoline, Quirinal, Viminal, Esquiline, Caelian, Aventine, and the original city of Romulus was built on the Palatine Hill. The existence of the hills alone begs the question of how they were formed. According to Greek mythology, Romulus and Remus, sons of Mars, created the hills. Now, the Romans didn’t have the kind of science available to them that we do today, so we know that part isn’t true (as much as we’d like to take the easy way out and explain the phenomenon with myths). The way these hills came together is explained in the video below.

Rome is located in the Eurasian Plate. However, Rome isn’t located near enough to a fault in the plate to have many earthquakes. The North-South fault and the East-West faults in Italy are located closer to central Italy, and Rome is in the western border. Italy itself is seismically active on the faults, but not so much in Rome.

Volcanic activity is also common in Italy. To the North-Northwest of Rome, the Vulsini Volcanic District exists as a region of intrusive igneous rock with a cluster of calderas (the Montefiascone Caldera is pictured to the right) that have actually been formed and active within recent history. These are the same volcanoes and calderas that gave rise to the Apennine Mountains. A map of Italy’s volcanoes is pictured to the left.

Image sources: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e6/Luftbild_Montefiascone_01_(RaBoe).jpg/300px-Luftbild_Montefiascone_01_(RaBoe).jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Italy_volcano_map.png

Video Source: http://youtu.be/VUHEgT5m-Kg

Introduction to the Geography of Rome

My name is Tyler Hall. I am a musician, first and foremost, but I have always had a knack for history in me. Why? That's a fantastic question that I do not have the answer to. Something I've learned about people that are into any kind of history is that they have one specific place that fascinates them more than anything else. I am no exception to this rule. I have always had a special place in my heart for Rome.

The Eternal City, to me, is characterized by it's huge amount of history that remains existent to this day. But I think it's time we look at Rome in a different way. Rome is extremely interesting geographically.

The seven hills of the city, the Tiber River, the Apennine Mountains, and the Tyrrhenian Sea are all geographical landmarks of the city. These landmarks are all huge in the history of the city. But what is it about the landmarks that make them such geographical powerhouses? How do the affect the city itself? These are questions I do not have the answers to. Yet. However, I look forward to doing a little roaming around (Get it? Roaming...Rome-ing...) and finding the answers to any geographical questions about the city.

Images from:
www.romeloft.com
www.voneurope.com