Moraro and its surrounds

The townships of Moraro and Mariano del Friuli are located on the 46th parallel north. The soils, characteristic of those in Italy’s Isonzo river valley, originated in the enormous mass of Alpine detritus carried by glaciers. The water that transported the calcium- and magnesium-rich limestone in the interglacial periods fashioned the round rocks that today constitute the well-drained source rock. The surface layer, through weathering, became de-calcified and clay replaced the sand, giving the soils their current reddish hue. But the soils still present significant variation in profile and location throughout the Isonzo valley, and ancient terraces, of diverse epochs, are still visible, as are the remnants of streams that over time deposited the typically clay and silt components of the hillslopes