Enhancing the credibility of ecology: Can research be made more comparable and predictive?

A sounder theoretical basis for extrapolation and prediction, typologies of what is and what is not comparable, and representative natural areas for long-term field research are three geographically-based ingredients of comparative research in ecology. Two types of conceptual model allow assessment of the effects of phylogenesis and environment on ecosystem structure and functioning. The first is based on fixing of genetic variables and study of biological performance along a gradient of environmental conditions — an approach of sequential analysis of environmental gradients. The second is based on fixing of environmental variables and comparison of performance of different phylogenetic stocks in non-contiguous geographical areas — an approach entailing matching of disjunct ecological analogues. The two approaches are important complements in examining hypotheses of convergent and divergent evolution, in helping to define what really can be compared in comparative ecological research, and in contributing to ecology becoming a more predictive and credible science.     

Heat flow and geodynamics in the Tyrrhenian Sea

The present heat flow in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea appears as a transient thermal wave that has migrated eastward in time. The higher heat flow in the south‐eastern side of the basin confirms the suggestion of an eastward‐migrating rift. Punctuation of the Tyrrhenian backarc extension in lithospheric boudins is accompanied by a concentrated increase in heat flow generated by asthenospheric intrusions and related magmatism progressively moving eastward. The migration of the asthenosphere in the same direction could explain these phenomena.     

Geological features and landslide mechanisms of an unstable coastal slope (Petacciato, Italy)

On the basis of geological and geomorphological surveys, landslide phenomena are analysed on a slope along a stretch of the Adriatic coast, near Petacciato (Molise, Italy).

Locally, a blue clay sequence of Pleistocene outcrops, stratified with silty-sandy layers; bedding dips 3–8°NE and the slope has a similar attitude. This sequence evolves upwards to sands and conglomerates, with thickness of up to 40 m, on which the built-up area is located.

Several episodes of landslide reactivation occurred in the past century, involving the zone between the built-up area and the sea, along a coastal slope of over 2000 m long and 200 m high. Important roads and railway lines have been heavily damaged as well as the town itself.

The typology of the movement is a rotational–translational slide; the displacement reaches tens of centimetres at each reactivation episode along the entire coastal slope, extending well beyond the shore line.

Detailed studies already exists, but different mechanism failures have been proposed to explain the landslide phenomena. In this study, a new failure mechanism is proposed, (sudden spreading of Terzaghi, K., Peck, R.B., 1948. Soil Mechanics in Engineering Practice. Wiley and Sons New York) and analytical approaches have been adopted to evaluate the slope stability, based on the geotechnical and monitoring data and the geometrical and geological features of the slope.     

Geology and geochemistry of Jurassic pelagic sediments, Scisti silicei Formation, southern Apennines, Italy

A better understanding of genesis and palaeoenvironmental setting of the Scisti silicei Formation (Lagonegro units, southern Italy) was achieved by means of geochemical analysis integrated with new stratigraphic information. Data show that major and trace element geochemistry of ancient clay-rich beds and banded cherts add new insights into the Mesozoic evolution of the Lagonegro basin. Sedimentary contributions to Jurassic shales sampled during this study were mainly derived from two major sources: (i) a dominant terrigenous fine-grained component, having affinity with average upper continental crust that had not undergone intense weathering and (ii) biogenic siliceous material. The latter component occurs in clay-rich layers from the “basal member” of the Scisti silicei Formation.

Composition varies up section and accounts for changes in the detrital supply due to bathymetric oscillations. The compositional variations from the basal to the overlying member are consistent with a distal source passing in time to a more “proximal” source, as indicated by sharp changes in the concentrations of detrital elements (Ti, Zr and Nb). It is likely that increased detrital input occurred through turbidity current deposition. Finally, the chemical features of the clay-rich layers from the upper cherty portion of the studied succession imply a progressive deepening of the basin.

The lack of any mafic and hydrothermal contributions in the Jurassic shales as well as the continental nature of detrital input suggests that the Lagonegro basin was located between two carbonate platforms, in accordance with the classical restoration of the African–Apulian palaeomargin. Thus, the basin acted as a preferential sink connected to the African cratonic areas through a southern entry point.     

Adjacency selection in Markov Random Fields for high spatial resolution hyperspectral data

 Markov Random Fields, implemented for the analysis of remote sensing images, capture the natural spatial dependence between band wavelengths taken at each pixel, through a suitable adjacency relationship between pixels, to be defined a priori. In most cases several adjacency definitions seem viable and a model selection problem arises. A BIC-penalized Pseudo-Likelihood criterion is suggested which combines good distributional properties and computational feasibility for analysis of high spatial resolution hyperspectral images. Its performance is compared with that of the BIC-penalized Likelihood criterion for detecting spatial structures in a high spatial resolution hyperspectral image for the Lamar area in Yellowstone National Park. Received: 9 March 2001 / Accepted: 2 August 2001     

Fluid circulation at Stromboli volcano (Aeolian Islands, Italy) from self-potential and CO2 surveys

This work addresses the study of fluid circulation of the Stromboli island using a dense coverage of self-potential (SP) and soil CO₂ data. A marked difference exists between the northern flank and the other flanks of the island. The northern flank exhibits (1) a typical negative SP/altitude gradient not observed on the other flanks, and (2) higher levels of CO₂. The general SP pattern suggests that the northern flank is composed of porous layers through which vadose water flows down to a basal water table, in contrast to the other flanks where impermeable layers impede the vertical flow of vadose water. In the Sciara del Fuoco and Rina Grande–Le Schicciole landslide complexes, breccias of shallow gliding planes may constitute such impermeable layers whereas elsewhere, poorly permeable, fine-grained pyroclastites or altered lava flows may be present. This general model of the flanks also explains the main CO₂ patterns: concentration of CO₂ at the surface is high on the porous north flank and lower on the other flanks where impermeable layers can block the upward CO₂ flux. The active upper part of the island is underlain by a well-defined hydrothermal system bounded by short-wavelength negative SP anomalies and high peaks of CO₂. These boundaries coincide with faults limiting ancient collapses of calderas, craters and flank landslides. The hydrothermal system is not homogeneous but composed of three main subsystems and of a fourth minor one and is not centered on the active craters. The latter are located near its border. This divergence between the location of the active craters and the extent of the hydrothermal system suggests that the internal heat sources may not be limited to sources below the active craters. If the heat source strictly corresponds to intrusions at depth around the active conduits, the geometry of the hydrothermal subsystems must be strongly controlled by heterogeneities within the edifice such as craters, caldera walls or gliding planes of flank collapse, as suggested by the correspondence between SP–CO₂ anomalies and structural limits. The inner zone of the hydrothermal subsystems is characterized by positive SP anomalies, indicating upward movements of fluids, and by very low values of CO₂ emanation. This pattern suggests that the hydrothermal zone becomes self-sealed at depth, thus creating a barrier to the CO₂ flux. In this hypothesis, the observed hydrothermal system is a shallow one and it involves mostly convection of infiltrated meteoric water above the sealed zone. Finally, on the base of CO₂ degassing measurements, we present evidence for the presence of two regional faults, oriented N41° and N64°, and decoupled from the volcanic structures.     

Morphological methods and dynamic modelling in landslide hazard assessment of the Campania Apennine carbonate slope

Landslide risk of the Campanian carbonate slopes covered by pyroclastic deposits is mainly connected with the occurrence of high-velocity debris avalanches and debris flows. Analyses show that flows initiate as small translational slides in the pyroclastics. The failure process is controlled by the interaction of both natural and human-induced factors. Geomorphological settings play a decisive role in locating the source failures. Therefore, the crucial aspects in landslide hazard and risk assessment are: (a) recognise the geomorphological control factors, (b) determine parameters defining landslide intensity (velocity, volume, depth of deposit) and (c) predict landslide runout distance. An approach combining geomorphology and numerical analysis has been adopted in the work reported here. Potential future landslide intensity scenarios are simulated predicting the runout behaviour of potential instabilities by using a dynamic model previously calibrated by back-analysing observed events of similar scale and type. The selected area is a sector of the Avella Mountains having the same geomorphological environment as the 1998 Sarno landslides (Campania, Southern Italy).     

Spatial Relations between Classes as Integrity Constraints

The quality and integrity of spatial data is very important to support interoperability among different systems. To reach this aim integrity rules defined by the application play an important role (for example, constraints between object classes). In this article, we propose a methodology to define integrity constraints using user level spatial relations between classes of individuals. We will also provide mapping rules from user level relations to geometric level operators to allow the computation of relations. As a case study, we will define the constraints for the class of rivers and some of its specializations.     

Is the Linné impact crater morphology influenced by the rheological layering on the Moon's surface? Insights from numerical modeling

Linné is a simple crater, with a diameter of 2.23 km and a depth of 0.52 km, located in northwestern Mare Serenitatis. Recent high‐resolution data acquired by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera revealed that the shape of this impact structure is best described by an inverted truncated‐cone. We perform morphometric measurements, including slope and profile curvature, on the Digital Terrain Model of Linné, finding the possible presence of three subtle topographic steps, at the elevation of +20, ?100, and ?200 m relative to the target surface. The kink at ?100 m might be related to the interface between two different rheological layers. Using the iSALE shock physics code, we numerically model the formation of Linné crater to derive hints on the possible impact conditions and target physical properties. In the initial setup, we adopt a basaltic projectile impacting the Moon with a speed of 18 km s^?1. For the local surface, we consider either one or two layers, in order to test the influence of material properties or composite rheologies on the final crater morphology. The one‐layer model shows that the largest variations in the crater shape take place when either the cohesion or the friction coefficient is varied. In particular, a cohesion of 10 kPa marks the threshold between conical‐ and parabolic‐shaped craters. The two‐layer model shows that the interface between the two layers would be exposed at the observed depth of 100 m when an intermediate value (~200 m) for the upper fractured layer is set. We have also found that the truncated‐cone morphology of Linné might originate from an incomplete collapse of the crater wall, as the breccia lens remains clustered along the crater walls, while the high‐albedo deposit on the crater floor can be interpreted as a very shallow lens of fallout breccia. The modeling analysis allows us to derive important clues on the impactor size (under the assumption of a vertical impact and collision velocity equal to the mean value), and on the approximate, large‐scale preimpact target properties. Observations suggest that these large‐scale material properties likely include some important smaller scale variations, disclosed as subtle morphological steps in the crater walls. Furthermore, the modeling results allow advancing some hypotheses on the geological evolution of the Mare Serenitatis region where Linné crater is located (unit S14). We suggest that unit S14 has a thickness of at least a few hundreds of meters up to about 400 m.     

Assessment of the dynamic response of unreinforced masonry structures using a macroelement modeling approach

The seismic performance of unreinforced masonry structures is strongly associated with the interaction between in‐plane and out‐of‐plane mechanisms. The seismic response of these structures has been thoroughly investigated by means of experimental testing, analytical procedures, and computational approaches. Within the framework of the numerical simulations, models based on the finite element method provide a good prediction of the seismic performance of unreinforced masonry structures. However, they usually require a high computational cost and advanced user expertise to define appropriate mechanical properties and to interpret the numerical results. Because of these limitations, simplified models for practical applications have been developed during the last decades. Despite this, a great number of these models focus mostly on the evaluation of the in‐plane response, assuming box (or integral) behavior of the structure. In this paper, a simplified macroelement modeling approach is used to simulate the seismic response of 2 masonry prototypes taking into consideration the combined in‐plane and out‐of‐plane action. The numerical investigations were performed in the static and dynamic fields by using pushover analyses and nonlinear dynamic analyses respectively. The latter is a novel implementation of a model previously developed for static analysis. The results obtained from this study are in good agreement with those provided by a detailed nonlinear continuum FE approach, demonstrating the applicability of this macroelement model with a significant reduction of the computational cost.