Interference processes on scouring at bed sills

The local scouring downstream of bed sills forming a sequence for bed stabilization in steep channels has been investigated in a laboratory flume. The initial bed slopes ranged from 0·078 to 0·148. The bed alluvium was characterised by a non‐uniform grain size distribution. The results show that when the ratio between the critical water depth h_c and the sill spacing L rises above a characteristic value the scouring dynamics become heavily affected by the presence of the downstream sill, associated with the onset of a form of “interference” which renders the scouring process less effective. The difference with an “undisturbed” case is demonstrated. Self‐affinity of scour holes is confirmed and the scour length appears to be the reference parameter from which the scour depth might be evaluated. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Thermal state of the Campi Flegrei caldera inferred from seismic attenuation tomography

A three-dimensional Qp image of the Campi Flegrei caldera between 0 and 3 km of depth has been inferred by the inversion of P rise time and pulse width data of 87 local earthquakes recorded during the last bradiseismic crisis by a local array deployed in the area by the University of Wisconsin. The availability of both thermal measurements in 5 deep boreholes and of a heat flow surface map of the area allowed us to calibrate the local temperature F vs. Qp relationship. The comparison of Qp, Vp and Vp/Vs images, combined with hydrogeological and geochemical data from deep boreholes, allowed us to distinguish some low-Qp anomalies related to the presence of fluids in the rocks from a deep low-Qp anomaly related to the conductive cooling of a magma reservoir. The deep anomaly is located in the same zone where several authors believe that the volcanic and magmatic activity migrated after the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff eruption. Moreover this anomaly includes the area where the existence of a magma chamber at depth between 4 and 5 km was inferred by an active seismic experiment.     

QMorphoStream: processing tools in QGIS environment for the quantitative geomorphic analysis of watersheds and river networks

The quantitative geomorphic analysis is a powerful tool for the study of geomorphology and landforms, as it provides objective methods to describe the main properties of drainage basins by means of an appropriate set of parameters. Over the last decades, GIS techniques and processing tools have been widely applied to the geomorphic analysis, and specific applications were developed, essentially using commercial software. In the present paper, the first experimental version of QMorphoStream, an originally developed set of processing tools for quantitative geomorphic analysis in QGIS environment, is presented. Besides the obvious advantage in terms of cost reduction, the choice of an open source development environment allowed us to integrate original algorithms with both QGIS built-in functions and processing tools available in the developers’ community.     

Bearing Capacity of Strip Footings Near Slopes

In the last decades a great attention was given by many authors to the evaluation of the static and seismic bearing capacity of footings near slopes. In this paper a model has been developed based on the limit equilibrium method, considering a circular surface propagates towards the slope until the sloping ground is reached. The bearing capacity is investigated considering either the distance of the footing from the edge of the slope and/or the effect of the footing embedment. A validation of the proposed model was made by a comparison with solutions taken from literature regarding the evaluation of the bearing capacity for a footing adjacent to a slope and for an inclined load. The loading conditions consist in vertical and horizontal stress on the footing and on the soil below the footing. Both the inertial and kinematic effects of the seismic loading have been analyzed, and a simple equation has been derived for the evaluation of the seismic bearing capacity. The static and seismic bearing capacity has been investigated as a function of the soil friction angle, of the seismic coefficient, of the sloping ground. Finally, the influence of the distance of the footing from the edge of the slope was taken into consideration in the evaluation of the bearing capacity, and a threshold distance at which the reduction of the bearing capacity due to the sloping ground vanishes has been defined.     

Modelling of natural and synthetic polyelectrolyte interactions in natural waters by using SIT, Pitzer and Ion Pairing approaches

In this paper SIT and Pitzer models are used for the first time to describe the interactions of natural and synthetic polyelectrolytes in natural waters. Measurements were made potentiometrically at 25 °C in single electrolyte media, such as Et₄NI and NaCl (for fulvic acid 0.1 < I /mol L^− 1 < 0.75), and in a multi-component medium simulating the composition of natural waters at a wide range of salinities (for fulvic and alginic acids: 5 < S < 45) with particular reference to sea water [Synthetic Sea Water for Equilibrium studies, SSWE]. In order to simplify calculations, SSWE was considered to be a “single salt” BA, with cation B and anion A representing all the major cations (Na⁺, K⁺, Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺) and anions (Cl⁻, SO₄²⁻) in natural sea water, respectively. The ion pair formation model was also applied to fulvate and alginate in artificial sea water by examining the interaction of polyanions with the single sea water cation. Results were compared with those obtained from previous speciation studies of synthetic polyelectrolytes (polyacrylic and polymethacrylic acids of different molecular weights). Results indicate that the SIT, Pitzer and Ion Pairing formation models used in studies of low molecular weight electrolytes may also be applied to polyelctrolytes with a few simple adjustments.     

Long karst spring discharge time series and droughts occurrence in Southern Italy

A series of long karst spring discharges have been analysed to determine trends, fluctuations and relationship to rainfall. Data come from aquifers in southern Italy, and in some cases cover more than one hundred years of records. Based on yearly discharge data, hydrological series show the drop of the discharge after 1986, which has been interrupted by the recent wet years of 2009 and 2010. This drop is connected to the decrease in annual rainfall, but other factors also seem to contribute to this phenomenon. Based on monthly scale data series, the relationship between meteorological and hydrological droughts has been analyzed, using the standard precipitation index (SPI). As karst systems are large reservoirs, only longer meteorological droughts induce groundwater droughts, and the start, duration and time-lag of the hydrological droughts have been evaluated.