Using GB-SAR technique to monitor slow moving landslide

A Ground-Based SAR (GB-SAR) interferometer was employed to measure the surface displacements of a landslide occurring in the Carnian Alps, north-eastern Italy, which has affected a national road and seriously damaged a road tunnel still under construction. Moreover, since the landslide is located on the left bank of the Tagliamento River Valley, it is feared that this mass movement might dam the river, creating a basin that would increase natural hazard for the valley inhabitants. The data collected from December 2002 to July 2005 by a conventional monitoring system, consisting of a GPS network and boreholes equipped with inclinometric tubes, showed that the landslide was moving at a quasi-constant rate of about 3 cm per year. Due to the slow deformation rate of the landslide, a recently developed GB-SAR technique based on the analysis of a restricted ensemble of coherent points was used. Two surveys, each lasting two days, were planned in December 2004 and July 2005, in order to map and measure the surface displacements that occurred over time. The results from the radar were compared with the ones derived from the GPS monitoring network. An agreement was achieved among the data collected, showing the capability of the GB-SAR technique to measure displacements even within a time span of several months between the surveys.     

A direct inversion scheme for computing the velocity profile from reflected data

A simple direct inversion scheme for computing the velocity profile of an inhomogeneous slab from reflected data using the order-of-scattering method of solving the Riccati equation for a lossless medium is presented. Extension of this method to the estimation of the constant attention in a low-loss dispersive medium is also indicated.     

Continuous in situ measurements of volcanic gases with a diode-laser-based spectrometer: CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> and H<Subscript>2</Subscript>O concentration and soil degassing at Vulcano (Aeolian islands: Italy)

We report on a continuous-measurement campaign carried out in Vulcano (Aeolian islands, Sicily), devoted to the simultaneous monitoring of CO₂ and H₂O concentrations. The measurements were performed with an absorption spectrometer based on a semiconductor laser source emitting around a 2-μm wavelength. The emitted radiation was selectively absorbed by two molecular ro-vibrational transitions specific of the investigated species. Data for CO₂ and H₂O concentrations, and CO₂ soil diffusive flux using an accumulation chamber configuration, were collected at several interesting sampling points on the island (Porto Levante beach- PLB, Fossa Grande Crater – FOG- and Valley of Palizzi, PAL). CO₂/H₂O values, measured on the ground, are very similar (around 0.019 (± 0.006)) and comparable to the previous discrete detected values of 0.213 (Fumarole F5-La Fossa crater rim) and 0.012 (Fumarole VFS – Baia Levante beach) obtaid during the 1977–1993 heating phase of the crater fumaroles.     

Long-term analysis of rainfall-induced landslides in Umbria,central Italy

Natural Hazards - Analyses of historical records of landslides and climate variables are useful tools to search for correlations between damaging landslide events and their triggers. In this work,...     

Nummulitids,lepidocyclinids and Sr-isotope data from the Oligocene of Kutch (western India) with chronostratigraphic and paleobiogeographic evaluations

Due to its intermediate geographical position between the Mediterranean and W Pacific, the Oligocene shallow-marine sequence of Kutch (India) is of key importance in paleobiogeographical interpretations. Larger benthic foraminifera (LBF) are a fundamental link for the correlation between the Mediterranean shallow benthic zones (SBZ) and the W Pacific ‘letter stages’. LBF were re-evaluated by morphometric studies of the internal test from five stratigraphic sections of the Maniyara Fort Formation. Based on their significant affinity to coeval fauna in the Mediterranean, they were assigned to W Tethyan SBZ zones, supported by Sr-isotope stratigraphy. In the Basal Member, traditionally considered as early Rupelian, we identified Nummulites bormidiensis, N. kecskemetii and Heterostegina assilinoides assigning it to the early Chattian SBZ 22B Zone. The Coral Limestone Member, previously considered as late Rupelian, is also assigned to this zone, for the presence of N. bormidiensis, Eulepidina formosoides-dilatata and Nephrolepidina morgani-praemarginata. Its early Chattian age (26.5–29 Ma) is further supported by Sr-isotope data. Miogypsinoides complanatus and Spiroclypeus margaritatus in the Bermoti Member (the top of the formation) document the late Chattian SBZ 23 Zone and the Sr-isotope data (22.5–24 Ma) place it close to the Oligocene–Miocene boundary.     

Clastic sedimentation in the Late Oligocene Southalpine Foredeep: from tectonically controlled melting to tectonically driven erosion

The Villa Olmo Conglomerate (lower member of the Como Conglomerate Formation, Gonfolite Lombarda Group, Southern Alps, Italy) represents the first coarse clastic inputs into the Oligocene Southalpine Foredeep. A number of techniques including sedimentary lithofacies analyses, clast counts on turbidite conglomerate bodies, sandstone petrography through Gazzi–Dickinson point‐count method and XRF analyses, and optical and minero‐chemical analyses on single clasts have been performed, in order to better define the sediment source area and geodynamic conditions which promoted sedimentation in the Southalpine Foredeep at the end of the Oligocene. The Villa Olmo Conglomerate interdigitates with the upper part of the Chiasso Formation, and gradually passes upward into the overlying Como Conglomerate Formation. Provenance analyses (conglomerate clast counts and sandstone petrography) reveal a strong metamorphic provenance signal, likely sourced from eroded Southalpine basement. An increase in igneous plutonic clasts reflects sediment supply from the Southern Steep Belt and a decrease of volcano‐sedimentary Mesozoic cover sequences. Optical and minero‐chemical analyses on volcanic detritus detect the presence of sub‐intrusive to effusive, andesite to rhyolite products, ascribable to the Varese‐Lugano Permian volcanoclastic suite, as well as Oligocene andesite products. Plutonic clasts document the presence of tonalites, granites, and brittle deformed granodiorites (with two micas), being likely sourced from the tonalite tail of the Bergell Pluton and the plutonic units of the Bellinzona‐Dascio Zone. The identification of this provenance suite implies palaeo‐drainage from the region between Varese (Southern Alps) and the Bellinzona‐Dascio Zone (Central Alps). The Villa Olmo Conglomerate is the first depositional record of the onset of tectonically driven erosion in the Alpine belt. We infer that the previous low sediment budget regime (Eocene–Middle Oligocene) was a consequence of a tectonically controlled melting phase, during which tectonic events promoted magmatic production in the middle crust of the Central Alps at rates higher than those of crustal deformation, so inhibiting sediment production. We conclude that changes in the deep structures of the Alpine Orogenic chain have controlled the main geodynamic processes during Oligocene–Neogene times, and have controlled sediment composition and supply into the Southalpine Foredeep. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Interhemispheric synchrony of Late-glacial climatic instability as recorded in proglacial Lake Mascardi,Argentina

Several high-resolution continental records have been reported recently in sites in South America, but the extent to which climatic variations were synchronous between the northern and southern hemispheres during the Late-glacial–Holocene transition, and the causes of the climatic changes, remain open questions. Previous investigations indicated that, east of the Andes, the middle and high latitudes of South America warmed uniformly and rapidly from 13 000 ¹⁴C yr BP, with no indication of subsequent climate fluctuations, equivalent, for example, to the Younger Dryas cooling. Here we present a multiproxy continuous record, radiocarbon dated by accelerated mass spectroscopy, from proglacial Lake Mascardi in Argentina. The results show that unstable climatic conditions, comparable to those described from records obtained in the Northern Hemisphere, dominated the Late-glacial–Holocene transition in Argentina at this latitude. Furthermore, a significant advance of the Tronador ice-cap, which feeds Lake Mascardi, occurred during the Younger Dryas Chronozone. This instability suggests a step-wise climatic history reflecting a global, rather than regional, forcing mechanism. The Lake Mascardi record, therefore, provides strong support for the hypothesis that ocean–atmosphere interaction, rather than global ocean circulation alone, governed interhemispheric climate teleconnections during the last deglaciation. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.