The variety of landslide forms in Slovenia and its immediate NW surroundings

The Post-Forum Study Tour following the 4th World Landslide Forum 2017 in Ljubljana (Slovenia) focuses on the variety of landslide forms in Slovenia and its immediate NW surroundings, and the best-known examples of devastating landslides induced by rainfall or earthquakes. They differ in complexity of the both surrounding area and of the particular geological, structural and geotechnical features. Many of the landslides of the Study Tour are characterized by huge volumes and high velocity at the time of activation or development in the debris flow. In addition, to the damage to buildings, the lives of hundreds of people are also endangered; human casualties occur. On the first day, we will observe complex Pleistocene to recent landslides related to the Mesozoic carbonates thrust over folded and tectonically fractured Tertiary siliciclastic flysch in the Vipava Valley (SW Slovenia), serving as the main passage between the Friulian lowland and central Slovenia, and thus also an important corridor connecting Northern Italy to Central Europe. A combination of unfavourable geological conditions and intense short or prolonged rainfall periods leads to the formation of different types of complex landslides, from large-scale deep-seated rotational and translational slides to shallow landslides, slumps and sediment gravity flows in the form of debris or mudflows. The second day of the study tour will be held in the So?a River Valley located in NW Slovenia close to the border with Italy, where the most catastrophic Sto?e landslide in Slovenia recently caused the deaths of seven people, and the nearby Strug landslide, which is a combination of rockfall, landslide and debris flow. The final day of the Post-Forum Study Tour will start in the Valcanale Valley located across the border between Slovenia and Italy, severely affected by a debris flow in August 2003. The flow caused the deaths of two people, damaged 260 buildings; large amounts of deposits blocked the A23 Highway, covering both lanes. In Carinthia (Austria), about 25 km west of Villach, the Dobra?/Dobratsch multiple scarps of prehistoric and historic rockslides will be observed. Dobratsch is a massive mountain ridge with a length of 17 km and a width of 6 km, characterized by steep rocky walls. The 3-day study tour will conclude with a presentation of the Poto?ka planina landslide, a slide whose lower part may eventually generate a debris flow and therefore represents a hazard for the inhabitants and for the infrastructure within or near the village of Koro?ka Bela.     

EU shipping in the dawn of managing the ballast water issue

After almost two decades of intensified research, regulatory and political activities focussed on the prevention of harmful organisms and pathogen transfers around the world in 2004 the International Convention on the Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments (BWM Convention) was adopted to provide a common and globally uniform ballast water management (BWM) approach. Nevertheless, regionally different BWM approaches are developing. By now, many countries around the world seem to be aware of the ballast water issue and its management limitations. In the EU, different approaches have been identified at regional and national scales. The first voluntary BWM requirements at the regional level have been introduced by the HELCOM and OSPAR countries, Adriatic countries have prepared a common approach considering a new legal framework for implementation, and some national level requirements have also been identified. However, a common EU wide BWM approach has not yet clearly emerged. In this paper the authors review the BWM approaches developing in Europe, and describe the EU response on BWM. The authors further provide recommendations which may be considered when developing BWM measures in the EU. This contribution focuses on the BWM issue in European seas in light of the EU Maritime Policy and EU Marine Strategy. The Caspian Sea was also considered.     

A Critical Analysis of Transverse Dispersivity Field Data

Transverse dispersion, or tracer spreading orthogonal to the mean flow direction, which is relevant e.g, for quantifying bio-degradation of contaminant plumes or mixing of reactive solutes, has been studied in the literature less than the longitudinal one. Inferring transverse dispersion coefficients from field experiments is a difficult and error-prone task, requiring a spatial resolution of solute plumes which is not easily achievable in applications. In absence of field data, it is a questionable common practice to set transverse dispersivities as a fraction of the longitudinal one, with the ratio 1/10 being the most prevalent. We collected estimates of field-scale transverse dispersivities from existing publications and explored possible scale relationships as guidance criteria for applications. Our investigation showed that a large number of estimates available in the literature are of low reliability and should be discarded from further analysis. The remaining reliable estimates are formation-specific, span three orders of magnitude and do not show any clear scale-dependence on the plume traveled distance. The ratios with the longitudinal dispersivity are also site specific and vary widely. The reliability of transverse dispersivities depends significantly on the type of field experiment and method of data analysis. In applications where transverse dispersion plays a significant role, inference of transverse dispersivities should be part of site characterization with the transverse dispersivity estimated as an independent parameter rather than related heuristically to longitudinal dispersivity.     

GIS-based landslide susceptibility modeling: A comparison between fuzzy multi-criteria and machine learning algorithms

Hazards and disasters have always negative impacts on the way of life.Landslide is an overwhelming natural as well as man-made disaster that causes loss of natural resources and human properties throughout theworld.The present study aimed to assess and compare the prediction efficiency of different models in landslide susceptibility in the Kysuca river basin,Slovakia.In this regard,the fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory combining with the analytic network process(FDEMATEL-ANP),Na?ve Bayes(NB)classifier,and random forest(RF)classifier were considered.Initially,a landslide inventory map was produced with 2000 landslide and nonlandslide points by randomly dividedwith a ratio of 70%:30%for training and testing,respectively.The geospatial database for assessing the landslide susceptibility was generated with the help of 16 landslide conditioning factors by allowing for topographical,hydrological,lithological,and land cover factors.The ReliefF methodwas considered for determining the significance of selected conditioning factors and inclusion in the model building.Consequently,the landslide susceptibility maps(LSMs)were generated using the FDEMATEL-ANP,Na?ve Bayes(NB)classifier,and random forest(RF)classifier models.Finally,the area under curve(AUC)and different arithmetic evaluation were used for validating and comparing the results and models.The results revealed that random forest(RF)classifier is a promising and optimum model for landslide susceptibility in the study area with a very high value of area under curve(AUC=0.954),lower value of mean absolute error(MAE=0.1238)and root mean square error(RMSE=0.2555),and higher value of Kappa index(K=0.8435)and overall accuracy(OAC=92.2%).     

Geochemical study of pottery sherds from an archaeological site near Mošnje (Slovenia)

This study is a geochemical analytical approach to the characterization of pottery samples from an archaeological site near Mo?nje (Slovenia). Inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry and statistical analyses were used to determine detailed geochemical properties of the pottery sherds and to identify potentially individual groups among the samples studied. The geochemical results indicated the existence of four major groups of the pottery sherds: the first and second groups are assembled from eight samples, all generally characterized by their high CaO and TOT/C content; the third group comprised the samples with the highest SiO₂ concentrations; and the fourth group is represented by the samples K3, K5 and K13. The principal component analysis and cluster analysis validated the existing groups and revealed a high degree of chemical similarity between these groups. The geochemical and statistical data confirmed the archaeologists’ hypothesis and interpretation of a similar origin/alteration of source material/probable local ceramic production for the majority of the pottery sherds; the imported origin of samples K3 and K13 was recognized, while sample K5 had been intentionally imported as a sample for comparative purposes.     

Distribution and mobility of heavy metals in paddy soils of the Kočani Field in Macedonia

Contamination of soils with heavy metals is widespread and poses a long-term risk to ecosystem health. Abandoned and active mining sites contain residues from ore-processing operations that are characterised by high concentrations of heavy metals. The distribution and mobility characteristics of heavy metals (As, Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn) in paddy soil samples from Kočani Field (Macedonia) using ICP-EAS and a sequential extraction procedure was evaluated. The results indicate that highly elevated concentrations of As, Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn were detected in the paddy soil sample from location VII-2 in the vicinity of Zletovo mine and Zletovska river in the western part of Kočani Field, which drains the untreated acid mine waters and mine wastes from the active Zletovo mine. The degree of contamination based on index of geoaccumulation (I _geo) from strong to weak in the paddy soils samples is Pb > As > Cd > Zn > Cu. The mobility potential of heavy metals in all paddy soil samples increases in the order As < Cu < Pb < Zn < Cd. According to the results of the anthropogenic impact on the paddy soils, a further study on the heavy metal concentrations in rice and other edible crops, the remediation process of the paddy soils and a dietary study of the local population are needed.     

Ballast water sampling as a critical component of biological invasions risk management

The human mediated transfer of harmful organisms via shipping, specifically via ballast water transport, leading to the loss of biodiversity, alteration of ecosystems, negative impacts on human health and in some regions economic loss, has raised considerable attention especially in the last decade. Ballast water sampling is very important for biological invasions risk management. The complexity of ballast water sampling is a result of both the variety of organism diversity and behaviour, as well as ship design including availability of ballast water sampling points. Furthermore, ballast water sampling methodology is influenced by the objectives of the sampling study. In the course of research conducted in Slovenia, new sampling equipment for ships' ballast water was developed and tested. In this paper new ballast water sampling methods and equipment together with practical shipboard testing results are presented.     

Tesseral resonance effects on satellite orbits

Resonance effects on satellite orbits due to tesseral harmonics in the potential field have been studied by many authors. Most of these studies have been restricted to nearly circular 24-hour orbits and to the deep resonance regime, where there is exact commensurability between earth rotation and orbit period. Resonance effects have also been noted, however, on eccentric synchronous and subsynchronous orbits and on orbits with far from commensurate periods. These have received much less attention; the object of this paper is to study the whole spectrum of orbits with respect to resonance effects.