The town of Zafferana Etnea, located on the southeastern slope of Mt. Etna volcano (Italy), has been repeatedly threatened
by lava flows in recent centuries. The last serious threat occurred during the 1991–1993 eruption, when the lava front came
to a halt only 1.7 km from the centre of town. Morphostructural data derived from light detection and ranging (LiDAR) surveys
carried out on Etna in 2005 have enabled us to evaluate the risk of lava invasion in a section (16 km2) of the Zafferana Etnea territory. Qualitative and quantitative results are obtained combining the information derived from
LiDAR analysis with geological, morphological and structural data using geographic information systems technology (GIS). The
study quantifies in unprecedented detail the areal extent and volume of forested and urban areas and its degree of exposure
to different levels of hazard from future lava invasion. Nearly 52% of the urban texture fall into areas of moderate to high
risk from lava invasion. Future land use planning should take these findings into account and promote new development preferentially
in areas of lower risk. 相似文献
Paleosols are recurrent features in alluvial successions and provide information about past sedimentary dynamics and climate change. Through sedimentological analysis on six sediment cores, the mud-dominated succession beneath the medieval ‘Two Towers’ of Bologna was investigated down to 100 m depth. A succession of weakly developed paleosols (Inceptisols) was identified. Four paleosols (P1, P2, P3 and PH) were radiocarbon-dated to 40–10 cal ka bp . Organic matter and CaCO3 determinations indicate low groundwater levels during soil development, which spanned periods < 5 ka. The development and burial of soils, which occurred synchronously in the Bologna region and in other sectors of the Po Plain, are interpreted to reflect climatic and eustatic variations. Climatic oscillations, at the scale of the Bond cycles, controlled soil development and burial during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 (P1 and P2). Rapid sea-level oscillations probably induced soil development at the MIS 3/2 transition (P3) and favored burial of PH after 10 ka bp . Weakly developed paleosols in alluvial successions can provide clues to millennial-scale climatic and environmental variations. In particular, the paleosol-bearing succession of the Po Plain represents an unprecedent record of environmental changes across the Late Pleistocene (MIS 3 and 2) in the Mediterranean region. 相似文献
Rock fragments from the deepest parts of a buried hydrothermal system belonging to the Mesozoic Tethys Oceanentered as xenoliths in a Miocenic diatreme. hence b... 相似文献
NOAA 8210 has been a region showing a remarkable level of activity well before solar maximum. Dominated by a large, rapidly rotating spot, it produced several intense flares during its disk passage at the end of April–beginning of May 1998. We examine the development of AR 8210 in H and white light (WL) and study the evolution of its complex magnetic topology. While the other principal flares are briefly reviewed, the great X1.1/3B flare of 2 May, which was observed at Kanzelhöhe Solar Observatory during a SOHO/UVCS ground support campaign, is studied in detail. This event has been documented in full-disk H and Na-D intensitygrams, Dopplergrams, and magnetograms, with a time cadence of one minute each. The flare was associated with a CME and produced significant geomagnetic effects. Furthermore, we point out the perspectives for our planned Flare Monitoring and Alerting System, since the two new instruments (Magneto-Optical Filter and Digital H camera), which made their first operational run with the campaign, are crucial components for this program. 相似文献
Reconstructions of ancient delta systems rely typically on a two-dimensional (2D) view of prograding clinothems but may miss their three-dimensional (3D) stratigraphic complexity which can, instead, be best documented on modern delta systems by integrating high-resolution geophysical data, historical cartography, core data and geomorphological reconstructions offshore. We quantitatively compare three precisely positioned, high-resolution multi-beam bathymetry maps in the delta front and pro delta sectors (0.3 to 10 m water depth) of Po di Pila, the most active of the modern Po Delta five branches. By investigating the detailed morphology of the prograding modern Po Delta, we shed new light on the mechanisms that control the topset to foreset transition in clinothems and show the temporal and spatial complexity of a delta and its pro delta slope, under the impact of oceanographic processes. This study documents the ephemeral nature of the rollover point at the transition between sandy topset (fluvial, delta plain to mouth-bar) and muddy seaward-dipping foreset deposits advancing, in this case, in >20 m of water depth. Three multibeam surveys, acquired between 2013 and 2016, document the complexity in space and time of the topset and foreset regions and their related morphology, a diagnostic feature that could not be appreciated using solely 2D, even very high-resolution, seismic profiles. In addition, the comparison of bathymetric surveys gathered with one-year lapses shows the migration of subaqueous sand dunes on the clinothem topset, the formation of ephemeral cut-and-fill features at the rollover point (few m below mean sea level), the presence of collapse depressions derived by sagging of sediments and fluid expulsion (possibly induced by storm waves) on the foreset, and splays of sand likely reflecting gravity flows on the lower foreset. Though the modern Po Delta is anthropogenic in many respects, its subaqueous clinothem can be studied as a scale model for ancient clinothems that are less resolved geometrically and far less constrained chronologically. 相似文献
Three groups of thermal springs with temperatures close to 70 °C discharge both in the core (at Bagni di Vinadio and Terme
di Valdieri) and on the external margin (at Berthemont-Les-Bains) of the Argentera Massif. Detailed structural field analysis
carried out on the hydrothermal sites allows us to delineate both a model of Alpine tectonic evolution of the Argentera Massif
and the patterns of hydrothermal circulation that were active during its final exhumation. The observed fault rock assemblages
provide information relative to deformation that occurred in viscous, frictional-to-viscous and frictional crustal regimes.
During the Early Miocene, the Bersezio Fault Zone and the Fremamorta Shear Zone, two main mylonitic shear zones, mainly accommodated
regional transpression and provided pathways for fluid flow promoting mineral reactions in greenschist facies. During the
Late Miocene–Early Pliocene, frictional-to-viscous deformation affected the massif, which underwent predominant transpression
in the internal sectors and extension on the external margin. During the Plio-Pleistocene, deformation in frictional condition
accompanied the final exhumation of the massif in a transpressive regime and resulted in the development of the NW–SE striking
cataclastic zones. The hydraulic properties of these structures mainly influence the patterns of the active thermal circulations
and the localization of the recharge and discharge zones. At Berthemont these faults represent conduits, whereas at Vinadio
and Valdieri they form complex systems of conduits and barriers. In these two latter sites, the cataclastic faults compose
flower structures that constrain laterally the thermal fluid flows while intensely fractured granites sited at depth constitute
a highly-transmissive geothermal reservoir. Less permeable migmatitic gneisses overlaying the granites prevent a massive infiltration
of the cold fluids at depth. This context favours within the high-permeability fractures granites the development of buoyancy-driven
flows which combined with topographically-driven flows, provided the conditions for the upflow of the high-temperature waters. 相似文献
Foundation scour can have a detrimental effect on the performance of bridge piers, inducing a significant reduction of the lateral capacity of the footing and accumulation of permanent settlement and rotation. Although the hydraulic processes responsible for foundation scour are nowadays well known, predicting their mechanical consequences is still challenging. Indeed, its impact on the failure mechanisms developing around the foundation has not been fully investigated. In this paper, numerical simulations are performed to study the vertical and lateral response of a scoured bridge pier founded on a cylindrical caisson foundation embedded in a layer of dense sand. The sand stress–strain behaviour is reproduced by employing the Severn-Trent model. The constitutive model is firstly calibrated on a set of soil element tests, including drained and undrained monotonic triaxial tests and resonant column tests. The calibration procedure is implemented considering the stress and strain nonuniformities within the samples, by simulating the laboratory tests as boundary value problems. The numerical model is then validated against the results of centrifuge tests. The results of the simulations are in good agreement with the experimental results in terms of foundation capacity and settlement accumulation. Moreover, the model can predict the effects of local and general scour. The numerical analyses also highlight the impact of scouring on the failure mechanisms, revealing that the soil resistance depends on the hydraulic scenario.
Oceanic islands – such as the Azores in the mid‐North Atlantic – are periodically exposed to large storms that often remobilize and transport marine sediments along coastlines, and into deeper environments. Such disruptive events create deposits – denominated tempestites – whose characteristics reflect the highly dynamic environment in which they were formed. Tempestites from oceanic islands, however, are seldom described in the literature and little is known about storm‐related sediment dynamics affecting oceanic island shelves. Therefore, the geological record of tempestite deposits at oceanic islands can provide invaluable information on the processes of sediment remobilization, transport and deposition taking place on insular shelves during and after major storms. In Santa Maria Island (Azores), a sequence of Neogene tempestite deposits was incorporated in the island edifice by the ongoing volcanic activity (thus preserved) and later exposed through uplift and erosion. Because it was overlain by a contemporary coastal lava delta, the water depth at the time of deposition could be inferred, constituting an excellent case‐study to gain insight on the still enigmatic processes of insular shelf deposition. Sedimentological, palaeontological, petrographic and palaeo‐water depth information allowed the reconstruction of the depositional environment of these sediments. The sequence typifies the characteristics of a tempestite (or successive tempestites) formed at ca 50 m depth, in a steep, energetic open insular shelf, and with evidence for massive sediment remobilization from the nearshore to the middle or outer shelf. The authors claim that cross‐shelf transport induced by storm events is the main process of sediment deposition acting on steep and narrow shelves subjected to high‐energetic environments, such as the insular shelves of open‐sea volcanic islands. 相似文献
The thermal stability of sideronatrite, ideally Na2Fe3+(SO4)2(OH)·3(H2O), and its decomposition products were investigated by combining thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis, in situ high-temperature X-ray powder diffraction (HT-XRPD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (HT-FTIR). The data show that for increasing temperature there are four main dehydration/transformation steps in sideronatrite: (a) between 30 and 40 °C sideronatrite transforms into metasideronatrite after the loss of two water molecules; both XRD and FTIR suggest that this transformation occurs via minor adjustments in the building block. (b) between 120 and 300 °C metasideronatrite transforms into metasideronatrite II, a still poorly characterized phase with possible orthorhombic symmetry, consequently to the loss of an additional water molecule; X-ray diffraction data suggest that metasideronatrite disappears from the assemblage above 175 °C. (c) between 315 and 415 °C metasideronatrite II transforms into the anhydrous Na3Fe(SO4)3 compound. This step occurs via the loss of hydroxyl groups that involves the breakdown of the [Fe3+(SO4)2(OH)]∞2? chains and the formation of an intermediate transient amorphous phase precursor of Na3Fe(SO4)3. (d) for T > 500 °C, the Na3Fe(SO4)3 compound is replaced by the Na-sulfate thenardite, Na2SO4, plus Fe-oxides, according to the Na3Fe3+(SO4)3 → 3/2 Na2(SO4) + 1/2 Fe2O3 + SOx reaction products. The Na–Fe sulfate disappears around 540 °C. For higher temperatures, the Na-sulfates decomposes and only hematite survives in the final product. The understanding of the thermal behavior of minerals such as sideronatrite and related sulfates is important both from an environmental point of view, due to the presence of these phases in evaporitic deposits, soils and sediments including extraterrestrial occurrences, and from the technological point of view, due to the use of these materials in many industrial applications. 相似文献