Nouvelles données sur le Messinien de Méditerranée occidentale : les gisements à Aphanius crassicaudus (Agassiz poissons téléostéens,cyprinodontiformes) des Marches (Italie)

Résumén

La découverte, dans le Nord des Marches (Italie), de nouveaux gisements de Poissons Cyprinodontidae appartenant à l’espèce Aphanius crassicaudus (AGASSIZ), conduit à réexaminer, à la lumière des données lithostratigraphiques, la signification géodynamique des ichthyofaunes messiniennes de ce secteur de l’Apennin. Après avoir précisé la position stratigraphique et la répartition paléogéographique des gisements étudiés, les auteurs montrent que le développement des faunes à Aphanius crassicaudus (AGASSIZ) dans les eaux saumâtres du domaine continental n’implique pas la disparition corrélative du milieu marin. En effet, certains genres marins sont parfois présents à côté de cette espèce, comme c’est le cas dans le gisement de Pésaro. Les auteurs contestent en outre l’interprétation selon laquelle le fait qu’aucune ichthyofaune marine ne soit connue dans le Messinien supérieur d’Italie puisse suffire à conclure que la Méditerranée était asséchée pendant le dépôt de la « Formation à colombacci »     

POLARIX: a pathfinder mission of X-ray polarimetry

Since the birth of X-ray astronomy, spectral, spatial and timing observation improved dramatically, procuring a wealth of information on the majority of the classes of the celestial sources. Polarimetry, instead, remained basically unprobed. X-ray polarimetry promises to provide additional information procuring two new observable quantities, the degree and the angle of polarization. Polarization from celestial X-ray sources may derive from emission mechanisms themselves such as cyclotron, synchrotron and non-thermal bremsstrahlung, from scattering in aspheric accreting plasmas, such as disks, blobs and columns and from the presence of extreme magnetic field by means of vacuum polarization and birefringence. Matter in strong gravity fields and Quantum Gravity effects can be studied by X-ray polarimetry, too. POLARIX is a mission dedicated to X-ray polarimetry. It exploits the polarimetric response of a Gas Pixel Detector, combined with position sensitivity, that, at the focus of a telescope, results in a huge increase of sensitivity. The heart of the detector is an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) chip with 105,600 pixels each one containing a full complete electronic chain to image the track produced by the photoelectron. Three Gas Pixel Detectors are coupled with three X-ray optics which are the heritage of JET-X mission. A filter wheel hosting calibration sources unpolarized and polarized is dedicated to each detector for periodic on-ground and in-flight calibration. POLARIX will measure time resolved X-ray polarization with an angular resolution of about 20 arcsec in a field of view of 15 × 15 arcmin and with an energy resolution of 20% at 6 keV. The Minimum Detectable Polarization is 12% for a source having a flux of 1 mCrab and 10⁵ s of observing time. The satellite will be placed in an equatorial orbit of 505 km of altitude by a Vega launcher. The telemetry down-link station will be Malindi. The pointing of POLARIX satellite will be gyroless and it will perform a double pointing during the earth occultation of one source, so maximizing the scientific return. POLARIX data are for 75% open to the community while 25% + SVP (Science Verification Phase, 1 month of operation) is dedicated to a core program activity open to the contribution of associated scientists. The planned duration of the mission is one year plus three months of commissioning and SVP, suitable to perform most of the basic science within the reach of this instrument. A nice to have idea is to use the same existing mandrels to build two additional telescopes of iridium with carbon coating plus two more detectors. The effective area in this case would be almost doubled.     

The astrometric signal of microlensing events caused by free floating planets

Astrometric observations of microlensing events can be used to obtain important information about lenses. During these events, the shift of the position of the multiple image centroid with respect to the source star location can be measured. This effect, which is expected to occur on scales from micro-arcseconds to milli-arcseconds, depends on the lens-source-observer system physical parameters. Here, we consider the astrometric and photometric observations by space and ground-based telescopes of microlensing events towards the Galactic bulge caused by free floating planets (FFPs). We show that the efficiency of astrometric signal on photometrically detected microlensing events tends to increase for higher FFP masses in our Galaxy. In addition, we estimate that during five years of the Gaia observations, about a dozen of microlensing events caused by FFPs are expected to be detectable.     

Low reproductive success for copepods during a bloom of the non‐aldehyde‐producing diatom Cerataulina pelagica in the North Adriatic Sea

Egg production rates and/or hatching success in the copepods Acartia clausi, Calanus helgolandicus and Temora longicornis were negatively affected by a late spring (May–June 2003) phytoplankton bloom in the North Adriatic Sea, dominated mainly by the large diatom Cerataulina pelagica. Highest total concentrations of 3.3·10⁴ cells·ml^?1 were located in the vicinity of the Po River, which also corresponded to the area where the highest numbers of phaeophorbides were measured (0.779, 0.528 and 0.419 μg·l^?1, respectively, compared to an average of the remaining stations of 0.183 ± 0.049 SD), suggesting some grazing on the bloom. Phytoplankton biomass in terms of carbon was dominated by diatoms, representing on average 42% of total phytoplankton carbon and more than 80% at several stations. Cerataulina pelagica, Cyclotella spp., Chaetoceros spp. and small unidentified centric diatoms dominated the diatom community numerically but C. pelagica was by far the dominant diatom in terms of carbon due to its large cell size. This species represented more than 60% of the diatom biomass at nine of the 14 stations sampled, and was absent only at one station, which was the most offshore station sampled during the cruise. Although polyunsaturated aldehydes (PUAs) were not detected, other oxylipins which are hydroxy and keto derivatives of eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids that affect copepod reproduction were found in these samples. Hence, we can attribute the negative impact of diatoms not only to PUAs, as previously believed, but also to these compounds. This is the first direct evidence of the presence of oxylipins other than PUAs in marine blooms dominated by diatoms.     

The relation between karst spring discharge and rainfall by cross-correlation analysis (Campania, southern Italy)

The relation between rainfall and the discharge from two springs, located at the base of different karst massifs in southern Italy, is investigated by cross-correlation analyses. Data are derived from a continuous time window of 13 years. The input signal involves multiple rainfall time series (cumulative rainfall over varying time windows), while the time series of daily spring discharges are used as the output signal. Analyses were first conducted on the unprocessed data and then on data for which linear trends and seasonal components had been removed, the latter by a spectral analysis. Analyses contributed to the investigation of the time required for water to flow through the karst aquifers at the two sites. Long time intervals of the cumulative rainfall (>60 days) appear to be the main component affecting the spring discharge hydrographs; shorter time intervals seem to be related to quick-flow paths. Some statistics about the linear regression and the meaning of the cross-correlation analysis are discussed. Cross-correlation analysis can provide strong support for identification of the main rainfall contribution and the travel time through the main infiltration pathways in aquifers.     

A hydraulic invariance‐based methodology for the implementation of storm‐water release restrictions in urban land use master plans

A hydraulic invariance (HI)‐based methodology was developed as a tool to support implementation of storm flow control measures into land use master plans (LUMPs) for urban catchments. The methodology is based on the use of simple hydrologic analysis to compare predevelopment and postdevelopment catchment flow release scenarios. Differently from previous literature examples, for which the parcel scale is usually considered for the analysis, HI was pursued assuming the LUMP areas of transformation as the basic units for assigning storm water control measures in the form of flow release restrictions. The methodology was applied to a case study catchment in the southern part of the City of Catania (Italy), for which the LUMP re‐design has been recently proposed. Simulations were run based on the use of the EPA‐Storm Water Management Model and allowed deriving flow release restrictions in order to achieve HI at the subcatchment level for design events of different return period.     

Under the surface: Pressure-induced planetary-scale waves,volcanic lightning,and gaseous clouds caused by the submarine eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano

We present a narrative of the eruptive events culminating in the cataclysmic January 15, 2022 eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai Volcano by synthesizing diverse preliminary seismic, volcanological, sound wave, and lightning data available within the first few weeks after the eruption occurred. The first hour of eruptive activity produced fast-propagating tsunami waves, long-period seismic waves, loud audible sound waves, infrasonic waves, exceptionally intense volcanic lightning and an unsteady volcanic plume that transiently reached—at 58 ?km—the Earth's mesosphere. Energetic seismic signals were recorded worldwide and the globally stacked seismogram showed episodic seismic events within the most intense periods of phreatoplinian activity, and they correlated well with the infrasound pressure waveform recorded in Fiji. Gravity wave signals were strong enough to be observed over the entire planet in just the first few hours, with some circling the Earth multiple times subsequently. These large-amplitude, long-wavelength atmospheric disturbances come from the Earth's atmosphere being forced by the magmatic mixture of tephra, melt and gasses emitted by the unsteady but quasi-continuous eruption from 0402±1–1800 UTC on January 15, 2022. Atmospheric forcing lasted much longer than rupturing from large earthquakes recorded on modern instruments, producing a type of shock wave that originated from the interaction between compressed air and ambient (wavy) sea surface. This scenario differs from conventional ideas of earthquake slip, landslides, or caldera collapse-generated tsunami waves because of the enormous (～1000x) volumetric change due to the supercritical nature of volatiles associated with the hot, volatile-rich phreatoplinian plume. The time series of plume altitude can be translated to volumetric discharge and mass flow rate. For an eruption duration of ～12 ?h, the eruptive volume and mass are estimated at 1.9 ?km³ and ～2 900 ?Tg, respectively, corresponding to a VEI of 5–6 for this event. The high frequency and intensity of lightning was enhanced by the production of fine ash due to magma—seawater interaction with concomitant high charge per unit mass and the high pre-eruptive concentration of dissolved volatiles. Analysis of lightning flash frequencies provides a rapid metric for plume activity and eruption magnitude. Many aspects of this eruption await further investigation by multidisciplinary teams. It represents a unique opportunity for fundamental research regarding the complex, non-linear behavior of high energetic volcanic eruptions and attendant phenomena, with critical implications for hazard mitigation, volcano forecasting, and first-response efforts in future disasters.     

Vegetation turnover in a braided river: frequency and effectiveness of floods of different magnitude

This work addresses the temporal dynamics of riparian vegetation in large braided rivers, exploring the relationship between vegetation erosion and flood magnitude. In particular, it investigates the existence of a threshold discharge, or a range of discharges, above which erosion of vegetated patches within the channel occurs. The research was conducted on a 14 km long reach of the Tagliamento River, a braided river in north‐eastern Italy. Ten sets of aerial photographs were used to investigate vegetation dynamics in the period 1954–2011. By using different geographic information system (GIS) procedures, three aspects of geomorphic‐vegetation dynamics and interactions were addressed: (i) long‐term (1954–2011) channel evolution and vegetation dynamics; (ii) the relationship between vegetation erosion/establishment and flow regime; (iii) vegetation turnover, in the period 1986–2011. Results show that vegetation turnover is remarkably rapid in the study reach with 50% of in‐channel vegetation persisting for less than 5–6 years and only 10% of vegetation persisting for more than 18–19 years. The analysis shows that significant vegetation erosion is determined by relatively frequent floods, i.e. floods with a recurrence interval of c. 1–2.5 years, although some differences exist between sub‐reaches with different densities of vegetation cover. These findings suggest that the erosion of riparian vegetation in braided rivers may not be controlled solely by very large floods, as is the case for lower energy gravel‐bed rivers. Besides flow regime, other factors seem to play a significant role for in‐channel vegetation cover over long time spans. In particular, erosion of marginal vegetation, which supplies large wood elements to the channel, increased notably over the study period and was an important factor for in‐channel vegetation trends. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

When do rock glacier fronts fail? Insights from two case studies in South Tyrol (Italian Alps)

The fronts of two rock glaciers located in South Tyrol (Italian Alps) failed on 13 August 2014, initiating debris flows in their downslope channels. A multimethod approach including climate, meteorological, and ground temperature data analysis, aerial image correlation, as well as geotechnical testing and modeling, led to the reconstruction of the two events. An integrated investigation of static predisposing factors, slowly changing preparatory factors, and potential triggering events shed light on the most likely reasons for such failures. Our results suggest that the occurrence of front destabilization at the two rock glaciers can only partly be explained by the occurrence of heavy rainfall events. Indeed, antecedent hydrological and thermal ground conditions were characterized by a saturated active layer favored by a snow-rich winter and extensive precipitation in late spring and summer. Also, the rising trend of air temperature during spring and summer months since 1950s might explain the concurrent marked displacement of the two rock glaciers. Indeed, geotechnical investigations have provided strong indications that one of the investigated rock glacier fronts was at a marginally stable state prior to 2014. As rainfall events more intense than the one that occurred in August 2014 were previously recorded in the same area without resulting failures at the studied rock glaciers, we propose that both predisposing and preparatory destabilizing factors have played a key role in the 2014 rock glacier front failures.