Geoinformatics in morphological study of River Paglia,Tiber River basin,Central Italy

This work reports the results of a geomorphological study on the River Paglia (Tiber basin, Central Italy), to analyse the historical evolution of the riverbed/floodplain system in its lower valley reaches, upstream the confluence of River Tiber. A morphological–sedimentological approach has been used, starting with an historical analysis and a survey of the forms and sediments in the riverbed/alluvial plain system, in order to reconstruct the current evolutionary trend and to identify the causes and processes leading to changes in natural trends. This approach is not in contrast to the hydrologic–hydraulic one, normally applied in engineering fields, but it is integrated with it in a complementary and parallel manner, in order to achieve the complete knowledge of the river system, result of an investigation multidisciplinary, aimed to define its physical state. Historical data (cartographic documents, digital terrain models—DTM, topographic surveys, aerial photographs, etc.) indicate clear-cut narrowing and deepening of the active channel, manifested after the Second World War and due to the considerable changes which affected the entire fluvial system (from the recovery of land for agriculture near the river, to sediments taken from its bed over the past few decades). The result is a state of great disequilibrium, which is shown in the passage from a braided morphology, observed in the 1950s, to a single channel with low sinuosity (wandering type). This type of morphology is certainly more unstable: in fact, the narrowing and deepening of fluvial sections provide a better hydraulic efficiency for the upstream, so the peak discharge does not overflow. Such peak discharge arrives downstream, next to the confluence with the Tiber River, not laminated, causing serious flooding effects. An increased vulnerability is observed in the last reach, in the areas pertaining to the river, where most of the industrial-economic activities are concentrated and where transportation infrastructures of nationwide importance (Italy’s most important motorway, the A1, and the Rome–Florence–Milan high-speed rail links) are located. The evolution of the Paglia (which is not substantially different from that of many streams in Italy and in general throughout Europe) is affected by severe anthropic constraints and intense exploitation of resources, which have produced a state of disequilibrium approaching irreversibility in an already vulnerable system. Finally, some suggestions for the correct management of the river system are pointed out, with the aim of mitigating the flood risk in the lower Paglia valley.     

Brazilian Solar Spectroscope (bss)

Digital, decimetric (200–2500 MHz) Brazilian Solar Spectroscope (BSS) with high time (10–1000 ms) and frequency (1–10 MHz) resolution is in regular operation since April, 1998, at National Space Research Institute (INPE) at São José dos Campos, Brazil. BSS operates in conjunction with a 9-m diameter polar mounted antenna. It allows to select suitable observing frequency range, frequency and time resolutions and data can be digitized up to 100 channels. BSS has capabilities of quasi-real time display of the ongoing dynamic spectra of the solar activity that enables the observer to modify observational parameters so as to suit a specific type of activity such as spikes and improve the quality of data acquisition and storage. Minimum detectable flux density of the spectroscope, for different combinations of the observational parameters, is 3 s.f.u. Observations are carried out routinely from 11 UT to 19 UT. Necessary software for data acquisition and reductions has been developed in IDL 5.3 environment. Data are available in FITS and ASCII formats. Absolute timing accuracy of the station is less than 3 ms. Here, we present examples of the bursts which have been recorded by BSS and available display facilities.     

The Monte Guardia eruption (Lipari,Aeolian Islands): an example of a reversely zoned magma mixing sequence

The Monte Guardia rhyolitic eruption (~22 ka, Lipari, Aeolian Islands, Italy) produced a sequence of pyroclastic deposits followed by the emplacement of lava domes. The total volume of dense magma erupted was nearly 0.5 km³. The juvenile clasts in the pyroclastic deposits display a variety of magma mixing evidence (mafic magmatic enclaves, streaky pumices, mineral disequilibria and heterogeneous glass composition). Petrographic, mineralogical and geochemical investigations and melt inclusion studies were carried out on the juvenile clasts in order to reconstruct the mixing process and to assess the pre-eruptive chemico-physical magmatic conditions. The results suggest that the different mingling and mixing textures were generated during a single mixing event between a latitic and a rhyolitic end member. A denser, mixed magma was first erupted, followed by a larger volume of an unmixed, lighter rhyolitic one. This compositional sequence is the reverse of what would be expected from the tapping of a zoned magma chamber. The Monte Guardia rhyolitic magma, stored below 200 MPa, was volatile-rich and fluid-saturated, or very close to this, despite its relatively low explosivity. In contrast to previous interpretations, there exists the possibility that the rhyolite could rise and erupt without the trigger of a mafic input. The entire data collected are compatible with two possible mechanisms that would generate a reversely zoned sequence: (1) the occurrence of thermal instabilities in a density stratified, salic to mafic magma chamber and (2) the intrusion of rising rhyolite into a shallower mafic sill/dike.     

The role of the crust in the magmatic evolution of the island of Lipari (Aeolian Islands,Italy)

Volcanic rocks on the island of Lipari show the entire range of Sr, Nd, Pb isotopic compositions displayed by other islands in the Aeolian archipelago. The rapid isotopic evolution of subaerial volcanic rocks on Lipari towards crustal values together with the appropriate isotopic composition of the neighbouring Calabrian crust (Serre) indicate that many geochemical characteristics observed in the lavas can be attributed to contamination and mixing with crustal materials and melts. Interpretation of the data is complicated by the fact that underplating onto the crust-mantle boundary and the specific lithologies present in the crustal section differ underneath each individual sector of the island. In the central and northern parts of the island, metapelitic rocks were incorporated to provide the more radiogenic Sr isotopic compositions of some lavas. The products from M. Guardia in the southern part of Lipari, where activity is restricted to the last 30–40 ka, bear geochemical similarities to the island of Vulcano, where it is proposed that considerable remobilization of the crust took place in the presence of mafic mantle-derived melts. On Lipari the petrogenetic processes of magma mixing and assimilation dominate over fractional crystallization, and the observed increase of K₂O over Na₂O can be correlated with contributions from metapelitic crustal lithologies. It is suggested that the variability in isotopic composition and the budget of alkalis (Na₂O versus K₂O) in the lavas can be explained by invoking a heat source from an intruding asthenospheric MORB-type mantle into a cooler lithospheric crust/mantle during the opening of the Tyrrhenian basin.     

Free vibrations of foundation beams on Green soil in the presence of conservative and nonconservative axial loads

In this paper a general dynamic analysis of a foundation beam on Green-Boussinesq soil is performed, taking into account the instabilizing effect of conservative and nonconservative applied axial loads.The beam is reduced to a finite number of rigid bars, linked together by elastic springs; the equations of motion are written by means of the Lagrange equations. The kinetic energy and the total potential energy are calculated first, and emphasis is placed on the strain energy of the Green soil; then the virtual work of the applied follower loads is detected, which allow us to define the generalized forces. The resulting equations of motion lead to an eigenvalue problem with unsymmetric matrix.Initially, the first free vibration frequencies of simply supported beams, clamped beams and free beams are plotted as functions of the two soil parameters. A more complex beam is also examined, in order to show the method potentialities. A stability analysis in the presence of conservative axial loads is then performed, and the influence of the soil on the critical load is discussed, both for simply supported beams and clamped beams. Finally, the instability mechanism of a clamped - clamped beam subjected to a uniformly distributed follower force is shown to be deeply influenced by the presence of the soil. (A number of graphs and examples conclude the paper.)     

The crystal structure of a triclinic roscherite

Summary The crystallography of roscherite is more complicated than previously thought. Single crystal X-ray work on material from Foote Mine (California) gave triclinic symmetry. The unit cell corresponding to the one adopted for monoclinic roscherite hasa=15.921,b=11.965,c=6.741 Å, =91°04, =94°21, =89°59 1/2, space group . The least-squares refinement of the structure using 2380 non zero reflections with anisotropic temperature factors resulted in a conventional reliability factorR=0.060.The X-ray study indicates the formula while that proposed for monoclinic roscherite is The atomic arrangements of both varieties of roscherite are very similar. The lowering of symmetry is caused by the segregation of the trivalent cations into only half of the sites of a monoclinic point position. Crystallochemical considerations suggest that the symmetry of roscherite does not depend on the kind of trivalent cations occupying the 6-coordinated position, but rather by the ratio between trivalent and divalent metal ions.

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Die Kristallstruktur eines triklinen Roscherites

Zusammenfassung Die Kristallographie des Roscherites ist komplizierter als man bisher annahm. Einkristall-Röntgenuntersuchungen an Material von Foote Mine (Kalifornien) ergaben trikline Symmetrie. Die Elementarzelle, welche der für monoklinen Roscherit angenommenen entspricht, hata=15,921,b=11,965,c=6,741 Å, =91°04, =94°21, =89°59 1/2, Raumgruppe . Die Verfeinerung der Struktur mit der Methode der kleinsten Quadrate ergab unter Verwendung anisotroper Temperaturfaktoren für 2380 beobachtete Reflexe einen konventionellen ZuverlässigkeitsindexR=0,060.Die Röntgenuntersuchung weist auf die Formel , während für monoklinen Roscherit vorgeschlagen wurde. Die Atomanordnungen beider Abarten des Roscherites sind sehr ähnlich. die Symmetrieerniedrigung wird dadurch hervorgerufen, daß die dreiwertigen Kationen nur die Hälfte der Positionen einer monoklinen Punktlage besetzen. Kristallchemische Überlegungen weisen darauf hin, daß die Symmetrie nicht von der Art der dreiwertigen Kationen, welche eine 6-koordinierte Punktlage besetzen, abhängt, sondern vielmehr von dem Mengenverhältnis zwischen 3-wertigen und 2-wertigen Metallionen.

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With 1 Figure     

Stresses and displacements due to a stationary point source of heat in an elastic halfspace

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The influence of the angular velocity distribution on the energy transport in the Sun's convection zone

This contribution is a purely exploratory search to investigate the way the distribution of angular velocity inside the Sun's convection zone affects the energy transport. This is related with problems concerning the magnetic activity, whose appearance at the Sun's surface depends on the shape of the isorotation surfaces, and the latitudinal variations in flux. The proposed model is non-linear and axisymmetric.Proceedings of the 14th ESLAB Symposium on Physics of Solar Variations, 16–19 September 1980, Scheveningen, The Netherlands.     

A study of inherited zircons in granitoid rocks from the South Portuguese and Ossa-Morena Zones, Iberian Massif: support for the exotic origin of the South Portuguese Zone

Trace element and U–Pb isotopic analyses of inherited zircon cores from a sample of Gil Márquez granodiorite (South Portuguese Zone, SPZ) and Almonaster nebulite (Ossa-Morena Zone, OMZ, in the Aracena Metamorphic Belt) have been obtained using laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. These data reveal differences in the age of deep continental crust in these two zones. Inherited zircon cores from the Ossa-Morena Zone range at 600±100 Ma, 1.7–2 Ga and 2.65–2.95 Ga, while those from the South Portuguese Zone range at 400–500 and 700–800 Ma. These data support the “exotic” origin of the South Portuguese Zone basement relative to the rest of Iberian Massif. The young ages of inherited zircon cores and Nd model ages of magmatic rocks of the South Portuguese Zone are comparable to results from granulite facies xenoliths and granitic rocks from the Meguma Terrane and Avalonia and support a correlation between the basement of the southernmost part of the Iberian Massif and the northern Appalachians.     

Thermal annealing-induced electric dipole relaxation in natural alexandrite

Electrical properties of natural alexandrite (BeAl₂O₄:Cr³⁺) are investigated by the thermally stimulated depolarization current (TSDC) technique. Samples are submitted to consecutive annealing processes and TSDC is carried out after each annealing, yielding bands with different parameters. These bands are fitted by a continuous distribution of relaxation parameters: activation energy and pre-exponential factor of the Arrhenius equation. It has been observed that annealing influences the dipole relaxation behavior, since it promotes a modification of Fe³⁺ and Cr³⁺ impurity distributions on sites of distinct symmetry: Al₁ and Al₂. In order to have a reference for comparison, TSDC is also carried out on a synthetic alexandrite sample, where the only impurity present is Cr³⁺ ion.