Sketching the temperature history of geological samples: analyses of diffusion profiles using multilayer perceptrons

A method using multilayer perceptrons for analysing diffusion profiles and sketching the temperature history of geological samples is explored. Users of this method can intuitively test and compare results thinking in terms of analytical solutions of the diffusion equation whilst the bulk of the work is made computationally. Being neither completely analytical nor numerical, the method is a hybrid and represents an ideal man-machine interaction. The approach presented in this paper should be preferred when the retrieval of the diffusion coefficients from concentration profiles using dimensionless parameters is not possible and/or there is more than one unknown parameter in the analytical solution of the diffusion equation. Its versatility is a key factor for extending the potential of Dodson’s formulation. The case of a species produced by a radiogenic source and diffusing in a cooling system is therefore discussed. Both the classical change of variable for diffusion coefficients depending on time and an alternative approach decomposing the overall effect of diffusion into a sum of effects due to smaller events could be used to tackle this problem. As multilayer perceptrons can approximate any function, none of the assumptions originally stated by Dodson are necessary.     

Heavy metal contamination in surface sediments from the Gulf of Venice, Italy

The authors studied surface sediments from 102 stations in four areas of the three port entrances to the Lagoon of Venice, examining the relationships between textural character, mineralogical composition, and Hg, Pb, Cd, Cu, Ni, Cr, Zn, Co and Fe content. Heavy metal distribution allowed boundaries to be fixed between polluted and nonpolluted zones. While the Cavallino area is not polluted, very high concentrations of Zn, Pb and Hg in the two central areas, facing the Lido and Malamocco port entrances, respectively, suggest that wastes mainly from industrial production of zinc are present. High concentrations of Cr in the southern part of the Chioggia area are probably due to tannery wastes reaching the sea from the Brenta river.     

New petrochemical data of volcanites from the Island of Pantelleria (Channel of Sicily)

The author presents 32 new analyses of volcanites from Pantelleria and draws some magmatological and geochemical conclusions.

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Zusammenfassung Der Autor gibt 32 neue Analysen von Vulkaniten von Pantelleria bekannt und zieht daraus einige magmatologische und geochemische Schlußfolgerungen.

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Résumé L'auteur présente 32 analyses nouvelles de roches volcaniques de l'île de Pantelleria et en tire des conclusions d'ordre magmatologique et géochimique.

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Riassunto Nella presente nota, l'Autore riporta 32 nuove analisi di vulcaniti di Pantelleria traendone delle conclusioni di carattere magmatologico e geochimico.

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32 Pantelleria. , .

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Dedicated to Professor Dr. A.Rittmann on the occasion of his 75. birthday     

Is the forward problem of ground water hydrology always well posed?

Complex aquifer systems are often modeled with quasi-three-dimensional models, which consider two-dimensional horizontal flow in the aquifers and one-dimensional vertical flow through aquitards. When the aquifer system consists of a phreatic aquifer and one or more semiconfined aquifers connected by aquitards, the discrete model consists of a nonlinear system of algebraic equations, because the transmissivity of the phreatic aquifer depends on the phreatic head. If the water extraction is very high, the phreatic aquifer can be depleted and the equations of the model must be modified accordingly. There are not simple and general criteria to state if the phreatic aquifer is depleted before solving the system of equations. Therefore, the iterative procedures (e.g., relaxation methods), used to find the solution to the forward problem, must handle these particular conditions and can suffer several problems of convergence. These problems can be caused by the choice of the initial head values or of the relaxation coefficient of the iterative algorithms; however, they can also be caused by the nonexistence or nonuniqueness of the solution to the system of nonlinear equations. The study of existence and uniqueness of the general problem is very difficult and, therefore, we consider a simplified problem, for which the discrete model can be handled analytically. The results of the numerical experiments show that the solution to the forward problem can be nonunique. Only for some cases it is possible to invoke physical arguments to eliminate tentative solutions.     

Resolving Cambrian, Carboniferous, Permian and Alpine monazite generations in the polymetamorphic basement of eastern Crete (Greece) by means of the electron microprobe

The electron-microprobe-based investigation of accessory monazites in polished thin sections is a helpful tool in resolving the geochronology of a polymetamorphic basement. The method was applied to variably altered gneisses and micaschists from the retrogressed, originally amphibolite-facies basement in eastern Crete (Greece). The presented data indicate that most monazite formed or recrystallized in response to high fluid activity during Alpine low-temperature metamorphism. This low-temperature monazite is characterized by distinctly low yttrium, uranium and thorium contents. However, older grains were able to survive in less retrogressed samples and have been traced with the electron microprobe, using microstructural and compositional criteria. In-situ chemical Th–U–Pb dating of these pre-Alpine monazites provides evidence for an igneous event in the Cambrian, and two different metamorphic events in the Carboniferous and Permian.     

Olive flowering as an indicator of local climatic changes

Summary In recent years many studies on climate change and its impacts have been published. In this investigation the flowering of the olive tree (Olea europaea L.) in central Italy was related to climate and its usefulness as a bio-indicator for climatic change has been studied.An aerobiological method was used to determine the flowering periods in each of 22 study years (1982–2003), and five yearly target dates in correspondence to different flowering phases were selected.Climatic trends were studied through heat summations (daily maximum, minimum and average temperatures) from 1 January to the annual day of full flowering; moreover Growing Degree Days (GDD) and Chilling Units (CU) were carried out since 1 January to 25 conventional dates in the pre-flowering period.Statistical analyses were carried out to study the relationships among climatic trends (expressed by GDD and CU) and the flowering phases. The principal result may be represented by the close relationship between climate and reproductive phenology to consider olive flowering as a good indicator of climatic changes.     

Anatomy and evolution of a Mediterranean-type fault bounded basin: the Lower Pliocene of the northern Crotone Basin (Southern Italy)

The complex development of the northern Crotone Basin, a forearc basin of the Calabrian Arc (Southern Italy), has been documented by sedimentological, stratigraphic and structural analyses. This Mediterranean‐type fault bounded basin consists of small depocentres commonly characterized by a mix of facies that grades from continental to shallow marine. The lower Pliocene infill of the Crotone Basin consists of offshore marls (Cavalieri Marl) that grade upwards into a shallow‐marine to continental succession up to 850 m thick (Zinga Formation). The succession is subdivided into three main stratal units: Zinga 1, Zinga 2, Zinga 3 bounded by major unconformities. The Zinga 1 stratal unit grades from the Cavalieri Marl to deltaic and shoreface deposits, the latter organized into several stacked progradational wedges that show spectacular thickness changes and progressive unconformities related to salt‐cored NE‐trending growth folds and listric normal faults. The Zinga 2 stratal unit records a progressive and moderate deepening of the area, marked by fluvial sedimentation at the base, followed by lagoonal deposits and by a stacking of mixed bioclastic and siliciclastic shoreface units, organized into metre‐scale high‐frequency cycles. Deposition was controlled by NE‐trending synsedimentary normal faults that dissected the basin into a series of half‐grabens. Hangingwall stratigraphic expansion was compensated by footwall condensed sedimentation. The extensional tectonic regime continued during sedimentation of the Zinga 3 stratal unit. Deposition confined within structural lows during a generalized transgressive phase led to local enhancement of tidal flows and development of sand‐wave trains. The tectonic setting testifies the generalized structural domain of a forearc region. The angular unconformity at the top of the Zinga 3 stratal unit is regional, and marks the activation of a large‐scale tectonic phase linked to strike‐slip movements.