A multidisciplinary investigation of deep-seated landslide reactivation triggered by an extreme rainfall event: a case study of the Monesi di Mendatica landslide,Ligurian Alps

Landslides - In November 2016, an extreme rainfall event affected the Ligurian Alps (NW Italy). Consequently, several landslides and debris flows occurred in the upper Tanarello stream basin. In...     

Reclamation influence and background geochemistry of neutral saline soils in the Po River Delta Plain (Northern Italy)

Reclaimed neutral saline sulphate soils constitute a large part of the eastern part of Po Plain lowlands, where intensive agricultural activities take place. The knowledge of their geochemical features is essential to develop the best management practices capable to preserve this threatened environment. With this aim, three boreholes were drilled in an agricultural field and a typical reclaimed soil profile has been characterized for major and trace element, pH, electrical conductivity, redox conditions and water-soluble anions and ammonium. Statistical analysis (cluster analysis and principal component analysis) has been used to understand the relationship between elements and grain size. The soil profile is characterized by high salinity and high organic matter contents responsible for high chloride, sulphate, and ammonium concentrations. Heavy metal content is naturally high, since Po Plain sediments are the result of ultramafic rocks erosion; in addition, organic matter tends to concentrate heavy metals by adsorption, mainly in peaty horizons. As a consequence of chemical and zootechnical fertilization, high NO₃ ^? contents have been found in the top soil, thus enhancing the risk of nitrate discharge in the water system, especially in relation to extreme climatic events.     

Ground motion amplification due to shallow cavities in nonlinear soils

Subsurface cavities or stiff inclusions represent mechanical discontinuities for seismic waves propagating in soils. They modify the propagation pattern of seismic waves and alter soil response in correspondence to the ground level or building foundations. In the literature, different analytical and numerical solutions have been proposed to account for the effect of underground cavities or inclusions on the motion generated by P, S or R waves. In these former studies, the subsoil was assimilated to a homogeneous, isotropic and linear elastic halfspace containing one or more cavities. In the present study, the effect of subsurface cavities on ground motion amplification has been analysed accounting for soil stiffness degradation and associated damping increase with increasing levels of shear strains, a fundamental aspect of soil behaviour under earthquakes. The analysed model was inspired to a real case represented by the village of Castelnuovo (Italy), which during the 2009 Abruzzo earthquake suffered huge damage. The main shock (6 April 2009) caused the collapse of 50 % of the whole built environment. The historical centre of Castelnuovo rises on a hill. In its subsoil, there are many cavities with roofs 2–3 m below the ground level. The longitudinal NW–SE section of the hill has been investigated by 2D nonlinear site response analyses. A preliminary site response analysis was performed without modelling cavities, to identify ground motion amplification due to mere stratigraphic and topographic factors. The numerical model was later refined inserting: (1) a single cavity below the hilltop, (2) multiple cavities placed below the ground surface of the hill and (3) multiple cavities filled with concrete (inclusions). The performed study highlights the important role exerted by underground cavities on the ground motion computed at the hill surface. This effect should be properly considered for both microzonation studies and the correct determination of the seismic actions on specific buildings.     

Thermodynamic modeling assisted by multivariate statistical image analysis as a tool for unraveling metamorphic P-T-d evolution: an example from ilmenite-garnet-bearing metapelite of the Peloritani Mountains, Southern Italy

An ilmenite-garnet-bearing schist from the medium-grade metapelite complex of the Mandanici Unit in the Peloritani Mountains has been investigated to constrain the P-T conditions attained in this sector of the southern European Hercynian chain. Microprobe investigations assisted by statistical handling of X-ray maps via principal component analysis allowed us to better elucidate the porphyroblast-matrix relationships, the geometry of the elemental distribution in garnet porphyroblasts and the average volume percentage of the reactant garnet during retrograde metamorphic evolution. Selected microprobe data were then used to constrain, by means of P-T pseudosections, the main P-T stages of the metamorphic evolution, using the XRF bulk-rock chemistry as the equilibrium chemical composition for the prograde and peak stages and an effective bulk-rock composition for the retrograde one. Peak metamorphic P-T estimates (~530?°C; 0.9?GPa) are consistent with a Hercynian crustal thickening stage at middle-lower crustal conditions, while subsequent evolution, constrained at 420–460?°C; 0.30–0.60?GPa, depicts a retrograde clockwise P-T trajectory linked to exhumation under likely extensional shearing conditions. The results obtained in this paper lead to envisage a new scenario for the crustal evolution of the Peloritani Mountains and stimulate a revision of previous interpretations in the light of the new investigation techniques.     

Granite emplacement by crustal boudinage: example of the Calmayo and El Hongo plutons (Córdoba,Argentina)

This study deals with the structure and emplacement of the Calmayo and El Hongo trondhjemite plutons (Famatinian belt of Córdoba, Argentina). It provides structural data from the granites and the country rocks and a study of the magnetic fabric in the plutons. New U/Pb geochronological data yield intrusion ages of 512.1 ± 3.4 Ma and 500.6 ± 4.5 Ma for the Calmayo and El Hongo plutons respectively. The El Hongo massif and the southern part of the Calmayo trondhjemite preserve magmatic structures, whereas the northern domain of Calmayo shows the imprint of solid‐state deformation. The main foliation in the country rocks outlines a boudin‐like pattern at the map scale and the granites are located along boudin necks, suggesting that the emplacement of these trondhjemite plutons was linked to large‐scale boudinage of the country rocks.     

Grain-size dependence of sediment composition and environmental bias in provenance studies

This article investigates both experimentally and theoretically the compositional changes associated with textural effects and hydraulic sorting during sediment transport and deposition, which cause systematic distortion in quantitative provenance analysis (“environmental bias”). Traditional procedures aimed at eliminating textural noise find limited success. The Gazzi–Dickinson method cannot remove hydrodynamic-related modal variability. Multiple size-window strategies are time-consuming. Narrow or moving size-window strategies represent misleading or impractical short cuts, being less convenient options than simply analysing each sample in bulk. New concepts introduced here unravel the superposed causes of compositional variability in modern sediments. Intrasample modal variability, fundamentally explained by settling-equivalence relationships, can be accurately modelled mathematically. Intersample modal variability, principally resulting from selective entrainment, can be assessed and removed by a simple principle. In absence of provenance changes and environmental bias, the weighted average density of terrigenous grains (SRD index) should be equal, for each sample and each grain-size class of each sample, to the weighted average density of source rocks. By correcting relative abundances of detrital minerals in proportion to their densities, we can restore the appropriate SRD index for any provenance and subprovenance type in each sample or grain-size class. Modal variability is effectively reduced by this procedure, which can be applied confidently to modern sediments deposited by tractive currents in any environment. Good results are obtained even for placer sands and finest classes where heavy-mineral concentration is strongest. Such “SRD correction” also successfully compensates for biased narrow-window modes, thus providing a numerical solution of general validity to the problem of environmental bias in sedimentary petrology. After compensating for settling-equivalence and selective-entrainment effects, residual size-dependent compositional variability may be provenance-related. Minor in Ganga–Brahmaputra sediments, provenance-related effects are spectacularly displayed in the Nile basin, where volcaniclastic silt mixes with basement-derived quartzofeldspathic sand and wind-blown Saharan quartz.     

Experimental investigation of microstructural changes in soils eroded by suffusion using X-ray tomography

Internal erosion is a complex phenomenon which represents one of the main risks to the safety of earthen hydraulic structures such as embankment dams, dikes or levees. Its occurrence may cause instability and failure of these structures with consequences that can be dramatic. The specific mode of erosion by suffusion is the one characterized by seepage flow-induced erosion, and the subsequent migration of the finest soil particles through the surrounding soil matrix mostly constituted of large grains. Such a phenomenon can lead to a modification of the initial microstructure and, hence, to a change in the physical, hydraulic and mechanical properties of the soil. A direct comparison of the mechanical behaviour of soil before and after erosion is often used to investigate the impact of internal erosion on soil strength (shear strength at peak and critical state) using triaxial tests. However, the obtained results are somehow contradictory, as for instance in Chang’s study (Chang and Zhang in Geotech Test J 34(6):579–589, 2011), where it is concluded that the drained strength of eroded soil decreases compared to non-eroded soil, while both Xiao and Shwiyhat (Geotech Test J 35(6):890–900, 2012) and Ke and Takahashi (Geotech Test J 37(2):347–364, 2014) have come to the opposite conclusion. A plausible explanation of these contradictions might be attributed to the rather heterogeneous nature of the suffusion process and to the way the coarse and fine grains are rearranged afterwards leading to a heterogeneous soil structure, a point that, for now, is not taken into account, nor even mentioned, in the existing analyses. In the present study, X-ray computed tomography (X-ray CT) is used to follow the microstructure evolution of a granular soil during a suffusion test, and, therefore, to capture the induced microstructural changes. The images obtained from X-ray CT reveal indeed that fine particles erosion is obviously not homogeneous, highlighting the existence of preferential flow paths that lead to a heterogeneous sample in terms of fine particles, void ratio and inter-granular void ratio distribution.