Biogenic stalactites in submarine caves at the Cape of Otranto (SE Italy): dating and hypothesis on their formation

Submarine caves at the Cape of Otranto (SE, Italy) host pseudostalactites. Only recently have they been recognised as originating mainly from the marine tube worm Protula tubularia (Serpulidae, Polychaeta). Their formation depends on the adaptability, life history and behaviour of that species in the cave habitat. The dating of calcareous tubes in the pseudostalactite core represents the first attempt to describe the formation of such bio-construction, and the gregarious behaviour of the species. Calcareous tubes along the core axis of three pseudostalactites removed from the cave lu Lampiùne (Otranto, South East Italy) have been dated using the ¹⁴C method. Measures established ages from 2600 to 5000 years for the three structures. This extremely long period (when compared with the life span of each worm) suggests that each tube aggregation is the result of punctuated growth periods alternated with long standstill phases. At the end of a growth period, each tube aggregation was covered with a brownish concretion, completing the pseudostalactite.     

Sonification of geophysical data through time–frequency analysis: theory and applications

In this paper, we introduce a new method of geophysical data interpretation based on simultaneous analysis of images and sounds. The final objective is to expand the interpretation workflow through multimodal (visual–audio) perception of the same information. We show how seismic data can be effectively converted into standard formats commonly used in digital music. This conversion of geophysical data into the musical domain can be done by applying appropriate time–frequency transforms. Using real data, we demonstrate that the Stockwell transform provides a very accurate and reliable conversion. Once converted into musical files, geophysical datasets can be played and interpreted by using modern computer music tools, such as sequencers. This approach is complementary and not substitutive of interpretation methods based on imaging. It can be applied not only to seismic data but also to well logs and any type of geophysical time/depth series. To show the practical implications of our integrated visual–audio method of interpretation, we discuss an application to a real seismic dataset in correspondence of an important hydrocarbon discovery.     

The Effect of Temporal Changes and Environmental Trophic Condition on the Isotopic Composition (ω13C and ω15N) of Atherina boyeri (Risso, 1810) and Gobius niger (L., 1758) in a Mediterranean Coastal Lagoon (Lake of Sabaudia): Implications for Food Web Structure

Abstract. ω¹³C and ω¹⁵N of organic matter sources and consumers were employed to analyse trophic differentiation between a benthic consumer, Gobius niger (L., 1758) (Pisces, Osteichthyes), and a pelagic consumer, Atherina boyeri (Risso, 1810) (Pisces, Osteichthyes) in a Mediterranean coastal lagoon (Lake of Sabaudia) in winter and summer 1999. Trophic differences between the two species throughout the two sampling periods were related to the environmental trophic condition (i. e. nutrient and phytopigment concentrations). Although these two fish have different habitats, they both exploited benthic organisms, above all in summer. When the nutrient and phytopigment concentrations were higher (summer), the most abundant benthic organisms were the main food sources for both species. In winter A. boyeri apparently shifted its feeding preferences to include zooplankton, confirming its opportunistic feeding strategy. Par-ticulate organic matter and algae seemed to play the main trophic role in the food web structure. Benthic invertebrates used both sources, while zooplankton seemed to rely exclusively on the particulate fraction. The overlapping and very depleted signatures of sedimentary and particulate organic matter highlights a strong link between sediments and water column, rarely observed in other aquatic ecosystems using stable isotopes. Such a finding further substantiates the importance of particulate organic matter as a food source in the study area.     

Evidence of diverse depletion and metasomatic events in harzburgite–lherzolite mantle xenoliths from the Iberian plate (Olot, NE Spain): Implications for lithosphere accretionary processes

Mantle xenoliths from the Olot volcanic district (NE Spain) comprise a bi-modal suite consisting of protogranular spinel lherzolites (cpx 12–14%) sometimes with pargasitic amphibole, and highly refractory spinel harzburgites (cpx ≤ 1%) with coarse-grained granular textures. The lherzolites range from slightly depleted to moderately LREE-enriched with flat HREE patterns between 1.5 and 2.7 × chondrite (Ch). In contrast, the harzburgites are extremely depleted in HREE (down to 0.2 × Ch) and strongly LREE-enriched (La_N/Yb_N = 12.3–17.2). LA-ICP-MS analyses of clinopyroxene and amphibole of the lherzolites highlight variable degrees of LREE depletion (HREE up to 13 × Ch, La_N/Yb_N down to 0.01), with the exception of a single sample in which both clinopyroxene and amphibole are LREE-enriched (La_N/Yb_N up to 19). In the harzburgites, clinopyroxenes display totally different REE distributions, characterized by extreme HREE depletion (down to 0.4 × Ch) and upward convex positively fractionated middle-light REE patterns (Nd_N/Yb_N up to 20.7 × Ch; La_N/Yb_N up to 12 × Ch). Sr–Nd–Hf isotopic data for both whole-rocks and cpx separates, coherently indicate depleted mantle (DM) compositions for the lherzolites (εSr = − 15 to − 26, εNd = + 9 to + 17, εHf = + 18 to + 68) and enriched mantle (EM) compositions for the harzburgites (εSr = − 10 to + 36, εNd = − 1 to − 6, εHf = + 3 to + 8). Modelling of the clinopyroxene REE data and isotopic systematics suggest that some lherzolites were affected by pre-Paleozoic (0.6–1 By) low-degree partial melting processes, while others probably reflect some extent of refertilization of the mantle protolith by metasomatizing melts similar to the Triassic rift-related tholeiites reported from several Pyrenean localities. The harzburgites represent extreme refractory residua, resulting from a complex depletion history due to multistage melt extraction as often observed in the cratonic mantle. The distinctive REE patterns and isotopic systematics of their clinopyroxenes suggest that the harzburgites were formed by the interaction of an ultra-depleted peridotite matrix with highly alkaline basic melts similar in composition to the Permo-Triassic alkaline lamprophyres which are widespread within the Iberian plate. Lherzolites possibly represent younger lithosphere (accreted asthenosphere?) up-lifted and juxtaposed to the older subcontinental lithospheric mantle (harzburgites) during the post-Variscan rifting of the Iberian margin. These two genetically different, but adjoining, mantle domains intimately mingled along the northern Iberian margin during the subsequent plate convergence processes, leading to the close association of harzburgites and lherzolites observed in the Olot mantle xenoliths and in some Pyrenean peridotite massifs.     

Debris-avalanche deposits of the Milo Lahar sequence and the opening of the Valle del Bove on Etna volcano (Italy)

Previously undescribed debris-avalanche deposits occur in two locations downslope from the open end of the Valle del Bove. These outcrops comprise unstratified, ungraded deposits of metre-scale lava blocks in a matrix of weathered and fractured lava clasts. The avalanche deposits are unconformably overlain by matrix- to clast-supported conglomerates, representing debris-flow and interbedded fluvial deposits, that constitute most of the Milo Lahar sequence. We present evidence that the Milo Lahar sequence, which crops out just at the exit of the Valle del Bove, formed during the opening and enlargement of this depression. The presence of the avalanche deposits at the base of the Milo Lahar sequence indicates that catastrophic landslides were involved in the formation of the Valle del Bove. The composition of lavas in the debris avalanche deposits is similar to that of most of the Ellittico volcanic sequence exposed along the northern wall of the Valle del Bove. Radiocarbon dates of 8400 and 5300 years BP from the base and top, respectively, of the debris-flow sequence indicate that the Milo Lahars are correlative with the exposed part of the Chiancone deposit. The basal lahars of the Chiancone, which contain lava blocks whose compositions partially overlap that of blocks in the avalanche deposits, may have formed by water concentration in the distal end of the avalanche causing transformation to debris, or alternatively by reworking of the avalanche deposit.     

Middle Pleistocene to Holocene activity of the Gondola Fault Zone (Southern Adriatic Foreland): Deformation of a regional shear zone and seismotectonic implications

Recent seismicity in and around the Gargano Promontory, an uplifted portion of the Southern Adriatic Foreland domain, indicates active E–W strike-slip faulting in a region that has also been struck by large historical earthquakes, particularly along the Mattinata Fault. Seismic profiles published in the past two decades show that the pattern of tectonic deformation along the E–W-trending segment of the Gondola Fault Zone, the offshore counterpart of the Mattinata Fault, is strikingly similar to that observed onshore during the Eocene–Pliocene interval. Based on the lack of instrumental seismicity in the south Adriatic offshore, however, and on standard seismic reflection data showing an undisturbed Quaternary succession above the Gondola Fault Zone, this fault zone has been interpreted as essentially inactive since the Pliocene. Nevertheless, many investigators emphasised the genetic relationships and physical continuity between the Mattinata Fault, a positively active tectonic feature, and the Gondola Fault Zone. The seismotectonic potential of the system formed by these two faults has never been investigated in detail. Recent investigations of Quaternary sedimentary successions on the Adriatic shelf, by means of very high-resolution seismic–stratigraphic data, have led to the identification of fold growth and fault propagation in Middle–Upper Pleistocene and Holocene units. The inferred pattern of gentle folding and shallow faulting indicates that sediments deposited during the past ca. 450 ka were recurrently deformed along the E–W branch of the Gondola Fault Zone.We performed a detailed reconstruction and kinematic interpretation of the most recent deformation observed along the Gondola Fault Zone and interpret it in the broader context of the seismotectonic setting of the Southern Apennines-foreland region. We hypothesise that the entire 180 km-long Molise–Gondola Shear Zone is presently active and speculate that also its offshore portion, the Gondola Fault Zone, has a seismogenic behaviour.     

Soil C and N response to changes in winter precipitation in a subalpine forest ecosystem,NW Italy

Among the potential effects of climate change on subalpine forest ecosystems during the winter season, the shift in snowline towards higher altitudes and the increase in frequency of rain events on the snowpack are of particular interest. Here, we present the results of a 2‐year field experiment conducted in a forest stand (Larix decidua) in NW Italy at 2020 m a.s.l. From 2009 to 2011, we monitored soil physical characteristics (temperature and moisture), and soil and soil solution chemistry, in particular carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) forms and their change in time, as affected by simulated late snowpack accumulation and rain on snow events. Late snowpack accumulation determined a stronger effect on soil thermal and moisture regimes than rain on snow events. Also soil chemistry was significantly affected by late snowfall simulation. Although microbial biomass C and N were not reduced by soil freezing, soil contents of the more labile dissolved organic carbon and inorganic N increased when the soil was affected by mild/hard freezing. Variations in the soil solution were shifted with respect to those observed in soil, with an increase in N‐NO₃^? concentrations occurring during spring and summer. This study highlights the potential N loss in subalpine soils under changing environmental conditions driven by a changing climate. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.