Age and whole rock–glass compositions of proximal pyroclastics from the major explosive eruptions of Somma-Vesuvius: A review as a tool for distal tephrostratigraphy

A review of compositional data of the major explosive eruptions of Vesuvius is presented, comparing compositions (major elements) of whole rock with glass shards from the proximal deposits, hopefully useful for long-distance correlation. A critical review of published and new geochronological data is also provided. All available ¹⁴C ages are calibrated to give calendar ages useful for the reconstruction of the volcanological evolution of the volcanic complex. The pyroclastic deposits of the four major Plinian eruptions (22,000 yr cal BP “Pomici di Base”, 8900 yr cal BP “Mercato Pumice”, 4300 yr cal BP “Avellino Pumice”, and A.D. 79 “Pompeii Pumice”) are widely dispersed and allow a four-folded, Plinian to Plinian, stratigraphic division: 1. B–M (between Pomici di Base and Mercato); 2. M–A (between Mercato and Avellino); 3. A–P (between Avellino and Pompeii); 4. P–XX (from the Pompeii Pumice to the last erupted products of the XXth century). Within each interval, the age, lithologic and compositional features of pyroclastic deposits of major eruptions, potentially useful for tephrostratigraphic purposes on distal areas, are briefly discussed. The Vesuvius rocks are mostly high Potassic products, widely variable in terms of their silica saturation. They form three groups, different for both composition and age: 1. slightly undersaturated, older than Mercato eruption; 2. mildly undersaturated, from Mercato to Pompeii eruptions; 3. highly undersaturated, younger than Pompeii eruption. For whole rock analyses, the peculiar variations in contents of some major and trace elements as well as different trends in element/element ratios, allow a clear, unequivocal, easy diagnosis of the group they belong. Glass analyses show large compositional overlap between different groups, but selected element vs. element plots are distinctive for the three groups. The comparative analysis of glass and whole rock major element compositions provides reliable geochemical criteria helping in the recognition, frequently not obvious, of distal products from the different single eruptions.     

Curvature analysis as a tool for subsidence-related risk zones identification in the city of Tuzla (BiH)

Shallow Miocene salt deposits located below the city of Tuzla (BiH) have been exploited during the last 60 years by means of wells extracting salt-saturated groundwater brines. The massive extraction activities have led to severe subsidence accommodated by collapse and strain localization. Surface topography and geomorphology have been influenced and modified by several faults and fractures.A series of sequential topographical survey data collected during the last 50 years have been used to obtain the total subsidence envelope surface. In order to analyze the salt dissolution-related morphological development of the Tuzla topography and to identify the location of faults and fractures in the deformed area, we applied curvature analysis to the subsidence surface by means of two different analytical methods: the directional, two-dimensional curvature and the analytic Gaussian curvature. The comparison of the curvature maps with those of surface fractures visible in the area shows a good spatial agreement between the directional curvature and fracture intensity, whereas the subsurface normal faults are more evident in the Gaussian curvature maps.     

Dynamics and driving factors of late Holocene gullying in the Main Ethiopian Rift (MER)

The issue of determining the driving factors in gullying, apart from land use, is somewhat lagging in comparison with the study of their physical modelling and control technology. Available information focuses on the basic ideas of climatic control, anthropic determinism and internal “authigenic” dynamics. High resolution chronology of cyclic systems, common in extensively gullied areas, can provide a clue to the weight of each factor. This paper reports a study of this kind, focusing on two gully catchments in the Main Ethiopian Rift (MER), but backed by an extensive regional survey. By integrating tracing and correlation of unconformity-bounded stratigraphic units and soils with radiocarbon dating, a detailed chronology was obtained for the last 5000 years. This could be compared with proxy climate reconstructions of similar detail. Clear evidence of climatic control emerged; gully filling is triggered by decreased stream transport capacity and increased sediment supply during transitions towards drier climate phases, while gully entrenchment appears to take place at the start of moist intervals, for the reverse reasons. A broader consideration of geological setting, however, puts forward a more general interpretation. These gullies actually formed, in the beginning, as part of the land surface response to sudden, very recent tectonic events, which created accommodation space for temporary sediment stores. They should then be seen in the frame of the Discontinuous Ephemeral Stream (DES) concept; as such, they are intrinsically non-linear and complex phenomena, whose response is linearized by a strong climatic–vegetational forcing, acting on both channel flow and sediment supply.     

Toward a full multiscale approach to interpret potential fields

The way potential fields convey source information depends on the scale at which the field is analysed. In this sense a multiscale analysis is a useful method to study potential fields particularly when the main field contributions are caused by sources with different depths and extents. Our multiscale approach is built with a stable transformation, such as depth from extreme points. Its stability results from mixing, in a single operator, the wavenumber low‐pass behaviour of the upward continuation transformation of the field with the enhancement high‐pass properties of n‐order derivative transformations. So, the complex reciprocal interference of several field components may be efficiently faced at several scales of the analysis and the depth to the sources may be estimated together with the homogeneity degrees of the field. In order to estimate the source boundaries we use another multiscale method, the multiscale derivative analysis, which utilizes a generalized concept of horizontal derivative and produces a set of boundary maps at different scales. We show through synthetic examples and application to the gravity field of Southern Italy that this multiscale behaviour makes this technique quite different from other source boundary estimators. The main result obtained by integrating multiscale derivative analysis with depth from extreme points is the retrieval of rather effective information of the field sources (horizontal boundaries, depth, structural index). This interpretative approach has been used along a specific transect for the analysis of the Bouguer anomaly field of Southern Apennines. It was set at such scales, so to emphasize either regional or local features along the transect. Two different classes of sources were individuated. The first one includes a broad, deep source with lateral size of 45∼50 km, at a depth of 13 km and having a 0.5 structural index. The second class includes several narrower sources located at shallowest depths, ranging from 3–6 km, with lateral size not larger than 5 km and structural indexes ranging from 1–1.5. Within a large‐scale geological framework, these results could help to outline the mean structural features at crustal depths.     

Volcanic history, geologic analysis and map of the Prometheus Patera region on Io

Data from Jupiter's moon Io returned by the Galileo spacecraft have been used to create a geologic map of Prometheus Patera, its associated flow field, and nearby features. We have identified the location of the vent that fed the Prometheus flow field during the Galileo epoch in the north-eastern portion of the main Prometheus flow field. This vent is the probable source of a small sulphur-rich plume. Previous studies suggested that the vent may be atop a tectonic fault but we find that the vent is offset from the putative fault. It is plausible that, in the past, magma exploited the fault to reach the surface at Prometheus Patera, but subsequent magma cooling in the conduit could have caused an obstruction preventing further eruptions from providing significant contributions to the Prometheus flow field. We also speculate on how a new Prometheus plumbing system may be fed by mafic magmas after melt stalls in magma reservoirs during its ascent through the lithosphere from the mantle.     

Relationships between multibeam backscatter,sediment grain size and Posidonia oceanica seagrass distribution

The use of data, including bathymetry, backscatter intensity and the angular response of backscatter intensity, collected using multibeam sonar (MBS) systems to recognise seabed types was evaluated in the inner shelf of central western Sardinia (western Mediterranean sea), a site characterised by a complex seabed including sandy and gravelly sediments, Posidonia oceanica seagrass beds growing on hardgrounds (i.e. biogenic carbonates) and sedimentary substrates.     

Geometric and kinematic characterization of landslides affecting urban areas: the Lungro case study (Calabria,Southern Italy)

The geometric and kinematic characterization of landslides affecting urban areas is a challenging goal that is routinely pursued via geological/geomorphological method and monitoring of ground displacements achieved by geotechnical and, more recently, advanced differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (A-DInSAR) data. Although the integration of all the above-mentioned methods should be planned a priori to be more effective, datasets resulting from the independent use of these different methods are commonly available, thus making crucial the need for their standardized a posteriori integration. In this regard, the present paper aims to provide a contribution by introducing a procedure that, taking into account the specific limits of geological/geomorphological analyses and deep/surface ground displacement monitoring via geotechnical and A-DInSAR data, allows the a posteriori integration of the results by exploiting their complementarity for landslide characterization. The approach was tested in the urban area of Lungro village (Calabria region, southern Italy), which is characterized by complex geological/geomorphological settings, widespread landslides and peculiar urban fabric. In spite of the different level of information preliminarily available for each landslide as result of the independent use of the three methods, the implementation of the proposed procedure allowed a better understanding and typifying of the geometry and kinematics of 50 landslides. This provided part of the essential background for geotechnical landslide models to be used for slope stability analysis within landslide risk mitigation strategies.     

Groundwater-driven temperature changes at thermal springs in response to recent glaciation: Bormio hydrothermal system,Central Italian Alps

Thermal springs are widespread in the European Alps, with hundreds of geothermal sites known and exploited. The thermal circulation and fluid outflows were examined in the area around Bormio (Central Italian Alps), where ten geothermal springs discharge from dolomite bodies located close to the regional Zebrù thrust. Water is heated in deep circulation systems and upwells vigorously at a temperature of about 40 °C. Heat and fluid transport is explored by steady and transient three-dimensional finite-element simulations taking into account the effect of the last glaciation, which in the study area was recognized to end around 11,000–12,000 years ago. The full regional model (ca. 700 km²) is discretized with a highly refined triangular finite-element planar grid. Numerical simulations suggest a reactivation of the system following the end of the Last Glacial Maximum. Results correctly simulate the observed discharge rate of ca. 2,400 L/min and the spring temperatures after ca. 13,000 years from deglaciation, and show a complete cooling of the aquifer within a period of approximately 50,000 years. Groundwater flow and temperature patterns suggest that thermal water flows through a deep system crossing both sedimentary and metamorphic lithotypes along a fracture network associated with the thrust system. This example gives insights into the influences of deep alpine structures and glaciations on groundwater circulation that control the development of many hydrothermal systems not necessarily associated with convective heat flow.     

A quantitative approach to the influence of pyrite separation on Cu-processing tailings: a case study at Reps,Mirdita district,Albania

Sulfide-rich tailings are a well-known environmental threat due to their production of acid drainage (AD) and release of potential toxic elements (PTE) to the local environment. The presence of heterogeneous materials produces complex environmental signatures and complicates the quantitative prediction of contamination. The present work provides a method of quantifying such heterogeneities, starting from mineral processing data of the Reps, Mirdita (Albania) site. A quantitative flow sheet (QF) method was applied to a selected dump site of the Mirdita copper mining district where secondary pyrite separation had been used in the past. The site is subject to long-lasting (10³ years) AD processes with significant release of PTE into the local environment. The tailings at the Reps site are divided into two classes based on the sulfide S content, respectively, represented by high-sulfide-content (S > 10 wt%) materials (hS) and low-sulfide-content (S < 3 wt%) material (lS). The reconstruction of the QF allowed us to identify the hS tailings as the discharge of single-flotation processing lines. This material accounts for about 82% of the total potential H₂SO₄ production, even though it represents < 20% of the entire tailing discard. The QF is a useful tool for the evaluation of heterogeneity and consequently for the modeling of waste management within abandoned sites and in working plants. Given a good quantification, heterogeneity can in fact support the setting of pyrite separation lines or the separate management of pyrite-rich tailing dumps.     

High‐pressure mineral assemblage in granitic rocks from continental units,Alpine Corsica,France

The Popolasca–Francardo area of northern Corsica contains an assemblage of continental tectonic units affected by an Alpine deformation. In one of these units, Unit II, previously regarded as weakly metamorphosed, a metamorphic mineral assemblage characterized by sodic amphibole, phengite, quartz, albite and epidote has been found in an aplite dyke that cuts the dominant granitoids. Peak‐metamorphic temperature and pressure conditions of 300–370°C and 0.50–0.80 GPa, respectively, have been determined. This finding indicates that a continuous belt of continental slices, characterized by high‐pressure, low‐temperature metamorphism of Tertiary age, extends from the Tenda Massif in the north to the Corte area in the south, thus placing additional constraints on the tectonic evolution of Alpine Corsica. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.