The devonian and carboniferous volcanism of the peloritan mountains (sicily) and the evolution of palaeozoic basins in the calabrian-peloritan arc

Volcanic rocks from three Palaeozoic low-grade metamorphic sequences of different age from the Peloritan Mountains, Sicily, have been analysed for major and trace elements. On the basis of the relative abundances of certain comparatively immobile elements (especially Zr, Ti, Nb, and Y) the petrogenetic affinities of the volcanic rocks in each area have been established. The Fiumara Fitalia sequence contains Lower Devonian within-plate alkaline basalts, the Ogliastrello sequence contains Upper Devonian continental within-plate calc-alkaline basalts and the Randazzo-Floresta road sequence contains Lower Carboniferous calc-alkaline basalts probably of island arc affinity. When account is taken of their stratigraphic positions, geochemical characteristics of the volcanic rocks indicate Devonian extensional conditions and Lower Carboniferous compressional conditions. Evidence for Lower Devonian extension is present in several circum-Mediterranean basins (i.e. Calabria, Sardinia, Carnic Alps). In the Peloritan Mountains, as well as in Calabria and Sardinia, extensional conditions were already present in the Cambro-Ordovician. The compression in the Calabrian-Peloritan Arc was probably related to a period of subduction during the Hercynian orogeny and resulted in the closure of the basins in the Carboniferous.     

GIS techniques for regional-scale landslide susceptibility assessment: the Sicily (Italy) case study

This study describes the assessment of landslide susceptibility in Sicily (Italy) at a 1:100,000 scale using a multivariate logistic regression model. The model was implemented in a GIS environment by using the ArcSDM (Arc Spatial Data Modeller) module, modified to develop spatial prediction through regional data sets. A newly developed algorithm was used to automatically extract the detachment area from mapped landslide polygons. The following factors were selected as independent variables of the logistic regression model: slope gradient, lithology, land cover, a curve number derived index and a pluviometric anomaly index. The above-described configuration has been verified to be the best one among others employing from three to eight factors. All the regression coefficients and parameters were calculated using selected landslide training data sets. The results of the analysis were validated using an independent landslide data set. On an average, 82% of the area affected by instability and 79% of the not affected area were correctly classified by the model, which proved to be a useful tool for planners and decision-makers.     

Etna and the Perception of Volcanic Risk

Sicily's uneven geological structure is positioned within a system of tectonic plates, and its very active volcano has always made it prone to disasters. Many Sicilian cities have in fact been destroyed by natural events many times over the centuries. This can certainly be understood negatively as the destruction of entire towns, the emission of volcanic ash, and the mutation of landscapes by a terrifying force have instilled fearful memories in local populations. But from another point of view one must consider the positive elements of Etna. Its beautiful landscapes were a major attraction on the Grand Tour, and its inhabitants have long associated the volcano with the concept of rebirth and fertility. This paper analyzes two age groups of residents in the town of Nicolosi and is a small part of an ongoing research project that is much more complex, involving representative samples of the entire population of several towns around Etna.     

GIS analysis to assess landslide susceptibility in a fluvial basin of NW Sicily (Italy)

Landslide hazard assessment, effected by means of geostatistical methods, is based on the analysis of the relationships between landslides and the spatial distributions of some instability factors. Frequently such analyses are based on landslide inventories in which each record represents the entire unstable area and is managed as a single instability landform. In this research, landslide susceptibility is evaluated through the study of a variety of instability landforms: landslides, scarps and areas uphill from crown. The instability factors selected were: bedrock lithology, steepness, topographic wetness index and stream power index. The instability landform densities computed for all the factors, which were arranged in Unique Condition Unit, allowed us to derive a total of three prediction images for each landslide typology. The role of the instability factors and the effects generated by the use of different landforms were analyzed by means of: a) bivariate analysis of the relationships between factors and landslide density; b) predictive power validations of the prediction images, based on a random partition strategy.The test area was the Iato River Basin (North-Western Sicily), whose slopes are moderately involved in flow and rotational slide landslides (219 and 28, respectively). The area is mainly made up of the following complexes: Numidian Flysch clays (19%, 1%), Terravecchia sandy clays (5%, 1%), Terravecchia clayey sands (3%, 0.3%) and San Cipirello marly clays (9%, 0%). The steepness parameter shows the highest landslide density in the [11–19°] class for both the typologies (8%, 1%), even if the density distributions for rotational slides are right-asymmetric and right-shifted. We obtained significant differences in shape when we used different instability landforms. Unlike scarps and areas uphill from crowns, landslide areas produce left-asymmetric and left-shifted density distributions for both the typologies. As far as the topographic wetness index is concerned, much more pronounced differences were detected among the instability landforms of rotational slides. In contrast, the flow landslides produce normal-like density distributions. The latter and the rotational slide landslide areas produce the highest density values in the class [5.5–6.7], despite an abrupt decreasing trend starting from the first class [3.2–4.4], which is generated by the density values of the rotational slide scarps and areas uphill from crowns. The stream power index at the foot of the slopes, which was automatically derived using a GIS-procedure, shows a positive correlation with the landslide densities marked by the maximum classes: [4.8–6.0] for flows, and [6.0–7.2] for rotational slides. The validation procedure results confirmed that the choice of instability landform influences the results of the susceptibility analysis. Furthermore, the validation procedure indicates that: a) the predictive models are generally satisfactory; b) scarps and zones uphill from crown areas are the most diagnostically unstable landforms, for flow and rotational slide landslides respectively.     

Sedimentology, petrography and geochemistry of a limestone breccia (Pietra di Billiemi) from north-west Sicily, Italy: implications for evolution of the Tethyan basins around the Triassic/Jurassic boundary

In this study, the Pietra di Billiemi , a famous dimension stone, is investigated because it records the tectonic evolution of the south Tethys continental margin and preserves a record of major environmental changes occurring near the Triassic/Jurassic boundary. The Pietra di Billiemi is a grey, coarse-grained and clast-supported limestone breccia cropping out in an area of the Palermo Mountains representing a segment of the Apennine–Maghrebian chain in western Sicily. The rock consists of metre-sized to centimetre-sized angular clasts, derived from Upper Triassic sponge boundstones and rudstones, with a differently coloured, silt-grained matrix. Fitted fragments are observed commonly which suggest an in situ origin for the bulk of the breccia. The matrix is characterized by the absence of biogenic components and by variable mineralogy and geochemistry. Petrographic features and Sr-isotope values indicate that the most important and earliest fillings of the breccia consist of black matrix and white matrix temporally referable to Hettangian–Sinemurian times. Clotted micrite, carbonate fluorapatite and abundant pyrite, in addition to relatively high contents of redox-sensitive elements (V, Ni, Zn and S), are consistent with deposition in anoxic conditions that favoured microbial mediation for authigenic carbonate (calcite and dolomite) precipitation in the matrix. As a whole, the Billiemi breccia can be considered a product of tectonic fragmentation of a Tethyan carbonate platform edge around the Triassic/Jurassic boundary, formed when the drowned platform edge was covered by hemipelagic mudstones recording the anoxic conditions existing during Early Jurassic times.     

BAROQUE DISRUPTIONS IN VAL DI NOTO,SICILY*

Two earthquakes that struck Sicily nearly three centuries apart provide the basis for an interpretation of subsequent events. After the 1693 earthquake, local inhabitants rebuilt their towns in a version of baroque architecture that is unique to the region. After the 1990 quake, their descendants mounted a campaign to restore the crumbling landscapes and then, years later, to unite in opposition against an oil company that threatened the newly restored sites. Michel Serres's theory of the “parasite” informs a reading of the earthquakes and the events that followed them as agents that disrupted the flow of human‐environment relationships and produced hybridized landscapes and political alliances. In this way the Sicilian baroque is both a style of architecture and a mode of social and political mobilization.     

Environmental Hazard of Capable Faults: The Case of the Pernicana Fault (Mt. Etna,Sicily

When dealing with hazard, the concept of fault capability (the probability of significant surface displacement in the near future) is more useful than the generic and often misleading concept of fault activity. The example of the Pernicana fault, located in the north-eastern flank of the Mt. Etna volcano is used here to illustrate the damage which can be expected in an urbanised area from a capable fault, in this case characterized by 'aseismic creep along part of its length. Along this fault, buildings, roads and other essential lifelines are being affected by slow, left-lateral displacement. The Pernicana fault is only one of a set of structures in the area whose movement, either connected to seismicity or not, is producing severe damage. First identified at the end of the last century, this source of hazard is, nevertheless, still poorly considered by planners and technicians. In Italy fault creep is quite rare outside the Etna region, but fault capability associated with strong earthquakes is relatively frequent, based on historical and palaeoseismological data, and is a feature that should be taken into account for hazard reduction programs.     

The effect of the temporal resolution of the wind forcing on a central Mediterranean Sea model

The impact of the wind forcing temporal resolution in the central Mediterranean Sea is addressed using a numerical ocean circulation model. The model uses interactive surface fluxes based on the ERA-Interim 6-hourly atmospheric reanalyses except for the 10 m wind for which ERA5 hourly reanalyses are used. Additional temporal resolution (2, 3, 6, 12 and 24 h) wind sets are deduced from the ERA5 hourly data. An ensemble of simulations (six members) is then performed where only the temporal resolution of the wind forcing is changed. The impact of the temporal resolution is studied based on this set of simulations. The dependence of the surface wind stress and heat flux on the wind resolution is derived based on an analytical expression where the Weibull distribution is used to characterise the probability density function of the wind speed. Results from the analytical model are found close to those from the numerical model when a linear increase of the exchange coefficients with the wind speed is considered. Power input into the sea and surface heat loss both increase with the increase of the temporal resolution but at lower rates when approaching hourly forcing values. The increase of the latent heat loss at these high resolutions is small (~−0.8 Wm^-2) but still important, around 10–20% the Mediterranean basin heat budget (−5 to −7 Wm^-2). The increase of the wind forcing temporal resolution decreases the sea surface temperature (SST) and increases the sea surface salinity (SSS) with largest values in the shallow area of the Gulf of Gabès (eastern coast of Tunisia). A decrease of SSS is however noticed in some areas mainly northwest of the Tunisia coast. Hydrographical changes are also found in the Tunisia-Sicily channel. They are characterised by mesoscale structures with no remarkable change of the major water veins.     

Seasonal variability of water transport through the Straits of Gibraltar, Sicily and Corsica, derived from a high-resolution model of the Mediterranean circulation

The variability of the water transport through three major straits of the Mediterranean Sea (Gibraltar, Sicily and Corsica) was investigated using a high-resolution model. This model of the Mediterranean circulation was developed in the context of the Mercator project.The region of interest is the western Mediterranean between the Strait of Gibraltar and the Strait of Sicily. The major water masses and the winter convection in the Gulf of Lions were simulated. The model reproduced the meso-scale and large-scale patterns of the circulation in very good agreement with recent observations. The western and the eastern gyres of the Alboran Sea were observed but high interannual variability was noticed. The Algerian Current splits into several branches at the longitude of the Strait of Sicily level, forming the Tyrrhenian branch, and, the Atlantic Ionian Stream and the Atlantic Tunisian Current in the eastern Mediterranean. The North Current retroflexed north of the Balearic Islands and a dome structure was observed in the Gulf of Lions. The cyclonic barotropic Algerian gyre, which was recently observed during the MATER and ELISA experiment, was evidenced in the simulation.From time-series of 10-day mean transport, the three straits presented a high variability at short time-scales. The transport was generally maximum, in April for the Strait of Gibraltar, in November for the Strait of Sicily, and in January for the Strait of Corsica. The amplitudes of the transport through the Straits of Gibraltar (0.11 Sv) and Sicily (0.30 Sv) presented a weaker seasonal variability than that of the Strait of Corsica (0.70 Sv).The study of the relation between transport and wind forcing showed that the transport through the Strait of Gibraltar is dependent on local zonal wind over short time-scales (70%), which was not the case for the other straits (less than 30%). The maximum (minimum) of the transport occurred for an eastward (westward) wind stress in the strait. An interannual event was noticed in November–December 2001, which corresponded to a very low transport (0.3 Sv), which was characterised by a cyclonic circulation in the western Alboran Sea. That circulation was also reproduced by the model for other periods than winter during the interannual simulation.The transport through the Strait of Sicily is not influenced by local wind.The wind stress curl of the northwestern Mediterranean influenced the transport through the Strait of Corsica.     

Spatial variability of Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile epiphytes around the mainland and the islands of Sicily (Mediterranean Sea)

This paper investigates patterns of variability in epiphytes of Posidonia oceanica leaves at various spatial scales around Sicily, including geographical differences among the Mediterranean basins, differences between the small islands and mainland, and the variability among and within replicated meadows in each of the previous conditions. Data on percentage cover of the most common epiphytic organisms were analysed by univariate techniques. Encrusting red algae, encrusting brown algae, filamentous algae, encrusting bryozoans, erect bryozoans, hydroids and Foraminifera were the most abundant taxa. Significant differences in the abundance of taxa were detected among geographical regions, while no significant differences were found between the islands and mainland. At smaller scales, variability was concentrated mostly among leaves 100s of centimetres apart and among meadows a few kilometres apart. These results suggest that both geographical and local processes are important in structuring the epiphytes of P. oceanica leaves in this area of the Mediterranean.