1,721,005 research outputs found
Le forme del vuoto. Una guida per vedere le grotte con occhi diversi.
No full textLibro che descrive e spiega le forme, i depositi e gli speleotemi nelle grotte, con molte foto e disegni originali di Veronica Chiarini
Underground Geodiversity of Italian Show Caves: an Overview
Full text linkAbout a fifth of the Italian territory is characterised by the presence of soluble rocks, consisting mainly of limestone and
dolostone but also of marble and evaporite rocks (gypsum). More than 50,000 natural caves are currently known in this
country, a number that is constantly increasing thanks to speleological exploration. Less than 1% of these caves are equipped
for visits, and only 64 can be defined as real show (tourist) caves. In the latter, it is necessary to buy an entrance ticket, visits
take place only accompanied by a guide, and the underground trail is equipped with paths, walkways and, generally, lighting
systems. The Italian show caves expose a great geodiversity and biodiversity, often accompanied by a considerable historical
and/or archaeological interest. The underground geodiversity of Italian show caves is related to the variety of lithologies
characterising this territory and to the geomorphological and geodynamic processes that have been active during different
geological periods. Important scientific research has taken place in many of these caves, and several of these fragile environments
are monitored continuously to verify their environmental conditions
A Global Perspective on Sustainable Show Cave Tourism
Full text linkCaves are among the most visited geological features in the world, attracting over 70 million people every year in more than 1,200 caves worldwide, and amounting up to 800 million Euros in entrance fees alone. The global business of show caves employs roughly 25,000 people directly (management, guides), and at least 100 times more people if we consider the connected tourist activities (souvenir shops, local transport, travel agencies, restaurants, and bars). It is estimated that the whole show cave business has a global commercial value of roughly 2 billion Euros, a number that is increasing constantly. Show caves are generally fragile ecosystems, and care should be taken in their management to safeguard their value for future generations. The international scientific (speleological) community has issued international guidelines for the sustainable development and management of show caves eight years ago, but their application is still far from being applied globally, especially in developing and least developed countries. Cave tourism is expected to increase, especially in countries where caves are abundant but not yet considered as tourist attractions, and where economic and political instability slow down the development of tourism. There are still a lot of possibilities for the opening of new show caves, especially in countries with low Gross Domestic Income (GDI), but their management needs to be sustainable, so that caves become a means of sustaining local economies, educating people on these fragile geo- and ecosystems, and protecting contemporarily their scientific and cultural heritage for future generations. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12371-022-00717-5
Note di speleogenesi nei gessi di Brisighella e Rontana
Full text linkIn questa breve nota vengono illustrati i processi e meccanismi che hanno portato alla formazione
dei sistemi carsici nelle aree gessose di Brisighella e Rontana. La morfologia delle grotte indica una
loro forte influenza strutturale ed una loro formazione abbastanza recente, almeno rispetto ad
altre zone della Vena del Gesso, avvenuta probabilmente nell’arco degli ultimi 20.000 anni. Le datazioni
U/Th di alcune colate carbonatiche in alcune di queste grotte sembrano avvalorare questa
ipotesi. Resti e frammenti di antiche grotte e colate (100 ka) sono state trovate nella parte alta dei
rilievi e future datazioni potranno fornire ulteriori elementi
Ricostruzioni paleoclimatiche del Peri-Adriatico attraverso speleotemi: primi risultati
No full textNell’ambito di una tesi di dottorato presso l’Università di Bologna e l’Université de Savoie (Francia), ed in
collaborazione con l’Università di Melbourne (Australia), si sta portando avanti un ambizioso progetto di ricerca
con l’intento di individuare dei record paleoclimatici in speleotemi campionati in grotte d’Italia e del Carso
dinarico. In questa prima fase di campionamento, grazie al coinvolgimento degli speleologi locali, sono state
raccolte stalagmiti e colate già rotte in precedenza in grotte della Puglia, dell’Emilia Romagna, del Triestino,
della Slovenia, e della Bosnia Erzegovina. I campioni sono stati tagliati longitudinalmente lungo l’asse di
accrescimento e poi lucidati. Dei campioni più promettenti (con laminazione ben visibile, calcite primaria pulita,
senza evidenti segni di ricristalizzazione) sono stati datati bottom e top per il loro inquadramento cronologico. Il
successivo campionamento a microdrilling ha permesso di ricavare le polveri utili per le analisi degli isotopi
stabili dell’ossigeno e del carbonio, effettuate tramite spettrometria di massa. Tali studi permetteranno di
ricostruire il clima del passato delle aree di campionamento, fornendo un valido contributo allo studio
paleoclimatico del Mediterraneo centrale
Datazioni di speleotemi carbonatici nei Gessi dell'Emilia-Romagna: implicazioni speleogenetiche e paleoclimatiche
No full textIn Emilia-Romagna la stragrande maggioranza delle grotte si sviluppa nei gessi, sia triassici che messiniani. Tali
rocce evaporitiche, pur rappresentando solo l’1% delle superfici affioranti, ospitano oltre 600 grotte, tra cui la
grotta epigenica nei gessi più lunga del mondo (il Sistema Spipola-Acquafredda nei gessi Bolognesi con oltre 11
km di passaggi rilevati) e quella più profonda (il Sistema del Monte Caldina, profondo 265 metri). A causa della
rapida dissoluzione del gesso queste grotte sono sempre state considerate di genesi relativamente recente (ultimi
20000 anni o poco più). In presenza di importanti concentrazioni di CO2, dalle acque sature in calcio e solfati
presenti in queste cavità naturali, precipita calcite portando alla formazione di concrezioni carbonatiche. Tali
concrezioni, diffuse in molte grotte emiliano-romagnole, possono essere datate con il metodo dell’U/Th,
fornendo delle età minime di formazione dei condotti in cui si sono depositate. Nell’ambito di due tesi di
dottorato sono state campionate e datate concrezioni di calcite in una decina di grotte e località esterne della
Vena del Gesso e dei Gessi Bolognesi. Tali analisi hanno identificato colate con età fino a 316 mila anni,
testimoniando che le grotte esistevano già da allora. Il sistema carsico più antico ancora attivo oggi è quello del
Re Tiberio, nella Vena del Gesso, che ha iniziato a formarsi almeno 130 mila anni f
Gypsum cave notches and their palaeoenvironmental significance: A combined morphometric study using terrestrial laser scanning, traditional cave mapping, and geomorphological observations
Full text linkTerrestrial laser scanning has shown to be a very powerful method for the study and monitoring of caves. The high density of acquired points allows geostatistical methods to be used in the elaboration of large datasets on different depositional and erosional morphologies on cave walls, roof and floor. Here we describe a multidis- ciplinary morphometric study on cave wall morphologies and sediments in a multi-level gypsum cave system in the northern Apennines (Italy) with the objective of finding the direction of water flow that created these pas- sages over hundred thousand years ago. The analysis of the traditional cave map (in long profile) suggests an overall, albeit very low, north-west inclination of the cave passages. However, other definitive indicators of flow direction, such as scallops, are absent which restricts the verification of this interpretation. The laser scanner- derived 3D point clouds of the cave wall notches of the main level have been analysed using different methods to verify the paleocurrent direction. However, statistical analyses of the point cloud data have yielded inconclusive results, even if most flow-related morphologies appear to be gently sloping towards north-west, where the present main cave entrance is found. Imbrication of fluvial sediments prevalently indicates the same direction. While no single method provided conclusive results on its own, the collective evidence strongly suggests an ESE to WNW paleocurrent flow, confirming the ancient resurgence nature of the cave gallery
A long continuous palaeoclimate-palaeoenvironmental record of the last glacial period from southern Italy and implications for the coexistence of Anatomically Modern Humans and Neanderthals
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Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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