1,721,030 research outputs found
Geomorphologic response of fluvial and coastal terraces to Quaternary tectonics and climate as revealed by geostatistical topographic analysis
No full textaccepted article online since 09/02/201
The Use of the Stream Length-Gradient Index in morphotectonic analysis of small catchments: a case study from central Italy
No full textDrainage system adjustment in response to the opening of the Rieti intermontane basin (Central Italy): geostatistical reconstruction of the PaleoFarfa River alluvial plain
No full textA spatiotemporal object-oriented data model for landslides (LOOM)
Full text linkLOOM (landslide object-oriented model) is here presented as a data structure for landslide inventories based on the object-oriented paradigm. It aims at the effective storage, in a single dataset, of the complex spatial and temporal relations between landslides recorded and mapped in an area and at their manipulation. Spatial relations are handled through a hierarchical classification based on topological rules and two levels of aggregation are defined: (i) landslide complexes, grouping spatially connected landslides of the same type, and (ii) landslide systems, merging landslides of any type sharing a spatial connection. For the aggregation procedure, a minimal functional interaction between landslide objects has been defined as a spatial overlap between objects. Temporal characterization of landslides is achieved by assigning to each object an exact date or a time range for its occurrence, integrating both the time frame and the event-based approaches. The sum of spatial integrity and temporal characterization ensures the storage of vertical relations between landslides, so that the superimposition of events can be easily retrieved querying the temporal dataset. The here proposed methodology for landslides inventorying has been tested on selected case studies in the Cilento UNESCO Global Geopark (Italy). We demonstrate that the proposed LOOM model avoids data fragmentation or redundancy and topological inconsistency between the digital data and the real-world features. This application revealed to be powerful for the reconstruction of the gravity-induced deformation history of hillslopes, thus for the prediction of their evolution
European Museums’ Night 2024: understanding radiometric dating through a scavenger hunt inside the MUST (Museo Universitario di Scienze della Terra, Sapienza)
No full textHands-on activities are experiential learning opportunities that allow students to engage with a topic
through direct interaction. These “learning by doing” activities achieve, through the active involvement of the participants, an improved understanding and a long term retention of the studied topics. Hands-on activities allow to see, touch, manipulate, hear and even smell or taste aspects of the learning material, in a process that caters to the needs of students with different learning styles. When involving collaboration and teamwork, hands-on activities are also powerful tools to improve students’ soft skills. Such tools, if introduced in dissemination and outreach activities, can have an effective impact in enhancing the understanding of difficult topics (e.g. the concept of deep time) by the general public. For this reason, during the European night of Museums 2024, at the Sapienza University Museum of Earth Sciences in Rome (MUST), children and young adults were offered the opportunity to join a scavenger hunt and to date their geological find. This activity used recycled materials such as bottle caps and paper clips to build specimens that explain the basic concepts of radioactive decay and half-life. The participants witnessed radioactive decay “in real time” by manipulating the specimens and watching the caps “decaying” into paperclips and then proceeded to the radiometric dating of their own sample based on its caps to paper clips ratio
River terraces in the Fiume Tronto drainage basin: a contribution to morphotectonic investigation
No full textThe aim of this work is to provide a methodological input based on geostatistical topographic analyses for the detection of morphological anomalies induced by neocectonic activity on fluvial terrace surfaces. The study area corresponds to the distal portion of the Fiume Tronto drainage basin (Southern Marche region of Central Italy); the basin developed on Plio-Pleistocene marine terrigenous deposits and its arrangement was strongly influenced by Quaternary uplift and regional WSW-ENE and E-W trending fault zones. Detailed surveys allowed to verify the location of surfaces, at several levels: they are the remnants of Quaternary fluvial terraces, formed in response to both climatic oscillations and regional uplift. Several points at the top of the surfaces were sampled by GPS and then geostatistically processed (Kriging method) to provide an unbiased interpretation of the chronological sequence of terraces. The geometrical setting of the terraces seems strongly influenced by the regional uplift and by the activity of the Tronto major fault. Results of geostatistical analysis, compared to the DTM indicated that minor Quaternary faults dislocated the terraces, This is in agreement with the outcomes of previous works, thus confirming the usefulness of this methodological approach in the study of fluvial terraces as neotectonic indicators
Detection of Quaternary tectonic deformations through quantitative morphotectonic analysis in a drainage basin of northern Sicily (Italy)
No full text
Seismic response of landslides to natural and man-induced ground vibrations. Evidence from the Petacciato coastal slope (central Italy)
No full textThis study focuses on the vibrational response of a landslide mass to natural and man-induced vibrations. The landslide is located in the Molise region (Italy) and involves a coastal slope extending approximately 5 km2, from the Petacciato village to the coastline. The landslide activity is well documented since 1909 with historical reactivations and resulted in severe damage to infrastructure and to the ancient village. This activity is characterised by a roto-translational mechanism involving blue clays, sands, and conglomerates of Pleistocene age. A multitemporal geomorphological analysis of the landslide activity allowed us to detect a retrogressive style corresponding to the crown area as well as a prograding toe that reaches the submerged nearshore. Seismic ambient noise measurements revealed that the local seismic amplification is strictly concentrated in the backcrown area, i.e., the area affected by the most recent retrogressive effects of the landslide mass. Moreover, ground vibrations generated by train transits were analysed to identify possible amplification phenomena of dynamic external input, that can occur inside the landslide mass with respect to the surrounding area. Therefore, a Spectral Aggravation Index (SAI) was defined by the ratio between the Fourier spectrum during train transit and that obtained for an equal time window in the absence of train traffic sources. The SAI was applied to compare the response to man-induced vibrations inside the landslide mass with the one outside, by computing a ratio of the SAI at different measurement points inside/outside the landslide mass. The obtained results highlight the intense activity of the landslide both in space and time, revealing a joining between the ongoing retreat areas, surveyed by multitemporal geomorphological analysis, and local seismic response, by geophysical investigations. On the other hand, most of the landslide mass from the middle- to downslope position is not resonant and its higher damping causes a lower intensity of ground motion in response to man-induced vibrations with respect to the surrounding areas
Quaternary rock avalanches in the Apennines. New data and interpretation of the huge clastic deposit of the L'Aquila Basin (central Italy)
No full textIn this paper we inferred the origin of a huge clastic deposit (i.e. L'Aquila Breccia) which widely crops out within the L'Aquila intermontane basin, a tectonic depression in central Apennines, that is bounded by seismogenic active faults, as demonstrated by the earthquake occurred on April 6, 2009 (Mw 6.1). The genesis of this deposit is still debated in the literature: for this reason, a number of methods have been applied, mainly aimed at evidencing its geomorphological and sedimentological features, as well as at defining its geometry and volume through cross sections constrained by borehole data and field observations. On the basis of the obtained results, we identified such deposit as resulting from a Quaternary rock avalanche event. In particular, the rock avalanche would have detached during the cold climate phases of late Middle Pleistocene from the southern slope of the Gran Sasso Range, a sector characterized by the presence of numerous DGSD-related landforms. We performed morphometric analyses of the Gran Sasso slope, in order to define the potential source area of the inferred rock avalanche and, according to the results, the volume estimated from this area (about 108 m3) is coherent with the volume calculated for the preserved rock avalanche deposit. Furthermore, we analyzed the main features of the deposit (i.e. age and morphometric parameters) also in the light of similar rock avalanche events occurred in the same region during the Quaternary, with the aim of discussing potential analogues and better understanding the role of gravity-induced processes in the Quaternary morpho-evolution of the Apennine chain
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