1,720,967 research outputs found
Sedimentological and pedological study of some pedogenized intervals of the Plio-Pleistocene Upper Valdarno Basin
No full textTectonic and sedimentary evolution of the Upper Valdarno Basin: new insights from the lacustrine S. Barbara Basin
No full textWe describe stratigraphic, structural and kinematic data from the sediments of the Upper Pliocene Santa Barbara Basin and from its substratum. The results shed light on the relationships between tectonics and sedimentation in the larger Late Pliocene-Middle Pleistocene Upper Valdarno Basin of which the Santa Barbara Basin is considered a precursor. The sediments filling up the Santa Bar- bara Basin are made up of alluvial to deltaic and lacustrine deposits, grouped in the Castelnuovo dei Sabbioni (CSB) Synthem, related to Late Pliocene. This synthem was deposited in a tectonic depression reasonably delimited to the East by a west-dipping normal fault sys- tem and delimited to the North and to the South by left-lateral trans- tensional shear zones, which controlled the main directions of the alluvial drainage. During Early Pleistocene, a new master normal fault system (Trappola fault system) developed further to the East, determining the widening of the previous tectonic depression, now delimited to the North and to the South by the regional Piombino- Faenza and Arbia-Val Marecchia transfer zones, respectively. In this new tectonic depression, with a dominant axial drainage direction, alluvial, fluvio-aeolian and fluvial sediments (Montevarchi Synthem, VRC) deposited during Early Pleistocene. The VRC Synthem, being located in the hanging-wall of the Trappola normal fault system, is slightly tilted to the NE. Finally, during Early-Middle Pleistocene, axial fluvial deposits (Torrente Ciuffenna Synthem, UFF), sealed the previously formed brittle structures. Our kinematic and structural data allow us to confirm the interpretation that the Santa Barbara Basin is the precursor of the Upper Valdarno Basin and that both basins developed in structural depressions formed by the interplay between normal and transfer faults, framed in the extensional tectonics which characterizes Tuscany since Miocene
Tectonic and sedimentary evolution of the Upper Valdarno Basin: new insights from the lacustrine S. Barbara Basin
No full textWe describe stratigraphic, structural and kinematic data from the sediments of the Upper Pliocene Santa Barbara Basin and from its substratum. The results shed light on the relationships between tectonics and sedimentation in the larger Late Pliocene-Middle Pleistocene Upper Valdarno Basin of which the Santa Barbara Basin is considered a precursor. The sediments filling up the Santa Barbara Basin are made up of alluvial to deltaic and lacustrine deposits, grouped in the Castelnuovo dei Sabbioni (CSB) Synthem, related to Late Pliocene. This synthem was deposited in a tectonic depression reasonably delimited to the East by a west-dipping normal fault system and delimited to the North and to the South by left-lateral trans-tensional shear zones, which controlled the main directions of the alluvial drainage. During Early Pleistocene, a new master normal fault system (Trappola fault system) developed further to the East, determining the widening of the previous tectonic depression, now delimited to the North and to the South by the regional Piombino-Faenza and Arbia-Val Marecchia transfer zones, respectively. In this new tectonic depression, with a dominant axial drainage direction, alluvial, fluvio-aeolian and fluvial sediments (Montevarchi Synthem, VRC) deposited during Early Pleistocene. The VRC Synthem, being located in the hanging-wall of the Trappola normal fault system, is slightly tilted to the NE. Finally, during Early-Middle Pleistocene, axial fluvial deposits (Torrente Ciuffenna Synthem, UFF), sealed the previously formed brittle structures. Our kinematic and structural data allow us to confirm the interpretation that the Santa Barbara Basin is the precursor of the Upper Valdarno Basin and that both basins developed in structural depressions formed by the interplay between normal and transfer faults, framed in the extensional tectonics which characterizes Tuscany since Miocene
Integrating sedimentological and palaeopedological data for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction: Examples from the Plio-Pleistocene Upper Valdarno Basin (Northern Apennines, Italy)
No full textThe study of palaeosols, coupled with the classical methods of process sedimentology, is increasingly becoming a powerful tool for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. The intrinsic complementarity of these two methods, which record the effects of processes developing over different periods of time, allows to improve the detail of facies analysis. This type of approach has actually never been adopted for the Upper Valdarno Basin, which is one of the best-known continental Plio-Pleistocene basins of the Northern Apennines. The aim of this paper is to document the existence of pedogenized intervals within the Upper Valdarno basin fill and to describe and charac - terize them in terms of sedimentary and pedogenic processes. Thus we tested this approach on four stratigraphic intervals, selected within the whole succession because of their particular significance in the basin history. Deposits have been described and interpreted in terms of sedimentary facies and pedologic characteristics, with particular attention on the inferred relative temporal relationships between sedimentary and pedogenic processes. This led to several considerations about landscape stability and evolution, accommodation and sedimentation rates, which are not commonly possible with the analysis of single-event deposits. © Società Geologica Italiana, Roma 2013
Geomorphological characterization, monitoring and modeling of the Monte Rotolon complex landslide (Recoaro Terme, Italy)
No full textThe Rotolon landslide, located in the upper Agno River valley (Vicenza, Italy), has threatened the valley for centuries. During November 2010, after 637 mm of rainfall in 12 days, a debris mass of about 225,000 m3 collapsed from the lowermost portion of the landslide and evolved into a debris flow that channeled in the Rotolon Creek riverbed, damaging the villages of Maltaure and Parlati in the Recoaro Terme municipality. On December 8th, 2010 the Department of Earth Sciences of the University of Firenze started a real-time monitoring using a GB-InSAR radar interferometer. The radar data are elaborated to obtain weekly, monthly and total cumulated 3D displacement maps and displacement time series of ten control points selected on the landslide mass. Accurate field surveys were carried out to analyze the landslide physiographic features and to validate the ground deformation retrieved from the radar data. The geomorphological features, supported by the radar data, led to an interpretation of the complex Rotolon landslide as a Deep Seated Gravitational Slope Deformation, whose detrital cover is often affected by detachments triggering debris flows. The November 2010 detachment area was modeled in order to: (i) calculate the main geotechnical properties of the collapsed material by means of a back analysis; (ii) define the residual risk; (iii) simulate new critical scenarios for the new topographic slope surface
Geomorphology of the Rotolon landslide (Veneto Region, Italy)
No full textIn this paper a geomorphological map of the Rotolon landslide is presented. This cartographic product was obtained using a combination of accurate field surveys together with airborne Lidar analysis, aerial photo interpretation and thermographic field surveys within a GIS. The map was prepared in order to analyze the morphological features of the landslide and therefore improve interpretation of the GB-InSAR data. This monitoring device was installed on the site after the detachment of a debris mass of 225,000 m3 on 4 November 2010. The main purpose of the post-event activities, including the geomorphological characterization, was to detect the processes acting on the landslide, evaluate the hazard related to each phenomenon, understand the landslide kinematics and define the residual risk for the area.The geomorphological map suggests that debris production and detachment are hazardous phenomena that involve the surficial detrital cover of a bigger and more complex landslide. The latter has the typical characteristics of a deep-seated gravitational slope deformation. The distinction between secondary processes, which appear to be the most hazardous in the short-term, and deep seated ones, demonstrates that accurate mapping provides important information for local administrations and decision makers, allowing them to prepare landslide susceptibility and hazard models
Enhancing the resilience of local communities threated by natural disaster: the experience of the Project "Shkoder", (Albania)
No full textThe vulnerability of Albanian population to natural disasters is due to poverty, inadequate infrastructures (e.g.
communication network, basic public facilities and works of soil protection), an uncontrollable building boom and
a range of environmental factors, both geomorphological and geological. The greatest disaster threats in Albania
are those related to severe earthquakes and large-scale riverine floods. Geohazards assessment is a crucial point for
Albania, which has been subject to a rapid development after the recent political changes, resulting in a general
land degradation. Also the rate of migration from rural areas to the most urbanized areas currently represents
a major problem for the National Civil Protection, since the urban sprawl in the suburbs are often located in
high-risk areas, particularly vulnerable to natural hazards. The National Civil Protection system, in terms of
subsidiary institutional and volunteer components, is relatively young in Albania. The progressive decentralization
of the administrative competences triggered by the recent political changes is accompanied by the acquisition of
new territorial information and the development of specific protocols for the emergency management, as well as
the risk reduction. The management of natural disasters demands not only an early response to the criticalities,
but also a correct mapping of the damage and the development of emergency plans for future events in order to
protect lives, properties and the environment and moreover to spread the risk awareness in the population and to
prepare it for such circumstances.
The main purposes of the Pilot Project “Shkoder” is to enhance the resilience of a little community, located 9
kilometers south-west of Shkodra (Northern Albania), to flooding and earthquakes and to promote the subsidiarity
principle by means of:
a) demonstrating how basic information for the disaster planning (collected with a real demonstrative field survey)
and the risk scenarios can be obtained using relatively simple and low-cost technologies and methods, whose easy
accessibility is fundamental for government and academic institutions of poorly developed countries;
b) training of the local community (public administrations and volunteers) on the themes of natural risk, disaster
prevention and emergency management;
c) creating an efficient Civil Protection volunteer system, able to cooperate with the local governmental and
scientific institutions in case of natural disasters.
The evaluation of the flooding risk in the study area has been carried out by means of HEC-RAS software,
while the seismic vulnerability of strategic buildings has been estimated by microtremors analysis. A two-days
course has been performed to expose the main results of the field survey and to train the beneficiaries on local
vulnerabilities, emergency behaviours and roles. Finally the local authorities and the volunteers, by working
together under the supervision of the Italian institutions (National Civil Protection Department and University of
Firenze), promoted and realized the first national civil protection relief drill in Albania
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
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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