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    Large reactivated earth flows in the northern Apennines (Italy): An overview

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    This paper proposes an overview on ancient earth flows and their reactivation mechanisms. All considerations made herein are the result of direct experience and observation of actual events which have occurred in the Northern Apennines from 1994 to 2006, when many large earth flows reactivated, 17 of which have been studied and monitored by the part of technical surveys of the Emilia-Romagna regional authority. Particular attention has been paid to the analysis of the evolution of landslides, acknowledging a typical, recurring succession of events that precede the failure of the slope. In general, the observation of past events has proved to be an useful mean for understanding which are the conditions and behaviours that usually lead to the reactivation of an ancient landslide body. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013

    Evidences for Paleo-Gas Hydrate Occurrence: What We Can Infer for the Miocene of the Northern Apennines (Italy)

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    The occurrence of seep-carbonates associated with shallow gas hydrates is increasingly documented in modern continental margins but in fossil sediments the recognition of gas hydrates is still challenging for the lack of unequivocal proxies. Here, we combined multiple field and geochemical indicators for paleo-gas hydrate occurrence based on present-day analogues to investigate fossil seeps located in the northern Apennines. We recognized clathrite-like structures such as thin-layered, spongy and vuggy textures and microbreccias. Non-gravitational cementation fabrics and pinch-out terminations in cavities within the seep-carbonate deposits are ascribed to irregularly oriented dissociation of gas hydrates. Additional evidences for paleo-gas hydrates are provided by the large dimensions of seep-carbonate masses and by the association with sedimentary instability in the host sediments. We report heavy oxygen isotopic values in the examined seep-carbonates up to +6h that are indicative of a contribution of isotopically heavier fluids released by gas hydrate decomposition. The calculation of the stability field of methane hydrates for the northern Apennine wedge-foredeep system during the Miocene indicated the potential occurrence of shallow gas hydrates in the upper few tens of meters of sedimentary column
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