Landslides are widespread along the north-western coast of the Island of Malta and are strictly linked to the structural setting. Exemplary cases of rock spreading and block sliding phenomena characterise this stretch of coast. They are favoured by the overposition of two different geological units widely outcropping there, the Blue Clay Formation and the Upper Coralline Limestone Formation. The latter forms a wide plateau, bordered by vertical cliffs. At the foot of the cliffs, clayey terrains crop out and develop gentle slopes covered by large blocks detached and moved by rock spreading and block sliding phenomena. These mass movements are favoured by the fragile behaviour of limestones, which cap clays, otherwise characterised by visco-plastic properties. In order to investigate the kinematics and the evolution of these types of coastal landslides, a multidisciplinary and multitechnical approach was applied on a study site, named Il-Prajjet, which provides a spectacular case of rock spreading evolving into block sliding. This paper illustrates the results achieved by means of different engineering geological and geophysical techniques allied with traditional detailed geomorphological survey and mapping. In particular, the surface displacements of the landslides were determined using long-term GPS observations, acquired approximately every 6 months, over a 4.5-year period. A network of GPS benchmarks were distributed on the edge of a limestone plateau affected by rock spreading and on a series of displaced blocks making up a large block slide, finally enabling the definition of the state of activity and the rates of movement to be performed. In addition, the results deriving from two continuous fissurimeters more recently installed at the edge of two persistent joints over the block sliding area are outlined, with reference to the correlation between variations of crack apertures and precipitation input. In order to identify main structural discontinuities and to reconstruct variability of underground surface contact between clays and overlying limestones, Resistivity Tomography profiles and GPR investigations were carried out. Finally, the results obtained by combining the outputs of geophysical surveys and different field monitoring activities can be considered a first step on which numerical models can be developed and validated, in order to assess landslide hazard and risk of this stretch of Maltese coastline. 相似文献
Framed into a robust stratigraphic context, multivariate analyses on the Holocene palaeobiological record (pollen, benthic foraminifers, ostracods) of the Po coastal plain (NE Italy) allowed the investigation of microtidal ecosystems variability and driving parameters along a 35-km-long land–sea transect. Millennial-scale ecosystem shifts are documented by coeval changes in the meiofauna, reflecting variations in organic matter–water depth (shallow-marine environments) and degree of confinement-salinity (back-barrier settings). In-phase shifts of vegetation communities track unsteady water-table levels and river dynamics in freshwater palustrine areas. Five environmental–ecological stages followed one another crossing four tipping points that mark changes in relative sea level (RSL), climate and/or fluvial regime. At the culmination of Mediterranean RSL rise, after the 8200 event, remarkable growth of peatlands took place in the Po estuary, while low accumulation rates typified the shelf. At the transgressive–regressive turnaround (~7000 cal a bp ), the estuary turned into a delta plain with tidally influenced interdistributary embayments. River flow regime oscillations after the Climate Optimum (post-5000 cal a bp ) favoured isolation of the bays and the development of brackish wetlands surrounded by wooded peatlands. The youngest threshold (~800 cal a bp ), which led to the establishment of the modern delta, reflects a major avulsion of the Po River. 相似文献
Astronomical tuning of the Messinian pre‐salt succession in the Levant Basin allows for the first time the reconstruction of a detailed chronology of the Messinian salinity crisis (MSC) events in deep setting and their correlation with marginal records that supports the CIESM ( 2008 ) 3‐stage model. Our main conclusions are (1) MSC events were synchronous across marginal and deep basins, (2) MSC onset in deep basins occurred at 5.97 Ma, (3) only foraminifera‐barren, evaporite‐free shales accumulated in deep settings between 5.97 and 5.60 Ma, (4) deep evaporites (anhydrite and halite) deposition started later, at 5.60 Ma and (5) new and published 87Sr/86Sr data indicate that during all stages, evaporites precipitated from the same water body in all the Mediterranean sub‐basins. The wide synchrony of events and 87Sr/86Sr homogeneity implies inter‐sub‐basin connection during the whole MSC and is not compatible with large sea‐level fall and desiccation of the Mediterranean. 相似文献
A seismic sequence in central Italy from August 2016 to January 2017 affected groundwater dynamics in fractured carbonate aquifers. Changes in spring discharge, water-table position, and streamflow were recorded for several months following nine Mw 5.0–6.5 seismic events. Data from 22 measurement sites, located within 100 km of the epicentral zones, were analyzed. The intensity of the induced changes were correlated with seismic magnitude and distance to epicenters. The additional post-seismic discharge from rivers and springs was found to be higher than 9 m3/s, totaling more than 0.1 km3 of groundwater release over 6 months. This huge and unexpected contribution increased streamflow in narrow mountainous valleys to previously unmeasured peak values. Analogously to the L’Aquila 2009 post-earthquake phenomenon, these hydrogeological changes might reflect an increase of bulk hydraulic conductivity at the aquifer scale, which would increase hydraulic heads in the discharge zones and lower them in some recharge areas. The observed changes may also be partly due to other mechanisms, such as shaking and/or squeezing effects related to intense subsidence in the core of the affected area, where effects had maximum extent, or breaching of hydraulic barriers.
Astrophysics and Space Science - Dynamical evolution of galaxies is a complex process, especially the centers. Gravitationally coupled gas and stellar discs have been observed to coexist in the... 相似文献
We investigate experimentally the depositions of two contiguous debris flows flowing into a main river reach.The aim of the present experimental research is to analyze the geometry and the mutual interactions of debris flow deposits conveyed by these tributaries in the main channel.A set of 19 experiments has been conducted considering three values of the confluence angle,two slopes of the tributary,and three different triggering conditions(debris flows occurring simultaneously in the tributaries,or occurring first either in the upstream or in the downstream tributary).The flow rate along the main channel was always kept constant.During each experiment the two tributaries had the same slope and confluence angle.The analysis of the data collected during the experimental tests indicates that the volume of the debris fan is mainly controlled by the slope angle,as expected,while the shape of the debris deposit is strongly influenced by the confluence angle.Moreover,in the case of multiple debris flows,the deposit shape is sensitive to the triggering conditions.Critical index for damming formation available in literature has been considered and applied to the present case,and,on the basis of the collected data,considerations about possible extension of such indexes to the case of multiple confluences are finally proposed. 相似文献
This paper reports experimental data on surface and deep displacements evaluated by means of GPS stations and inclinometers
in two rototranslational deep landslides in a clayey slope of the Italian Southern Apennines. The displacements of the landslides
cause continuous damage to buildings and infrastructures. To study these phenomena and control their effects, the local public
administration provided financial support for a geotechnical investigation that started in 2004. Laboratory tests, in situ
pore pressure and inclinometer measurements were carried out. In July 2006, systems of fixed-in-place inclinometer probes
with continuous data acquisition were installed in two of the eleven guide casings, in correspondence to the slip surfaces
detected by previous periodical measurements. In the meanwhile, a GPS network was installed, consisting in six permanent stations
and ten non-permanent ones. Among the latter, five were installed on the top of five inclinometer casings. The experimental
results show that, in the case under study, the surface displacements evaluated by means of the GPS stations are consistent
with the surface displacements evaluated by means of the inclinometer measurements. This implies mutual data validation, availability
of considerable amount of continuous data, as well as monitoring continuity when, for some reason, one of the instruments
goes out of use. 相似文献
Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) represents a valuable proxy able to detect subtle strain effects in very weakly
deformed sediments. In compressive tectonic settings, the magnetic lineation is commonly parallel to fold axes, thrust faults,
and local bedding strike, while in extensional regimes, it is perpendicular to normal faults and parallel to bedding dip directions.
The Altotiberina Fault (ATF) in the northern Apennines (Italy) is a Plio-Quaternary NNW–SSE low-angle normal fault; the sedimentary
basin (Tiber basin) at its hanging-wall is infilled with a syn-tectonic, sandy-clayey continental succession. We measured
the AMS of apparently undeformed sandy clays sampled at 12 sites within the Tiber basin. The anisotropy parameters suggest
that a primary sedimentary fabric has been overprinted by an incipient tectonic fabric. The magnetic lineation is well developed
at all sites, and at the sites from the western sector of the basin it is oriented sub-perpendicular to the trend of the ATF,
suggesting that it may be related to extensional strain. Conversely, the magnetic lineation of the sites from the eastern
sector has a prevailing N–S direction. The occurrence of triaxial to prolate AMS ellipsoids and sub-horizontal magnetic lineations
suggests that a maximum horizontal shortening along an E–W direction occurred at these sites. The presence of compressive
AMS features at the hanging-wall of the ATF can be explained by the presence of gently N–S-trending local folds (hardly visible
in the field) formed by either passive accommodation above an undulated fault plane, or rollover mechanism along antithetic
faults. The long-lasting debate on the extensional versus compressive Plio-Quaternary tectonics of the Apennines orogenic
belt should now be revised taking into account the importance of compressive structures related to local effects. 相似文献