Simulation of syn-eruptive floods in the circumvesuvian plain (southern Italy)     

M. Favalli  M. T. Pareschi  G. Zanchetta 《Bulletin of Volcanology》2006,68(4):349-362

During explosive eruptions the deposition of fine-grained volcanic ash fallout reduces soil permeability, favouring runoff of meteoric water and thus increasing the occurrence of catastrophic floods. A fully dynamic, two-dimensional model was used to simulate flooding scenarios in the Vesuvian area following an explosive volcanic eruption. The highest risk occurs in the catchment area of the Acerra-Nola Plain N and NE of Vesuvius. This plain has a population of 70,000 living in low-lying areas. This catchment area is vulnerable to ash fall because it lies downwind of the dominant synoptic circulation and it lacks a natural outflow toward the sea. Our numerical simulations predict dangerous scenarios, even in quiescent periods, during extreme rain events (return periods of 200 years have been considered), and a significant increase in the extent of the flooded areas due to renewed volcanic activity. Based on these simulations a hazard zonation has been proposed. Editorial responsibility: A Woods  相似文献   

Diversity of Epiphytic Lichens and Hg Contents of Xanthoria parietina Thalli as Monitors of Geothermal Air Pollution in the Mt. Amiata Area (Central Italy)     

Stefano Loppi  Luca Paoli  Carlo Gaggi 《Journal of Atmospheric Chemistry》2006,53(2):93-105

The diversity of epiphytic lichens and mercury concentrations in lichen samples were measured to monitor the release of airborne pollutants from the industrial exploitation of geothermal resources in the Mt. Amiata area (Italy). The lichen biodiversity showed a general condition of moderate environmental alteration around the geothermal power plants, contrasting with the low environmental alteration of the remaining sites investigated. According to the accumulated Hg in lichen thalli, it was possible to estimate mean Hg and H₂S concentrations in the air, which resulted in very good agreement with values measured instrumentally. Based on these data and the correlation between lichen diversity values and Hg concentrations in lichens, it was possible to calculate the threshold of 8 μg/m³ H₂S as responsible for the worsening from low to moderate environmental alteration according to the biodiversity of epiphytic lichens, and to infer that around geothermal power plants, although not toxic to humans, H₂S concentrations are such to alter the nasal quality of the air. Based on the growth rate of X. parietina, it was possible to convert Hg concentrations into estimates of average Hg deposition rates, which showed fluxes of the order of 65–100 mg/ha/y, indicating a dispersions factor of about 10⁴ for the Hg emitted from the geothermal power plants.  相似文献   

Recent channel adjustments in alluvial rivers of Tuscany,central Italy     

Massimo Rinaldi 《地球表面变化过程与地形》2003,28(6):587-608

Drastic channel adjustments have affected the main alluvial rivers of Tuscany (central Italy) during the 20th century. Bed‐level adjustments were identified both by comparing available topographic longitudinal profiles of different years and through field observations. Changes in channel width were investigated by comparing available aerial photographs (1954 and 1993–98). Bed incision represents the dominant type of vertical adjustment, and is generalized along all the fluvial systems investigated. The Arno River system is the most affected by bed‐level lowering (up to 9 m), whereas lower incision (generally less than 2 m) is observed along the rivers of the southern part of the region. Human disturbances appear to be the dominant factors of adjustments: the main phase of vertical change occurred during the period 1945–80, in concomitance with the phase of maximum sediment mining activity at the regional scale. The second dominant type of adjustment that involved most of the rivers in the region consists of a narrowing of the active channel. Based on measurements of channel width conducted on aerial photographs, 38% of the reaches analysed experienced a narrowing greater than 50% of the initial channel width. The largest values of channel narrowing were observed along initially braided or sinuous with alternate bars morphologies in the southern portion of the region. A regional scheme of channel adjustments is derived, based on initial channel morphology and on the amounts of incision and narrowing. Different styles of channel adjustments are described. Rivers that were originally sinuous with alternate bars to braided generally became adjusted by a moderate incision and a moderate to intense narrowing; in contrast, sinuous‐meandering channels mainly adjusted vertically, with a minor amount of narrowing. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

The influence of the geological and geomorphological settings on shallow landslides. An example in a temperate climate environment: the June 19, 1996 event in northwestern Tuscany (Italy)   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

Giacomo D''Amato Avanzi  Roberto Giannecchini  Alberto Puccinelli 《Engineering Geology》2004,73(3-4):215-228

On June 19, 1996, an extremely heavy rainstorm hit a restricted area in the Apuan Alps (northwestern Tuscany, Italy). Its max intensity concentrated over an area of about 150 km² astride the Apuan chain, where 474 mm was recorded in about 12 h (21% of the mean annual precipitation, with an intensity up to 158 mm/h). The storm caused floods and hundreds of landslides and debris flows, which produced huge damage (hundreds of millions of Euros), partially destroyed villages and killed 14 people. This paper reports the results obtained from a detailed field survey and aerial view interpretation. In the most severely involved area, 647 main landslides were investigated, mapped and related to the geologic, geomorphic and vegetational factors of the source areas. This was in order to define the influence of these factors and contribute to an evaluation of the landslide hazard in the study area. An assessment was also made of the total area and volume of material mobilised by landsliding. The study area, about 46 km² wide, includes three typically mountainous basins, characterised by narrow, deep cut valleys and steep slopes, where many rock types outcrop. Most of the landslides were shallow and linear, referable to complex, earth and debris translational slide, which quickly developed into flow (soil slip–debris flow). Usually, they involved colluvium and started in hollows underlain by metamorphic rock (metasandstone and phyllite), often dipping downslope. Therefore, bedrock lithology and impermeability appeared to be important factors in the localisation of the landslide phenomena. The investigation of the geomorphic and land use features in the source areas also frequently highlighted a rectilinear profile of the slope, a high slope gradient (31–45°) and dense chestnut wood cover. In the area, about 985,000 m² (2.1% of 46 km²) was affected by landsliding and about 700,000 m² of this area was covered by chestnut forest. The landslides removed about 7000 trees. The volume of mobilised material was about 1,360,000 m³; about 220,000 m³ remained on the slopes, while the rest poured into the streams. In addition, about 945,000 m³ was mobilised by the torrential erosion in the riverbeds.  相似文献   

Geochemistry of heavily exploited aquifers in the Emilia-Romagna region (Po Valley, northern Italy)   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

G. Martinelli  A. Minissale  C. Verrucchi 《Environmental Geology》1998,36(3-4):195-206

 More than 5 800 chemical analyses on water samples collected during 1987–1995 from 528 monitoring wells located in the southernmost part of the Po Valley (Emilia-Romagna region, northern Italy), one of the most urbanized, industrialized and agriculturally developed areas of Italy, have been processed. The analysis of data showed that: (1) waters are discharging from both confined and unconfined aquifers; (2) the water in the unconfined aquifer(s) is Ca(Mg)-HCO₃ in composition while confined ones are Na-Cl and/or Na-(HCO₃); (3) both confined and unconfined aquifer samples have δ¹⁸O and δD isotopic values of meteoric signature; (4) waters from both the aquifers are at least 40 years old; (5) the pumping rate has caused subsidence, particularly where the aquifer(s) is (are) unconfined; (6) the unconfined aquifer(s) is exposed to the risk of NO₃ pollution; (7) considering the present "pressure" (i.e. pumping rate) on this natural environment by human activity, care must be taken in the future to preserve this "strategic" resource. Received: 27 October 1997 · Accepted: 12 March 1998  相似文献   

Proposal of a method to define areas of landslide hazard and application to an area of the Dolomites, Italy   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Maria Chiara Turrini  Paola Visintainer 《Engineering Geology》1998,50(3-4):255-265

A numerical–cartographical method has been developed to create landslide hazard maps. This method allows the assigning of a rating to the various parameters which contribute to landslides. The parameters considered are: (1) erodibility and degradability of the rocks and Quaternary deposits; (2) permeability of the ground to identify areas prone to hydraulic overpressure; (3) the geometric ratio between discontinuities and slope, and thickness of Quaternary deposits; (4) angle of the slopes; and (5) land use. A thematic map is constructed for each factor considered which defines different areas through ratings, after which all the thematic maps are overlaid and the ratings added up (or multiplied). The map which is thus obtained is reclassified in order to create the final map of landslide hazard. This method, which has already been tested in various areas, has produced excellent results in this case too, allowing a map to be constructed which corresponds to the actual instability problems.  相似文献   

Fiumara: a kind of high hazard river     

Luisa Sabato  Marcello Tropeano 《Physics and Chemistry of the Earth》2004,29(10):707-715

Fiumara is a kind of gravel-bed river, very steep and short, which flow through the southern Italy mountain chains, in Sicilia and Calabria regions. These streams drain mountain areas only, and are subject to a Mediterranean climate. They have a great transport and erosion capacity because of their flow regime, dominated by episodic flash floods alternated with long periods of inactivity during which their beds become completely dry. During this last century, the natural equilibrium of these particular alluvial environments has undergone notable modifications caused also by human activities. The effects of such works are investigated in terms of river dynamics, and some local examples are reported and discussed; some suggestions are made for recovery measures too.  相似文献   

An objective method to rank the importance of the factors predisposing to landslides with the GIS methodology: application to an area of the Apennines (Valnerina; Perugia, Italy)   总被引：15，自引：0，他引：15  

L. Donati  M. C. Turrini   《Engineering Geology》2002,63(3-4):277-289

The present work aims at contributing to further our knowledge on the predisposing factors to landslides as well as proposing a method that allows us to weigh up, as objectively as possible, the influence that the various factors have on landslides in order to construct a realistic map of potential landslide hazards. In order to assess the differential incidence of very predisposing factor to landslides, maps of the various factors considered were drawn up with the aid of IDRISI software (1997). The factors were as follows: the distance from faults, parallelism between the fractures and the landslide scarps, land use, lithology, distance from the streams, orientation and steepness of slopes, orientation of layers compared to the slope. The global analysis of the different incidence of the factors analyzed on the landslides present in the study area was carried out by comparing the respective maps with that of the scarps; in this way the number of pixels forming the scarps which fell into the various classes of the maps was calculated. The result thus obtained can form the basis of an objective assignation of the different ratings to be attributed to the various factors under consideration. In fact, the analysis carried out in this study has shown that the factors act differently and, for every factor, only some of the classes considered have marked importance.  相似文献   

The main characteristics of the lithosphere-asthenosphere system in Italy and surrounding regions     

G. Calcagnile  G. F. Panza 《Pure and Applied Geophysics》1980,119(4):865-879

We present a summary of the available information on Rayleigh-wave dispersion data for the Italian area. The dispersion curves can be grouped into two main families according to their shape: one with an almost linear trend in the period range from 40 to 150 sec the other with a relatively flat portion in the period range from 40 to 80 sec. The inversion of these data shows that there are strong lateral variation in the lithosphere system: a very rapid transition in the lithospheric thickness, from about 130 km to about 30 km, as well as in the S-wave velocity of the lithosphere and asthenosphere.Some cross-sections are described in order to have a more direct insight on the gross features of the upper mantle.An attempt is made to discuss the properties of the upper mantle taking into account the tectonic evolution of the Mediterranean.  相似文献   

Cyclostratigraphy and high-frequency carbon isotope fluctuations in Upper Cretaceous shallow-water carbonates, southern Italy   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

Francesco P. Buonocunto  Mario Sprovieri†  Adriana Bellanca†  Bruno D'Argenio‡  Vittoria Ferreri‡  Rodolfo Neri†  Gaetano Ferruzza† 《Sedimentology》2002,49(6):1321-1337

Abstract A detailed carbon isotope study has been carried out on a Santonian (Upper Cretaceous) carbonate platform succession that crops out at Monte Sant'Erasmo (southern Italy). Previous centimetre‐scale studies on this succession have shown that high‐frequency eustatic changes, resulting from the Earth's orbital fluctuations, controlled the hierarchical organization of the depositional and early diagenetic features in elementary cycles, bundles (groups of three to five elementary cycles) and superbundles (groups of three or four bundles). The elementary cycles, which correspond to single beds, suggest a control caused by Earth's precession; the bundles and superbundles record the short (≈ 100 kyr) and long (≈ 400 kyr) eccentricity periodicity respectively. The δ¹³C signal of the Monte Sant'Erasmo succession is cyclic in nature and may be considered to be a reliable proxy for the sedimentary evolution (and related sea‐level history) of the analysed sequence. The carbon isotope cyclicity is recorded at bundle and superbundle level, but it is not evident at the scale of the elementary cycles, at least with the sampling interval used in this study. Spectral analysis of the δ¹³C record shows two main peaks corresponding to the short‐ and long‐eccentricity periodicity, whereas the precession signal is not evident in the power spectrum. In addition, lithofacies analysis shows that, in each bundle (and superbundle), higher C isotope values occur in sediments characterized by marine cements, whereas lower values are normally found in more restricted deposits overprinted by early meteoric diagenesis. Early diagenesis, driven by periodic sea‐level fluctuations, developed in either shallow‐subtidal (marine diagenesis) or subaerial‐exposed (meteoric overprint) sedimentary environments and directly influenced the carbon isotope signature. As a consequence, the δ¹³C record at Monte Sant'Erasmo reflects high‐frequency climatic oscillations controlling both environmental and early diagenetic changes. The long‐term isotopic record is similar to that of contemporaneous pelagic sections in England and elsewhere in Italy. It is concluded that the δ¹³C signature of shallow‐water carbonates, such as those of Monte Sant'Erasmo, offers great potential for correlation with coeval sections, including those of the pelagic realm.  相似文献