Dissolution‐corrosion measurements with limestone and gypsum tablets in active sulphuric acid caves of southern Italy

Dissolution‐corrosion (DC) represents an important factor for speleogenesis, and can be measured monitoring weight variation over time of carbonate and gypsum tablets exposed in underground environments. The oxidation of H2S produces H2SO4, which in carbonate host rock induces the surface of carbonate tablets to be rapidly corroded by sulphuric acid, whereby CaCO3 is replaced by CaSO4∙2H2O, producing a significant weight gain. We describe preliminary results of DC monitoring in four still‐active SAS systems, including Ninfe Cave and Terme Sibarite (Calabria), Fetida Cave (Apulia), and Acqua Fitusa Spring Cave (Sicily). The tablets have been set inside the caves, in three different condition…

Variabilità climatica nel Tardiglaciale e nell’Olocene da dati di speleotemi lungo una traversa N-S in Italia.

Sono presentati e discussi alcuni dei principali risultati del progetto di ricerca nazionale (PRIN). Speleotemi di alcune grotte scelte dell’Italia settentrionale, centrale e meridionale sono stati studiati con diverse tecniche e datati in spettrometria di massa con il metodo U/Th. In generale, la velocità di accrescimento dopo aver raggiunto una massima velocità durante la prima parte dell’Olocene decresce sensibilmente. Si può notare come esista un’interrelazione tra temperatura media della grotta e velocità di accrescimento. I cambiamenti del δ13C mostrano un trend generalmente negativo, soprattutto durante il Tardiglaciale e la prima parte dell’Olocene. Soltanto durante gli ultimi 2 ka …

Flora and vegetation of pastures utilized by the Sicilian Black Pig of the Nebrodi Mountains (NE Sicily).

A high resolution record of the last deglaciation in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea: environmental and climatic evolution.

A multidisciplinary study was carried out on core C106 collected in the Salerno Gulf (southern Tyrrhenian Sea). Two tephra layers recovered in the core, N 18 O record of Globigerinoides ruber and Globigerina bulloides and seven 14 C calibrated ages provided the stratigraphic framework. The core sediments cover the last 28 kyr BP. Seismostratigraphic analysis of a high resolution acoustic profile, integrated by the dated core samples, allowed us to reconstruct the architecture and age of sedimentary bodies on the continental shelf. An integrated study based on different taxonomic groups (nannofossils, pteropods, foraminifera, and palynomorphs) provided palaeoclimatic trends, in agreement wit…

The Impact of Climate, Resource Availability, Natural Disturbances and Human Subsistence Strategies on Sicilian Landscape Dynamics During the Holocene

This paper presents a multidisciplinary summary of the most recent discoveries and hypotheses concerning factors driving the human subsistence economy and landscape shaping in Sicily during the Holocene. A number of scientific papers have recently pointed out the key role played by paleogeography, resource (water, food) availability and natural disturbances (volcanic eruptions, tsunamis) in local human activities. Modern anthropology and archaeology increasingly use biological remains (e.g. soils, bones, wood, plant macroremains, pollen) to better understand how human communities managed to survive and spread. Likewise, refined reconstructions of past human demographic fluxes and socio-econ…