A novel experimental system for the KDK measurement of the 40K decay scheme relevant for rare event searches

Potassium-40 ($^{40}$K) is a long-lived, naturally occurring radioactive isotope. The decay products are prominent backgrounds for many rare event searches, including those involving NaI-based scintillators. $^{40}$K also plays a role in geochronological dating techniques. The branching ratio of the electron capture directly to the ground state of argon-40 has never been measured, which can cause difficulty in interpreting certain results or can lead to lack of precision depending on the field and analysis technique. The KDK (Potassium (K) Decay (DK)) collaboration is measuring this decay. A composite method has a silicon drift detector with an enriched, thermally deposited $^{40}$K source …

Geoconservation in Sicily (Italy): the Example of the Isola delle Femmine (Palermo)

Abstract The Regional Administration of Sicily recently erected Isola delle Femmine—a small island of the Tyrrhenian Sea, close to Palermo—as a geosite. A detailed geological survey has been carried out in order to define the most important geological features of the island together with the development of a new geological map based on topographic data and a digital model at 1:2.000 scale specially processed. Finally, a geological pathway through the island has been traced and illustrated. The geological substrate of Isola delle Femmine consists of a Mesozoic carbonate succession belonging to the Panormide Carbonate Platform. Two lithostratigraphic units have been differentiated. The lowest…

Bio-chronostratigraphic calibration of the Upper Carnian-Lower Norian magnetostratigraphic scale at Pizzo Mondello (Sicani Mountains, Sicily).

Magnetostratigraphy and biostratigraphy of the Carnian/Norian boundary interval from the Pizzo Mondello section (Sicani Mountains, Sicily)

The 146.5 m-thick Upper Triassic limestone section at Pizzo Mondello in the Sicani Mountains of western Sicily is characterized by high quality of exposure, accessibility, and stratigraphic continuity. Magnetostratigraphic results delineate 12 normal and reverse polarity magnetozones, labelled successively from the base upwards as PM1n, PM1r, PM6n, PM6r. The Carnian/Norian boundary, based on conodont biostratigraphy, falls somewhere in the PM3n to PM5n interval which corresponds to the E14n to E16n magnetozone interval in the Newark reference sequence of polarity reversals. Comparison of magnetobiostratigraphic data from the Newark basin, Pizzo Mondello and other Late Triassic marine sectio…

The liquid-argon scintillation pulseshape in DEAP-3600

AbstractDEAP-3600 is a liquid-argon scintillation detector looking for dark matter. Scintillation events in the liquid argon (LAr) are registered by 255 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs), and pulseshape discrimination (PSD) is used to suppress electromagnetic background events. The excellent PSD performance of LAr makes it a viable target for dark matter searches, and the LAr scintillation pulseshape discussed here is the basis of PSD. The observed pulseshape is a combination of LAr scintillation physics with detector effects. We present a model for the pulseshape of electromagnetic background events in the energy region of interest for dark matter searches. The model is composed of (a) LAr scin…

Fe–Mn-encrusted “Kamenitza” and associated features in the Jurassic of Monte Kumeta (Sicily): subaerial and/or submarine dissolution?

Abstract An unusually jagged dissolution surface, capped by a thick Fe–Mn crust is well exposed in small quarry-cuts of the Jurassic of Monte Kumeta. It was formed on a crinoidal limestone substrate of Pliensbachian age, and is covered by Upper Bajocian Ammonitico Rosso-type sediments, all cross-cut by several generations of neptunian dykes. This peculiar surface is more or less coeval with hardgrounds, Fe–Mn-capped dissolution surfaces and associated neptunian dykes described from other localities of the Western Tethys and currently subject to fierce debates as to their purely submarine (or perhaps partly subaerial) origin. The major goal of this paper is to add new arguments to this debat…

Karstic overprint of Upper Triassic peritidal cycles: The example of the Panormide Carbonate Platform at San Vito lo Capo (Sicily)

Integration of HVSR measures and stratigraphic constraints for seismic microzonation studies: the case of Oliveri (ME)

Abstract. Because of its high seismic hazard the urban area of Oliveri has been subject of first level seismic microzonation. The town develops on a large coastal plain made of mixed fluvial/marine sediments, overlapping a complexly deformed substrate. In order to identify points on the area probably suffering relevant site effects and define a preliminary Vs subsurface model for the first level of microzonation, we performed 23 HVSR measurements. A clustering technique of continuous signals has been used to optimize the calculation of the HVSR curves. 42 reliable peaks of the H/V spectra in the frequency range 0.6–10 Hz have been identified. A second clustering technique has been applied t…

Permian of South Europe and its interregional correlation

This contribution is a synthesis of knowledge about the Permian of South Europe, which mainly consists of continental, terrigenous and igneous deposits. Marine sediments crop out in a few Italian areas (eastern Southern Alps, central-southern sectors of the peninsula and Sicily), as well as spread from the ex-Yugoslavia to the present Mediterranean sea, where they represent the westermost patterns of the old Tethys. In this context, data and interpretations vary sensibly from one region to another. Despite this, we have tried to establish the most typical events or features. Although the correlation and nature of some are still in doubt, the effort of reconstructing them is significant. Val…

Depositional mechanism of the upper Pliocene-Pleistocene shelf-slope system of the western Malta Plateau (Sicily Channel)

Abstract A high resolution seismic stratigraphic study of the western edge of the Malta Plateau (central Mediterranean Sea) was conducted to reconstruct the depositional mechanisms of the shelf-slope system since the end of the Messinian salinity crisis (MSC; 5.3 Ma). The accurate interpretation of a large grid of variable-resolution seismic reflection profiles (multichannel and Sub Bottom) allows us to identify and map a Plio-Quaternary sedimentary sequence overlying the Messinian evaporites. The stratal pattern of this sequence is the result of a clinoform prograding system that constitutes the internal structure of a sedimentary shelf developed in a ramp about 2° slope with bathymetries …

Integrated stratigraphy of the Norian GSSP candidate Pizzo Mondello section (Sicani Mountains, Sicily)

Microbially-induced Fe and Mn oxides in condensed pelagic sediments (Middle -Upper Jurassic, Western Sicily)

Abstract This article presents a petrographic comparison of the Rosso Ammonitico facies of Western Sicily and the original Rosso Ammonitico Veronese of Northern Italy based on a total of 27 sections. The Rosso Ammonitico has been the subject of numerous controversies that range from bathyal to shallow-water platform sedimentation. Therefore it seemed interesting to verify if the term Rosso Ammonitico has the same geologic connotation from region to region. The Middle-Upper Jurassic Rosso Ammonitico of Western Sicily is a condensed succession formed during a period of extensional synsedimentary tectonics related to the spreading of the Ionian Ocean. Slope-to-basin or pelagic carbonate deposi…

Spongy-like porosity in peritidal carbonates: An interaction of cyclic sea-level oscillations, fresh water supply and sediment texture

Abstract This paper focuses upon the analysis of a complex paleokarstic system recorded within uppermost Triassic peritidal cycles in northwestern Sicily. Besides documenting spectacular karstification at the Triassic/Jurassic boundary, it provides an example of stratabound ‘spongy’ or ‘swiss-cheese’ dissolution. On the base of field observations, microfacies analysis, transmitted-light and cathodoluminescence petrography and stable-isotope analyses we put forward an original model for the formation of this peculiar stratabound dissolution. It implies a complex interaction of several controlling factors at the interface between the marine and meteoric diagenetic realms during the relative c…

Fracture stratigraphy and oil first migration in Triassic shales, Favignana Island, western Sicily, Italy

This study aims at evaluating the control exerted by fracture stratigraphy and diagenetic processes on oil first migration through an outcropping, mixed carbonate-siliciclastic succession. The present work included results of sedimentological, paleontological, mineralogical, petrographic, structural, and microstructural analyses carried out on organic-rich shales exposed at the Favignana Island of Sicily, Italy. The analyses focus on Upper Triassic yellowish siltstones and greyish laminated dolomitic limestones, which form a 10's of m-thick succession exposed along the westernmost portion of the Sicilian fold-and-thrust belt. The studied succession deposited in a coastal lagoon associated t…

Status of the EDELWEISS experiment

The Edelweiss Dark Matter Experiment is installed in the Modane Underground Laboratory since 1994. In 1997 the first detector of a 70 g heat and ionization Ge low-temperature detector built by the collaboration showed its discrimination capabilities. During the last two years the installation was upgraded, and a new generation of 70 g Ge detectors is operational. The detector environment is drastically controlled to avoid radioactive contamination. A test run with two new 70 g detectors shows a reduction by a factor of ten in the background level before 7-ray rejection which is now around 2 events/kg/keV/day. Three 320 g Ge cryogenic detectors have been constructed and are now being tested …

Sedimentology and isotope geochemistry of Carnian deep-water marl/limestone deposits from the Sicani Mountains, Sicily: Environmental implications and evidence for a planktonic source of lime mud

Abstract The upper Triassic Halobia-bearing marl/limestone deposits from the Sicani Mountains (Sicily) record the sedimentary evolution of the Sicanian Basin through the middle and late Carnian time. Dark marls and interbedded grey calcilutites of Julian age are characterized by abundant pyrite, sparse bioturbation and negative carbonate carbon δ13C values. They accumulated in a basin with dominantly anoxic to dysaerobic bottom waters. Lower Tuvalian dark-grey pyritic marls and calcilutites, which contain carbonate minerals with relatively high Mn contents and widely fluctuating δ13C signatures, were deposited under dysaerobic conditions. Middle and upper Tuvalian cherty limestones show int…

Array of cryogenic calorimeters to evaluate the spectral shape of forbidden β-decays : the ACCESS project

The ACCESS (Array of Cryogenic Calorimeters to Evaluate Spectral Shapes) project aims to establish a novel technique to perform precision measurements of forbidden β-decays, which can serve as an important benchmark for nuclear physics calculations and represent a significant background in astroparticle physics experiments. ACCESS will operate a pilot array of cryogenic calorimeters based on natural and doped crystals containing β-emitting radionuclides. In this way, natural (e.g. 113Cd and 115In) and synthetic isotopes (e.g. 99Tc) will be simultaneously measured with a common experimental technique. The array will also include further crystals optimised to disentangle the different backgro…

Positive Sulfate Sulfur Isotope Excursion Indicates Large-Scale Pyrite Burial and Marine Anoxia during the End–Triassic Mass Extinction

The late Rhaetian–early Hettangian transition is characterised by the emplacement of Central Atlantic magmatic province and associated climatic effects, coincident with a severe biotic crisis (~201.5 Ma). The oxygen deficiency in the ocean realm is possibly linked to this significant loss in marine biodiversity. However, direct evidence of contemporaneous development of marine anoxia on a global scale has been lacking and the relationship between oxygen and extinction is unclear. Here we report carbonate-associated sulfate δ34S data from three sections across the Late Triassic–Early Jurassic transition. We find synchronous large positive δ34S shifts with a magnitude of >10‰ in the latest…

New biostratigraphic data from the Ladinian pelagic limestones of Pizzo di Sant’Otiero - Madonie Mountains, Sicily

New biostratigraphic data, based on conodont investigations, were collected from the Ladinian limestones recently described at Sant’Otiero, a locality near the Village of Petralia Sottana in the Madonie Mountains (Central-Northern Sicily). At this locality a new calcareous succession lying at the base of a major tectonic unit of the Maghrebian chain is described. This succession consists of a lower massive part formed by a carbonate megabreccia, the elements of which are shallow water extraclasts with dasycladalean algae (Diplopora annulatissima Pia), benthic foraminifers, “Tubiphytes” and problematic organisms commonly described from Anisian carbonate platforms. Upward a well-bedded succes…

Background discrimination capabilities of a heat and ionization germanium cryogenic detector

The discrimination capabilities of a 70 g heat and ionization Ge bolometer are studied. This first prototype has been used by the EDELWEISS Dark Matter experiment, installed in the Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane, for direct detection of WIMPs. Gamma and neutron calibrations demonstrate that this type of detector is able to reject more than 99.6% of the background while retaining 95% of the signal, provided that the background events distribution is not biased towards the surface of the Ge crystal. However, the 1.17 kg.day of data taken in a relatively important radioactive environment show an extra population slightly overlapping the signal. This background is likely due to interactions o…

Real life data on elbasvir/grazoprevir efficacy, safety and drug-drug interaction profile in patients with chronic hepatitis C viral infection: a prospective analysis in the PITER cohort

Introduction: In a previous study, based on PITER cohort data, it was reported that of patients, undergoing direct acting antiviral (DAA) therapy, 30%-44%, are at risk of potential drug-drug interactions (DDI). Aim: We aimed to evaluate the prospective profile of elbasvir/grazoprevir (EBR/GZR) efficacy and safety combined with real life comedication profile. Method: Data from 312 patients (mean age 63 ± 10 years; 44% male, 90% of genotype 1.85% fibrosis stage ≤ F3, 15% with child A cirrhosis), enrolled in PITER by 15 clinical centers and treated with EBR/GZR, with at least three months of follow up after the end of treatment, were evaluated. Comedication profiles (no changes, drugs interrup…

Facies stacking and extinctions across the Triassic–Jurassic boundary in a peritidal succession from western Sicily

An uppermost Triassic–lowermost Jurassic carbonate platform succession, which is 430 m thick, in northwestern Sicily is described with the aim to provide new data on the sedimentological and biological variations across the Triassic–Jurassic boundary in peritidal environments. The studied succession belonged to the rimmed carbonate shelf that developed during the upper Triassic along the margins of the Ionian Tethys. The peritidal sediments consist of metre-scale shallowing-upward cycles formed by subtidal, intertidal and supratidal facies. Three main informal units are differentiated along the section on the basis of the variations recorded by the subtidal facies. The lower and middle unit…