0000000001239558
AUTHOR
Paolo Montagna
The “chimney forest” of the deep Montenegrin margin, south-eastern Adriatic Sea
A spectacular field of columnar carbonates has been discovered on the Montenegrin margin in the southern Adriatic Sea at a depth of about 450 m. The site exposes many columnar carbonates protruding from the substrate or abated on the bottom. Such carbonates attain maximum visible lengths of ca. 60 cm with diameters up to 20 cm; display an annular growth, and are either hollow or plugged by indurated sediment. Petrographic and geochemical analyses document the pervasive presence of dolomite, and delta C-13 values as low as -30%(0) VPDB. These 'chimneys' are therefore interpreted as former conduits related to hydrocarbon expulsion in this sector of the Adriatic basin. However, available data …
A Review of 2000 Years of Paleoclimatic Evidence in the Mediterranean
[EN] The integration of climate information from instrumental data and documentary and natural archives; evidence of past human activity derived from historical, paleoecological, and archaeological records; and new climate modeling techniques promises major breakthroughs for our understanding of climate sensitivity, ecological processes, environmental response, and human impact. In this chapter, we review the availability and potential of instrumental data, less well-known written records, and terrestrial and marine natural proxy archives for climate in the Mediterranean region over the last 2000 years. We highlight the need to integrate these different proxy archives and the importance for…
Preservation of modern and mis 5.5 erosional landforms and biological structures as sea level markers: A matter of luck?
The Mediterranean Basin is characterized by a significant variability in tectonic behaviour, ranging from subsidence to uplifting. However, those coastal areas considered to be tectonically stable show coastal landforms at elevations consistent with eustatic and isostatic sea level change models. In particular, geomorphological indicators—such as tidal notches or shore platforms—are often used to define the tectonic stability of the Mediterranean coasts. We present the results of swim surveys in nine rocky coastal sectors in the central Mediterranean Sea using the Geoswim approach. The entire route was covered in 22 days for a total distance of 158.5 km. All surveyed sites are considered to…
Feasibility study for the measurement of πN transition distribution amplitudes at P¯ANDA in p¯p→J/ψπ0
The exclusive charmonium production process in (P) over barp annihilation with an associated pi 0 meson (p) over barp -> J/psi pi(0) is studied in the framework of QCD collinear factorization. The feasibility of measuring this reaction through the J/psi -> e(+) e(-) decay channel with the AntiProton ANnihilation at DArmstadt ((P) over bar ANDA) experiment is investigated. Simulations on signal reconstruction efficiency as well as the background rejection from various sources including the (P) over barp -> pi(+)pi(-)pi(0) and (p) over barp -> J/psi pi(0)pi(0) reactions are performed with PANDAROOT, the simulation and analysis software framework of the (P) over bar ANDA experiment. It is show…
NEW RESULTS ON NONMESONIC WEAK DECAY OF Lambda HYPERNUCLEI WITH FINUDA
The FINUDA experiment has performed a systematic study of the NonMesonic Weak Decay (NMWD) of Λ hypernuclei analizing all the data collected from 2003 up to 2007. The results of a measurement of the spectra of protons coming from the NMWD of [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] are the subject of this paper.
A stalactite record of four relative sea-level highstands during the Middle Pleistocene Transition
International audience; Ice-sheet and sea-level fluctuations during the Early and Middle Pleistocene are as yet poorly understood. A stalactite from a karst cave in North West Sicily (Italy) provides the first evidence of four marine inundations that correspond to relative sea-level highstands at the time of the Middle Pleistocene Transition. The speleothem is located ∼97 m above mean sea level as result of Quaternary uplift. Its section reveals three marine hiatuses and a coral overgrowth that fixes the age of final marine ingression at 1.124 ± 0.2, thus making this speleothem the oldest stalactite with marine hiatuses ever studied to date. Scleractinian coral species witness light-limited…
Recent results on mesonic weak decay of Λ-hypernuclei
The FINUDA experiment has performed a systematic study of mesonic weak decay of p-shell Λ-hypernuclei. Recent results on the mesonic decay spectra and ratios are illustrated and discussed.
Calcification is not the Achilles' heel of cold-water corals in an acidifying ocean
Ocean acidification is thought to be a major threat to coral reefs: laboratory evidence and CO2 seep research has shown adverse effects on many coral species, although a few are resilient. There are concerns that cold-water corals are even more vulnerable as they live in areas where aragonite saturation (?ara) is lower than in the tropics and is falling rapidly due to CO2 emissions. Here, we provide laboratory evidence that net (gross calcification minus dissolution) and gross calcification rates of three common cold-water corals, Caryophyllia smithii, Dendrophyllia cornigera, and Desmophyllum dianthus, are not affected by pCO2 levels expected for 2100 (pCO2 1058 ?atm, ?ara 1.29), and nor a…
Submerged speleothems and sea level reconstructions: a global overview and new results from the Mediterranean Sea
This study presents a global overview of the submerged speleothems used to reconstruct paleo sea levels and reports new results from two stalactites collected in the Mediterranean Sea. Coastal cave deposits significantly contributed to the understanding of global and regional sea-level variations during the Middle and Late Quaternary. The studied speleothems cover the last 1.4 Myr and focused mainly on Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 1, 2, 3, 5.1, 5.3, 5.5, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3 and 7.5. The results indicate that submerged speleothems represent extraordinary archives that can provide detailed information on former sea-level changes. The two stalactites collected in the central Mediterranean Sea, at Fa…
Assessing vermetid reefs as indicators of past sea levels in the Mediterranean
Abstract The endemic Mediterranean reef building vermetid gastropods Dendropoma petraeum complex (Dendropoma spp) and Vermetus triquetrus develop bio-constructions (rims) on rocky shorelines at about Mean Sea Level (MSL) and are therefore commonly used as relative sea-level (RSL) markers. In this study, we use elevations and age data of vermetid reefs to (1) re-assess the vertical uncertainties of these biological RSL indicators, and (2) evaluate the vertical growth rates along a Mediterranean east-west transect, in attempt to explain the differences found in both growth rates and uncertainties. In Israel, Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) and laser measurements relative to the …
The large-scale evolution of neodymium isotopic composition in the global modern and Holocene ocean revealed from seawater data and other records
International audience; The large-scale evolution of neodymium isotopic composition in the global modern and Holocene ocean revealed from seawater data and other records. Kazuyo Tachikawa and project members Neodymium isotopic compositions (143 Nd/ 144 Nd or ε Nd) have been used as a tracer of water masses and lithogenic inputs to the ocean. To further evaluate the faithfulness of this tracer, we have updated a global seawater ε Nd database and combined it with hydrography parameters (temperature, salinity, nutrients and oxygen concentrations), carbon isotopic ratio and radiocarbon of dissolved inorganic carbon. Archive ε Nd data are compiled for leachates, foraminiferal tests, deep-sea cor…
Calcification is not the Achilles'heel of cold-water corals in an acidifying ocean
Ocean acidification is thought to be a major threat to coral reefs: laboratory evidence and CO2 seep research has shown adverse effects on many coral species, although a few are resilient. There are concerns that cold-water corals are even more vulnerable as they live in areas where aragonite saturation (Omega ara) is lower than in the tropics and is falling rapidly due to CO2 emissions. Here, we provide laboratory evidence that net (gross calcification minus dissolution) and gross calcification rates of three common cold-water corals, Caryophyllia smithii, Dendrophyllia cornigera, and Desmophyllum dianthus, are not affected by pCO2 levels expected for 2100 (pCO2 1058 µatm, Omega ara 1.29),…