Search results for " caves"

Hypogenic caves in Sicily: a preliminary study of morphological and depositional features

2012

Marine caves of the Southern Tyrrhenian Sea: a First Census of Benthic Biodiversity

2017

This is the first paper documenting research on a selection of marine caves located along the coast of Capo Milazzo in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea. Three submarine and one semi-submerged caves were surveyed and sampled using underwater photo sampling. Surveys have only taken into account the sessile species belonging to the main taxa: Porifera, Anthozoa, Bryozoa and Polychaeta. Diversity indices and abundances were calculated for three sections within each explored cave: the Entrance Zone, Intermediate Zone and Bottom Zone. The richest group was Porifera with 21 taxa, followed by cnidarians, (Anthozoa), with 8 taxa, Polychaeta (5 taxa), and Bryozoa (5 taxa). Among Porifera, the presence of …

Preliminary considerations on the monitoring of meteorological and environmental parameters in the Natural Reserves "Grotta di Santa Ninfa" and "Grot…

2009

The Complex of tectonic caves of the Vallone di Margi Paolino (Valle Grovello) area - Sant'Angelo Muxaro (AG).

2010

A laboratory cave for the study of wall degradation in rock art caves : an implementation in the Vézère area

2013

The aim of this proposal is to present an original approach to the study and preservation of rock art caves. A multidisciplinary study of cave wall alteration will be performed to understand the impact of environmental context on the evolution of wall surfaces. The approach involves the choice of a cave with characteristics similar to painted caves in the studied area (Vézère Valley in Dordogne, France): e.g., cave wall alteration, lithology, morphology, etc. This selected cave is intended to become a laboratory cave, monitored for the acquisition of chemical, physical and biological environmental data on bedrock, air and fluids along with their characteristics. A cave without art or archae…

Geomorphological and speleological aspects of the Vallone Ponte-Grotte d'Acqua karst system (Sant'Angelo Muxaro - AG)

2009

Cuevas rituales ibéricas en el territorio de Kelin (ss. V-III a.C.).

2018

La Meseta de Requena-Utiel, en el interior de la provincia de Valencia, constituyó en época ibérica el territorio de la ciudad de Kelin. Entre otros aspectos, dicho territorio destacó por presentar una elevada concentración de cuevas con materiales ibéricos, de las cuales claramente cinco son resultado de prácticas rituales en su interior. Estas cuevas rituales fueron espacios estrechamente ligados al proceso de territorialización acaecido en la zona entre los siglos V y III a.C. En el presente artículo planteamos una revisión de sus características, ajuares y cronologías, integrándolas en todo momento en el paisaje y entorno inmediato. The Requena-Utiel plateau, in the interior of the Prov…

Secondary minerals from salt caves in the Atacama Desert (Chile): a hyperarid and hypersaline environment with potential analogies to the Martian sub…

2017

Over the past 15 years several expeditions by French, American and especially Italian cavers have unveiled over 50 caves in the Cordillera de la Sal (Atacama Desert, Northern Chile). Many of these caves contain a variety of speleothems and minerals, some of which have rarely been observed within karst systems. Most of the secondary deposits in these caves are composed of halite, but also other halide, carbonate, sulphate, nitrate, phosphate, and silicate minerals have been found. Among the sixteen cave mineral species recognized, atacamite, darapskite, blödite, leonite, anhydrite, and especially antarcticite are worth mentioning. In one of the samples an unknown Ca-Sr-bearing chloride miner…

Can recreational scuba divers alter natural gross sedimentation rate? A case study from a Mediterranean deep cave

2010

Abstract Di Franco, A., Ferruzza, G., Baiata, P., Chemello, R., and Milazzo, M. 2010. Can recreational scuba divers alter natural gross sedimentation rate? A case study from a Mediterranean deep cave. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 67: 871–874. Submarine caves are environments with features distinguishing them from other littoral habitats but, despite their ecological importance, their response to anthropogenic disturbance has been seldom verified. One potential threat affecting natural communities within caves is represented by recreational scuba diving. Divers' disturbance within marine caves is mainly related to physical contacts and increased sediment resuspension potentially affecti…

An Overview of the Hypogene Caves of Sicily

2017

Karst in Sicily develops in both Messinian gypsum and Mesozoic or Tertiary limestone rocks. Caves are also found in the basalts of Mount Etna. Except for some rare cases, until recently most caves developed in limestone were considered to be of epigenetic origin. The discovery of gypsum in some of these caves, and especially detailed morphological studies, have allowed defining a hypogenic origin for a dozen of caves up to now. In some of these, the hypogenic evidences are very clear, while others remain in doubt because of the widespread presence of well-developed condensation-corrosion morphologies not necessarily related to hydrothermal fluids. This paper reports the present knowledge of…