Search results for " sea level"
showing 10 items of 21 documents
Human settlements in the Mediterranean and the sea level changes from 12 ka to the present
2012
Understanding past sea-level change plays an important role in determining the underlying causes, and also allows the extrapolation of past sea levels to locations and epochs for which there are no instrumental data. A compilation of global sea-level estimates based on deep-sea oxygen isotope ratios at millennial-scale resolution or higher was published since ‘70. These global sea level curves do not take in account isostasy and tectonics. Observed sea level change can be reconstructed from dated fossils, coral reef terraces, speleothems, emerged and forming terraces on coastal areas, archaeological and other markers well connected with sea level. Because of the lack of coral reefs in the M…
Sea level and climate forcing of the Sr isotope composition of late Miocene Mediterranean marine basins
2014
Sr isotope records from marginal marine basins track the mixing between seawater and local continental runoff, potentially recording the effects of sea level, tectonic, and climate forcing in marine fossils and sediments. Our 110 new Sr-87/Sr-86 analyses on oyster and foraminifera samples from six late Miocene stratigraphic sections in southern Turkey, Crete, and Sicily show that Sr-87/Sr-86 fell below global seawater values in the basins several million years before the Messinian Salinity Crisis, coinciding with tectonic uplift and basin shallowing. 87Sr/86Sr from more centrally located basins (away from the Mediterranean coast) drop below global seawater values only during the Messinian S…
Calibration of the RPC charge readout in the ARGO-YBJ experiment
2012
""The charge readout of Resistive Plate Chambers (RPCs) is implemented in the ARGO-YBJ experiment to measure the charged particle density of the shower front up to 10^4\\\/m^2, enabling the study of the primary cosmic rays with energies in the ''knee'' region. As the first time for RPCs being used this way, a telescope with RPCs and scintillation detectors is setup to calibrate the number of charged particles hitting a RPC versus its charge readout. Air shower particles are taken as the calibration beam. The telescope was tested at sea level and then moved to the ARGO-YBJ site for coincident operation with the ARGO-YBJ experiment. The charge readout shows good linearity with the particle de…
Markers of the last interglacial sea level high stand along the coast of Italy: Tectonic implications.
2006
A compilation of the Marine Isotope Substage (MIS) 5.5 high stand (similar to 125Ka) sites spanning the coastline of Italy allows a picture of the vertical displacement pattern affecting the Central Mediterranean coasts since the Late Pleistocene to be drawn. For each of the 246 listed sites, the accurate elevation of the high stand is defined through well-known markers. Coupled with a refilled age assessment locally Supported by new radiometric dating, these markers provide robust constraints oil deformation. Significant alongshore differences in site elevation between + 175 and - 125 m a.s.l. resulted from the interplay of regional and local tectonic processes, including faulting and volc…
The Brolo Island, a lentil in the “Ocean”
2010
The north-eastern Sicily coast reflects the effects of Holocene active tectonics associated to subduction system of Ionian crust beneath the Calabrian arc (CAPUTO et alii, 1970; WESTAWAY, 1993, DOGLIONI et alii, 1999). The latter, characterized by a stack of crystalline rock and its sedimentary cover, is the highest structural element in the Sicily chain. The Calabrian arc is a region that records one of the major Quaternary vertical tectonic movement in the whole Mediterranean basin. This uplift, well documented from Last Interglacial, is expressed as vertical variation of the height of the Quaternary marine terraces inner margin that characterize the north-eastern Sicily coast. The uplift…
Future coastal hazard scenarios. A case study in NE Sicily (Italy)
2012
The coastal dynamics is the result of several causes that contribute to change the balance of beach deposits over time. The beach system is not always able to maintain coastal balance: the factors contributing to this phenomenon are to be found in both natural and anthropogenic spheres. In this context we present the analysis of marine geology and coastal geomorphological data of a sector between Rocca di Caprileone and Tindari (north-eastern Sicily) with the aim to: i) determine their onland-offshore area relationships, ii) analyze which natural features may contribute to coastal retreat, iii) present coastal hazard scenarios. Until fifty years ago the natural balance of this coastal area …
Water transfer from Basilicata to Puglia: a technical, economic and institutional challenge
2007
The necessity of supplying Puglia by transfer of water resources from Basilicata (250 Mm/year mainly for civil use but also for agricultural and industrial uses) and another bordering region (Campania for 200 Mm/year only for civil use) arises from the scarcity of water resources inside Puglia, where precipitation is very low (400 mm/year), rivers are few and with limited watersheds and costal aquifers are overexploited with salt intrusion. Moreover recent droughts have pointed out the need for revising water supply policy in Puglia, looking for the increment of the transfer of water resources from Basilicata (50 Mm/year) and Campania (32 Mm/year) and the development of feasibility studies …
The land bridge between Europe and Sicily over the past 40 kyrs: Timing of emersion and implications for the migration of Homo sapiens
2012
The submerged Sill in the Messina Strait, which is located at a depth of -81 m m.s.l., represents the only possibile connection between Calabria and Sicily during the last lowstand, when the sea level was at about -126 m m.s.l. This multidisciplinary research aim at documenting times and modes the bridge between Calabria and Sicily was emerged, during the last 40 ka BP. The analysis carried out on morphobathymetric, lithological and relative sea level change (both isostatic and tectonic) data allow to hypothesize the continental bridge emerged at least between 21.5 ka and 20 ka cal BP. Moreover, considering erosion processes due to very strong marine currents, it could be emerged for a long…
EPR dating of shells from Malhada Marsh, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2020
The formation of the coastal plain of the Brazilian sea is mainly due to the fluctuation of relative sea level in the past. Armacao dos Buzios or simply Buzios is a municipality in the microregion of lakes, in the state of Rio de Janeiro. In this region there is a lowland area about two meters above current sea level. This lowland area is also known as coastal plain of Una River. It is expected that during the Holocene period the sea level reached a maximum about 2.5 meters above the current level. During that time billions of mollusks lived and proliferated in the shallow waters around the coastal plain of the Una River. As they died their shells formed a layer in the soil including Malhad…
Vertical movements in NE Sicily and its offshore: Outcome of tectonic uplift during the last 125 ky
2013
New data in the coastal area between Acquedolci and Patti (northeastern Sicily, Italy) have been collected to calculate vertical tectonic rates in a key sector between the Kabilian-Calabrian and the Sicilian-Maghrebian chain. The comparison among marine geology data (multibeam and seismic reflection profiles) on the continental shelf-slope system and the radiocarbon ages on geomorphological markers collected during a coastal survey, provided new stratigraphic, geomorphological and biological data, contributing to the knowledge of the geological evolution of this sector for the last 125 ky.This coastal area is framed between two main structural features active during the Pleistocene in north…