Search results for " sicily"
showing 10 items of 1386 documents
Physical or cultural frontier: a question of method. The example of the Imera-Salso sicilian valley
2009
Facing the study of the frontier on the basis of archaeological evidence presupposes the construction of a rigorous methodological grid which acts as an interpretative filter of the evidence to be analysed. From the 1970s to the present, frontier studies have undergone a notable increase. The debate on the subject has expanded, directing research on several levels. This contribution proposes a model of analysis of the numismatic and archaeological documentation aimed at studying the frontier of the Imera-Salso valley in Sicily
The current state of knowledge of fungal diversity in Sicily (Southern Italy)
2007
The paper deal with the status of fungal biodiversity in Sicily. 1500 taxa, growing in different types of vegetation, are distributed in the nine provinces of the region. In this contribution a preliminary list of rare and infrequent species is also provided.
Bimodal sill emplacement from an inhomogeneous source: a case study of olivine-gabbronorite and diabase with Ni-Cu sulphides in a sill within Permian…
2009
A small outcrop of mafic rocks, located between the Permian-Triassic sediments of the Cenozoic tectonic unit of the Maghrebian chain in Western Sicily, is an olistolith made up of olivine gabbronorite within diabase. Textures, microprobe analyses, and major and trace element geochemistry confirm the co-genetic nature of the various rocks: the gabbronorite is the result of olivine and orthopyroxene accumulation, with interstitial clinopyroxene and plagioclase, in a framework of a gabbrodioritic diabase. At least two stages of magmatic crystallisation during ascent in the continental crust are described, on the basis of reconstructed conditions of T, P and XH2O. The primitive magma was recons…
Allium aetnense (Amaryllidaceae), a new species from Sicily.
2013
A new species from Mt Etna (Sicily), Allium aetenense of A. sect. Codonoprasum, is described and illustrated. It is a diploid species (2n = 16) that grows on basaltic rocks in the mountain belt and shows close relationships with A. tenuiflorum of the Italian peninsula. Its morphology, karyology, leaf anatomy, seed coat microsculpturing, ecology and taxonomic position are examined.
Plio-Pleistocene geological evolution of the northern Sicily continental margin (southern Tyrrhenian Sea): new insights from high-resolution, multi-e…
2003
High-resolution seismic profiles were acquired in the north Sicily offshore region with an innovative, multi-tip sparker array which lacks ringing and has a base frequency around 600 Hz. The new data, combined with published data, suggest that intra-slope and extensional basins formed as a consequence of the late Miocene (?)–early Pliocene shortening and thrusting, and the middle (?)–late Pliocene continental rifting affecting the internal side of the Sicilian-Maghrebian chain. Early (?) Pleistocene to Holocene high-amplitude and high-frequency sea-level changes resulted in repeated sub-aerial exposure and flooding of the shelf, and the deposition of cyclically arranged hemipelagic and shel…
Growth processes, dimensional parameters and scaling relationships of two conjugate sets of compactive shear bands in porous carbonate grainstones, F…
2012
Abstract Three main sets of deformation bands are identified in the Lower Pleistocene carbonate grainstones of Favignana Island (Italy). A bedding-parallel set is interpreted to contain compaction bands, based on the lack of evidence for shear. The other two sets are oriented at a high-angle to bedding, forming a conjugate pair comprised of compactive strike-slip shear bands. In this study, we focus on the compactive shear bands documenting their development, as well as analyzing their dimensional parameters and scaling relationships. Single compactive shear bands are thin, tabular zones with porosity less than the surrounding host rocks, and have thicknesses and displacements on the order …
Isotope distribution of dissolved carbonate species in southeastern coastal aquifers of Sicily (Italy)
2007
Concentrations of major ions and the δ13C composition of dissolved inorganic carbon in groundwater and submarine groundwater discharges in the area between Siracusa and Ragusa provinces, southeastern Sicily, representing coastal carbonate aquifers, are presented and discussed. Most of groundwater analysed belongs to calcium bicarbonate type, in agreement with the geological nature of carbonate host rocks. Carbonate groundwater acquires, besides the dissolution of carbonate minerals, dissolved carbon (and the relative isotopic composition) from the atmosphere and from soil biological activity. In fact, δ13C values and total dissolved inorganic carbon contents show that both these sources con…
The effects of post-orogenic extension on different scales: an example from the Apennine-Maghrebide fold-and-thrust belt, SW Sicily
2003
Many structures produced under one single deformation regime, namely extensional, contractional or strike-slip, exhibit remarkable geometrical analogies when analysed at different scales. By contrast, field examples that illustrate the scale effects on structures resulting from superimposed deformations, which were produced under different tectonic regimes, are rare. Yet the change from contraction to extension is known to occur often in the most thickened portions of the continental crust. The Apennine–Maghrebide fold-and-thrust belt of Sicily shows many examples of post-orogenic extensional deformations. Composite structures, resulting from late normal faults that offset folds and thrusts…
Interference between shallow and deep-seated structures in the Sicilian fold and thrust belt.
2010
Abstract: The fold and thrust belt in western Sicily is characterized by the presence and interference of shallow and deep-seated compressional structures, which were generated and developed at different structural levels. The shallow structures consist of imbricated thrusts and asymmetric folds, with a typical wavelength of 2 km, involving relatively thin deep-water units. These units are superimposed on thick platform carbonate units, along a wide and originally almost flat floor thrust. The axial trend of the folds is variable, as multi-phase folding often occurred, producing a characteristic interference pattern, reflecting continuous variations of the apparent transport direction durin…
Geological Map of the Rocca Busambra-Corleone region (western Sicily, Italy): explanatory notes
2011
The geology of the Rocca Busambra-Corleone region, in centralwestern Sicily, is relevant to the understanding of the central sector of the Maghrebian-Sicilian fold-and-thrust belt. In the investigated area Mesozoic shallow- and deep-water carbo - nate deposits pertaining respectively to the Trapanese and the Sica - nian successions, and a thick Oligo-Miocene numidian flysch body, crop out. Minor outcrops of Cretaceous-Palaeogene Sicilide complex and syn-orogenic deposits of the Late Serravallian-Early Messinian Castellana Sicula and Terravecchia formations are also present. A structural analysis reveals complex tectonic relationships between the Trapanese carbonate platform tectonic unit (t…