Search results for "aridity"
showing 10 items of 14 documents
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…
New palaeoecological approaches to interpret climatic fluctuations in Holocene sites of the Pampean region of Argentina
2021
The apparently regular and favourable climate that characterizes the Holocene as an interglacial period shows, however, important climatic instability well documented in the Northern Hemisphere. These fluctuations from colder to warmer or wetter to drier affected both biodiversity and human societies in the last 12,000 years, although the impact in Southern America is still poorly known. We are here investigating the biodiversity of small mammal faunas, more sensitive to climatic changes than large mammals, combining taphonomic and palaeoecological data in the Argentine Pampas to better understand the global nature and effect of these Holocene climatic fluctuations. This paper is pioneering…
THE ENVIROMENTAL PROBLEMS OF THE PIANA DEL SIGNORE (GELA, SICILY) FOR A CORRECT AGRONOMIC, CULTURAL AND LANDSCAPE UPGRADING AND ENHANCEMENT OF THE AR…
2017
In Sicily it is witnessing an environmental degradation that can be conducted to the human activity and the already known process of desertification. The present study had as object the c/da Piana del Signore in plain of Gela being an area characterized by an extreme aridity and salinity. Through consultation and study of the various researches realized on the area, the various environmental and territorial characteristics outlined, highlighting the issues and possible improvements. The objective was to outline the damages caused by man proposing possible routes for a correct requalification of the area in order to enhance a landscape of great agronomic and naturalistic interest. In fact to…
Ten years surface-atmosphere water budget from the ISAC micrometeorological base in Salento peninsula and comments on the aquifer balance
2016
Data from a ten years (2003-2013) period of activity of the ISAC-Lecce micrometeorological station have been discussed focusing on the atmosphere-surface exchange. Some suitable indices have been calculated such as the precipitation intensity, the aridity index and the ground water infiltration fraction (ratio of the difference between precipitation and real evapotranspiration and the precipitation). Possible trends of annual averages in the decadal period are considered, trying to take also into account the statistical uncertainty associated to measurement errors and missing data. The results indicate a significant increasing in the precipitation intensity together with an experimental evi…
Estimation of the time lag occurring between vegetation indices and aridity indices in a Sicilian semi-arid catchment
2009
The evolution of drought phenomena in a Sicilian semi-arid catchment has been analyzed processing both remote sensing images and climatic data for the period 1985-2000. The remote sensing dataset includes Landsat TM and ETM+ multispectral images, while the climatic dataset includes monthly rainfall and air temperature. The results have been specifically discussed for areas where it is possible to neglect agricultural activities and vegetation growth is only influenced by natural forcing. The main outcome of this study is the quantification of the time lag between the remote sensing retrieved vegetation indices and the aridity indices (AIs) calculated from climatic data. Moreover the obtaine…
Climate Classification and Division of China
1988
As far as a climate classification and division is concerned, China represents a great complexity and diversity due to the country’s vast territory and extremely complex landforms. In detail, three major climate-governing factors must be taken into consideration for the climate of China as such and for its division over space: (1) the geographical latitude, (2) the elevation above sea level and (3) the distance from the Pacific Ocean. Of particular importance for a climate regionalization of China is the country’s location on the southeastern corner of the Eurasian continent against the Pacific Ocean, which means that the nature of the surrounding regions varies from open oceans to compact …
Durum wheat yield uncertainty under different tillage management practices and climatic conditions
2019
Abstract In the field of conservative agriculture, no-till (NT) management has been receiving increasing interest, with 45 million ha of land under no-till management in 1999 to 155 million ha in 2014. Up until now, no-till has only been observed to perform better under rainfed conditions, especially in dry climates mainly because the reduced tillage system retains more soil moisture. However, the adoption of alternative agricultural practices (NT) can be improved only if uncertain and consequent assumption of risk is well known and accepted. For these reasons, the aim of this research is (i) to define durum wheat suitability under NT soil management in terms of yield success probability an…
No-till durum wheat yield success probability in semi arid climate: A methodological framework
2018
Abstract The aim of this study is to develop a framework for the evaluation of no-till (NT) yield success probability as a decision tool for farmers or decision makers. The effect of soil management on durum wheat yield has been tested on many long-term field experiments. Results of these researches were collected in a unique dataset to evaluate the success of NT management in comparison to conventional tillage (CT) as influenced by the aridity index, crop residue management and cropping system. A total of 519 observations of long-term experiments (>3years) regarding durum wheat in a number of areas with semi arid climate were included in the present study. The relative ratio of yield under…
Development of innovative approaches for evaluating drought vulnerability and selecting innovative practices for managing water shortage (in Sicily)
2013
The climate, especially with regard to the precipitation and the evapotranspiration processes, plays a fundamental role in the vegetational patterns formation and modifications. The pilot project here described tries to evaluate in a quantitative way the impact of different climatic regimes (current or future) on vegetation health status and its physiological processes. In particular, an ecohydrological approach has been adopted in order to carry out an analysis of the potential climate changes influence on the vegetation state in a typical Mediterranean environment, such as the Sicilian one.
No till soil organic carbon sequestration could be overestimated when slope effect is not considered
2020
Abstract No tillage (NT) soil management has been considered a strategy for the implementation of environmental sustainability and a possible tool of soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration. Considering the wide range of data on SOC change after NT application in relation to conventional tillage (CT) in different studies, further researches are needed over a diverse range of soil and climate before a proper estimation of the benefits can be provided by the NT. A data set composed of cereal cropping system studies, comparing the SOC content under CT and NT was compiled from the literature using the scientific repositories “Scopus” and “Science direct”. This aims to i) discriminate and quanti…