Search results for "landform"
showing 10 items of 96 documents
Current status of Schistosoma mansoni infection among previously treated rural communities in the Abbey and Didessa Valleys, Western Ethiopia: Implic…
2021
Background Schistosoma constitutes a major public health problem and developmental challenges in the majority of developing and subtropical regions. The World Health Organization has set guidelines for the control and elimination of schistosomiasis. Ethiopia is providing school-based Mass Drug Administration (MDA) at the study areas of the Abbey and Didessa Valleys of western Ethiopian since 2015. Moreover, mass treatment was already done in the same villages 30 years ago. However, the current Schistosoma mansoni infection status among humans and snails in the study areas is not known. Hence, the present study aims to determine the current status. Methods A community-based cross-sectional …
Preservation of modern and mis 5.5 erosional landforms and biological structures as sea level markers: A matter of luck?
2021
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…
Physiography of the Sicilian region (1:250,000 scale)
2015
Physiographic maps summarize and group the landforms of a territory into homogeneous areas in terms of kind and intensity of the main geomorphological process. These maps are often produced at semi-detailed scales, while examples at the regional scale are much less common. However, because the region is the main administrative level in Europe, physiographic maps can be very useful for land planning in many fields, such as ecological studies, risk maps, and soil mapping. This work presents a methodological example of a regional physiographic map, compiled at a 1:250,000 scale, representing the whole Sicilian region, the largest of the Mediterranean islands. The physiographic units were class…
Morphometric and hydraulic geometry assessment of a gully in SW Spain
2016
Abstract Gully erosion represents one of the most significant types of land degradation in the Mediterranean areas, giving place to important on- and off-site effects. In this paper, a second-order gully located in SW Spain is analyzed. Along the gully, 28 cross-sections were established and measured with a Leica TCRM1102 laser total station, approximately every 6 months from 2001 to 2007. The sections were located at variable distance, placing them in areas where active erosion was evident. In total, 13 field measurements were carried out, and the geometric characteristics of 28 cross-sections were obtained. Morphometric analyses were carried out in both the main gully and a tributary reac…
Geomorphology of the Anthropocene in Mediterranean urban areas
2019
Urban-geomorphology studies in historical cities provide a significant contribution towards the broad definition of the Anthropocene, perhaps even including its consideration as a new unit of geological time. Specific methodological approaches to recognize and map landforms in urban environments, where human-induced geomorphic processes have often overcome the natural ones, are proposed. This paper reports the results from, and comparison of, studies conducted in coastal historical cities facing the core of the Mediterranean Sea – that is, Genoa, Rome, Naples, Palermo (Italy) and Patras (Greece). Their settlements were facilitated by similar climatic and geographical contexts, with high gr…
Dynamic landscapes, artifact taphonomy, and landuse modeling in the western Mediterranean
2002
The Polop Alto valley, in eastern Spain, is characteristic of many Mediterranean landscapes. It has been sporadically reoccupied over the course of at least 80 kyr. Its landforms have undergone various geomorphic processes resulting from late Quaternary environmental fluctuations. During the Holocene, the valley has been modified by millennia of extensive land clearance, cultivation, and terracing. As a result, the evidence for human activity and landuse is a cumulative, but discontiguous palimpsest of the most durable behavioral residues—primarily stone and ceramic artifacts—whose distributions have been affected by diverse natural and cultural formation processes. Human occupation of the …
Using topographical attributes to evaluate gully erosion proneness (susceptibility) in two mediterranean basins: advantages and limitations
2015
Empirical multivariate predictive models represent an important tool to estimate gully erosion susceptibility. Topography, lithology, climate, land use and vegetation cover are commonly used as input for these approaches. In this paper, two multivariate predictive models were generated for two gully erosion processes in San Giorgio basin (Italy) and Mula River basin (Spain) using only topographical attributes as independent variables. Initially, nine models (five for San Giorgio and four for Mula) with pixel sizes ranging from 2 to 50 m were generated, and validation statistics were calculated to estimate the optimal pixel size. The best models were selected based on model performance using…
Geomorphology of the Capo San Vito Peninsula (NW Sicily): An Example of Tectonically and Climatically Controlled Landscape
2017
The Capo San Vito peninsula is located along the north-westernmost sector of the Sicilian coastline. It is characterized by a complex geomorphological setting, where a large variety of coastal, gravity-induced and karst landforms allow the visitor to easily detect the interactions between Quaternary tectonics and climate changes as well as morphodynamic processes responsible for shaping the landscape. Thanks to natural reserves, the peninsula preserves a typical Mediterranean natural environment, marked by spectacular and suggestive landforms.
Relationships between a new slope morphometric index and calanchi erosion in northern Sicily, Italy
2012
The Italian badlands, or “calanchi”, are common landforms in Mediterranean areas including central and southern Italy. Calanchi landforms may be compared to small hydrographic basins. These landforms are characterised by dense, hierarchical and rapidly evolving drainage systems carved into steep clayey slopes and by a sharply alternating pattern of furrows and narrow, generally sharp crests. This work presents a study of morphometric characteristics and a statistical analysis for two sites in northern Sicily (Italy), on outcrops of silty-clay deposits affected by active erosion processes, which give this area a typical calanchi landscape. In particular, factors closely linked to the charact…
Investigation of a tunnel pasteurizer for “Nocellara del Belice” table olives processed according to the “Castelvetrano method”
2014
The influence of pasteurization temperature and time of treatment on the flesh firmness and the evolution of microbial communities was studied for table olives Cv. Nocellara del Belice, packed in glass jars and processed with a tunnel pasteurizer. The experiment was first carried out on the laboratory level in order to select the optimal combination of pasteurization time/temperature so as to obtain the proper balance between the consistency of the pulp and the microbiological quality of the final product. Pasteurization at industrial scale was then carried out in a tunnel pasteurizer applying the treatment at 75 °C for 8 min in the thermal center of the jars. Besides flesh firmness and mic…