Search results for "soil"
showing 10 items of 3493 documents
Rock decay phenomena and collapse processes in the “Latomiae del Paradiso” in Syracuse (Sicily)
2014
The Latomiae (origin: Greek latomia, from laas, las stone plus –tomia tomy ) del Paradiso in Syracuse are Magna Graecia rock quarries, located in the coastal areas of Southern Italy and internationally renowned for their impressive environment. The few historical technical records do not help clarify the events that led to their current configuration since a series of instability phenomena occurred due to decay processes over time. Through a geotechnical back-analysis, this work highlights the failure phenomena, which may have led to the current configuration of the easterly side of the Latomiae del Paradiso. The back-analysis process was carried out by means of numerical modelling, support…
Ad “Uso e Consumo” del suolo
2021
Parlare di consumo di suolo significa affrontare di una questione attuale che pone le sue basi in una lunga storia complessa e articolata. La complessità e l'incertezza del concetto di consumo di suolo è da ricercare anche nella sua storia che è legata a quella dell'uso del suolo. Pertanto, definire chiaramente il termine consumo di suolo è difficile nonostante una ricca letteratura sull'argomento sia oggi disponibile. Si potrebbe dire che il consumo di suolo deve essere inteso come un processo antropico che opera una trasformazione, attraverso la realizzazione, soprattutto nelle aree agricole, di infrastrutture di vario tipo che spesso distruggono le caratteristiche ambientali del territor…
Effects of agricultural drainage systems on sediment connectivity in a small Mediterranean lowland catchment
2018
Traditional drainage systems combining man-made channels and subsurface tile drains have been used since Roman times to control water excess in Mediterranean lowland regions, favouring adequate soil water regime for agriculture purposes. However, mechanization of agriculture, abandonment or land use changes lead to a progressive deterioration of these drains in the last decades. The effects of these structures on hydrological and sediment dynamics have been previously analyzed in a small Mediterranean lowland catchment (Can Revull, Mallorca, Spain, 1.4 km2) by establishing an integrated sediment budget with a multi-technique approach. Moreover, the recent advances in morphometric techniques…
Mercury concentration in lichen, moss and soil samples collected from the forest areas of Praded and Glacensis Euroregions (Poland and Czech Republic)
2011
The concentration of mercury was determined in samples of the lichen Hypogymnia physodes, the moss Pleurozium schreberi, and the soil humus collected in Polish and Czech Euroregions Praded and Glacensis. The sampling sites were located in Bory Stobrawskie, Bory Niemodlińskie and Kotlina Kłodzka in Poland, and in Jeseniki and Gory Orlickie in the Czech Republic. The mean concentrations of mercury accumulated in the lichen (0.129 mg g(-1)), in the moss (0.094 mg g(-1)) and in soil (0.286 mg g(-1)) were fairly close to the corresponding concentrations in other low-industrialized regions. The highest concentrations of mercury were observed in the lichen and the moss samples from Kotlina Kłodzka…
Time-variations of zeroth-order vegetation absorption and scattering at L-band
2021
Abstract Surface soil moisture and vegetation optical depth (VOD), as an indicator of vegetation wet biomass, from passive microwave remote sensing have been increasingly applied in global ecology and climate research. Both soil moisture and VOD are retrieved from satellite brightness temperature measurements assuming a zeroth order radiative transfer model, commonly known as the tau-omega model. In this model the emission of a vegetated surface is dependent on soil moisture, vegetation absorption and vegetation scattering. Vegetation scattering is normally represented by the single scattering albedo, ω, and is commonly assumed to be a time-invariant calibration parameter to achieve high ac…
Early assessment of crop yield from remotely sensed water stress and solar radiation data
2018
Soil moisture (SM) available for evapotranspiration is crucial for food security, given the significant interannual yield variability of rainfed crops in large agricultural regions. Also, incoming solar radiation (Rs) influences the photosynthetic rate of vegetated surfaces and can affect productivity. The aim of this work is to evaluate the ability of crop water stress and Rs remotely sensed data to forecast yield at regional scale. Temperature Vegetation Dryness Index (TVDI) was computed as an indicator of crop water stress and soil moisture availability. TVDI during critical growth stage of crops was calculated from MODIS products: MODIS/AQUA 8-day composite LST at 1 km and 16-day compos…
Comment on “Determining soil erodibility for the USLE-MM rainfall erosion model by P.I.A. Kinnell”
2018
Abstract The measurements units of the USLE-MM soil erodibility factor are dependent on the exponent of the erosivity term. This circumstance prevents to compare soil erodibility values of sites differing by the value of this exponent. To overcame this problem, Kinnell (2018) suggested to relate the soil erodibility factor of the USLE-MM with that of USLE-M by a linear relationship with the objective to obtain a soil erodibility factor independent of the power of the erosivity term. The USLE-MB, which is a recently proposed model, has also a soil erodibility factor having measurement units common to USLE modelling environment. Kinnell (2018) also showed that the relationship between the pow…
Gamma activity and geochemical features of building materials: estimation of gamma dose rate and indoor radon levels in Sicily.
2001
A high-purity germanium detector has been used to measure the abundance of radium (Ra), thorium (Th) and potassium (K) in building materials used in Sicilian dwellings. The measurements were performed to evaluate which material was suitable for the construction of an enclosure, which would have a low background emission. The materials examined in this work showed concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K dramatically variable depending on the lithologies, particularly in the case of blocks, sands and aggregates commonly used in building materials in Sicily. The results are discussed and a criterion is indicated to reduce the radiation dose to humans. Since radon inlet is a major health problem…
Parte V - Utilizzazione agronomica ed impatto sul sistema suolo-pianta 15. Aspetti biologici
2022
In this chapter authors focused on how and why biochar, compost, sewage sludge and digestate deriving from waste biomasses affect soil biological activities.
Influence of column shear failure on pushover based assessment of masonry infilled reinforced concrete framed structures: A case study
2017
Structural frames, constructed either of steel or reinforced concrete (RC), are often infilled with masonry panels. However, during the analysis of the structural frames, it has become common practice to disregard the existence of infills because of the complexity in modeling. This omission should not be allowed because the two contributions (of infills and of frames) complement each other in providing a so different structural system. The use of different modeling assumptions significantly affects the capacity as well as the inelastic demand and safety assessment. In specific, the adoption of equivalent diagonal pin-jointed struts leaves open the problem of the evaluation of the additional…