Stalagmites: from Science Application to Museumization

The concept of geoheritage is related to places of geological interest, generally of aesthetic, cultural, socio-economic and/ or scientific value. Many geosites are of karstic nature, because of their intrinsic beauty, their singularity and high geodi- versity. Caves are among the most visited and economically exploited geological landforms. They constitute geosites as a whole, with their scenic landscapes, hydrogeological importance and the presence of bewildering natural rock and mineral formations including stalactites, stalagmites, flowstones and many other bizarre speleothem shapes. In some cases, a single speleothem, and the palaeoclimate record it contains, can be on its own of extraordinary importance to science. Once stud- ied, these samples are often stored in research institution collections, rarely accessible to the wide public. In this paper, we report on the museumization of a stalagmite that has delivered a unique and exceptionally long glacial climate record from southern Italy, shedding light on the causes that led to the Neanderthal contraction and Modern Human expansion in this mild Mediterranean climate between 45 and 42 thousands years ago. The proposed museumization aims to demonstrate the potential of speleothems, after scientific application, in terms of educational and tourist resources. This approach allows to highlight the scientific importance of karst and cave geosites to the wide public, promoting their conservation and the valorisation of the studied cave-material

A scientometric analysis of the effect of COVID-19 on the spread of research outputs

The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 had a huge impact on the life course of all of us. This rapid spread has also caused an increase in the research production in topics related to different aspects of COVID-19. Italy has been one of the first countries to be massively involved in the outbreak of the disease. In this paper, we present an extensive scientometric analysis of the research production both at global (entire literature produced in the first 2 years after the beginning of the pandemic) and local level (COVID-19 literature produced by authors with an Italian affiliation). Our results showed that US and China are the most active countries in terms of number of publications and that the number of collaborations between institutions varies depending on geographical distance. Moreover, we identified the medical-biological as the field with the greatest growth in terms of literature production. As regards the analysis focused on Italy, we have shown that most of the collaborations follow a geographical pattern, both externally (with a preference for European countries) and internally (two clusters of institutions, north versus center-south). Furthermore, we explored the relationship between the number of citations and variables obtained from the data set (e.g. number of authors). Using multiple correspondence analysis and quantile regression we shed light on the role of journal topics and impact factor, the type of article, the field of study and how these elements affect citations

Comportamientos antisociales autoinformados y factores de riesgo en una muestra de jóvenes estudiantes italianos

Los comportamientos antisociales y delictivos de los jóvenes suscitan una preocupación social constante a la vez que también tienen un gran interés científico. En correspondencia con esta preocupación social y científica por la delincuencia juvenil, el objetivo del presente estudio es analizar -a través del instrumento de autoinforme ISRD-2- los comportamientos antisociales y delictivos de una muestra de jóvenes estudiantes italianos y los factores de riesgo que podrían estar vinculados a ellos. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que la mayoría de los jóvenes evaluados en este estudio han realizado comportamientos antisociales leves, a los que suelen asociarse diversos riesgos individuales, sociales y del contexto en que viven los adolescentes. El conocimiento de tales factores de riesgo resulta relevante tanto para una mejor explicación de la conducta antisocial juvenil como también para una prevención más eficaz de la misma

Criminal behavior and risk factors: an application the triple risk model in a sample of students in Italy

I risultati evidenziano che gli studenti sono propensi a compiere in prevalenza comportamenti antisociali di lieve entità, come scaricare musica e film illegalmente e utilizzare i mezzi di trasporto senza pagare il biglietto. Solo una minima parte dei rispondenti mostrano propensione a compiere atti criminosi gravi o violenti (come vendere droga, lesioni e aggressioni, furti con l'uso della violenza). I risultati hanno sottolineato anche che alcuni tratti della personalità, come l'impulsività, e altri fattori sociali, come l'insoddisfazione scolastica, l'esposizione ai delitti e le opportunità criminose, sono elementi molto influenti rispetto l'agire deviante. Vale infine segnalare che, fatta eccezione per i furti, non si sono riscontrate differenze significative di coinvolgimento criminale tra i giovani residenti nelle due aree geografiche prese in considerazione

Stones for the production of binding materials in Florence area (Tuscany, italy)

From the Roman times to nowadays the exploitation of natural resources has been of primary importance for the expansion and developments of cities and population in general. As long as for more precious natural materials, like gold and silver, even the exploitation of limestones and other lithotypes of stones for building purposes, as the production of quicklime, hydraulic lime and cements, has covered and still has a great importance (Cantisani et al., 2018; Fratini et al. 1994). The limestone exploitation to produce mortar and concrete in the territories of Florence and Prato has been active in the area from the Roman times (Cantini et al., 2017; Raneri et al., 2018). The main goal of this paper is to characterize the different lithotypes useful to the production of cement and limes for mortar production in this area by mean of chemical, mineralogical and petrographic studies and by defining their physical and mechanical properties. This study analyses stone samples from different quarries, one from the province of Prato, Mt. Calvana, and two quarries from the province of Florence, Settimello and Greve in Chianti. A mapping of these quarries and a comparison between the chemical, mineralogical and petrographic characteristics and physical and mechanical properties of these lithotypes are made

Holocene hydroclimate changes in continental Croatia recorded in speleothem δ13C and δ18O from Nova Grgosova Cave

We present the first stable isotope (δ13C and δ18O) speleothem record from continental Croatia retrieved from two coeval stalagmites from Nova Grgosova Cave. U-Th dates constrain the stalagmite growth history from 10ka to the present, revealing coeval growth between 7.8 and 5.6ka. We interpret δ18O as an autumn/winter hydrological proxy related to changes of vapor source, precipitation amount, and/or seasonal rainfall distribution, while δ13C predominantly responds to spring/summer vegetation status and soil microbial activity. We identify several centennial to millennial-scale hydroclimate oscillations during this period that result from multiple forcing factors. Along with amount and source effect, it appears that some centennial variations were governed also by seasonal moisture balance. From 9.2 to 8.8ka BP, the local environmental setting was characterized by enhanced vegetation activity, while during the 8.2ka event the main feature was a change in precipitation seasonality. The most prominent change, identified in both δ13C records, is a sudden decline of vegetation and soil biological activity around 7.4 ka, indicating a precipitation decrease at a time of maximum plant growth in spring and summer and likely also reduced precipitation in autumn and winter. Although small in magnitude in these speleothems, a peak in δ18O and δ13C values at 4.3–4.1ka suggests that both summer and winter conditions were substantially drier during the 4.2ka event, in accordance with increased Mediterranean aridity and consistent with other global climate changes reported at this time. Compared to the present North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) influence, we assume that millennial Holocene NAO-like variations were persistent through the Holocene via their effect on modifying local/regional air temperature, vapor origin, and inter- and intrannual precipitation distribution. Anthropogenic deforestation, which was the first major human impact on the environment during the Neolithic agricultural revolution, is excluded as a leading factor in δ13C variability since the first sedentary settlements were established further to the east in more arable locations along river valleys. However, the impact of intensive mining around the cave site during the last millennium is evident, with substantial deforestation driving an increase in δ13C

Global reorganization of atmospheric circulation during Dansgaard-Oschger cycles

Ice core records from Greenland provide evidence for multiple abrupt warming events recurring at millennial time scales during the last glacial interval. Although climate transitions strongly resembling these Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) transitions have been identified in several speleothem records, our understanding of the climate and ecosystem impacts of the Greenland warming events in lower latitudes remains incomplete.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Composite data set of last glacial Dansgaard/Oeschger events obtained from stable oxygen isotopes in speleothems

Millennial scale climate variations called Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles occurred frequently during the last glacial, with their central impact on climate in the North Atlantic region. These events are, for example, well captured by the stable oxygen isotope composition in continental ice from Greenland, but also in records from other regions. Recently, it has been shown that a water isotope enabled general circulation model is able to reproduce those millennial-scale oxygen isotope changes from Greenland (Sime et al., 2019). On a global scale, this isotope-enabled model has not been tested in its performance, as stable oxygen isotope records covering those millennial scale variability were so far missing or not systematically compiled.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The potential of speleothems from Western Europe as recorders of regional climate: a critical assessment of the SISAL database

Western Europe is the region with the highest density of published speleothem δ18O (δ18Ospel) records worldwide. Here, we review these records in light of the recent publication of the Speleothem Isotopes Synthesis and AnaLysis (SISAL) database. We investigate how representative the spatial and temporal distribution of the available records is for climate in Western Europe and review potential sites and strategies for future studies. We show that spatial trends in precipitation δ18O are mirrored in the speleothems, providing means to better constrain the factors influencing δ18Ospel at a specific location. Coherent regional δ18Ospel trends are found over stadial-interstadial transitions of the last glacial, especially in high altitude Alpine records, where this has been attributed to a strong temperature control of δ18Ospel. During the Holocene, regional trends are less clearly expressed, due to lower signal-to-noise ratios in δ18Ospel, but can potentially be extracted with the use of statistical methods. This first assessment highlights the potential of the European region for speleothem palaeoclimate reconstruction, while underpinning the importance of knowing local factors for a correct interpretation of δ18Ospel

Strong mortars from the tower of the Cerreto Ciampoli castle (Siena, Italy)

[EN] Known since the eleventh century, the castle of Cerreto Ciampoli was one of the main fortifications of the ancient Republic of Siena (Tuscany, Italy). The magnificent ruins, located on the top of a hill overlooking the Chianti Mountains, consist of two city walls, a door, a church, the remains of some rooms and a mighty tower lying on the ground broken up into five sections of several meters in length. The present study is focused on the analysis of the mineralogical-petrographic and chemical features of the sack and the bedding mortars of the tower, and it is aimed at understanding the exceptional qualities of these mortars that, during the collapse of the artifact, prevented the tower from shattering into smaller pieces. The tenacity of these mortars appears to be the result of the concurrence of more expedients, such as the choice of well-selected materials (hydraulic limes obtained from the local Alberese limestone, sandy aggregates from well-rinsed river sands with a high silicoclastic component) and the use of particular technical methods (i.e. hot lime technique).Giamello, M.; Columbu, S.; Gabbrielli, F.; Mugnaini, S.; Scala, A. (2020). Le tenaci malte della torre del castello di Cerreto Ciampoli (Siena, Italia). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 1509-1516. https://doi.org/10.4995/FORTMED2020.2020.11495OCS1509151