Geo-LiM: a new geo-lithological map for Central Europe (Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, and Northern Italy) as a tool for the estimation of atmospheric CO2 consumption

We present a new geo-lithological map for Central Europe (Geo-LiM). It was prepared taking into account the chemical and mineralogical composition of the outcropping rocks and paying attention in discriminating metamorphic rocks, that were classified according to the chemistry of protoliths. The map was used for estimating the atmospheric CO2 consumed by the chemical weathering of silicates and carbonates. The map is made available in vector format [Donnini et al,. 2018. A new Geo-Lithological Map (Geo-LiM) for Central Europe (Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, and Northern Italy) (Version 1.2) [Data set]. Zenodo Retrieved from https://zenodo.org/record/3530257], together with the computer code used to classify the lithologies and to join original maps. As a consequence, researchers can either replicate the product, or alter the code to derive a different lithological classification of the original geological maps, following the concept of Open Science

A new Alpine geo-lithological map (Alpine-Geo-LiM) and global carbon cycle implications

Abstract The chemical composition of river waters gives a measure of the atmospheric CO2 fixed by chemical weathering processes. Since the dominating factors controlling these processes are lithology and runoff, as well as uplift and erosion, we introduce a new simplified geo-lithological map of the Alps (Alpine-Geo-LiM) that adopted a lithological classification compliant with the methods most used in literature for estimating the consumption of atmospheric CO2 by chemical weathering. The map was used together with published alkalinity data of the 33 main Alpine rivers (1) to investigate the relationship between bicarbonate concentration in the sampled waters and the lithologies of the corresponding drained basins, and (2) to quantify the atmospheric CO2 consumed by chemical weathering. The analyses confirm (as known by the literature) that carbonates are lithologies highly prone to consuming atmospheric CO2. Moreover, the analyses show that sandstone (which could have a nonnegligible carbonate component) plays an important role in consuming atmospheric CO2. Another result is that in multilithological basins containing lithologies more prone to consuming atmospheric CO2, the contribution of igneous rocks to the atmospheric CO2 consumption is negligible. Alpine-Geo-LiM has several novel features when compared with published global lithological maps. One novel feature is due to the attention paid in discriminating metamorphic rocks, which were classified according to the chemistry of protoliths. The second novel feature is that the procedure used for the definition of the map was made available on the Web to allow the replicability and reproducibility of the product

The contribution of weathering of the main Alpine rivers on the global carbon cycle

On geological time-scales the carbon fluxes from the solid Earth to the atmosphere mainly result from volcanism and metamorphic-decarbonation processes, whereas the carbon fluxes from atmosphere to solid Earth mainly depend on weathering of silicates and carbonates, biogenic precipitation and removal of CaCO3 in the oceans and volcanic gases – seawater interactions. Quantifying each contribution is critical. In this work, we estimate the atmospheric CO2 uptake by weathering in the Alps, using results of the study of the dissolved loads transported by 33 main Alpine rivers. The chemical composition of river water in unpolluted areas is a good indicator of surface weathering processes (Garrels and Mackenzie, 1971; Drever, 1982; Meybeck, 1984; Tardy, 1986; Berner and Berner, 1987; Probst et al., 1994). The dissolved load of streams originates from atmospheric input, pollution, evaporite dissolution, and weathering of carbonate and silicate rocks, and the application of mass balance calculations allows quantification of the different contributions. In this work, we applied the MEGA (Major Element Geochemical Approach) geochemical code (Amiotte Suchet, 1995; Amiotte Suchet and Probst, 1996) to the chemical compositions of the selected rivers in order to quantify the atmospheric CO2 consumed by weathering in Alpine region. The drainage basins of the main Alpine rivers were sampled near the basin outlets during dry and flood seasons. The application of the MEGA geochemical consisted in several steps. First, we subtracted the rain contribution in river waters knowing the X/Cl (X = Na, K, Mg, Ca) ratios of the rain. Next, we considered that all (Na+K) came from silicate weathering. The average molar ratio Rsil = (Na+K)/(Ca+Mg) for rivers draining silicate terrains was estimated from unpolluted French stream waters draining small monolithological basins (Meybeck, 1986; 1987). For the purpose, we prepared a simplified geo-lithological map of Alps according to the lithological classification of Meybeck (1986, 1987). Then for each basin we computed Rsil weighted average considering the surface and the mean precipitation for the surface area of each lithology. Lastly, we estimated the (Ca+Mg) originating from carbonate weathering as the remaining cations after silicate correction. Depending on time-scales of the phenomena (shorter than about 1 million year i.e. correlated to the short term carbon cycle, or longer than about 1 million years i.e. correlated to the long-term carbon cycle), we considered different equations for the quantification of the atmospheric CO2 consumed by weathering (Huh, 2010). The results show the net predominance of carbonate weathering on fixing atmospheric CO2 and that, considering the long-term carbon cycle, the amount of atmospheric CO2 uptake by weathering is about one order of magnitude lower than considering the short-term carbon cycle. Moreover, considering the short-term carbon cycle, the mean CO2 consumed by Alpine basins is of the same order of magnitude of the mean CO2 consumed by weathering by the 60 largest rivers of the world estimated by Gaillardet et al. (1999)

Economic landslide susceptibility under a socio-economic perspective: an application to Umbria Region (Central Italy)

AbstractAn accurate understanding of physical and socio-economic effects of landslides is fundamental to develop more refined risk management, mitigation strategies and land use policies. In this paper we develop a measure to consider the interconnection between physical and economic exposure, i.e. what we call the economic landslide susceptibility, namely the probability of landslide occurrence in an area weighted for its socio-economic exposure considering the real-estate market values. The economic landslide susceptibility is estimated through a method designed for large areas that we applied to the Umbria Region (Central Italy). The method makes use of landslide susceptibility maps and a real estate market value map for any given area under analysis. The innovative concept of economic landslide susceptibility (that is de facto an ex ante landslide cost assessment) may be interpreted as the potential loss that an area might suffer in terms of its propensity for landslides. Useful applications of the proposed method lie in a better territorial management and in the land use planning

Nestin is a neuroepithelial target gene of thyroid transcription factor-1, a homeoprotein required for forebrain organogenesis.

Thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1, also known as NKX2.1 and T/EBP), a transcription factor belonging to the NKX-2 family of homeodomain-containing genes, plays an essential role in the organogenesis of the thyroid gland, lung, and ventral forebrain. Nestin is an intermediate filament protein strongly expressed in multipotential neuroepithelial stem cells and rapidly down-regulated during postnatal life. Here we show that stable fibroblastic clones expressing TTF-1 acquire a phenotype reminiscent of neuroepithelial cells in culture and up-regulate the endogenous nestin gene. TTF-1 transactivates in HeLa and NIH3T3 cells a reporter gene driven by a central nervous system-specific enhancer element from the second intron of the rat nestin gene, where it recognizes a DNA-binding site (NestBS) whose sequence resembles a nuclear hormone/cAMP-responsive element very different from canonical TTF-1 binding sites. Nuclear extracts from the head of mouse embryos form a retarded complex with NestBS of the same mobility of the extracts obtained from TTF1-expressing clones, which is either abolished or supershifted in the presence of two different antibodies recognizing the TTF-1 protein. Thus, the neuroepithelial marker nestin is a direct central nervous system-specific target gene of TTF-1, leading to the hypothesis that it might be the effector through which TTF-1 plays its role in the organogenesis of the forebrain

Chemical weathering and consumption of atmospheric carbon dioxide in the Alpine region

To determine the CO2 consumption due to chemical weathering in the Alps, water samples from the 32 main Alpine rivers were collected and analysed in two periods, spring 2011 and winter 2011/2012. Most of the river waters are characterized by a bicarbonate earth-alkaline composition with some samples showing a clear enrich-ment in sulphates and other samples showing a slight enrichment in alkaline metals. The amount of total dissolved solids (TDS) ranges between 96 and 551 mg/L. Considering the major ion composition and the Sr isotopic composition of water samples, coherently with the geological setting of the study area, three major reservoirs of dissolved load have been recognized: carbonates, evaporites and silicates. Based on a chemical mass balance, the flux of dissolved solids, and the flux of carbon dioxide consumed by chemical weathering have been computed for each basin and for the entire study area. Results show that the flux of dissolved solids, ranges from 8 × 103 to 411 × 103 kg km−2 y−1, with an average value of 127 × 103 kg km−2 y−1, while the flux of carbon dioxide consumed by chemical weathering in the short-term (b1 Ma) is 5.03 × 105 mol km−2 y−1 1 on average. Since part of the CO2 is returned to the atmosphere through carbonate precipitation and reverse weathering once river water reaches the ocean, the CO2 removed from the atmosphere/soil system in the long-term (N1 Ma) is much smaller than the CO2 consumed in the short-term and according to our calculations amounts to 2.01 × 104 mol km−2 y−1 on average. This value is almost certainly a minimum estimate of the total amount of CO2 fixed by weathering on the long-term because in our calculations we assumed that all the alkaline metals deriving from rock weathering in the continents are rapidly involved in the process of reverse weathering in the oceans, while there are still large uncertainties on the magnitude and significance of this process. The values of CO2 flux consumed by weathering are strongly correlated with runoff while other potential controlling factors show only weak correlations or no correlation. Our estimation of the CO2 consumed by weathering in the Alpine basins is in the same order of magnitude, but higher than the world average and is consistent with previ-ous estimations made in river basins with similar climatic conditions and similar latitudes

Draft Genome Sequence of the Ectomycorrhizal Ascomycete Sphaerosporella brunnea

Sphaerosporella brunnea is a pioneer ectomycorrhizal fungus with facultative saprophytic capacities. Here, we sequenced the genome of S. brunnea strain Sb_GMNB300, which is estimated at 51.6 Mb in size with 872 assembled contigs accounting for 12, 597 predicted coding genes. This genome will be useful for comparative studies of Pezizales ectomycorrhizal symbioses

Draft Genome Sequence of the Ectomycorrhizal Ascomycete Sphaerosporella brunnea

Sphaerosporella brunnea is a pioneer ectomycorrhizal fungus with facultative saprophytic capacities. Here, we sequenced the genome of S. brunnea strain Sb_GMNB300, which is estimated at 51.6 Mb in size with 872 assembled contigs accounting for 12, 597 predicted coding genes. This genome will be useful for comparative studies of Pezizales ectomycorrhizal symbioses

Integrazioni alla flora vascolare dell\u2019Italia centrale. Secondo contributo

Additions to the vascular flora of central Italy. Second contribution. In this paper, new floristic records for 55 taxa for central Italy are reported. In particular, 39 taxa are native and 16 aliens, 9 are new or confirmed to Abruzzo, 1 to Marche, 21 to Molise, 16 to Umbria, 1 is excluded from the flora of Abruzzo, 1 from Molise and 1 from Lazio. Furthermore, new distribution data for 2 rare species in Abruzzo and Molise are reported