Monitoring of Mediterranean Coastal Areas problems and measurement techniques. EIGHTH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM Livorno (Italy) June 2020

MORPHOLOGY AND EVOLUTION OF COASTLINES AND SEABEDS The session "Morphology and evolution of coastlines and seabeds" has faced a theme that is becoming increasingly important because coastal areas are characterized by high-anthropic pressure, relevant socioeconomic interests besides being very sensitives to the effect of climate changes. The title of the session aims to underline how the coastal areas are a multifaceted system constituted by both emerged and submerged areas that are in continuous and mutual evolution. Although the symposium starting date had unfortunately fallen during the Covid-19 emergence, several international and national researchers have brought their contributions to the session. The issues addressed, mainly concern a series of case-histories (Italy, Spain, Turkey and Croatia) illustrating coastline changes along the time and, in some instances, their relationships with beach nourishment or coastal defenses. Studies about the influence of fluvial sedimentary supply on the offshore area and the effects of intensity water circulation in strongly anthropized areas are also presented. The acquisition of data of the scientific contributions derives from different approaches: i) analysis of aerial and satellite images, ii) laboratory analyses of samples collected in the study area, iii) experimental tests. Gomes da Silva et al. show how the use of automatic co-registered Landsat and Sentinel-2 satellite images allows them to obtain accurate shoreline series in the Tordera Delta area (Spain). A complementary approach is proposed by Pagán et al. that analyses aerial images spanning from 1956 to 2019 and reconstruct the coastal evolution along the Alicante coast (Spain) testing the impact of beach nourishment that occurred since the 1990s. Similar is the methodological approach proposed by Kadri and Atroune to evaluate the diachronic evolution of the Bordj El Kiffane coastline (Algeria) with respect to the presence or absence of protection structures. Piccioli-Resta et al. have utilized a remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPSA) along the Lecce coast (Italy), for the monitoring of the beach dunes and the nearby shorelines. A similar technique was also utilized by Bedini et al., to monitoring the Poseidonia oceanica meadows evolution in the Follonica and Baratti gulfs (Italy). The drone-survey has evidenced the unsuitability of the coastal defenses used up now. A direct sedimentological approach is proposed by López et al. to investigate, within three beaches located in Spain, the relationship between sediment wear and shoreline evolution through the use of the accelerated particle wear test (APW). Pikelj and Furčić analyze several seabed samples collected in front of a coastal cliff subjected to erosional processes at the Vrgada Island, in Croatia. The data furnish new FUP Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (DOI 10.36253/fup_best_practice) Laura Bonora, Donatella Carboni, Matteo De Vincenzi (edited by), Eighth International Symposium “Monitoring of Mediterranean Coastal Areas. Problems and Measurement Techniques”. Livorno (Italy) June 2020, © 2020 Author(s), content CC BY 4.0 International, metadata CC0 1.0 Universal, published by Firenze University Press (www.fupress.com), ISSN 2704-5846 (online), ISBN 978-88-5518-147-1 (PDF), DOI 10.36253/978-88-5518-147-1 378 information about the impact of cliff erosion on coastal sediments supply and on their longshore redistribution. Di Leo et al. present a sedimentological and geochemical-based study to establish the influence of the Sarno river on the present-day sedimentation in the Naples (Italy) bay evaluating grain size, the presence of organic matter, and the pollution degree of the sediments samples collected in the offshore area of the bay. Bulkan et al. use a stratigraphic perspective to infer the depositional coastal evolution of the Lake Bafa area (Aegean coast, Turkey), which occurred during the last 3,5 ka. Through the study of six cores, they document the succession of four phases, from the earlier marine-dominated stage to the present-day isolated lacustrine stage. Finally, Di Natale et al. by means of the implementation of experimental tests of a three-dimensional physical model, carry out an evaluation of the intensity water circulation within marinas and defense structures located in relevant sites of Italy (Salerno and Ischitella stretch of coast along with the harbors of Fiumicino Manfredonia and Castelvolturno). Giovanni Sarti Department of Earth Sciences University of Pisa Email [email protected]

Grain size characterization of modern and ancient dunes within a dune field along the Pisan coast (Tuscany, Italy)

In this paper, grain size analysis on a large number of samples from a dune field within the Migliarino – San Rossore – Massaciuccoli Regional Park has been carried out in order to define the textural characterization of modern and ancient dune ridges. More than 200 samples along five transects have been collected from the backshore, the active dunes and the steady dunes up to the last recognizable dune ridge. The samples have been dry-sieved and the obtained data have been processed electronically to achieve textural parameters such as mean diameter and sorting. The results showed similar trends of the transects throughout the entire dune field. In particular, the grain size tends to decrease towards the most ancient dune ridges, showing a significant drop at the transition between active and inactive areas. The drastic decrease might be related to a possible variation of River Arno sediment discharge occurred after the XVIII century

MIDDLE PLIOCENE CETACEANS FROM MONTE VOLTRAIO (TUSCANY, ITALY). BIOSTRATIGRAPHICAL, PALEOECOLOGICAL AND PALEOCLIMATIC OBSERVATIONS

The historic collection of fossil odontocetes (Cetacea) from Monte Voltraio, near Volterra (Tuscany, Italy) has been examined and lithostratigraphical and biostratigraphical investigations on the find locality have been carried out. The Monte Voltraio outcrop is referred to the Middle Pliocene, in particular to Globorotalia aemiliana and Discoaster tamalis zones. The odontocete remains are assigned to the families Kogiidae (Kogia pusilla) and Delphinidae (Globicephala? etruriae and two indeterminate specimens which might belong to Hemisyntrachelus and Stenella giulii). The Middle Pliocene cetacean fauna from the Mediterranean basin (Monte Voltraio and Rio Stramonte associations) includes extinct taxa or extant taxa no longer represented in this basin. The disappearance of these taxa may be linked with the Pliocene and/or Quaternary climatic deteriorations (e.g. the climatic crisis at about 2.6-2.4 MA).&nbsp

A MIOCENE CERVID FROM THE TORRENTE MORRA SEQUENCE (COLLESALVETTI, PISA, ITALY)

A well preserved fossil left tibia of artiodactyl was recently found along Torrente Morra, in the surroundings of Collesalvetti (15 Kms South of Pisa). The bone is embedded in Upper Messinian deltaic sediments which outcrop patchily in the area. The specimen can be referred to a primitive cervid and shows morphological characters and proportions very close to those of the tibiae of extant roe deer, Capreolus capreolus. The find is particularly significant because continental mammals have never been reported before from the Miocene deposits of this area. A possible reference to a primitive roe deer would be consistent with Late Miocene macrofloral and palynological evidence from this area, which attest to a transition from a subtropical forested environment to a temperate Mediterranean one.&nbsp

THE UPPER PLEISTOCENE “ISOLA DI COLTANO SANDS” 1 (ARNO COASTAL PLAIN, TUSCANY ITALY): REVIEW OF STRATIGRAPHIC DATA ANDTECTONIC IMPLICATIONS FOR THE SOUTHERN MARGIN OF THE VIAREGGIO BASIN

We present and discuss previously published stratigraphic and chronological (mainly archaeological remains) data about the “Isola di Coltano Sands”(ICS), with the support of unpublished core stratigraphies and taking into account the geological frame of the Arno coastal plain. ICS outcrops in the southern portion of the extensional Viareggio Basin, forming three isolated small-sized reliefs rising up to 15 m above the present-day Arno coastal plain on both sides of the Arno River. We document that the deposits outcropping north of the Arno River (Palazzetto site) reasonably belong to the Holocene prograding beach-ridge system to which they are physically juxtaposed. Indeed, both sedimentological and morphological characteristics indicate that the Palazzetto sands were exclusively formed by wind-related processes, likely occurred during the late Holocene according to the presence of Eneolithic artefacts. Conversely, the common presence of Mousterian artefacts at the Castagnolo and Coltano sites, located south of the Arno River, documents an age older than 40 kyr (upper Pleistocene) for these reliefs. Moreover, new stratigraphic data show that ICS are constituted by alluvial deposits with evidences of repetitive fluvial erosion episodes. All these features,, indicate that ICS can be reasonably included into the Late Pleistocene Vicarello Formation, widely outcropping along the southern margin of the Leghorn Hills. In this context, an estimated age ranging between MIS 6 and MIS 3 can be hypothesized for the ICS. However, the occurrence of Upper Pleistocene reliefs formed by alluvial deposits (Coltano and Castagnolo sites) in the southern portion of the Arno coastal plain seems to conflict with the acknowledged interpretation of the area as an extensional, subsiding setting. Moreover, the sharp morphological boundary dividing the flat Holocene coastal plain from the Quaternary Leghorn Hills is roughly coincident with the SW-NE transpressive fault (Sillaro line) that subdivides the subsiding area (Viareggio Basin, to which the Arno plain belongs) from the uplifting area (Leghorn mounts). Thus, our review of the available stratigraphic and chronological data strongly suggests the occurrence of a geological connection between the southern portion of the Arno coastal plain, specifically of the Castagnolo and Coltano reliefs, and the Leghorns Hills where the Vicarello Formation outcrops. This connection, which may have strong consequences on the geotectonic interpretation of the study area, and the formation 50 age of ICS needs to be better investigated in the future with new high-resolution tectonic and absolute chronological data

Geochemical anomalies of potentially hazardous elements reflect catchment geology: An example from the Tyrrhenian coast of Italy

Assessing soil contamination by hazardous metals and estimating the extent to which metal concentrations in surficial sediments may pose risks to human health are increasingly important environmental issues. An integrated sedimentological and geochemical study of 57 Holocene beach sands from the shallow subsurface (120–130 cm depth) of the heavily urbanized Tyrrhenian Sea coast of Italy (Tuscany and adjacent coastal stretches) allowed a remarkable compositional heterogeneity to be identified as a function of spatial variations in riverine sediment supply and alongshore sediment dispersal patterns. Concentrations of Cr, Ni, and As exceeding maximum permissible limits for recreational/industrial sites (150 mg/kg, 120 mg/kg, and 20 mg/kg, respectively) reveal spatial trends that fit the petrography of modern beach sands and closely reflect the geology of river catchments, thus indicating a geogenic origin. Extremely high concentrations of Cr (and Ni), even 10 times greater than threshold values, are interpreted to reflect sediment supply from river catchments rich in ultramafic rocks (ophiolite sequences of Cecina and Campiglia areas), with subsequent transport via the longshore drift. On the other hand, high As concentrations in the Campiglia region and along the southern stretch of coast reflect leaching of felsic volcanic and plutonic parent rocks and hydrothermal products related to the Tuscan and Roman magmatic provinces cropping out in the Fiora, Albegna, and Cornia river catchments. This study shows that coastal sediment derived from particular source rocks is likely to contain potentially harmful metals in predictable proportions, which may easily exceed maximum allowable concentrations. Assessing spatial distribution of such metals based on catchment geology and sediment transport pathways may help separate natural concentrations from the anthropogenic contribution, providing a valuable source of information for appropriate remediation strategies and management options. © 2020 Elsevier B.V

Litho-sedimentological and morphodynamic characterization of the Pisa Province coastal area (northern Tuscany, Italy)

In this paper litho-sedimentological and morphodynamic maps of the coastal sector belonging to the Pisa Province are presented as an example of how increasing the accessibility to data on lithology, sedimentology, and morphodynamics may lead to a better approach to coastal management. The database used to build the maps includes an original rendering of remote sensing data (aerial imagery) and new field data (geologic survey), as well as data retrieved from the scientific literature (grain-size and past coastline positions). The maps show that the geometry of beach ridges is an indication of the evolution of the Arno River delta in the last 3000 years, highlighting the relationships between geological aspects and morphodynamic features. The maps represent the synthesis of different data available in the database, and they may be a useful support to coastal management as they are more easily understandable and straightforward than the database from which are created

The lagoonal harbour of Portus Pisanus (N Tyrrhen- ian Sea, Italy): a long history of human adaptation to changing coastline

During the last millennia human and natural processes have become increasingly intertwined, especially in the Mediterranean coastal and alluvial plains where major urban and trade centres developed since protohistoric times. The construction of ports represents one of the human activities that have mostly contributed to modify coastal environments, inducing a variety of hydrodynamic and hydrochemical changes especially since Roman times (Marriner et al., 2014). Exceptions in this common manner to plan harbours have been recognised along the N Tyrrhenian coast, where no high-impact defense works are explicitly documented by either historical sources or archaeological excavations for three main harbours developed during Etruscan-Roman times (IV-I century BC): Portus Lunae (Bini et al., 2012), Portus Pisanus and Vada Volterrana. Roman literary sources (i.e., Itinerarium Maritimum 501; Rutilio Namaziano) mentioned Portus Pisanus as a flourishing commercial site within a natural protected area (called Sinus Pisanus by Tacito) characterized by Posidonia meadows and located at the foot of Leghorn hills, ca. 18.5 km south of the Pisa city. Accordingly, recent excavations undertaken close to the hills slope, 3 km inland from modern coastline, unearthed a wooden palisade, stone piers and a warehouse dated to the Roman period (Pasquinucci, 2013; Morhange et al., 2015). However, the precise location of the lagoonal harbour basin is still controversial. This study aims to contribute to fill this knowledge gap and shed new light on the main stages of harbour history in the framework of the mid-late Holocene palaeogeographic evolution of the Pisa Plain. The application of a multidisciplinary approach (sedimentological and micropalaeontological core analyses, radiocarbon dating, geomorphological field survey, remote sensing and historical cartography) has revealed that a wide lagoonal basin formed in the study area during the marine transgression peak (ca. 8000 cal yr BP). This basin, recorded by a m-thick subsurface succession of soft grey clays with brackish meiofauna, persisted for several millennia and corresponds to Sinus Pisanus. The available stratigraphic data document that during Roman times the lagoon became progressively less connected to the sea and turned into a coastal lake/pond. Filling processes started two-three millennia later respect to the lagoon occupying the Pisa city area during the Holocene (Rossi et al., 2011). This seaward facies shift forced the westward transferring of the Middle Ages harbour. These results show that natural sheltered conditions along with the distance from coeval Arno River made more advantageous for humans following the shoreline changes, rather than making high-impact interventions. 2012, Bini M., Bruckner H., Chelli A., Da Prato S., Gervasini L., Palaeogeographies of the Magra Valley coastal plain to costrain the location of the Roman harbour of Luna (NW Italy), Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 337-338, 37–51. 2014, Marriner N., Morhange C., Kaniewski D., Carayon N., Ancient harbour infrastructure in the Levant: tracking the birth and rise of new forms of anthropogenic pressure, Nature Scientific Reports, 4, 5554. 2015, Morhange C., Marriner N., Baralis A., Blot M.L., Bony G., Carayon N., Carmona P., Flaux C., Giaime M., Goiran J.-P., Kouka M., Lena A., Oueslati A., Pasquinucci M., Porotov A., Dynamiques géomorphologiques et typologie géoarcheologique des ports antiques en contextes lagunaires, Quaternaire, 26, (2), 117–139. 2013, Pasquinucci M., Guida all’archeologia delle coste livornesi. Nardini Editore. Provincia di Livorno. 271 pp. 2011, Rossi V., Amorosi A., Sarti G., Potenza M., Influence of inherited topography on the Holocene sedimentary evolution of coastal systems: An example from Arno coastal plain (Tuscany, Italy), Geomorphology, 135 (1-2), 117–128

Control of electron transfer by the electrochemical potential gradient in cytochrome-c oxidase reconstituted into phospholipid vesicles.

The kinetics of electron transfer between cytochrome-c oxidase and ruthenium hexamine has been characterized using the native enzyme or its cyanide complex either solubilized by detergent (soluble cytochrome oxidase) or reconstituted into artificial phospholipid vesicles (cytochrome oxidase-containing vesicles). Ru(NH3)2+6 (Ru(II] reduces oxidized cytochrome a, following (by-and-large) bimolecular kinetics; the second order rate constant using the cyanide complex of the enzyme is 1.5 x 10(6) M-1 s-1, for the enzyme in detergent, and slightly higher for COV. In the case of COV the kinetics are not affected by the addition of ionophores. Upon mixing fully reduced cytochrome oxidase with oxygen (in the presence of excess reductants), the oxidation leading to the pulsed enzyme is followed by a steady state phase and (eventually) by complete re-reduction. When the concentrations of dioxygen and oxidase are sufficiently low (micromolar range), the time course of oxidation can be resolved by stopped flow at room temperature, yielding an apparent bimolecular rate constant of 5 x 10(7) M-1 s-1. After exhaustion of oxygen and end of steady state, re-reduction of the pulsed enzyme by the excess Ru(II) is observed; the concentration dependence shows that the rate of re-reduction is limited at 3 s-1 in detergent; this limiting value is assigned to the intramolecular electron transfer process from cytochrome a-Cua to the binuclear center. Using the reconstituted enzyme, the internal electron transfer step is sensitive to ionophores, increasing from 2-3 to 7-8 s-1 upon addition of valinomycin and carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone. This finding indicates for the first time an effect of the electrochemical potential across the membrane on the internal electron transfer rate; the results are compared with expectations based on the hypothesis formulated by Brunori et al. (Brunori, M., Sarti, P., Colosimo, A., Antonini, G., Malatesta, F., Jones, M.G., and Wilson, M.T. (1985) EMBO J. 4, 2365-2368), and their bioenergetic relevance is discussed with reference to the proton pumping activity of the enzyme