Short term reproductive behaviour of foreign women who became mothers between 2002-2006 in Italy

The rapid increase in the number of foreigners in Italy has raised public interest in their demographic behaviour. In 2001-2007 the annual number of births to at least one foreign parent has more than doubled, from about 41,000 to more than 86,000. The main objective of this study is to give an overview of the demographic characteristics of foreign mothers in Italy. We investigate the risk of having another birth for women who became mothers between 2002 and 2006. The new approach in this study is the application of a deterministic record linkage to Italian administrative data on births, which allows a longitudinal analysis of birth histories. The results show that citizenship remains one of the most important factors in explaining the high heterogeneity in the reproductive behaviour among the mothers. The possibility of an `assimilative behaviour' to fertility patterns of native Italians increases for mothers whose partner is Italian.

A contribution to the mineralogy of the Larderello geothermal field. X-ray crystallographic studies on borate minerals "bechilite" and "lagonite" and crystal structure determination of ginorite

This work reports the results of mineralogical studies on some borate minerals from the Larderello geothermal field. XRD patterns of “bechilite” and “lagonite” confirmed they actually are respectively admixtures of sassolite and ammonioborite, and of sassolite with minor santite, gypsum and larderellite. Single crystal structural study of ginorite from the type locality, Sasso Pisano (Castelnuovo val di Cecina, Pisa) confirmed its isotypism with strontioginorite. Ginorite is monoclinic, space group P21/a, with unit cell parameters a =12.7673(1) Å, b = 14.3112(11), c = 12.7298(9), β= 101.055(5)° V=2282.8(2) Å3. The refinement of its crystal structure converged to R1 = 0.058 on the basis of 3387 reflections with Fo > 4σ (Fo). Analogously to strontioginorite, ginorite crystal structure can be described in terms of complex “sheets” parallel to (010), made up by borate groups and Ca coordination polyhedra, with interlayer linkage assured by Ca cations and hydrogen bonds. The cell volume contraction of ginorite respect to strontioginorite is related to the shrinkage of Ca coordination polyhedra present in the complex Me-borate sheets

XRF analysis of major and minor elements in silicate rocks using fused glass discs at high dilution ratio

XRF analysis of major and minor elements in silicate rocks using fused glass discs at high dilution ratio. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) is an accurate, rapid spectroscopic technique for chemical element determinations on rock samples. The aim of this research was to evaluate a calibration method for the determination of major and minor elements (Na, Mg, Al, Si, P, K, Ca, Ti, Mn, Fe) in silicate rocks using fused glass discs with a 1:30 sample/borate dilution. The analytical method has been calibrated by using forty-two international rock standards. The accuracy appears acceptable for many mineralogical and petrographic purposes. A high dilution ratio makes possible the use of a small amount of sample (225 mg) to obtain good castings in high-melting materials. By contrast, the decrease of the analytical intensity makes not easy the determination of trace elements at the typical concentration levels of geological samples

Constraining the Timing of Evolution of Shear Zones in Two Collisional Orogens: Fusing Structural Geology and Geochronology

In recent decades, constraining the timing of shear activity has been one of the main topics of research about the tectono-metamorphic evolution of orogenic belts. We present a review of a combined structural and geochronological approach to two major ductile regional shear zones, in two collisional orogens: the first one affecting the Variscan basement in northern Sardinia (Italy) and the External Crystalline Massifs of the Alps (East Variscan Shear Zone; EVSZ), and the second one deforming the medium- to high-grade rocks of the metamorphic core of the Himalaya (High Himalayan Discontinuity). High-resolution, texturally and chemically controlled monazite geochronology applied in separated shear zones of the Variscan belt allowed recognizing a similar timing of activity ranging between c. 340–330 and 300 Ma. This approach led to a better understanding of the evolution of the EVSZ, supporting a model where several branches were active according to a growth by linkage model. Following a similar approach, in situ U-Th-Pb analysis of monazite constrained the timing of top-to-the-S/SW shearing of a regional-scale High Himalayan Discontinuity in the Himalayan belt to between c. 28 Ma and 17 Ma. Earlier exhumation of the hanging wall was triggered by shear zone activity, whereas at the same time, the footwall was still experiencing burial with increasing P-T conditions. The timing of shearing of this shear zone fits with an in-sequence shearing tectonic model for the exhumation of the Himalayan mid-crust

Deformation and fluid flow in the Munsiari Thrust (NW India): A preliminary fluid inclusion study

A fluid inclusion study was carried out on quartz veins deformed during the activity of the Munsiari Thrust in the Garhwal Himalaya (India, Western Himalaya). These veins are hosted in mylonitic phyllites, with a greenschist mineral assemblage made of quartz-white mica-biotite-chlorite-epidote and minor calcite and plagioclase. Within the veins two groups of isolated “early fluid” inclusions and trails of small secondary fluid inclusions have been observed. Two types of inclusions preserved in isolated groups have been petrographycally recognized: (i) a two liquids and a vapor phase (L1+L2+V) that is the most common type and (ii) a less frequent liquid and a vapor phase (L+V). Both types of fluid inclusions were investigated through optical microthermometric experiments. For “early fluid” inclusions, assuming a trapping temperature based on quartz dynamic recrystallization mechanisms and previous P-T estimates, in the range of 500-520 °C, a corresponding trapping pressure in the range of c. 0.50-0.53 GPa is estimated. The trapping pressure range evaluated in the present contribution support that these fluid inclusions have been entrapped during the early stages of the activity of the Munsiari Thrust

Dating protracted fault activities: microstructures, microchemistry and geochronology of the Vaikrita Thrust, Main Central Thrust zone, Garhwal Himalaya, NW India

The timing of shearing along the Vaikrita Thrust, the structurally upper boundary of the Main Central Thrust zone (MCTz), was constrained by combined microstructural, microchemical and geochronological investigations. Three different biotite-muscovite growth and recrystallisation episodes were observed: a relict mica-1; mica-2 along the main mylonitic foliation; mica-3 in coronitic structures around garnet during its breakdown. Analyses of biotite by electron microprobe show chloritization, and bimodal composition of biotite- 2 in one sample. Muscovite-2 and muscovite-3 differ in composition from each other. Biotite and muscovite 39Ar-40Ar age spectra from all samples give both inter-sample and intra- sample discrepancies. Biotite step ages range between 8.6 and 16 Ma, muscovite step ages between 3.6 and 7.8 Ma. These ages cannot be interpreted as "cooling ages", as samples from the same outcrop cooled simultaneously. Instead, Ar systematics reflect sample-specific recrystallisation markers. Intergrown impurities were diagnosed by Ca/K ratios. Age data of biotite were interpreted as a mixture of true biotite-2 (9.00±0.10 Ma) and two alteration products. The negative Cl/K-age correlation identifies a Cl-poor muscovite-2 (>7 Ma) and a Cl-rich, post-deformational, coronitic muscovite-3 grown at ≤5.88±0.03 Ma. The Vaikrita Thrust was active at least from 9 to 6 Ma around 600 °C; its movement ceased by 6 Ma