Integrating traditional field methods with emerging digital techniques for enhanced outcrop analysis of deep water channel-fill deposits

The development of emerging digital technologies that allow the collection and analysis of field data represents a significant innovation in field-based geological studies. The integration of these digital techniques with traditional sedimentological field methods facilitates considerable improvements in outcrop characterization. An example of this integrated modern approach for geological data collection is employed for the detailed characterization of a turbidite channel-lobe system of the Gorgoglione Flysch Formation in Southern Italy. The study area, exposed above the village of Castelmezzano, has been measured and described in detailed stratigraphic sections, providing data for both sedimentological analysis and correlation of the stratigraphy. In order to gain a complete perspective on the exposure and stratigraphic elements, analysis of physical outcrop data was enhanced by the use of high-resolution Gigapixel imagery and 3D photogrammetric outcrop reconstructions. The Santa Maria section has been assessed in terms of vertical and lateral facies stacking arrangements and subdivided into two component facies associations separated by a prominent concave-up erosional boundary. The lower facies association, interpreted as a frontal lobe complex, consists of tabular, thick-bedded coarse sandstones interbedded with persistent heterolithic packages of thin-bedded sandstones and mudstones, and minor soft-sediment deformed strata. The upper facies association represents the infill of a channel-form and consists of a basal conglomerate, passing gradually upwards into massive amalgamated sandstones overlain by large-scale cross-laminated sandstones. The excellent exposure of the Santa Maria section records the complete evolution of a channel-lobe system, transitioning from frontal lobe deposition through channel incision and bypass, to progressive backfilling. This study shows how facies characterization, stratigraphic correlations and reconstruction of the depositional architectures have been substantially enhanced by the use of emerging digital techniques for geological data collection

Environmental sustainability of engineering works: geological and geotechnical aspects

The design and construction of engineering works such as road infrastructures, port facilities and waste disposal plants require that important environmental issues be addressed, in order to guarantee sustainability and facilitate acceptability by the population. With these objectives, much of the scientific work produced by the geological and geotechnical research group of the Università Politecnica delle Marche in the past 50 years has involved aspects such as understanding the effects of human activities on the environment in order to prevent or minimize the risks of permanent damage, exploration of solutions that optimize the use of natural resources, implementation of technologies that promote the use of improved natural materials for construction, application of design procedures that are based on high quality geological, geotechnical and geo-environmental models of the construction sites. This paper will present, via the illustration of some practical examples, the contribution that such research activities have provided on the solution of some important engineering problems in the past decades

Thick brachiopod shell concentrations from prodelta and siliciclastic ramp in a Tortonian Atlantic–Mediterranean strait (Miocene, Guadix Basin, southern Spain)

Carbonate production by brachiopods in shallow-water habitats is generally expected to be not sufficiently high and temporally persistent to allow them to form very thick and densely packed shell concentrations. The formation of thick brachiopod concentrations requires long-term persistence of populations with high density of individuals, and such circumstances are assumed to be rare especially during the Cenozoic. However, here we show that the large-sized brachiopod Terebratula terebratula, the most common species in benthic assemblages with epifaunal bivalves and irregular echinoids, formed several decameter- to meter-thick, densely packed concentrations in shallow siliciclastic, high-energy environments, in a seaway connecting the Atlantic Ocean with the Mediterranean Sea during the Latest Tortonian (Late Miocene, Guadix Basin, southern Spain). This brachiopod formed (1) meter-scale, thick, parautochthonous concentrations in a prodelta setting and (2) thin, mainly allochthonous, tide- and storm-reworked concentrations in megaripples and dunes. The abundance of brachiopods at the spatial scale of the Guadix Basin seems to be mainly related to intermediate levels of sedimentation rate and current velocity because abundance and thickness of shell concentrations decline both (1) in onshore direction towards delta foresets with high sedimentation rate generated by debris flows and (2) in offshore direction with increasing levels of tide- and storm-induced substrate instability. Although brachiopods in dune and megaripple deposits are more fragmented, disarticulated, and sorted, and have a higher pedicle/brachial valve ratio than in prodelta deposits, taphonomic damage is still relatively high in prodelta deposits. Terebratula terebratula thus formed thick concentrations in spite of that disintegration processes were relatively intense along the whole depositional gradient. Therefore, population dynamic of this species was probably characterized by production maxima that were comparable to some Cenozoic molluscs in terms of their productivity potential to form thick shell concentrations in shallow subtidal environments. We suggest that temporal changes in brachiopod carbonate production have a significant spatial and phylogenetic component because multiple large-sized species of the family Terebratulidae, which underwent radiation during the Cenozoic, attained high abundances and formed shell concentrations in temperate regions.This research was supported by project CGL2009-07830/BTE and financed by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (MEC), the European Fund of Regional Development (FEDER), and Research Group RNM-200 of the Junta de Andalucía. A. Tomašových was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency (APVV-0248-07 and 0644-10), the Slovakian Scientific Grant Agency (VEGA 2/0068/11), and the National Science Foundation (DEB 0919451)

Tryptophan supplementation induces a positive bias in the processing of emotional material in healthy female volunteers.

RATIONALE: The serotonin precursor L-tryptophan (TRP) is available as a nutritional supplement and is licensed as an antidepressant in a number of countries. However, evidence of its efficacy as the primary treatment for depression is limited, and the direct action of TRP on the symptoms of depression and anxiety has not been well-characterised. OBJECTIVES: The present study assessed whether TRP induces cognitive changes opposite to the negative biases found in depression and characteristic of those induced by serotonergic antidepressants in healthy volunteers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty eight healthy volunteers were randomised to receive 14 days double-blind intervention with TRP (1 g 3x a day) or placebo. On the final day, emotional processing was assessed using four tasks: facial expression recognition, emotion-potentiated startle, attentional probe and emotional categorisation and memory. RESULTS: TRP increased the recognition of happy facial expressions and decreased the recognition of disgusted facial expressions in female, but not male, volunteers. TRP also reduced attentional vigilance towards negative words and decreased baseline startle responsivity in the females. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide evidence that TRP supplementation in women induces a positive bias in the processing of emotional material that is reminiscent of the actions of serotonergic antidepressants. This highlights a key role for serotonin in emotional processing and lends support to the use of TRP as a nutritional supplement in people with mild depression or for prevention in those at risk. Future studies are needed to clarify the effect of tryptophan on these measures in men