Glacial, \ufb02uvioglacial and \ufb02uvial sedimentary discharge in the northwestern coastal sectorof the Ross Sea continental margin since upper Miocene to LGM

The Borchgrevink Coast stretches from the Coulman Island northward to the Cape Adare for at least 200 km, bordering the western side of the northern Drygalski Trough. The early phase of the acquisition objectives of the PNRAProjectGlevors(GlacialEvolutioninthenorthwesternRossSea,offshoreNorthVictoriaLand,Antarctica) was accomplished in the north western coastal sector of the Ross Sea continental margin along the Borchgrevink Coast, from Coulman Island to Cape Hallett. Single channel seismic and sub bottom pro\ufb01les, swath bathymetry and gravity cores were collected during the Austral summer of 2016/2017, by the scienti\ufb01c research vessel OGS/Explora. The studied area along this segment of the Borchgrevink Coast documents, by the analysis and the interpretation of available geophysical, geological and oceanographic data, the paleo ice discharge and ice \ufb02owing patterns of the inferred Mariner-Borchgrevink and Tucker coastal glaciers, since at least the Upper Miocene until the Holocene Time. The repeated and possibly asynchronous oscillations of these valley glaciers from the North Victoria Land coast, at least about tens km offshore, and their interaction with fast \ufb02owing ice streams from the south are recorded. In particular, the analysis of the architecture and of the geometrical relationship of the interpreted seismic facies and units allows to infer past glacial and interglacial environments. Modelling of paleo environments and related climate condition is achieved despite the age constrain uncertainty of local seismic stratigraphy and of biostrathigraphic correlations to coeval sediment section in southern Ross Sea inner-shelf sector (McMurdo Sound), and besides the acoustic facies ambiguity due to not enough data resolution. The interpreted shallower and Holocene-Present glacial related features are simple or composite ice-marginal landforms, with overstepping smaller recessional deposits on top or behind. They testify the coastal glaciers grounded events and the ice retreat modality during the pre-LGM and the LGM. We infer that northern coastal glaciers, from the Tucker glacier northward, about 72\u25e6 latitude, did not advance or reach the northwestern Ross Sea shelf edge at the LGM, but possibly before. The grounding line of NVL coastal glaciers would correlate with the pre-LGM grounding lineament reconstructed for the major ice-streams \ufb02owing from the south. More ancient and buried wedge, underlying the main composite Grounding Zone Wedge (GZW) system raises the issue if it was possible the formation and the preservation as a pinning point, of a previously developed GZW or of the upper part of a \ufb02uvioglacial delta in late Miocene or Pliocene time. Moreover, further offshore from the coast, the evidence, of an ancient buried glacial/\ufb02uvioglacial or \ufb02uvial delta, embedded within the glaciomarine clinoforms of the Trough Mouth Fans (TMFs) deposits \ufb01lling the Northern Drygalski Trough, suggest climate change and an inferred preceding coastal open-sea condition

The Origin of Gas Seeps in the Northern Adriatic Sea

Source at https://doi.org/10.3301/IJG.2018.34.A multidisciplinary approach has been used for the first time to study the widespread occurrence of hydrocarbon seeps in the northern Adriatic Sea. Geological, geophysical and geochemical analyses were performed to identify and characterize the gas-charged fluids occurring throughout the Plio-Quaternary succession, and to date the shallow gas seeping at three leakage sites. The analysis of CHIRP, morpho-bathymetric, and multichannel seismic data allowed us to identify different types of gas-related features, which occur within the whole Plio-Quaternary succession up to the seafloor and to the water column. Quantitative analyses of CHIRP data were conducted to better define, characterize and quantify the gas occurrence within the uppermost stratigraphic succession. CHIRP data also allowed identifying the gas leakage sites. Three gas seepages areas were sampled with the aim to determine the gas composition and origin. The isotopic analyses revealed that seep gases are microbial in origin, and are primarily composed by methane, mostly formed within relatively laterally persistent Late Pleistocene peat layers, which are widely distributed throughout the northern Adriatic Sea and represent the main source of organic matter feeding the seeping gases

Monitoring Air Quality in Urban Areas Using a Vehicle Sensor Network (VSN) Crowdsensing Paradigm

We present new advances in monitoring particulate matter (PM) in urban areas within a participatory vehicle sensor network (VSN) that exploits the use of multiple mobile low-cost IoT devices. These devices send geolocated PM measurements to an IT infrastructure and enabled us to reconstruct, in real time, the spatial and temporal distribution of pollutants in the study area in a web-based environment. The newly acquired data were integrated with independent reference measurements available from governmental environmental agencies. We deployed the infrastructure in the city of Trieste (Italy), since the beginning of 2021, with the help of several volunteers and the local transportation authority (Trieste Trasporti). By analysing the data, we delineate areas with lower air quality and identify the possible causes of these anomalies. We were able to define a belt outside the urban center where an enhanced concentration of pollutants occurs due to a higher flux of vehicular traffic that tends to jam there. Overall, our results demonstrate that this approach can be helpful in supporting urban planning and can also stimulate the community to reflect on how they can improve air quality in the area they live by reducing the use of private cars in favour of more widespread public transportation usage

Data rescue to extend the value of vintage seismic data: The OGS-SNAP experience

AbstractLarge amounts of vintage seismic data were rescued and disseminated in an internal project of the Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS). Such types of data would be very difficult to acquire today because they cover many areas that are currently subject to restrictions in obtaining exploration permits. The datasets extend over large geographical areas, covering large geological structures and would be very expensive to acquire today. Additionally, these data are particularly interesting because they were acquired using a high-energy source (dynamite) that would be difficult to obtain permission to use today. Therefore the recovery of these data could be very interesting for both the scientific and commercial communities. The urgency of rescuing tapes before degradation, and scanning and converting the paper sections into a usable form was the main focus, but, at the same time, the project looked ahead and attempted to address possible future exploitation of these data. To this end, considering how end users are likely to search for and use data, a full processing path that goes beyond recovery to consider other aspects was developed. The other concerns integrated into this process are•data enhancement, to overcome data limitations due to the older technology used during acquisition;•data integration, to consolidate different data types within the same data space, and•data discovery, for which a specific web based framework named SNAP (Seismic data Network Access Point) was developed that allows end users to search, locate and preview the data

Fluid-Related Features in the Offshore Sector of the Sciacca Geothermal Field (SW Sicily): The Role of the Lithospheric Sciacca Fault System

The Sciacca basin extends in the southwestern part of Sicily and hosts an important geothermal field (the Sciacca Geothermal Field) characterized by hot springs containing mantle gasses. Newly acquired high-resolution seismic profiles (Boomer data) integrated with a multichannel seismic reflection profile in close proximity to the Sciacca Geothermal Field have documented the presence of numerous active and shallow fluid-related features (pipes, bright spots, buried and outcropping mud volcanoes, zones of acoustic blanking, and seafloor fluid seeps) in the nearshore sector between Capo San Marco and Sciacca (NW Sicilian Channel) and revealed its deep tectonic structure. The Sciacca Geothermal Field and the diffuse submarine fluid-related features probably form a single onshore–offshore field covering an area of at least 70 km2. This field has developed in a tectonically active zone dominated by a left-lateral transpressive regime associated with the lithospheric, NNE-striking Sciacca Fault System. This structure probably favored the rising of magma and fluids from the mantle in the offshore area, leading to the formation of a geothermal resource hosted in the Triassic carbonate succession that outcrops onshore at Monte San Calogero. This field has been active since the lower Pleistocene, when fluid emissions were likely greater than today and were associated with greater tectonic activity along the Sciacca Fault System