QUICK DETERMINATION OF CRYSTAL SIZE DISTRIBUTIONS OF ROCKS BY MEANS OF A COLOR SCANNER

An acquisition and analysis method based on a commercial, low-cost, high-resolution film scanner is presented. It allows to collect data from standard rock thin sections with a resolution up to 9.4 μm per pixel. Common and general purpose facilities (scanner + PC + image analysis software) may thus be transformed in an appropriate tool for quantitative textural analysis of rocks. The procedure implies the acquisition of four images with crossed polarizers and one parallel light image. Crystal boundaries are extracted from fields in crossed polarizers, while markers for mineral recognition are obtained thresholding the parallel light image. The method is tested for fresh rocks with simple mineralogy (harzburgites and marbles) with no more than three phases, all exhibiting well distinct optical properties. Image processing is performed developing procedures with VISILOG 5.2 package. 2-D size data from binary images are converted to 3-D size data applying stereological corrections. 3-D data are reported in bi-logarithmic diagrams, plotting the crystal number density versus characteristic lengths. The harzburgite samples show a scale invariance of size distributions of olivine while mosaic equant marbles exhibit a different size distribution pattern, without scale invariance and a relative maximum

Chapter Digi Skills Bsc – Revising Graphic Literacy in Bsc Architectural Design Education through a Software-Based Pedagogic Approach. A Shared Pilot Experience at the Politecnico di Milano

The 43rd UID conference, held in Genova, takes up the theme of ‘Dialogues’ as practice and debate on many fundamental topics in our social life, especially in these complex and not yet resolved times. The city of Genova offers the opportunity to ponder on the value of comparison and on the possibilities for the community, naturally focused on the aspects that concern us, as professors, researchers, disseminators of knowledge, or on all the possibile meanings of the discipline of representation and its dialogue with ‘others’, which we have broadly catalogued in three macro areas: History, Semiotics, Science / Technology. Therefore, “dialogue” as a profitable exchange based on a common language, without which it is impossible to comprehend and understand one another; and the graphic sign that connotes the conference is the precise transcription of this concept: the title ‘translated’ into signs, derived from the visual alphabet designed for the visual identity of the UID since 2017. There are many topics which refer to three macro sessions: - Witnessing (signs and history) - Communicating (signs and semiotics) - Experimenting (signs and sciences) Thanks to the different points of view, an exceptional resource of our disciplinary area, we want to try to outline the prevailing theoretical-operational synergies, the collaborative lines of an instrumental nature, the recent updates of the repertoires of images that attest and nourish the relations among representation, history, semiotics, sciences

TINITALY/01: a new Triangular Irregular Network of Italy

A new Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of the natural landforms of Italy is presented. A methodology is discussed to build a DEM over wide areas where elevation data from non-homogeneous (in density and accuracy) input sources are available. The input elevation data include contour lines and spot heights derived from the Italian Regional topographic maps, satellite-based global positioning system points, ground based and radar altimetry data. Owing to the great heterogeneity of the input data density, the DEM format that better preserves the original accuracy is a Triangular Irregular Network (TIN). A Delaunay-based TIN structure is improved by using the DEST algorithm that enhances input data by evaluating inferred break-lines. Accordingly to this approach, biased distributions in slopes and elevations are absent. To prevent discontinuities at the boundary between regions characterized by data with different resolution a cubic Hermite blending weight S-shaped function is adopted. The TIN of Italy consists of 1.39×109 triangles. The average triangle area ranges from 12 to about 13000 m2 accordingly to different morphologies and different sources. About 50% of the model has a local average triangle area <500 m2. The vertical accuracy of the obtained DEM is evaluated by more than 200000 sparse control points. The overall Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) is less than 3.5 m. The obtained national-scale DEM constitutes an useful support to carry out accurate geomorphological and geological investigations over large areas. The problem of choosing the best step size in deriving a grid from a TIN is then discussed and a method to quantify the loss of vertical information is presented as a function of the grid step. Some examples of DEM application are outlined. Under request, an high resolution stereo image database of the whole Italian territory (derived from the presented DEM) is available to browse via internet

A review of mass and energy flow through a lava flow system: Insights provided from a non-equilibrium perspective

A simple formula relates lava discharge rate to the heat radiated per unit time from the surface of active lava flows (the “thermal proxy”). Although widely used, the physical basis of this proxy is still debated. In the present contribution, lava flows are approached as open, dissipative systems that, under favorable conditions, can attain a non-equilibrium stationary state. In this systems framework, the onset, growth and demise of lava flow units can be explained as a self-organization phenomenon characterized by a given temporal frequency defined by the average life span of active lava flow units. Here, I review empirical, physical, and experimental models designed to understand and link the flow of mass and energy through a lava flow system, as well as measurements and observations that support a “real world” view. I set up two systems: active lava flow system (or ALFS) for flowing, fluid lava and a lava deposit system for solidified, cooling lava. The review highlights surprising similarities between lava flows and electric currents, which typically work under stationary conditions. An electric current propagates almost instantaneously through an existing circuit, following the Kirchhoff law (a least dissipation principle). Flowing lavas, in contrast, build up a slow-motion “lava-circuit” over days, weeks or months by following a gravity-driven path down the steepest slopes. Attainment of a steady-state condition is hampered (and the classic thermal proxy does not hold) if the supply stops before completion of the “lava-circuit”. Although gravity determines initial flow path and extension, the least dissipation principle means that subsequent evolution of mature portions of the active lava flow system is controlled by increasingly insulated conditions.Published645V. Dinamica dei processi eruttivi e post-eruttiviJCR Journa

Phase ratio estimations from true color images

peer reviewe

Combined morphological and thermal analysis of lava flows: A way to boost understanding of emplacement dynamics

During emplacement, lavas modify the pre-existing topography and release a large amount of heat. In spite of the relevance of both heat and mass release, combined scale. Here, we consider a channelised lava flow unit formed at Mt Etna during the 2001 flank eruption, and we show that, by combining a morphological analysis of the pre- and post-emplacement topography with the analysis of the syn-eruptive thermal signature, critical insights about the processes driving mass and heat dissi- pation can be derived. Our results suggest that, in the considered lava flow, the pre-emplacement slope controls heat dissipation and can influence the thickness of the final lava deposit, with possible implications for hazard assessment. The width of the lava channel, instead, appears less sensitive to the pre-emplacement slope, and tends to regularly increase with increasing distance from the vent.European Science Foundation, Grant/Award Number: 6409Published215-2215V. Processi eruttivi e post-eruttiviJCR Journa

The 10 m-resolution TINITALY DEM as a trans-disciplinary basis for the analysis of the Italian territory: current trends and new perspectives

The increasing availability of high resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) is changing our viewpoint towards Earth surface landforms. Nevertheless, large-coverage, intermediate-resolution DEMs are still largely used, and can be the ideal choice in several applications based on the processing of spatiallyintegrated information. In 2012 the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia opened a website for the free download of the “TINTALY” Digital Elevation Model (DEM), which covers the whole Italian territory. Since then, about 700 users from 28 different countries have been accredited for data download, and a report of 4 years of data dissemination and use is presented. The analysis of the intended use reveals that the 10 m-resolution, seamless TINITALY DEM is of use for an extremely assorted research community. Accredited users are working in virtually any branch of the Earth Sciences (e.g. Volcanology, Seismology, and Geomorphology), in spatially integrated humanities (e.g. History and Archaeology), and in other thematic areas such as in applied Physics and Zoology. Many users are also working in local administrations (e.g. Regions and Municipalities) for civil protection or land use planning purposes. In summary, the documented activity shows that the dissemination of seamless, large coverage elevation datasets can fertilize the technological progress of the whole society providing a significant benefit to stakeholders.Published108-1154IT. Banche datiJCR Journa

MrLavaLoba: A new probabilistic model for the simulation of lava flows as a settling process

A new code to simulate lava flow spread, MrLavaLoba, is presented. In the code, erupted lava is itemized in parcels having an elliptical shape and prescribed volume. New parcels bud from existing ones according to a probabilistic law influenced by the local steepest slope direction and by tunable input settings. MrLavaLoba must be accounted among the probabilistic codes for the simulation of lava flows, because it is not intended to mimic the actual process of flowing or to provide directly the progression with time of the flow field, but rather to guess the most probable inundated area and final thickness of the lava deposit. The code's flexibility allows it to produce variable lava flow spread and emplacement according to different dynamics (e.g. pahoehoe or channelized-‘a‘ā). For a given scenario, it is shown that model outputs converge, in probabilistic terms, towards a single solution. The code is applied to real cases in Hawaii and Mt. Etna, and the obtained maps are shown.Published323-3345V. Processi eruttivi e post-eruttiviJCR Journa

DOWNFLOW code and LIDAR technology for lava flow analysis and hazard assessment at Mount Etna

The use of a lava-flow simulation (DOWNFLOW) probabilistic code and airborne light detection and ranging (LIDAR) technology are combined to analyze the emplacement of compound lava flow fields at Mount Etna (Sicily, Italy). The goal was to assess the hazard posed by lava flows. The LIDAR-derived time series acquired during the 2006 Mount Etna eruption records the changing topography of an active lava-flow field. These short-time-interval, high-resolution topographic surveys provide a detailed quantitative picture of the topographic changes. The results highlight how the flow field evolves as a number of narrow (5-15 m wide) disjointed flow units that are fed simultaneously by uneven lava pulses that advance within formed channels. These flow units have widely ranging advance velocities (3-90 m/h). Overflows, bifurcations and braiding are also clearly displayed. In such a complex scenario, the suitability of deterministic codes for lava-flow simulation can be hampered by the fundamental difficulty of measuring the flow parameters (e.g. the lava discharge rate, or the lava viscosity of a single flow unit). However, the DOWNFLOW probabilistic code approaches this point statistically and needs no direct knowledge of flow parameters. DOWNFLOW intrinsically accounts for complexities and perturbations of lava flows by randomly varying the pre-eruption topography. This DOWNFLOW code is systematically applied here over Mount Etna, to derive a lava-flow hazard map based on: (i) the topography of the volcano; (ii) the probability density function for vent opening; and (iii) a law for the expected lava-flow length for all of the computational vents considered. Changes in the hazard due to the recent morphological evolution of Mount Etna have also been addressed