3D modelling of the Tremiti salt diapir in the Gargano offshore (Adriatic Sea, southern Italy): constraints in the Tremiti Structure development

The reinterpretation of public seismic profiles, the stratigraphic review of hydrocarbon exploration well logs in the Adriatic offshore of Gargano (Apulia, southern Italy), and the use of Surfer® (Golden Software, Inc.) and MoveTM (Midland Valley Ltd.) softwares, allowed us to obtain the Two Way Times (TWT) contour map and the 3D model of the upper Trias salt surface of the Tremiti diapir. The obtained 3D model of the Tremiti diapir shows two types of shape indicating at least as many modes of salt emplacement: single flap and piercing. Inherited faults were used by salt, which promoted the contemporaneous development of piercing and single flap in the same diapiric body. In addition, the sea floor deformations suggest that the diapirism, which mostly developed during Plio-Pleistocene time, is probably still active. Despite the NW-SE shortening due to the regional EW dextral shearing, that likely triggered halokinesis, the upward growth rate of the diapir was able to promote dip-slip kinematics, which locally hid the strike-slip one

Reply to ‘Comment on “Petrographic features influencing basic geotechnical parameters of carbonate soft rocks from Apulia (southern Italy)” [Eng. Geol. 233: 76–97]’

Aiming to investigate the implications of the rock-fabric on some basic geotechnical parameters, the paper by Festa, Fiore, Luisi, Miccoli, and Spalluto (2018) mostly focused on the compositional, textural, and diagenetic aspects of the carbonate soft rocks from Apulia (southern Italy). So, further geotechnical considerations are always welcome for a more comprehensive discussion about the soft rocks' mechanical behavior of concern. With this perspective, the comment by G.F. Andriani (Andriani, 2021) to the paper by Festa et al. (2018) includes some geotechnical considerations and new data (albeit from a couple of samples) for the general discussion on the mechanical behavior of soft rocks from Apulia, although representing neither comments nor criticisms. In this comment, for some criticisms, the reply can be easily found in Festa et al. (2018); for other criticisms, they give us a chance to clarify some topics that were not discussed in depth before. According to the comment by Andriani (2021), the main criticisms that need replies include (i) improbable degree of saturation exceeding 100%, (ii) unlikely closed porosity, (iii) weakness of the dataset and scarcity of data, and (iv) insignificance of the uniaxial compressive strength vs. both imbibition and permeability coefficients. Therefore, the replies to these criticisms are assessed in the following sections: 2. the comment regarding degree of saturation; 3. the comment regarding porosity; 4. the comment regarding dataset; and 5. the comment regarding uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) vs. Imbibition and Permeability Coefficients. Finally, the replies to Andriani (2021) criticism regarding the lack of accurate comparative analysis have been disputed in 3 The comment regarding porosity, 4 The comment regarding dataset

Red/NIR G-Quadruplex Sensing, Harvesting Blue Light by a Coumarin-Naphthalene Diimide Dyad

A conceptually new light-up nucleic acid fluorescent probe resulting from the conjugation of a coumarin to a naphthalene diimide exhibits a single wavelength emission at 498 nm when free in solution and an additional red/NIR emission when bound to G-quadruplex DNA. The light-up response centred at 666 nm is highly specific for quadruplex DNA when compared to duplex DNA or to RNA quadruplexes

Petrographic features influencing basic geotechnical parameters of carbonate soft rocks from Apulia (southern Italy)

A multidisciplinary petrographic and geotechnical approach, aimed at understanding the conditioning by rock-fabric on the mechanical properties of carbonate soft rocks, is shown in this paper. The analysed rocks extensively crop out in the Apulia region and can be referred to three geological units: Pietra leccese (Late Burdigalian-Early Messinian), Calcarenite di Gravina (Middle Pliocene-Early Pleistocene) and Salentino Supersynthem (Midde-Late Pleistocene). 69 specimens of carbonate soft rocks, belonging to all these units, were selected from different sectors of Apulia region and characterized according to petrographic, physical and mechanical properties. Petrographic data allowed us to group all specimens in the following six classes: i) wackestone; ii) mud-dominated packstone; iii) packstone; iv) grainstone; v) floatstone; vi) rudstone. Differently, uniaxial compression strength (UCS) values classify the most part of specimens in â\u80\u9cvery low and low strengthâ\u80\u9d, revealing a dominant weak resistance and high deformability. Particular attention has been given to the relationships between petrographic features and physical and mechanical parameters of the Apulian soft rocks by means of statistical tests based on the univariate analysis of variance (one-way Anova) and on the principal component analysis (PCA). At first, statistical analysis revealed that the rock geotechnical values are strictly dependent from the geological units. Particularly, the samples of Pietra leccese show significantly higher means of UCS, Young's modulus (Et), and dry unit weight than samples of the Calcarenite di Gravina Fm. Conversely, samples of this latter unit have significantly higher means of porosity, imbibition coefficient and permeability coefficient than those ones of the Pietra leccese fm. Moreover, statistical analysis was applied to estimate if geotechnical values differ according to the petrographic classes of the Calcarenite di Gravina Fm and to verify the covariance between the geotechnical parameters of this unit. The following results have been remarked: i) floatstone and rudstone have significantly higher means of UCS and dry unit weight, and lower means of porosity than finer-grained classes; ii) mud-dominated packstone has significantly lower means of UCS, dry unit weight, Et and permeability coefficient and higher means of porosity and imbibition coefficient than other petrographic classes; iii) grain-dominated, matrix-free, rudstone and grainstone have significantly higher values of permeability coefficient than mud-dominated classes; iv) the occurrence of carbonate lithoclasts and of different dominant couples of sparry cement in pore spaces, are two of the most important controlling factors of the rock strength, and can also explains much of the intraformational variability observed in geotechnical data. Total porosity has not a clear correlation with permeability. This means that the contribution of isolated pore spaces to the total porosity is relevant in Apulian soft rocks, as also suggested by the relatively low values of permeability compared to the relatively high percentages of total porosity. A multidisciplinary characterization of carbonate soft rocks based on petrographic analysis and geotechnical determination of physical and mechanical properties is here recommended for future studies since this approach can give useful information to understand the peculiar behaviour of carbonate soft rocks and to drive the subsequent geotechnical investigations