Evaporite sinkholes of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region (NE Italy)

Sinkholes are common in the Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG) Region (NE Italy), where the presence of karstifiable rocks favours their occurrence accelerated by intense rainfalls. Their existence has been reported since the end of the 1800s along the Tagliamento Valley, in correspondence with the mantled evaporites (gypsum). Furthermore, tens of evaporite sinkholes have been documented on the reliefs adjacent to the village of Sauris and along the narrow W\u2013Eoriented valleys, where regional faults have played a major role in their spatial distribution. This paper reports for the first time an inventory of the sinkholes affecting the evaporites of the FVG Region. These phenomena were mapped and categorised using a genetic classification. The main output is an A0-format map, which incorporates a 1:50,000 scale Sinkhole Inventory Map (SIM). The SIM encompasses 552 sinkholes. The cover suffosion sinkholes are the most abundant, followed by bedrock collapses. There is a clear prevalence of the circular shape (65%) over other shapes. Diameters are 1\u2013140 m, with depths ranging 0.1\u201340 m with a mean value of 4.5 m. The SIM can motivate regional planning authorities to perform further investigations aimed to understand the geomorphological evolutions of these phenomena

A meta-analysis of the relationship between density and travel behavior

To generalize the relationship between density and travel behavior, previous research proceeded with three approaches: metropolitan-level studies describing tendencies on an international scale, area-specific studies extrapolating their outcomes to other areas, and research syntheses pooling descriptive or quantitative outcomes of the studies. However, little research investigated the contextual effect of study areas on the density–travel relationship. Thus, this study conducts meta-analysis to investigate how the magnitude of the relationship differs between two areas that have been frequently studied: the United States and Europe. A pre-test shows that the way of measuring density and travel behavior does not affect the variation in study outcomes, whereas a post-test or sensitivity analysis indicates that the rigor of research designs and statistical techniques affects the variation. The main test finds that the density–travel relationship is significantly stronger in Europe than in the United States. The magnitude difference between the areas is maintained after controlling for confounders, including research design and technical rigor