Gypsum Karst of Zagros Mountains (I.R. Iran)

Ob geoloških raziskavah vzdolž reke Karkheh, ki prereže gorsko verigo Zagrosa v zahodnem Iranu, je pritegnila pozornost avtorjev morfologija na evaporitih. V evaporitni formaciji Gachsaran so ločili tri tipe krasa, glede na njihovo lego vzdolž sinklinalne osi ali vzdolž krila gube. Vzdolž sinklinalne osi so vrtače, sufozijske vrtače, jame in udorne vrtače ter zmerno se spuščajoči jamski rovi na stiku apnenca in sadre, ki sledijo največjemu vpadu.Evaporite morphologies have attracted our attention during geological surveys on the Karkheh River, a water course that intersect the chain of the Mountains Zagros in the western Iran. We recognised three types of karst in the evaporitic Gachsaran Formation as a function of the localisation along the syncline axis or along a fold side. There are sinkholes and suffosion dolines or caves and collapse dolines along the syncline axis, gently dipping galleries at the contact between limestone and gypsum following maximum dip

Debris Flow Phenomena: A Short Overview?

Summary: On the day of 29 August 2003 in the extreme northern part of Italy, the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region was invested by a violent and intense rainfall that caused several instability phenomena. Along the sides of the Val Canale valley were mobilized over a thousand of landslides, most of whom were of first generation. The rainfall started at midnight, firstly affecting the areas belonging to the upper sector of the mountains around Cucco, Malborghetto and Ugovizza, then it gradually moved downwards with increasing intensity (Calligaris et al., 2010). A total value of 293 mm rainfall was recorded by the Pontebba rain gauge from 02h00 to 18h00. Around 18h30, some impressive waves plunged with unexpected violence, power and noise, an avalanche of water, big rocks and trunks crashed against courtyards, houses and went inside windows (Russo, 2003). This event caused the death of two people, 300 lost their homes, 260 buildings were damaged and substantial damages occurred to infrastructures that remained out of action for several days. The event was so extreme and particular that the return time has a considerable variation in its value depending on the period: between 1 and 24 h, the time of delivery is between 50 and 100 years; for 12 h it is between 200 and 500 years, while, for a period from 3 to 6 h, return period varies between 500 and 1000 years (Borga et al., 2007; Calligaris et al., 2010). This area has been chosen as test site due to the important amount of data availability. Many studies have been realized to characterize the debris flow occurred. The Geological Survey of FVG Region had the necessity to better understand the occurred phenomena in order to prevent future disasters and to proceed to a better and more coscientious territorial planning. In this context, many approaches were used. Back analysis simulation thought commercial and innovative software permitted to delimit the flooded areas. The debris flow is often considered to be a mixture of viscous slurry, consisting of finer grain sizes and water, and coarse particles (Scotto di Santolo, 2008). The volume and the composition of the mixture are the main factors that contribute to determine the hazards associated with such phenomena, since they govern the mobility and impact energy of the debris (Iverson, 1997; Jakob, 2005). During the last years, several simulation models and approaches have been implemented (Cesco Bolla, 2008; Pirulli, 2005; Rickenmann, 1999) and created to reconstruct a debris-flow phenomena, but a believable scenario can be obtained only by resorting to real parameters that are suitable to characterise the involved material (Sosio et al., 2006). Thus, it is necessary to calibrate those computational codes through back-analysis simulations and laboratory analysis (Tecca et al., 2006). The input variable needed by the codes are so aleatory that is a strongly felt need to isolate each one of them and to go deep inside their meaning. Rheological parameters of viscous debris flows are one of these variables; they are influenced by a great amount of factors and are therefore extremely difficult to estimate. Viscosity and yield stress are the one that define the debris flow behaviour. For these reasons laboratory rheometer analysis have been realized in order to better characterize them, to apply the obtained results at the available codes and to proceed to new outlines of the invested areas

Underground Timavo River Monitoring (Classical Karst)

Instrumenti, ki zvezno merijo nivo, temperaturo in prevodnost vode so bili postavljeni na 10 točkah. Opazovalna mesta so postavljena na dnu, kjer jama doseže vode Reke (Timave), ki zbira podzemne vode klasičnega Krasa. Predhodne analize velikega števila podatkov, ki smo jih zbrali do sedaj, pomagajo bolje določiti način pretakanja vode v globinah. Ugotovili smo tri različne vodne valove, vpliv črpanja na nekaterih delih in mešanje različnih voda na drugih.Some instruments that continuously measure height, temperature and conductivity of waters have been placed in 10 stations. The stations are located on the bottom of the cavities that reach the waters of the Timavo, the underground river that collects the hypogean waters of the Classical Karst. The preliminary analysis of the remarkable amount of data that has been collected up to now helps define the modalities of water circulation in depth better. There are three different types of flood wave, pumping effects in some tracts and mixing of different waters in other tracts.

Potential impact of a proposed railway tunnel on the karst environment: The example of Rosandra valley, Classical Karst region, Italy-Slovenia

Val Rosandra is a unique geomorphological environment located on the western side of the Classical Karst Plateau (NE Italy). This deep limestone gorge is crossed by a stream that is fed by a large basin located in Slovenia. Val Rosandra is the only example of a karst river valley withsurface hydrography in the Classical Karst Plateau. The torrent that crosses it digs a deep gully into the rock, richin rapids, swirl holes, small waterfalls, enclosed meanders and basins; here, the first seepage phenomena occur, and part of the water feeds the underground aquifer.Val Rosandra is characterised by a complex structural situation. The NE slope culminates in the structure of Mt. Stena, a limestone tectonic wedge between two faults, firmly rooted in the karst platform. Bothits external morphology and its caves are influenced by the structure, i.e. by the attitude of bedding planes, fault planes and master joints. Mt. Stena, in particular, hosts a comprehensive net of articulated and diversely shaped caves, basically organised on several levels. This network stretches over a total of 9,000 metres, bearing testimony to ancient geological and hydrogeological origins.The deepest areas of the system reacha suspended aquifer that is probably sustained by an overthrust and placed about 100 meters above the underground aquifer of the Rosandra torrent.A series of feasibility studies on the Trieste-Divača high-speed railway link concentrated on the potential interaction between the project and karst features. In line withthe project requirements, risk of voids intersection and water contamination were analyzed as Mt. Stena’s suspended aquifer partially feeds the Rosandra torrent, whichflows in a protected natural area. We therefore suggest that further investigations ought to be performed to integrate the existing knowledge on karst and on the hydrogeological aspects of the massif

An assessment of capacity of Brestovica – Klariči karst water supply (Slovenia)

In August 2008 an intensive pumping experiment was carried out in order to assess the capacity of Brestovica – Klarici water supply in summer conditions, and its chemical quality. Groundwater was pumped for a period of 30 days, from three wells at the Klarici pumping station, and from well B-10/06, with a common capacity of 470 L/s. The fact that pumping caused a decrease in the water table in well B-10/06 by only 17 cm at a pumping rate of 265 L/s suggests that larger quantities of groundwater could be pumped from this well. The tracer experiment, performed at the B-10/06 temporary pipeline discharge area, showed that no pumped water was returned to the area of the exploited wells during the pumping test. Tracer uranine, which had been injected at the effluent from the pumped water from the well, was detected only at the Sardos Spring. The intensive pumping resulted in changes in the chemical and isotopic composition of oxygen in the water, due to a greater impact of the water from the intergranular SocaRiver aquifer on the karst aquifer.The chemical quality of groundwater from well B-10/06 is adequate for the purpose of drinking water supply. The presence of bacteria in groundwater is typical of karst aquifers and the water needs to be disinfected for further use.Keywords: groundwater, Classical Karst, Brestovica – Klariči aquifer, pumping test, tracer test, geochemical analysis

The Modern State and the Re-Creation of the Indigenous Other: The Case of the Authentic Sámi in Sweden and the White Man’s Indian in the United States of America.

The present study comparatively examined the socio-political and economic transformation of the indigenous Sámi in Sweden and the Indian American in the United States of America occurring first as a consequence of colonization and later as a product of interaction with the modern territorial and industrial state, from approximately 1500 to 1900. The first colonial encounters of the Europeans with these autochthonous populations ultimately created an imagery of the exotic Other and of the noble savage. Despite these disparaging representations, the cross-cultural settings in which these interactions took place also produced the hybrid communities and syncretic life that allowed levels of cultural accommodation, autonomous space, and indigenous agency to emerge. By the nineteenth century, however, the modern territorial and industrial state rearranges the dynamics and reaches of power across a redefined territorial sovereign space, consequently, remapping belongingness and identity. In this context, the status of indigenous peoples, as in the case of Sámi and of Indian Americans, began to change at par with industrialization and with modernity. At this point in time, indigenous populations became a hindrance to be dealt with the legal re-codification of Indigenousness into a vacuumed limbo of disenfranchisement. It is, thus, the modern territorial and industrial state that re-creates the exotic into an indigenous Other. The present research showed how the initial interaction between indigenous and Europeans changed with the emergence of the modern state, demonstrating that the nineteenth century, with its fundamental impulses of industrialism and modernity, not only excluded and marginalized indigenous populations because they were considered unfit to join modern society, it also re-conceptualized indigenous identity into a constructed authenticity

Evaporite sinkholes in the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region (NE Italy)

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