Multitemporal dendrogeomorphological analysis of slope instability in Upper Orcia Valley (Southern Tuscany, Italy)

The Upper Orcia Valley (Southern Tuscany, Italy) is a key site for the comprehension of denudation processes typically acting in Mediterranean badlands (calanchi) areas, thanks to the availability of long-lasting erosion monitoring datasets and the rapidity of erosion processes development. These features make the area suitable as an open air laboratory for the study of badlands dynamic and changes in geoheritage due to erosion (i.e. active geomorphosites). Decadal multitemporal investigations on the erosion rates and the geomorphological dynamics of the study area allowed to highlight a decrease in the average water erosion rates during the last 60 years. More in detail, a reduction of bare land and, consequently, of erosion processes effectiveness and a contemporary increasing frequency of mass wasting events were recorded. These trends can be partly related to the land cover changes occurred in the study area from the 1950s onwards, which consist of the significant increase of reforestation practices and important other forms of human impacts on slopes, mainly land levelling for agricultural exploitation. In order to better identify the most significant phases of geomorphological instability occurred in this area during the last decades, an integrated approach based on multitemporal geomorphological mapping and dendrogeomorphology analysis on specimen of Pinus nigra Arn. was used. In detail, trees colonizing a denudation slope located in the surrounding of the Radicofani town (Tuscany, Italy) and characterized by calanchi and shallow mass movements deposits, were analyzed for the 1985-2012 time period. The analysis of the growth anomaly indexes and of compression wood allowed to determine a spatio-temporal differentiation along the slope and respect to an undisturbed reference site. The negative anomaly index results to be more pronounced in the trees located on the investigated slope with respect to the ones sampled in a non-disturbed area. Compression wood characterizes trees on slope sectors mainly affected by runoff and/or mass movements with a different persistence. Erosion rates were finally calculated through dendrogeomorphological analysis on tree roots exposure (0.31-3 cm/y runoff prevailing; 5.86-27.5 cm/y, mass movements prevailing). Dendrogeomorphological results are in accordance with those obtained in the investigated areas with multitemporal photogrammetric and geomorphologic analyses

Fluvial dynamics and watermills location in Basilicata (Southern Italy)

Watermills (grain mills, waulk mills, olive mills, sawmills and threshing machines) operated in the Basilicata Region from the Roman Period until the early decades of the twentieth century, representing an important feature of waterways that is today almost totally forgotten. Using documentary sources, ancient maps and field survey it is possible to catalogue and identify the location of these ancient hydraulic structures. Watermills were usually placed far enough away from the river to avoid inundation during floods, and near natural knickpoints or artificial steps in the river long profile that were created by mill engineers. Mill construction often had significant impacts on a rivers morphology, because it was necessary to divert the river discharge towards the mill wheel, to drive the grain-grinding mechanism. Watermill typological variations have been examined in relation to variations in river pattern to assess the ways in which the hydrographic and hydrological settings of the Basilicata Region have affected mill siting and operation. Most Basilicata watermills were built with a horizontal water-wheel and a tower. The characteristics of the tower and the associated hydraulic structures varied according to the environmental setting. Finally, mill positions define also the locations on the river system that have already been used to exploit hydraulic power and thus could be useful for future use in the micro-hydroelectric secto

Geomorphological classification of urban landscapes. The case study of Rome (Italy)

The results of a long-lasting geomorphological survey carried out in Rome are summarized. A method aimed at integrating survey data, historical maps, aerial photographs and archaeological and geomorphological literature produced a geomorphological map of the present-day historical centre. The geomorphology of Rome is related to the paleogeographical conditions prior to the founding of the City; they allow us to recognize the stages of landscape evolution of the ancient Caput Mundi (Capital of the World). The study area has been affected by continuous man-made changes to the drainage network and to the topographic surface over the last 3000 years. It has forced the authors to develop innovative solutions to undertake effective analysis of the urban environment and the legend of the geomorphological map in this peculiar context. The resulting map is useful for urban planning and archaeological research

Contribution for an urban geomorphoheritage assessment method. Proposal from three geomorphosites in Rome (Italy)

Urban geomorphology has important implications in spatial planning of human activities, and it also has a geotouristic potential due to the relationship between cultural and geomorphological heritage. Despite the introduction of the term Anthropocene to describe the deep influence that human activities have had in recent times on Earth evolution, urban geomorphological heritage studies are relatively rare and limited and urban geotourism development is recent. The analysis of the complex urban landscape often need the integration of multidisciplinary data. This study aims to propose the first urban geomorphoheritage assessment method, which originates after long-lasting previous geomorphological and geotouristic studies on Rome city centre, it depict rare examples of the geomorphological mapping of a metropolis and, at the same time, of an inventory of urban geomorphosites. The proposal is applied to geomorphosites in the Esquilino neighbourhood of Rome, whose analysis confirm the need for an ad hoc method for assessing urban geomorphosites, as already highlighted in the most recent literature on the topic. The urban geomorphoheritage assessment method is based on: (i) the urban geomorphological analysis by means of multitemporal and multidisciplinary data; (ii) the geomorphosite inventory; and (iii) the geomorphoheritage assessment and enhancement. One challenge is to assess invisible geomorphosites that are widespread in urban context. To this aim, we reworked the attributes describing the Value of a site for Geotourism in order to build up a specific methodology for the analysis of the urban geomorphological heritage

Out-of-plane capacity of cladding panel-to-structure connections in one-story R/C precast structures

AbstractThe interaction between cladding panels and the main structure is a crucial point to assess the seismic response, and above all the structural safety, of RC precast industrial building. In the past, connections were often designed to allow construction tolerances and to accommodate both thermal and wind-induced displacements. The lack of specific details to allow relative in-plane displacements between cladding panels and the main structure often led to the participation of cladding panels in the structure seismic-resistant system with consequent connection failures. In the last decades, a lot of experimental tests were performed to investigate the in-plane performance of panel connections, and some design recommendations have been developed accordingly. In the out-of-plane direction, the connections were often considered to be infinitely rigid and not to suffer any damage by the seismic load. This work deals with the out-of-plane response of panel-to-structure connections for vertical panels typical of industrial and commercial precast buildings. Both standard hammer-head strap and new devices, called SismoSafe, were investigated. Tests were performed in the Structures and Materials Testing Laboratory of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of Florence, where a specific setup was designed to perform cyclic and monotonic tests on the connection devices. Standard connections showed a rather limited resistance, while the innovative connections exhibited a high out-of-plane resistance. Numerical analyses were also performed on a case study building to evaluate the distribution of the out-of-plane demand on the connections