L'Appenino Emiliano è tra le zone più franose al mondo; i fenomeni che la interessano sono abbastanza lenti e quindi mai catastrofici, ma, vista la loro diffusione, molto dannosi per le infrastrutture. La ricerca della pericolosità associata alle frane si distingue in previsione spaziale e previsione temporale; la prima, detta anche suscettività, è il tema del presente lavoro. La suscettività è volta alla realizzazione di carte di propensione al dissesto, relative e indipendenti dal tempo. Dall'inizio degli anni '90 sono disponibili in letteratura diversi modelli per rispondere a questa esigenza, i quali sono generalmente costituiti da una componente geo-meccanica (di solito il modello del Pendio Infinito) e una idrologica. Il presente lavoro si concentra su quest'ultima che, nei diversi modelli, presenta la maggiore varietà, e cerca di capire quale sia il contributo che questa componente può dare all'analisi di suscettività in un'area argillosa. Per valutare questo contributo, sono stati applicati ad un'area di studio rappresentativa, diversi modelli fisicamente basati noti in letteratura o creati appositamente. Le informazioni dinamiche dei modelli transitori sono state integrate nel tempo secondo diversi metodi che tengono conto della permanenza delle condizioni critiche nel versante. I risultati dell'analisi suggeriscono che, nell'area di studio, e presumibilmente nelle aree a prevalenza argillosa in genere, per la determinazione della suscettività alle frane, il contributo di un modello fisicamente basato, completo di componente geo-meccanica e componente idrologica accoppiate, è assolutamente trascurabile rispetto ad un semplice modello geo-meccanico basato sulla sola pendenza come quello del Pendio Infinito. Le indicazioni provenienti da un modello completo possono essere ridondanti o addirittura fuorvianti se questo non è adatto alle caratteristiche dell'area in studio e ben calibrato.

L’acquifero freatico costiero ravennate è intensamente salinizzato fino a diversi km nell’entroterra. Il corpo dell’acquifero è formato da sabbie che poggiano su un substrato argilloso ad una profondità media di 25 m, i depositi affioranti sono sabbie e argille. Il lavoro svolto consiste in una caratterizzazione dello stato di salinizzazione con metodologie indirette (geoelettrica) e metodologie dirette (letture dei parametri fisici delle acque in pozzo). I sondaggi elettrici verticali (V.E.S.) mostrano stagionalità dovuta alle differenti quantità di pioggia e quindi di ricarica, le aree con depositi superficiali ad alta conducibilità idraulica (sabbie) hanno una lente d’acqua dolce compresa tra 0,1 e 2,25 m di spessore, al di sotto della quale troviamo una zona di mescolamento con spessori che vanno da 1,00 a 12,00 m, mentre quando in superficie abbiamo depositi a bassa conducibilità idraulica (limi sabbiosi e argille sabbiose) la lente d’acqua dolce scompare e la zona di mescolamento è sottile. Le misure dirette in pozzo mostrano una profondità della tavola d’acqua quasi ovunque sotto il livello del mare in entrambi i mesi monitorati, Giugno e Dicembre 2010, presentando una profondità leggermente maggiore nel mese di Dicembre. Dalla ricostruzione litologica risulta un acquifero composto da 4×109 m3 di sabbia, per cui ipotizzando una porosità media del 30% sono presenti 1,2×109 m3 di acqua. Dalla modellazione numerica (Modflow-SEAWAT 2000) risulta che l’origine dell’acqua salata che si trova in falda trova più facilmente spiegazione ipotizzando la sua presenza fin dalla formazione dell’acquifero, residuo delle acque marine che regredivano. Un’altra problematica analizzata è valutare l’applicazione della metodologia a minifiltri in uno studio sulla salinizzazione delle acque di falda. É stata implementata la costruzione di un transetto sperimentale, che ha permesso la mappatura dell’interfaccia acqua dolce/salmastra/salata con una precisione finora non raggiungibile. / The coastal phreatic aquifer of the Ravenna province is salinized up to several kilometers inland. The aquifer is mostly made up of sand and overlays a clay substrate at an average 25 m depth. A characterization of the salinization has been carried out with indirect methods (Geoelectrical method) and direct methods (Physical parameters measurements of groundwater in wells). The vertical electrical sounding (V.E.S.) method shows a seasonality of the salinization of the water due to a different rainfall rate in time, furthermore, where the top of the aquifer has a high hydraulic conductivity (sand) there are freshwater lenses (between 0.1 and 2.25 m in thickness) floating on saltwater and a thick mixing zone (between 1.00 and 12 m in thickness), whereas if the top of the aquifer has a low hydraulic conductivity (silty sand, clayish sand), the freshwater lens is absent and the mixing zone is thin. In most of the area the water table is below mean sea level in both the monitoring periods, June and December 2010. In December, it is a bit deeper than in June. From the lithological reconstruction, an aquifer composed by 4×109 m3 of sand results, assuming a porosity of 30% there are 1,2×109 m3 of water. The numerical modeling (Modflow-SEAWAT 2000) shows that the origin of the salt water in the aquifer is more easily explained by assuming its presence since the formation of the aquifer, a remnant of the marine waters recede. Finally, another issue addressed in this thesis is the monitoring method to be applied in a study on salinization of groundwater. To do this we have tested the experimental methodology of mini filters.This method allowed mapping of the interfaces fresh/ brackish/salt water with an accuracy previously not attainable.

Terrestrial radioactivity for most individual is the major contributor to the total dose and is mostly provided by 238U, 232Th and 40K radionuclides. In particular indoor radioactivity is principally due to 222Rn, a radioactive noble gas descendent of 238U, second cause of lung cancer after cigarettes smoking. Vulsini Volcanic District is a well known quaternary volcanic area located between the northern Latium and southern Tuscany (Central Italy). It is characterized by an high natural radiation background resulting from the high concentrations of 238U, 232Th and 40K in the volcanic products. In this context, subduction-related metasomatic enrichment of incompatible elements in the mantle source coupled with magma differentiation within the upper crust has given rise to U, Th and K enriched melts. Almost every ancient village and town located in this part of Italy has been built with volcanic rocks pertaining to the Vulsini Volcanic District. The radiological risk of living in this area has been estimated considering separately: a. the risk associated with buildings made of volcanic products and built on volcanic rock substrates b. the risk associated to soil characteristics. The former has been evaluated both using direct 222Rn indoor measurements and simulations of “standard rooms” built with the tuffs and lavas from the Vulsini Volcanic District investigated in this work. The latter has been carried out by using in situ measurements of 222Rn activity in the soil gases. A radon risk map for the Bolsena village has been developed using soil radon measurements integrating geological information. Data of airborne radioactivity in ambient aerosol at two elevated stations in Emilia Romagna (North Italy) under the influence of Fukushima plume have been collected, effective doses have been calculated and an extensive comparison between doses associated with artificial and natural sources in different area have been described and discussed.

E’ mostrata l’analisi e la modellazione di dati termocronologici di bassa temperatura da due regioni Alpine: il Sempione ed il Brennero. Le faglie distensive presenti bordano settori crostali profondi appartenenti al dominio penninico: il duomo metamorfico Lepontino al Sempione e la finestra dei Tauri al Brennero. I dati utilizzati sono FT e (U-Th)/He su apatite. Per il Sempione i dati provengono dalla bibliografia; per il Brennero si è provveduto ad un nuovo campionamento, sia in superficie che in sotterraneo. Gli attuali lavori per la galleria di base del Brennero (BBT), hanno consentito, per la prima volta, di raccogliere dati di FT e (U-Th)/He in apatite in sottosuolo per la finestra dei Tauri occidentale. Le analisi sono state effettuate tramite un codice a elementi finiti, Pecube, risolvente l’equazione di diffusione del calore per una topografia evolvente nel tempo. Il codice è stato modificato per tener conto dei dati sotterranei. L’inversione dei dati è stata effettuata usando il Neighbourhood Algorithm (NA), per ottenere il più plausibile scenario di evoluzione morfotettonico. I risultati ottenuti per il Sempione mostrano: ipotetica evoluzione dello stile tettonico della faglia del Sempione da rolling hinge a low angle detachment a 6.5 Ma e la cessazione dell’attività a 3 Ma; costruzione del rilievo fino a 5.5 Ma, smantellamento da 5.5 Ma ad oggi, in coincidenza dei cambiamenti climatici Messiniani e relativi all’inizio delle maggiori glaciazioni; incremento dell’esumazione da 0–0.6 mm/anno a 0.6–1.2 mm/anno a 2.4 Ma nell’emisfero settentrionale. I risultati al Brennero mostrano: maggiore attività tettonica della faglia del Brennero (1.3 mm/anno), maggiore attività esumativa (1–2 mm/anno) prima dei 10 Ma; crollo dell’attività della faglia del Brennero fra 10 Ma e oggi (0.1 mm/anno) e dell’attività esumativa nello stesso periodo (0.1–0.3 mm/anno); nessun aumento del tasso esumativo o variazioni topografiche negli ultimi 5 Ma. / This work concerns the uplift and exhumation history of Simplon and Brenner Alpine regions by means of low-temperature thermochronological analysis (apatite FT and U-Th/He) and modeling. Simplon and Brenner normal faults border deep crustal sectors belonging to the Penninic domain: Lepontine dome core complex for Simplon; ophiolitic units and Penninic basement and covers units for Brenner. Data were collected from literature for the Simplon, whereas a surface and subsurface sampling was provided for the Brenner. In the latter case the realization of the Brenner tunnel (BBT) allowed, for the first time, to collect underground apatite FT and (U-Th)/He data for the western Tauern window. Modeling was made using: a finite elements code that computes the solution of the heat diffusion equation for a time varying topography, Pecube (whose code was modified during this thesis in order to take into account underground data; an inversion procedure by the Neighbourhood Algorithm (NA), with the aim to obtain the most plausible morphotectonic scenario. Results for the Simplon region show: an hypothetic change of the tectonic style of the Simplon fault from rolling hinge to low angle detachment at 6.5 Ma, and the cessation of its activity at 3 Ma; relief construction until 5.5 Ma followed by dismantle between 5.5 and 0 Ma, during the climatic changes of Messinian age and related to glacial cycles onset on the northern hemisphere; increment of exhumation activity (0–0.6 mm/yr to 0.6–1.2 mm/yr) when glaciations on the northern hemisphere began. Brenner results show: major fault (1.3 mm/yr) activity of the Brenner line as well as a major exhumation (1 - 2 mm/yr) before 10 Ma; fault activity (0.1 mm/yr) and exhumation (0.1–0.3 mm/yr) decrease between 10 and 0 Ma; no exhumation rate increase or evident topographic changes during the glacial cycles.

The surface properties of minerals have important implications in geology, environment, industry and biotechnology and for certain aspects in the research on the origin of life. This research project aims to widen the knowledge on the nanoscale surface properties of chlorite and phlogopite by means of advanced methodologies, and also to investigate the interaction of fundamental biomolecules, such as nucleotides, RNA, DNA and amino acid glycine with the surface of the selected phyllosilicates. Multiple advanced and complex experimental approaches based on scanning probe microscopy and spatially resolved spectroscopy were used and in some cases specifically developed. The results demonstrate that chlorite exposes at the surface atomically flat terraces with 0.5 nm steps typically generated by the fragmentation of the octahedral sheet of the interlayer (brucitic-type). This fragmentation at the nanoscale generates a high anisotropy and inhomogeneity with surface type and isomorphous cationic substitutions determining variations of the effective surface potential difference, ranging between 50-100 mV and 400-500 mV, when measured in air, between the TOT surface and the interlayer brucitic sheet. The surface potential was ascribed to be the driving force of the observed high affinity of the surface with the fundamental biomolecules, like single molecules of nucleotides, DNA, RNA and amino acids. Phlogopite was also observed to present an extended atomically flat surface, featuring negative surface potential values of some hundreds of millivolts and no significant local variations. Phlogopite surface was sometimes observed to present curvature features that may be ascribed to local substitutions of the interlayer cations or the presence of a crystal lattice mismatch or structural defects, such as stacking faults or dislocation loops. Surface chemistry was found similar to the bulk. The study of the interaction with nucleotides and glycine revealed a lower affinity with respect to the brucite-like surface of chlorite.

Chlorinated solvents are the most ubiquitous organic contaminants found in groundwater since the last five decades. They generally reach groundwater as Dense Non-Aqueous Phase Liquid (DNAPL). This phase can migrate through aquifers, and also through aquitards, in ways that aqueous contaminants cannot. The complex phase partitioning to which chlorinated solvent DNAPLs can undergo (i.e. to the dissolved, vapor or sorbed phase), as well as their transformations (e.g. degradation), depend on the physico-chemical properties of the contaminants themselves and on features of the hydrogeological system. The main goal of the thesis is to provide new knowledge for the future investigations of sites contaminated by DNAPLs in alluvial settings, proposing innovative investigative approaches and emphasizing some of the key issues and main criticalities of this kind of contaminants in such a setting. To achieve this goal, the hydrogeologic setting below the city of Ferrara (Po plain, northern Italy), which is affected by scattered contamination by chlorinated solvents, has been investigated at different scales (regional and site specific), both from an intrinsic (i.e. groundwater flow systems) and specific (i.e. chlorinated solvent DNAPL behavior) point of view. Detailed investigations were carried out in particular in one selected test-site, known as “Caretti site”, where high-resolution vertical profiling of different kind of data were collected by means of multilevel monitoring systems and other innovative sampling and analytical techniques. This allowed to achieve a deep geological and hydrogeological knowledge of the system and to reconstruct in detail the architecture of contaminants in relationship to the features of the hosting porous medium. The results achieved in this thesis are useful not only at local scale, e.g. employable to interpret the origin of contamination in other sites of the Ferrara area, but also at global scale, in order to address future remediation and protection actions of similar hydrogeologic settings.

A complete stratigraphic assessment and revision of the middle Campanian to upper Maastrichtian Wapiti Formation in north-western Alberta and north-eastern British Columbia is the main aim of this research project. The study area encompasses an area of approximately 200X180 km in the Grande Prairie County (west-central Alberta) and easternmost British Columbia, Canada. Results presented here indicate that the 1300m thick succession currently reported in the literature as “undifferentiated lithostratigraphic unit”, consists of five lithostratigraphic units and four unconformity-bounded depositional sequences; their study and description have been documented integrating several geological disciplines, including sequence stratigraphic methods, well-log signatures, facies analysis, and fossil associations. On the whole, particular attention has been given to 1) age and nature of both basal and upper contacts of the Wapiti Formation, 2) effective mappability of lithostratigraphic units and depositional sequences in western Alberta, and 3) the identification of previously undetermined maximum flooding surface of the Bearpaw seaway and Drumheller Marine Tongue, which are reference marine unit in central and southern Alberta. A second, but not less important, guideline for the project has been the rich paleontological record of the Wapiti deposits. Detailed paleoenvironmental and taxonomical information on old and new finds have been the base for correlation with well known associations of Alaska, southern Alberta, and Montana. Newly discovered rich fossil localities documented an extraordinarily diverse fauna during the latest Cretaceous, including dinosaurs, squamates, and fresh-water fishes and reptiles. Lastly, in order to better characterize the Wapiti Formation, major marker beds were described: these include several bentonites (altered volcanic ash deposits) which have been documented over an area of almost 30.000 km2, as well as four major coal zones, characterized by tabular coal seams with an overall thickness of 2 meters. Such marker beds represent a formidable tool for high-resolution chronology and regional correlations within the Late Cretaceous Alberta foreland basin.

Iberia Africa plate boundary, cross, roughly W-E, connecting the eastern Atlantic Ocean from Azores triple junction to the Continental margin of Morocco. Relative movement between the two plate change along the boundary, from transtensive near the Azores archipelago, through trascurrent movement in the middle at the Gloria Fracture Zone, to transpressive in the Gulf of Cadiz area. This study presents the results of geophysical and geological analysis on the plate boundary area offshore Gibraltar. The main topic is to clarify the geodynamic evolution of this area from Oligocene to Quaternary. Recent studies have shown that the new plate boundary is represented by a 600 km long set of aligned, dextral trascurrent faults (the SWIM lineaments) connecting the Gloria fault to the Riff orogene. The western termination of these lineaments crosscuts the Gibraltar accretionary prism and seems to reach the Moroccan continental shelf. In the past two years newly acquired bathymetric data collected in the Moroccan offshore permit to enlighten the present position of the eastern portion of the plate boundary, previously thought to be a diffuse plate boundary. The plate boundary evolution, from the onset of compression in the Oligocene to the Late Pliocene activation of trascurrent structures, is not yet well constrained. The review of available seismics lines, gravity and bathymetric data, together with the analysis of new acquired bathymetric and high resolution seismic data offshore Morocco, allows to understand how the deformation acted at lithospheric scale under the compressive regime. Lithospheric folding in the area is suggested, and a new conceptual model is proposed for the propagation of the deformation acting in the brittle crust during this process. Our results show that lithospheric folding, both in oceanic and thinned continental crust, produced large wavelength synclines bounded by short wavelength, top thrust, anticlines. Two of these anticlines are located in the Gulf of Cadiz, and are represented by the Gorringe Ridge and Coral Patch seamounts. Lithospheric folding probably interacted with the Monchique – Madeira hotspot during the 72 Ma to Recent, NNE – SSW transit. Plume related volcanism is for the first time described on top of the Coral Patch seamount, where nine volcanoes are found by means of bathymetric data. 40Ar-39Ar age of 31.4±1.98 Ma are measured from one rock sample of one of these volcanoes. Analysis on biogenic samples show how the Coral Patch act as a starved offshore seamount since the Chattian. We proposed that compression stress formed lithospheric scale structures playing as a reserved lane for the upwelling of mantle material during the hotspot transit. The interaction between lithospheric folding and the hotspot emplacement can be also responsible for the irregularly spacing, and anomalous alignments, of individual islands and seamounts belonging to the Monchique - Madeira hotspot.

The aim of this study is to understand and to assess the effects of river freshwater inflow on the circulation and dynamics of our region of interest, the Central Mediterranean Sea, both on shelf and basin scales, over short-term as well as long-term range. As far as we know this study provides the first investigation on river role on the Central Mediterranean overturning circulation. On the same time we point to improve the hindcast/forecast capability of our regional hydrodynamics model both on shelf and basin scales through a consistent representation of river inflow into the Central Mediterranean Sea taking not account all the physical processes involved in the local water cycle of specific catchments. An integrated modelling system including the atmosphere, the hydrology and the estuary dynamics has been set up upstream the regional ocean model at the Ofanto river outlet. The Estuary Box Model developed by the University of Connecticut (UCONN) jointly with the National Centre for the Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Climate Global Division and the University of Washington (UW) has been implemented for the selected case study, the Ofanto river, downstream of the meteo-hydrological chain and upstream of the regional ocean model. The model performance has been evaluated by comparison with a highly simplified approach based on Knudsen’s relation (Knudsen, 1900). Finally we built up an intermediate modelling approach.

La zona costiera è un ecosistema di transizione dove l’interazione di numerosi fattori determina un equilibrio di tipo dinamico, estremamente sensibile agli impatti delle attività antropiche. La costa romagnola, come tutta quella italiana, soffre oggigiorno di un’importante crisi erosiva aggravata dalla subsidenza e dall’intensificarsi di eventi meteomarini potenzialmente erosivi. In questo contesto, la progressiva scomparsa delle dune costiere ha privato il sistema di un’importante difesa naturale ed elemento di resilienza. L’oggetto di studio sono quindi le dune costiere non come elemento isolato ma nell’ottica complessiva di un sistema dinamico e complesso che coinvolge forzanti meteomarine, spiaggia e vegetazione. L’articolazione dello studio ha riguardato prima di tutto l’analisi dei trend evolutivi delle aree dunose a scala secolare, da un punto di vista quantitativo e qualitativo. Lo studio dei fattori fisici ha permesso la definizione del quadro meteomarino di base e l’analisi di mareggiate e storm surge, secondo frequenze attuali e valori estremi. Inoltre, è stata effettuata la caratterizzazione della componente spiaggia da un punto di vista morfodinamico modale. Lo studio della vegetazione costiera in termini di successione spaziale ha evidenziato situazioni di disturbo/naturalità oltre ad importanti relazioni tra specie e valibili morfo-topografiche. Lo ricerca è proseguita quindi con il vero e proprio studio integrato incentrato sullo sviluppo delle dune embrionali (area naturale di foce Bevano) osservando i patterns di sedimentazione/erosione, la risposta ai singoli eventi erosivi, nonché i tassi di crescita in elevazione ed estensione. Le diverse componenti monitorate sono state analizzate in relazione alla dinamica geomorfologica, intesa come aree di accumulo/stabilità/erosione e monitorata tramite tecniche di fotogrammetria Structure from Motion. In conclusione, l’obiettivo dello studio è stato quello di fornire un contributo alla conoscenza delle dinamiche ambientali del sistema costiero, offrendo oltretutto utili indicazioni per la realizzazione di auspicabili interventi di conservazione di questi importanti habitat. / Coastal zone is a transition ecosystem where the interaction of several factors determines a dynamic equilibrium that is extremely sensitive to the impacts of human activities. Now a days the Emilia-Romagna’s coast, like overall Italian coast, suffers from a significant erosive crisis that is worsen by land subsidence and storminess intensification. In this context, the progressive disappearance of costal dune is equivalent to deprive the system from an essential natural defense and resilience element. The object of this study is therefore coastal dunes system not as an isolated element but in the overall perspective of a dynamic and complex system that involves meteo-marine forcing, beach and vegetation. The study starts with a preliminary analysis of evolutionary trends of dune areas, on a century scale, from a quantitative and qualitative point of view. In order to describe physical factors, meteo-marine conditions were defined for the area with particular attentions on potential erosive events such as storm-waves and storm surges, considering current frequency and extreme values. Moreover, natural beaches morphodynamic modal state and closure depth values were assessed. The study of coastal vegetation in terms of spatial sequence showed different situations of disturbance/naturality as well as important relationships between species and morpho-topographical parameters. Research continued then with the actual integrated study focusing on embryo dunes development, in the natural area of Bevano torrent mouth, observing for a year the sedimentation/erosion patterns, the response to single erosive event and growth rates in elevation and extension. The others environmental components monitored were analyzed in connection to geomorphologic dynamic, evaluated in terms of areas of deposition/stability/erosion and surveyed by ground-based and Structure from Motion photogrammetry. In conclusion, the study objective was to provide a contribution to environmental coastal dynamics knowledge, offering moreover useful indications for desirable restoration and conservation actions of this important habitat.