Topic Review
"Zorbas" on Southeastern Sicily
Over the last few years, several authors have presented contrasting models to describe the response of boulders to extreme waves, but the absence of direct observation of movements has hindered the evaluation of these models. The recent development of online video-sharing platforms in coastal settings has provided the opportunity to monitor the evolution of rocky coastlines during storm events. In September 2018, a surveillance camera of the Marine Protected Area of Plemmirio recorded the movement of several boulders along the coast of Maddalena Peninsula (Siracusa, Southeastern Sicily) during the landfall of the Mediterranean tropical-like cyclone (Medicane) Zorbas. Unmanned autonomous vehicle (UAV) photogrammetric and terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) surveys were performed to reconstruct immersive virtual scenarios to geometrically analyze the boulder displacements recorded in the video. Analyses highlighted that the displacements occurred when the boulders were submerged as a result of the impact of multiple small waves rather than due to a single large wave. Comparison between flow velocities obtained by videos and calculated through relationships showed a strong overestimation of the models, suggesting that values of flow density and lift coefficient used in literature are underestimated.
  • 1.2K
  • 25 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Saline Lakes
Saltwater lakes around the world are drying at a rapid rate. These lakes are present in arid and semi-arid regions where evaporation exceeds precipitation. The Aral Sea and Lake Urmia are examples for such rapidly drying lakes. These two lakes have lost up to 90% of their former area in the past 50 years.  
  • 1.2K
  • 28 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Marine Nepheloid Layer
Marine nepheloid layer is a turbid layer containing significantly more suspended particles than the adjacent layers in oceans. The suspended particles may collide and form large falling particle aggregates known as marine snow. Although the nepheloid layer continually changes with time and space, it shows certain temporal and spatial stability. A marine nepheloid layer could last a few days to years, with a thickness ranging from meters to kilometers.
  • 1.2K
  • 16 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Agate
Agate ‒ a spectacular form of SiO2 and a famous gemstone ‒ is commonly characterized as banded chalcedony. In detail, chalcedony layers in agates can be intergrown or intercalated with macro-crystalline quartz, quartzine, opal-C, opal-CT, cristobalite and/or moganite. In addition, agates often contain considerable amounts of mineral inclusions and water as both interstitial molecular H2O and silanol groups.
  • 1.2K
  • 16 Apr 2021
Topic Review
List of Minerals Approved by IMA (T)
This list includes those recognised minerals beginning with the letter T. The International Mineralogical Association is the international group that recognises new minerals and new mineral names, however minerals discovered before 1959 did not go through the official naming procedure, although some minerals published previously have been either confirmed or discredited since that date. This list contains a mixture of mineral names that have been approved since 1959 and those mineral names believed to still refer to valid mineral species (these are called "grandfathered" species). The data was exported from mindat.org on 29 April 2005; updated up to 'IMA2018'. The minerals are sorted by name, followed by the structural group (rruff.info/ima and ima-cnmnc by mineralienatlas.de, mainly) or chemical class (mindat.org and basics), the year of publication (if it's before of an IMA approval procedure), the IMA approval and the Nickel–Strunz code.
  • 1.2K
  • 09 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Cenozoic Basins-evolution Eastern-External Betic Zone
Four main unconformities (1-4) were recognized in the sedimentary record of the Cenozoic basins of the eastern External Betic Zone. More in detail, they are located at different stratigraphic levels as follows: (1) Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary even if this unconformity was also recorded at the early Paleocene (Murcia sector) and early Eocene (Alicante sector); (2) Eocene-Oligocene boundary and quite synchronous in the whole considered area; (3) early Burdigalian, and quite synchronous (recognized in the Murcia sector); (4) middle Tortonian (recognized in Murcia and Alicante sectors). These unconformities correspond to stratigraphic gaps of different temporal extensions with different meanings, which allowed recognizing minor sedimentary cycles in the Paleocene-Miocene time span. The Cenozoic marine sedimentation started over the oldest unconformity (i.e. the principal one), above the Mesozoic marine deposits. Paleocene-Eocene sedimentation shows numerous tectofacies (such as: turbidites, slumps, olistostromes, mega-olistostromes and pillow-beds) interpreted as related to an early, blind and deep-seated tectonic activity, acting in the more internal subdomains of the External Betic Zone as a result of the geodynamic processes related to the evolution of the westernmost branch of the Tethys. The second unconformity resulted from a Oligocene to Aquitanian sedimentary evolution in the Murcia Sector from marine realms to continental environments. This last time interval is characterized as the previous one by a gentle tectonic activity. On the other hand, the Miocene sedimentation was totally controlled by the development of superficial thrusts and/or bend zones of strike-slip faults both related to the regional geodynamic evolutionary framework linked to the Mediterranean opening. These bends of strike-slip faults created subsidence areas (pull-apart basin-type) and affected the sedimentation lying above the third unconformity. By contrast, the subsidence areas were bounded by structural highs affected by thrusts and folds. After the third unconformity, the Burdigalian-Serravallian sedimentation occurred mainly in shallow- to deep-water marine environments (Tap Fm). During the late Miocene, after the fourth unconformity, the activation of the bend zones of strike-slip faults caused a shallow marine environment sedimentation in the Murcia sector and a continental (lacustrine and fluvial) deposition in the Alicante sector represented, the latter resulting in alluvial fan deposits. Furthermore, the location of these fans changed over time according to the activation of faults responsible for the tectonic rising of Triassic salt deposits, which fed the fan themselves.
  • 1.1K
  • 10 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Age of the Earth
The age of the Earth is estimated to be 4.54 ± 0.05 billion years (4.54 × 109 years ± 1%). This age may represent the age of the Earth's accretion, or core formation, or of the material from which the Earth formed. This dating is based on evidence from radiometric age-dating of meteorite material and is consistent with the radiometric ages of the oldest-known terrestrial and lunar samples. Following the development of radiometric age-dating in the early 20th century, measurements of lead in uranium-rich minerals showed that some were in excess of a billion years old. The oldest such minerals analyzed to date—small crystals of zircon from the Jack Hills of Western Australia—are at least 4.404 billion years old. Calcium–aluminium-rich inclusions—the oldest known solid constituents within meteorites that are formed within the Solar System—are 4.567 billion years old, giving a lower limit for the age of the Solar System. It is hypothesised that the accretion of Earth began soon after the formation of the calcium-aluminium-rich inclusions and the meteorites. Because the time this accretion process took is not yet known, and predictions from different accretion models range from a few million up to about 100 million years, the difference between the age of Earth and of the oldest rocks is difficult to determine. It is also difficult to determine the exact age of the oldest rocks on Earth, exposed at the surface, as they are aggregates of minerals of possibly different ages.
  • 1.1K
  • 21 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Water Footprint
The water footprint (WF) is a widely recognised and comprehensive indicator of both the direct and indirect appropriation of freshwater. It has been utilised for diverse functions, including as a key indicator of the planetary boundaries and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. (draft for definition)
  • 1.0K
  • 03 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Amin Beiranvand Pour
My scholarly interests range widely, from mineral exploration to environmental issues such as geo-hazard, structural mapping, geothermal and geomorphic and coastal geology investigations. Subsequently, I have conducted several research projects for geological mapping, disaster management and environmental modeling using a variety of satellite remote sensing data such as the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper+ (ETM+), Landsat-8, Advanced Land Imager (ALI), Hyperion and Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) satellite data in arid and semi-arid terrains, Antarctic, Arctic and tropical environments. 
  • 929
  • 10 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Zagros Fold and Thrust Belt
The Zagros fold and thrust belt (Zagros FTB) is an approximately 1,800-kilometre (1,100 mi) long zone of deformed crustal rocks, formed in the foreland of the collision between the Arabian Plate and the Eurasian Plate. It is host to one of the world's largest petroleum provinces, containing about 49% of the established hydrocarbon reserves in fold and thrust belts and about 7% of all reserves globally.
  • 926
  • 08 Nov 2022
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