scholarly journals Plio-Pleistocene Landscape Evolution of the Turano River Basin (Central Apennines, Italy): Insights from Continental Deposits’ Analysis and Drainage Network Development

Geosciences ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 245
Author(s):  
Vania Mancinelli ◽  
Gian Paolo Cavinato ◽  
Francesco Ciavattella ◽  
Alessandro Cecili ◽  
Maurizio D’Orefice ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Network Analysis ◽  
Landscape Evolution ◽  
Tectonic Activity ◽  
Drainage Network ◽  
Network Development ◽  
Central Apennines ◽  
Lazio Region ◽  
Field Evidence ◽  
Continental Deposits ◽  
Basin Scale

Quaternary continental deposits record spatio-temporal changes of the landscape and offer insights for drainage network analysis and paleoenvironmental reconstructions. This paper focuses on the Turano River, a left tributary of the Velino River, which flows in the southwestern Abruzzo area at the boundary with Lazio Region. Its basin preserves lithological and morphological field evidence particularly suitable for reconstructing the long-term geomorphological evolution of the Central Apennines and the drainage network development. In detail, the Turano River was investigated through a drainage basin-scale analysis incorporating morphometric analysis, field mapping, continental deposits analysis, and integrated drainage network analysis. This approach allowed us to define a drainage network reversal process, clearly highlighted by the spatial arrangement of continental deposits, spanning from Upper Pliocene to Holocene. The results also indicated tectonic activity as the main factor driving incision and river inversion processes. The work contributes to identifying and describing the main steps of the Quaternary landscape evolution of this mountainous catchment and its morphoneotectonic framework. Therefore, it could represent a methodological tool for multidisciplinary studies in similar mountainous catchments to support any territorial planning activity, from large infrastructure localization (i.e., artificial dams) to sustainable land management.

scholarly journals Paleo-Drainage Network, Morphotectonics, and Fluvial Terraces: Clues from the Verde Stream in the Middle Sangro River (Central Italy)

Geosciences ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrico Miccadei ◽  
Cristiano Carabella ◽  
Giorgio Paglia ◽  
Tommaso Piacentini
Keyword(s):  
Drainage Basin ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
General Setting ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Drainage Network ◽  
Fluvial Terraces ◽  
Field Evidence ◽  
Basin Scale ◽  
The Impact

This work analyzes the role of paleo-drainage network, morphotectonics, and surface processes in landscape evolution in a sector of the transition zone between the chain and the piedmont area of Central Apennines. Particularly, it focuses on the Verde Stream, a tributary of the middle Sangro River valley, which flows in the southeastern Abruzzo area at the boundary with the Molise region. The Verde Stream was investigated through a drainage basin scale geomorphological analysis incorporating the morphometry of the orography and hydrography, structural geomorphological field mapping, and the investigation of morphological field evidence of tectonics with their statistical azimuthal distributions. The local data obtained were compared with the analysis of the middle Sangro River valley and the tectonic features of the Abruzzo–Molise area. This approach led us to also provide relevant clues about the definition of the role of karst features and paleo-landscapes in the general setting of the study area and to identify the impact of active tectonics, confirmed by recent and active seismicity. In conclusion, the paper contributes to defining the main stages of the geomorphological evolution of this area, driven by uplift and local tectonics and due to a combination of fluvial, karst, and landslide processes.

scholarly journals Landscape Evolution as a Diversification Driver in Freshwater Fishes

2022 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Val ◽  
Nathan J. Lyons ◽  
Nicole Gasparini ◽  
Jane K. Willenbring ◽  
James S. Albert
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Freshwater Fish ◽  
Fish Species ◽  
Landscape Evolution ◽  
Capture Rate ◽  
River Basins ◽  
Tectonic Activity ◽  
Freshwater Species ◽  
River Capture ◽  
Basin Scale

The exceptional concentration of vertebrate diversity in continental freshwaters has been termed the “freshwater fish paradox,” with > 15,000 fish species representing more than 20% of all vertebrate species compressed into tiny fractions of the Earth’s land surface area (<0.5%) or total aquatic habitat volume (<0.001%). This study asks if the fish species richness of the world’s river basins is explainable in terms of river captures using topographic metrics as proxies. The River Capture Hypothesis posits that drainage-network rearrangements have accelerated biotic diversification through their combined effects on dispersal, speciation, and extinction. Yet rates of river capture are poorly constrained at the basin scale worldwide. Here we assess correlations between fish species density (data for 14,953 obligate freshwater fish species) and basin-wide metrics of landscape evolution (data for 3,119 river basins), including: topography (elevation, average relief, slope, drainage area) and climate (average rainfall and air temperature). We assess the results in the context of both static landscapes (e.g., species-area and habitat heterogeneity relationships) and transient landscapes (e.g., river capture, tectonic activity, landscape disequilibrium). We also relax assumptions of functional neutrality of basins (tropical vs. extratropical, tectonically stable vs. active terrains). We found a disproportionate number of freshwater species in large, lowland river basins of tropical South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia, under predictable conditions of large geographic area, tropical climate, low topographic relief, and high habitat volume (i.e., high rainfall rates). However, our results show that these conditions are only necessary, but not fully sufficient, to explain the basins with the highest diversity. Basins with highest diversity are all located on tectonically stable regions, places where river capture is predicted to be most conducive to the formation of high fish species richness over evolutionary timescales. Our results are consistent with predictions of several landscape evolution models, including the River Capture Hypothesis, Mega Capture Hypothesis, and Intermediate Capture Rate Hypothesis, and support conclusions of numerical modeling studies indicating landscape transience as a mechanistic driver of net diversification in riverine and riparian organisms with widespread continental distributions.

A vector-based method for drainage network analysis based on LiDAR data

2021 ◽  
pp. 104892
Author(s):  
Fangzheng Lyu ◽  
Zewei Xu ◽  
Xinlin Ma ◽  
Shaohua Wang ◽  
Zhiyu Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Network Analysis ◽  
Lidar Data ◽  
Drainage Network

scholarly journals Landslide susceptibility assessment in the Peloritani Mts. (Sicily, Italy) and clues for tectonic control of relief processes

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 949-963 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. De Guidi ◽  
S. Scudero
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Data ◽  
Landslide Susceptibility ◽  
Landscape Evolution ◽  
Statistical Technique ◽  
Slope Instability ◽  
Tectonic Activity ◽  
Medium Term ◽  
Tectonic History ◽  
Susceptibility Model ◽  
Morphological Processes

Abstract. Many destructive shallow landslides hit villages in the Peloritani Mountains area (Sicily, Italy) on 1 October 2009 after heavy rainfall. The collection of several types of spatial data, together with a landslide inventory, allows the assessment of the landslide susceptibility by applying a statistical technique. The susceptibility model was validated by performing an analysis in a test area using independent landslide information, the results being able to correctly predict more than 70% of the landslides. Furthermore, the susceptibility analysis allowed the identification of which combinations of classes, within the different factors, have greater relevance in slope instability, and afterwards associating the most unstable combinations (with a short–medium term incidence) with the endogenic processes acting in the area (huge regional uplift, fault activity). Geological and tectonic history are believed to be key to interpreting morphological processes and landscape evolution. Recent tectonic activity was found to be a very important controlling factor in landscape evolution. A geomorphological model of cyclical relief evolution is proposed in which endogenic processes are directly linked to superficial processes. The results are relevant both to risk reduction and the understanding of active geological dynamics.

Plio-Quaternary extensional seismotectonics and drainage network development in the central sector of the Iberian Chain (NE Spain)

Geomorphology ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 102 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Gutiérrez ◽  
Mateo Gutiérrez ◽  
F. Javier Gracia ◽  
James P. McCalpin ◽  
Pedro Lucha ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drainage Network ◽  
Network Development ◽  
Iberian Chain ◽  
Ne Spain

Hydrofractures and crustal-scale fluid flow

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul D. Bons ◽  
Tamara de Riese ◽  
Enrique Gomez-Rivas ◽  
Isaac Naaman ◽  
Till Sachau
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Flow ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Low Flow ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Tectonic Activity ◽  
Field Evidence ◽  
Dehydration Reactions ◽  
Matrix Flow ◽  
Matrix Porosity ◽  
Fluid Sources

<p>Fluids can circulate in all levels of the crust, as veins, ore deposits and chemical alterations and isotopic shifts indicate. It is furthermore generally accepted that faults and fractures play a central role as preferred fluid conduits. Fluid flow is, however, not only passively reacting to the presence of faults and fractures, but actively play a role in their creation, (re-) activation and sealing by mineral precipitates. This means that the interaction between fluid flow and fracturing is a two-way process, which is further controlled by tectonic activity (stress field), fluid sources and fluxes, as well as the availability of alternative fluid conduits, such as matrix porosity. Here we explore the interaction between matrix permeability and dynamic fracturing on the spatial and temporal distribution of fluid flow for upward fluid fluxes. Envisaged fluid sources can be dehydration reactions, release of igneous fluids, or release of fluids due to decompression or heating.</p><p> </p><p>Our 2D numerical cellular automaton-type simulations span the whole range from steady matrix-flow to highly dynamical flow through hydrofractures. Hydrofractures are initiated when matrix flow is insufficient to maintain fluid pressures below the failure threshold. When required fluid fluxes are high and/or matrix porosity low, flow is dominated by hydrofractures and the system exhibits self-organised critical phenomena. The size of fractures achieves a power-law distribution, as failure events may sometimes trigger avalanche-like amalgamation of hydrofractures. By far most hydrofracture events only lead to local fluid flow pulses within the source area. Conductive fracture networks do not develop if hydrofractures seal relatively quickly, which can be expected in deeper crustal levels. Only the larger events span the whole system and actually drain fluid from the system. We present the 10 square km hydrothermal Hidden Valley Mega-Breccia on the Paralana Fault System in South Australia as a possible example of large-scale fluid expulsion events. Although field evidence suggests that the breccia formed over a period of at least 150 Myrs, actual cumulative fluid duration may rather have been in the order of days only. This example illustrates the extreme dynamics that crustal-scale fluid flow in hydrofractures can achieve.</p>

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