Constraining tectonic uplift and advection from the main drainage divide of a mountain belt

One of the most conspicuous features of a mountain belt is the main drainage divide. Divide location is influenced by a number of parameters, including tectonic uplift and horizontal advection. Thus, the topography of mountain belts can be used as an archive to extract tectonic information. Here we combine numerical landscape evolution modelling and analytical solutions to demonstrate that mountain asymmetry, determined by the location of the main drainage divide, increases with increasing uplift gradient and advection velocity. Then, we provide a conceptual framework to constrain the present or previous tectonic uplift and advection of a mountain belt from the location and migration direction of its main drainage divide. Furthermore, we apply our model to Wula Shan horst, Northeastern Sicily, and Southern Taiwan.

Families in the Riveli di beni e anime of Gallodoro, Sicily during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

This article examines the riveli di beni e anime of the small town of Gallodoro, located in northeastern Sicily about halfway between the cities of Messina and Catania, to examine the history of the town’s families during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by tracing the prevalence of surnames recorded in these documents. The growing proliferation of certain surnames suggests a longer presence of these families in Gallodoro, while the increasing diversification of surnames as a whole suggests a dynamic population comprised of new residents. Despite the diversification of surnames in the riveli for Gallodoro, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the majority of the town’s population held only a relatively few different surnames.

Exposure to emissions from Mount Etna (Sicily, Italy) and incidence of thyroid cancer: a geographic analysis

An increased incidence of thyroid cancer has been reported in the area close to Mount Etna, the largest volcano in Europe located in Northeastern Sicily. We tested the hypothesis that exposure to the emissions from the volcano is associated with thyroid cancer in 186 municipalities from three provinces surrounding the volcano (1.9 million inhabitants). We measured the angle between the bearing of the municipalities and each direction, with special focus on South-East, the prevalent direction of the plume, and conducted a regression analysis on 2003–2016 incidence rates of thyroid cancer, adjusting for distance from Mount Etna, population size, and income. A 10-degree increase in the angle with South-East was associated with a decrease in thyroid cancer rates in the whole population (− 0.67 cases/100,000, p = 0.002) and in women (− 1.54/100,000, p < 0.001), and were robust to several sensitivity analyses. Similar results were obtained for East-South-East direction. These results support the hypothesis of a potential role of exposure to the plume from Mount Etna in determining the high rates of thyroid cancer. The results need to be confirmed in analytical studies, in which information of exposure to chemicals originating from the volcano, as well as other possible causes, should be carefully measured, molecular characteristics of the tumors and taken into account.

Exceptionally preserved remains of Munidopsis ariadne MACPHERSON , 2011 (Galatheoidea) in Upper Pliocene fissure- filling micrites at Cape Milazzo (northeastern Sicily, Italy)

During the Late Pliocene, the Milazzo Peninsula (northeastern Sicily, Italy) experienced extensional tectonics, which may have led to fractures that were filled by pink-coloured micrite. Carapace remains of the galatheoid Munidopsis ariadne and chelae of a paguroid (Diogenes sp.) were found to be preserved three-dimensionally within these fractures. Until now, Munidopsis ariadne was known from extant material from south of Crete (Mediterranean) at depths in excess of 2,000 metres.