At the origins of Pompeii: the plant landscape of the Sarno River floodplain from the first millennium bc to the ad 79 eruption

The ad 79 eruption of the Vesuvius severely affected the floodplain surrounding the ancient city of Pompeii, i.e. the Sarno River floodplain. The landscape was covered with volcaniclastic materials that destroyed the ecosystem but, at the same time, preserved the traces of former environmental conditions. This study provides—for the first time—a pollen sequence reconstructing the environmental evolution and the plant landscape of the Sarno floodplain between 900 and 750 cal bc and ad 79, i.e. before and during the foundation of the city, and during its life phases. Previous geomorphological studies revealed that the portion of the Sarno floodplain under the “Pompeii hill” was a freshwater backswamp with patchy inundated and dry areas. Palynology depicts a thin forest cover since the Early Iron Age, suggesting an open environment with a mosaic of vegetation types. The local presence of Mediterranean coastal shrubland, hygrophilous riverine forest and mesophilous plain forest is combined with the regional contribution of mountain vegetation through the sequence. Oscillations between inundated and wet ground characterized the studied area until the ad 79 eruption. Such a natural environment shows anthropogenic traits since pre-Roman times: pasturelands, cultivated fields and olive groves, which probably occupied drier soils. The most important change in the land use system was the introduction of cabbage cultivation in the fourth century bc and its intensification from the second century bc, when Roman influence grew. The presence of tree crops and of ornamental trees reveals the opulence of the Imperial age until the catastrophic eruption.

Multivariate tools to investigate the occurrence of pollutants in a highly anthropised marine area

<p>Environmental monitoring of highly anthropised areas demands for deep survey of different environmental compartments (water, sediment, soil and biota) and determination of numerous bio-geo-chemical parameters, due to the huge impact of natural and anthropogenic organic substances constantly released into these environments. However, the interpretation of the large amount of data is not straightforward task due to their complexity that require a very tricky elaboration especially for the decision making processes. Chemo-metrics tools based on the multivariate statistical data analysis seems to be a powerful tool in addressing such complexity (Mali et al., 2017). In this work they are performed to get insight the occurrence of organic pollutants within a highly populated area such as the Gulf of Naples.</p><p>The Gulfs of Naples, located along the Eastern Tyrrhenian Sea, is semi-enclosed by the Ischia-Procida Islands to NW, Campi Flegrei and the Campanian Plain in NE, the Sorrento peninsula in SE, and Capri island in W. The Campania region has one of the highest population densities in Italy. The Gulfs of Naples are the receiving environment for persistent toxic substances from the Campania Plain (Albanese et al., 2010; Arienzo et al., 2017). Montuori and Triassi (2012) reported that the discharges of PAHs from the Sarno River to the Gulf of Naples is approximately 8530 g/d. The main goal of this work is to establish the influence of the Campania Plain on the present sedimentation in the Naples bay continental shelf by evaluating organic matter contribution and pollution. For this purpose, superficial sediment samples collected from 158 sites located offshore the Gulf of Naples between Sarno River and Capri Island, were analyzed for total nitrogen and phosphorus, total organic carbon (TOC), grain size, metals, priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPHs), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), pesticides and organotin compounds (OTs). The adopted multivariate approach allowed, through a clear spatial representation of score plots, a deep dive into the large dataset generated by the investigation campaign, highlighting the influence of some main factors controlling the contamination pattern, such as organic matter content and depositional environment.</p><p>References</p><p>Albanese, S., De Vivo, B., Lima, A., Cicchella, D., Civitillo, D., Cosenza, A., 2010. Geochemical baselines and risk assessment of the Bagnoli brownfield site coastal sea sediments (Naples, Italy). J. Geochem. Explor. 105, 19–33.</p><p>Arienzo, M., Donadio, C., Mangoni, O., Bolinesi, F., Stanislao, C., Trifuoggi, M., Toscanesi, M., Di Natale, G., Ferrara, L., 2017. Characterization and source apportionment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (pahs) in the sediments of gulf of Pozzuoli (Campania, Italy). Mar. Pollut. Bull. 124, 480–487.</p><p>Mali, M., Dell'Anna, M.M., Notarnicola, M., Damiani, L., Mastrorilli, P., 2017. Combining chemometric tools for assessing hazard sources and factors acting simultaneously in contaminated areas. Case study: "Mar Piccolo" Taranto (South Italy). Chemosphere 184, 784-794.</p><p>Montuori, P., Triassi, M., 2012. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons loads into the Mediterranean Sea: estimate of Sarno River inputs. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 64, 512–520.</p>

The offshore environmental impact by Sarno river in Naples bay (South-West Italy)

The goal of this work has been to establish the influence of the Sarno river on the present sedimentation in the Naples bay continental shelf by evaluating organic matter contribution and pollution. Sediments samples were collected, by van Veen grab, in 71 stations located offshore the Sarno river between Vesuvian and Sorrento Peninsula coasts. The characteristics of the surface sediments were analysed to highlight spatial trends in the (i) granulometry (grain-size); (ii) total nitrogen, organic carbon and total phosphorus; (iii) metal content (Hg, Cd, Pb, As, Cr, Cu, Ni, Zn, Fe and Mn).