- Italy
Ilaria Isola
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Ambiente, Faculty Member
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Long-lasting widespread volcanism contributed to heavily shaping the surface of Mars. In fact, the Tharsis volcanic province is one of the largest volcanic provinces with the largest shield volcanoes of the Solar System, Mount Olympus and... more
Long-lasting widespread volcanism contributed to heavily shaping the surface of Mars. In fact, the Tharsis volcanic province is one of the largest volcanic provinces with the largest shield volcanoes of the Solar System, Mount Olympus and the NE-SE trending Tharsis Montes, namely Ascareaus, Pavonis and Arsia Mons.However, volcanism on Mars is characterized also by the presence of wide volcanic fields, either in form of small shields or monogenic cones. The region of Syria Planum (SP), located eastern to the Tharsis province and encompassed between Noctis Labyrinthus on the North and Claritas Fossae on the southwest, is an example of diffuse volcanism. SP presents hundreds of small edifices which insist on top of a large bulge roughly 300x200 km in size.New chronological results pointed out a complex magmatic history and volcano-tectonic evolution of the whole Tharsis and SP area spanning from the early-Noachian to the more recent times such as the 130 Ma of the Arsia Mons’ single caldera and the 140 Ma for the Pavonis Mons’ composite calderas. Although through the years SP has been considered the by-product of the enormous volcano-tectonic activity forming the Tharsis, it has been shown that this magmatic complex could be related to large multiple episodes of mantle upwelling forming minor edifices that do not necessarily overlap with the major volcanic centres. Moreover, the NW-SE elongated SP volcanic field grew just south of the Noctis Labyrinthus canyon systems that form a dissected highland and is located at the western tip of the Valles Marineris.In this work, we investigate the geometry of the plumbing system of the SP volcanic field as well as the structures (vent elongation and vent alignment) that fed the magma to forward a possible tectonic and volcanic evolution of the area. The spatial distribution of vents and the overall shape of the volcanic field have been studied in terms of vent clustering and spatial distribution. Moreover, analyzing the lineament pattern on SP and surrounding areas possible links with the formation and evolution of the Noctis Labyrinthus graben, the Valles Marineris and the Tharsis province are forwarded.
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Abstract In the East African Rift System (EARS) tectonic inheritance rules the location, the shape and the development of rift segments. Such lithospheric/crustal-scale inherited structures may be exploited by magma favouring its ascent... more
Abstract In the East African Rift System (EARS) tectonic inheritance rules the location, the shape and the development of rift segments. Such lithospheric/crustal-scale inherited structures may be exploited by magma favouring its ascent to shallow crustal level and, possibly, to the surface producing volcanism. In the eastern branch of the EARS in southeast Kenya, the Pleistocene Chyulu Hills volcanic field (CHVF) is a volcanic range formed east of the main rift along a NW-SE trending Proterozoic crustal-scale shear zone (the Emali-Voi shear zone). The volcanic range consists of hundreds (at least 514) of scoria cones of basaltic composition, often coalescent and well-aligned along the trace of the crustal shear zone. Morphostructural and spatial analyses of vents and fractures in the CHVF show that vent density and clustering change moving south-eastward along the ridge mimicking the age pattern of volcanism with the youngest activity in the southeast of the CHVF. Notably, the parameters defining the vent self-similar clustering indicate a decreasing thickness of the upper brittle crust along the CHVF from about 12 km in the north-west to about 7 km in the southeast, in agreement with the crustal structure of the area as imaged by seismic and geophysical data sets. Here we propose an evolutionary model of the CHVF occurring at spatial and time scales quite different from that of magma-assisted rifting processes, where CHVF is an example of an embryonic rift stage with a focussed magma injection into the continental lithosphere localized along a weakness discontinuity represented by an inherited crustal shear zone.
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Research Interests: Geology, Seismology, Quaternary, Volcano, RIFT, and 3 moreVolcanism, Rift Valley Fever, and Lithosphere
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Abstract The Upper Oligocene Macigno Formation cropping out in the coastal section of SW Tuscany represents the sedimentary fill of a foredeep basin developed during the collisional stages that led to the construction of the Apennine... more
Abstract The Upper Oligocene Macigno Formation cropping out in the coastal section of SW Tuscany represents the sedimentary fill of a foredeep basin developed during the collisional stages that led to the construction of the Apennine mountain belt of peninsular Italy. The stratigraphic sequence consists of alternating sandstones and siltstones, that are affected by km-scale contractional structures, namely SW-dipping thrusts and related NE-verging folds. An original field survey carried out along a superb coastal exposure, integrated with analysis of mesoscopic fabrics and their overprinting relationships, makes it possible to unravel a complex deformation history. Four main deformation stages are recognised: i) layer-parallel shortening A; ii) top-to-the-foreland shear B; iii) folding C, comprising the fold nucleation sub-stage C1 and the fold amplification sub-stage C2; and iv) thrust propagation D. The sequence of recognized stages indicates a progressive deformation history of the Macigno Formation as it was incorporated within the evolving Apennine orogenic system. The kinematic history inferred from deformation fabrics and their overprinting relationships within Macigno Fm. deposits in SW Tuscany shows remarkable analogies with the structural evolution of foredeep sediments from other fold-and-thrust belts, yet with little deviations mainly consisting of pure-shear vs. simple shear fluctuations in the early history of accretion. These provide original information on the modes of accretion of foredeep deposits within evolving collisional belts, thus contributing to an enhanced understanding of orogenic dynamics during mountain building with a classical example whose evolution is unravelled in detail.
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Research Interests: Geology, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Paleontology, Tectonics, and 4 moreSeismology, Volcano, RIFT, and Lava
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In the frame of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) Hyperspectral Mission PRISMA (Precursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa), the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) is coordinating the scientific project ASI-AGI... more
In the frame of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) Hyperspectral Mission PRISMA (Precursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa), the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) is coordinating the scientific project ASI-AGI (Analisi Sistemi Iperspettrali per le Applicazioni Geofisiche Integrate) to develop specific algorithms and products for various geophysical applications. The data validation and calibration activities have been focused on three active volcanic areas located in Sicily: Mt. Etna, Paternò and Ciclopi islands. From June 23 until 27, 2012 INGV and the project partners have organized an airborne and ground campaign over the selected test sites covering different surface targets. The airborne data were acquired by using a SPECIM sensor working in the VNIR-SWIR range and jointed to an airborne laser scanner and a thermal camera. The ground campaign has allowed to collect several datasets using two portable spectroradiometer (Fieldspec), two portable Fourier ...
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HYPOGEAN MICROCLIMATOLOGY AND HYDROLOGY OF THE 800-900 m ASL LEVEL IN THE MONTE CORCHIA CAVE (TUSCANY, ITALY): PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR IMPLICATIONS FOR PALEOCLIMATOLOGICAL STUDIES MIKROKLIMA IN HIDROLOGIJA NA NADMORSKI VIINI 800-900 m V JAMSKEM SISTEMU MONTE CORCHIA: PRVE ...more
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In this work, the continuous wavelet transform (CWT) is used to analyse stable isotope (δ18O and δ13C) time-series from a speleothem from Corchia Cave (Apuan Alps, Tuscany, central Italy). The record spans the ca. 13.3- 0.4 ka period.... more
In this work, the continuous wavelet transform (CWT) is used to analyse stable isotope (δ18O and δ13C) time-series from a speleothem from Corchia Cave (Apuan Alps, Tuscany, central Italy). The record spans the ca. 13.3- 0.4 ka period. Both proxies are thought to represent changes in the amount of precipitation and in the hydrological recharge over the cave catchment, and to indicate alternating wetter and drier periods. The CWT shows the presence of different dominant frequency components, changing across the Middle-Holocene. This can be interpreted as mostly related to long term variations in summer and winter insolation, resulting from changes in orbital parameters. The lower frequencies (millennial scale) individuated may have different origin, not always obvious, and are rarely reported in others records. Instead, the short period components (multidecadal to centennial scale) could be in the range of frequencies considered as expression of the solar variability. δ18O and δ13C time-series show very coherent response to lower frequencies, but δ18O time-series show the presence of higher frequencies, that are not reported in the δ13C record. This can be related to a different response of the soil-karst system compared to variability in the δ18O of precipitation and their recharge of the karst. A Matlab® code has been implemented to compute the wavelet transform and to generate all the results presented in this work.
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The current rapid change of the Earth's climate has resulted in an increasing interest for the past warm periods as potential long-term scenarios of the effects of the present global warming. The last such a period occurred... more
The current rapid change of the Earth's climate has resulted in an increasing interest for the past warm periods as potential long-term scenarios of the effects of the present global warming. The last such a period occurred 129-116 ka, known as the Last Interglacial (LIG), when the continental ice volume was significantly smaller than present, leading to a global sea-level (GSL) higher than present one. Detailed morpho-stratigraphic data, supported by a robust U/Th chronology, from Grotta delle Capre, central Italy, provided new chronological insights on the relative sea-level (RSL) dynamic during the LIG in the Mediterranean region. Our results indicate that, on Tyrrhenian Sea coasts of the central Italy, after having stationed at ~9 m a.s.l., the LIG RSL fell at an elevation <3 m a.s.l. as early as before 123 ka, and then no longer rose above this elevation either during the later stages of the LIG or afterwards. The results match previous studies based on U/Th dating of terrestrial limiting points from Grotta Infreschi, ~200 km SE from Grotta delle Capre along the same Tyrrhenian Sea coasts, and are in agreement with the Red Sea RLS and GSL records and the probabilistic LIG sea level assessments based on globally distributed records. On the other hand, our reconstruction is not supported by implications of U/Th dating of corals and phreatic overgrowth on speleothems from the Balearic Island of Mallorca. Such an inconsistency in the overall knowledge around the LIG RSL reconstruction results in a high uncertainty in modelling the ice and sea-level dynamic during this warm period, which needs to be reduced through more and more highresolution, stratigraphic and chronological investigations of the morphological and sedimentary sea-level records.
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High-resolution isotopic analyses were performed on RL4 flowstone from Renella Cave (Alpi Apuane, central Italy), a speleothem studied previously at low resolution. The new data are discussed together with recently obtained data from... more
High-resolution isotopic analyses were performed on RL4 flowstone from Renella Cave (Alpi Apuane, central Italy), a speleothem studied previously at low resolution. The new data are discussed together with recently obtained data from Corchia and other localities in the central Mediterranean, to elucidate the possible origin and regional articulation of a climatic event centred at ca. 4.0 ka. This analyses indicates that central to southern Italy between ca 3.8 and 4.3 ka was characterized by drier conditions, whereas in Northern Italy the event seems less expressed or, as within the Alps, marked by cooler and wetter conditions. Several lines of evidence suggest that this event could be characterized by longer summer drought and possibly by little impact on precipitation during winter, even if this aspect needs to be explored in more detail. However, the event is particularly prominent in the northern sector of the African Monsoon domain, which has been robustly linked to southward s...
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Research Interests: Geography and Naturalism
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The Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia (FYROM, Macedonia) provides numerous remnants of glacial advances, particularly in its western part. Geomorphologic analyses of glacial valleys in southwestern Macedonia reveal several cirques,... more
The Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia (FYROM, Macedonia) provides numerous remnants of glacial advances, particularly in its western part. Geomorphologic analyses of glacial valleys in southwestern Macedonia reveal several cirques, terminal moraines, and some lateral moraines. After detailed geomorphic mapping, the best-preserved terminal moraines were dated using samples from stable boulders at the moraine crests. At Mt Pelister an average 10Be age of 15.24 ± 0.85 kyr (2215 m a.s.l, Oldest Dryas) is retrieved from three quartz-rich schists covering/ranging between 14.8 and 15.3 (±0.8) kyr, and in the Galicica mountains an average 36Cl age of 11.97 ± 0.57 kyr results from five limestone boulders yielding between 11.3 and 12.8 (±1.2) kyr (2050 m, Younger Dryas) (Ribolini et al., 2017; Gromig et al., 2017). The Oldest Dryas moraine at Mount Pelister marks the youngest glacial feature in this area, suggesting that the wide cirque was not or not significantly re-glaciated during ...
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Integrating palaeoclimatological proxies and historical records, which is necessary to achieve a more complete understanding of climate impacts on past societies, is a challenging task, often leading to unsatisfactory and even... more
Integrating palaeoclimatological proxies and historical records, which is necessary to achieve a more complete understanding of climate impacts on past societies, is a challenging task, often leading to unsatisfactory and even contradictory conclusions. This has until recently been the case for Italy, the heart of the Roman Empire, during the transition between Antiquity and the Middle Ages. In this paper, we present new high-resolution speleothem data from the Apuan Alps (Central Italy). The data document a period of very wet conditions in the sixth c. AD, probably related to synoptic atmospheric conditions similar to a negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation. For this century, there also exist a significant number of historical records of extreme hydroclimatic events, previously discarded as anecdotal. We show that this varied evidence reflects the increased frequency of floods and extreme rainfall events in Central and Northern Italy at the time. Moreover, we also show t...
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Disentangling the effects of climate and human impact on the long-term evolution of the Earth Critical Zone is crucial to understand the array of its potential responses to the ongoing Global Change. This task requires natural archives... more
Disentangling the effects of climate and human impact on the long-term evolution of the Earth Critical Zone is crucial to understand the array of its potential responses to the ongoing Global Change. This task requires natural archives from which local information about soil and vegetation can be linked directly to climate parameters. Here we present a high-resolution, well-dated, speleothem multiproxy record from the SW Italian Alps, spanning the last ~10,000 years of the present interglacial (Holocene). We correlate magnetic properties and the carbon stable isotope ratio to soil stability and pedogenesis, whereas the oxygen isotope composition is interpreted as primarily related to precipitation amount, modulated at different timescales by changes in precipitation source and seasonality. During the 9.7-2.8 ka period, when anthropic pressure over the catchment was scarce, intervals of enhanced soil erosion are related to climate-driven vegetation contractions and occurred during dr...
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Research Interests: Geology, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Tectonics, Seismology, and 5 moreVolcano, RIFT, Magmatism, Dike, and geosphere
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This article presents data from monthly monitoring carried out on cave and stream waters belonging to the Renella Cave karst system from September 2020 to April 2022. Additionally, old data pertaining to cave waters from previous... more
This article presents data from monthly monitoring carried out on cave and stream waters belonging to the Renella Cave karst system from September 2020 to April 2022. Additionally, old data pertaining to cave waters from previous published work are discussed. The aim is to develop a dataset for future climatic and hydrological studies on the Renella Cave and its surface recharges. Water samples were collected and analyzed for major ions, δ18O and δ2H, on water molecules. The cave sump water level, water temperature, and electrical conductivity were continuously measured and compared to the precipitation data. Additionally, air temperature and pressure inside and outside the cave were also monitored. The classification based on the Piper-Hill diagram indicated that both stream and cave waters belong to the bicarbonate-alkaline earth hydrochemical facies, indicating that their chemism is essentially determined by the dissolution of the Grezzoni Fm. Isotopic data suggest that both stre...
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This article presents data from monthly monitoring carried out on cave and stream waters belonging to the Renella Cave karst system from September 2020 to April 2022. Additionally, old data pertaining to cave waters from previous... more
This article presents data from monthly monitoring carried out on cave and stream waters belonging to the Renella Cave karst system from September 2020 to April 2022. Additionally, old data pertaining to cave waters from previous published work are discussed. The aim is to develop a dataset for future climatic and hydrological studies on the Renella Cave and its surface recharges. Water samples were collected and analyzed for major ions, δ18O and δ2H, on water molecules. The cave sump water level, water temperature, and electrical conductivity were continuously measured and compared to the precipitation data. Additionally, air temperature and pressure inside and outside the cave were also monitored. The classification based on the Piper-Hill diagram indicated that both stream and cave waters belong to the bicarbonate-alkaline earth hydrochemical facies, indicating that their chemism is essentially determined by the dissolution of the Grezzoni Fm. Isotopic data suggest that both stre...