Differences in acquisition of environmental data in strongly impacted marine sediments using gravity and vibro corers: The case-study of Augusta harbor (Eastern Sicily, Italy)

Romano, Elena; Bergamin, Luisa; Magno, Maria Celia; Ausili, Antonella; Gabellini, Massimo; Croudace, Ian W.

doi:10.1016/j.measurement.2018.04.025

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…The original environment was also modified over time by sediment dredging within the port and its relative settlement in both legal and illegal disposal offshore areas (Bellucci et al ., ). Thus, much of the literature is also focused on the effects of industrial activity and its relative contaminant influence on the coastal ecosystem as a whole (Decembrini et al ., ; Raffa & Hopkins, ), and especially on the living benthic foraminiferal communities based on data from shallow cores and box‐core stations within the harbour (Romano et al ., , , ; Bergamin & Romano, ), and from the outer shelf in the southern part of Augusta Bay (Di Leonardo et al ., ).…”

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

New coring study in Augusta Bay expands understanding of offshore tsunami deposits (Eastern Sicily, Italy)

et al. 2019

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Tsunami deposits present an important archive for understanding tsunami histories and dynamics. Most research in this field has focused on onshore preserved remains, while the offshore deposits have received less attention. In 2009, during a coring campaign with the Italian Navy Magnaghi, four 1 m long gravity cores (MG cores) were sampled from the northern part of Augusta Bay, along a transect in 60 to 110 m water depth. These cores were taken in the same area where a core (MS06) was collected in 2007 about 2·3 km offshore Augusta at a water depth of 72 m below sea level. Core MS06 consisted of a 6·7 m long sequence that included 12 anomalous intervals interpreted as the primary effect of tsunami backwash waves in the last 4500 years. In this study, tsunami deposits were identified, based on sedimentology and displaced benthic foraminifera (as for core MS06) reinforced by X‐ray fluorescence data. Two erosional surfaces (L1 and L2) were recognized coupled with grain‐size increase, abundant Posidonia oceanica seagrass remains and a significant amount of Nubecularia lucifuga, an epiphytic sessile benthic foraminifera considered to be transported from the inner shelf. The occurrence of Ti/Ca and Ti/Sr increments, coinciding with peaks in organic matter (Mo incoherent/coherent) suggests terrestrial run‐off coupled with an input of organic matter. The L1 and L2 horizons were attributed to two distinct historical tsunamis (ad 1542 and ad 1693) by indirect age‐estimation methods using 210Pb profiles and the comparison of Volume Magnetic Susceptibility data between MG cores and MS06 cores. One most recent bioturbated horizon (Bh), despite not matching the above listed interpretative features, recorded an important palaeoenvironmental change that may correspond to the ad 1908 tsunami. These findings reinforce the value of offshore sediment records as an underutilized resource for the identification of past tsunamis.

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Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

New coring study in Augusta Bay expands understanding of offshore tsunami deposits (Eastern Sicily, Italy)

et al. 2019

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“…The petrochemical industry of Augusta is considered one of the largest and most complex plants in Europe, located in a bay extending about 20 km along the eastern coastline of Sicily (South Italy). Since 1950, different industrial installations have been allocated, in particular chloralkali plant (1958–2005) and oil refineries, petrochemical and chemical industries, cement plants and electric power stations ( 20 – 22 ), generating an uncontrolled discharge of chemical pollutant in the environment ( 23 ). Due to the significant level of environmental degradation, this area is considered a site of high environmental risk, both at Italian ( 24 ) and international level ( 25 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heavy Metals and PAHs in Meat, Milk, and Seafood From Augusta Area (Southern Italy): Contamination Levels, Dietary Intake, and Human Exposure Assessment

Bella

Traina

Giosuè

et al. 2020

Front. Public Health

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“…The vibrocorer is equipped with a vibro-head at the upper end of the core barrel and utilizes the sediment 'vibro-liquefaction' phenomenon to increase its penetration depth [65]. Vibrocoring techniques have been questioned because of the core disturbance caused by the vibrations, but recent research results show no evident core differences between vibrocoring and gravity coring [68]. However, there are two technical challenges in subglacial sediment coring with vibrocoring, including how to pass the vibro-head through the access borehole and how to switch the vibration on/off after the corer is underneath the ice.…”

Section: Coring Methods For Obtaining Long Coresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…After the Russian team reached the surface of the subglacial Lake Vostok in 2012 and 2015, there has been anticipation in collecting the bottom sediments because these may contain unique information regarding the geology, natural environment, and climate changes in Central Antarctica [30,68]. In 2017, a cable-suspended DBTS (Dynamically Balanced Tool String) coring tool was proposed by the Saint-Petersburg Mining University.…”

Section: Dbts Drill (Corer)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Coring of Antarctic Subglacial Sediments

Gong

Fan

et al. 2019

JMSE

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Coring sediments in subglacial aquatic environments offers unique opportunities for research on paleo-environments and paleo-climates because it can provide data from periods even earlier than ice cores, as well as the overlying ice histories, interactions between ice and the water system, life forms in extreme habitats, sedimentology, and stratigraphy. However, retrieving sediment cores from a subglacial environment faces more difficulties than sediment coring in oceans and lakes, resulting in low yields from the most current subglacial sediment coring methods. The coring tools should pass through a hot water-drilled access borehole, then the water column, to reach the sediment layers. The access boreholes are size-limited by the hot water drilling tools and techniques. These holes are drilled through ice up to 3000–4000 m thick, with diameters ranging from 10–60 cm, and with a refreezing closure rate of up to 6 mm/h after being drilled. Several purpose-built streamline corers have been developed to pass through access boreholes and collect the sediment core. The main coring objectives are as follows: (i) To obtain undisturbed water–sediment cores, either singly or as multi-cores and (ii) to obtain long cores with minimal stratigraphic deformation. Subglacial sediment coring methods use similar tools to those used in lake and ocean coring. These methods include the following: Gravity coring, push coring, piston coring, hammer or percussion coring, vibrocoring, and composite methods. Several core length records have been attained by different coring methods, including a 290 cm percussion core from the sub-ice-shelf seafloor, a 400 cm piston core from the sub-ice-stream, and a 170 cm gravity core from a subglacial lake. There are also several undisturbed water–sediment cores that have been obtained by gravity corers or hammer corers. Most current coring tools are deployed by winch and cable facilities on the ice surface. There are three main limitations for obtaining long sediment cores which determines coring tool development, as follows: Hot-water borehole radial size restriction, the sedimentary structure, and the coring techniques. In this paper, we provide a general view on current developments in coring tools, including the working principles, corer characteristics, operational methods, coring site locations, field conditions, coring results, and possible technical improvements. Future prospects in corer design and development are also discussed.

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Differences in acquisition of environmental data in strongly impacted marine sediments using gravity and vibro corers: The case-study of Augusta harbor (Eastern Sicily, Italy)

Cited by 4 publications

References 14 publications

New coring study in Augusta Bay expands understanding of offshore tsunami deposits (Eastern Sicily, Italy)

New coring study in Augusta Bay expands understanding of offshore tsunami deposits (Eastern Sicily, Italy)

Heavy Metals and PAHs in Meat, Milk, and Seafood From Augusta Area (Southern Italy): Contamination Levels, Dietary Intake, and Human Exposure Assessment

Coring of Antarctic Subglacial Sediments

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