Although the Cordillera de la Sal, close to San Pedro de Atacama (Chile), is one of the driest pl... more Although the Cordillera de la Sal, close to San Pedro de Atacama (Chile), is one of the driest places on Earth, it contains extensive cave systems that have developed in halite. A detailed morphological study of these caves, combined with 16 AMS radiocarbon ages on wood and bone fragments recovered from cave ceilings and diamictons, have allowed us to define when these systems formed and when sediments were emplaced. The sometimes huge cave passages appear to have formed in less than 2000 years by a succession of short-lived flash floods, probably after single extreme rain events.
The Montello-Collalto (MC) area, located at the front of Southeastern Alps, is very interesting f... more The Montello-Collalto (MC) area, located at the front of Southeastern Alps, is very interesting for the high convergence rates documented by geodetic measurements; geological and geophysical surveys provide evidence of active compressive structures. Historically this area has been struck by at least one event with M>6; during the last decades the seismicity has been moderate, with one MD=4.0 earthquake, and only few events with MD>3. At the end of 2011, a high-quality seismometric network has been deployed in the MC area for monitoring the seismicity potentially induced by gas storage activities in an underground natural reservoir, depleted in the 90'ies. The network allows to record background microseismicity with a completeness magnitude that reaches ML=0.0 locally. None of the 518 events of our catalogue (January, 1 st , 2012 till October, 31 st , 2014) is located in proximity of the reservoir; instead the imaging at depth of the main tectonic structures can be clearly ...
The SW termination of the Tian-Shan in Uzbekistan is the westernmost topographical expression of ... more The SW termination of the Tian-Shan in Uzbekistan is the westernmost topographical expression of the mountain range. It is bordered by active tectonic structures such as the Tadjik depression to the SE and the Main Alai thrust to the E. It is commonly assumed that the SW termination itself is not particularly active. The activity is rather seen as concentrated in the E Tian-Shan where half of the India-Eurasia convergence is absorbed. However, there is no data constraining the recent tectonic activity at the SW termination. The SW termination is marked by the Zeravshan River, which flows east from the high mountains of northern Tadjikistan in a 500 km long straight E-W trending valley towards the Kizil-Kum desert. As the Zeravshan River leaves the deeply entrenched Upper Valley to reach the 70 km wide Middle Valley at 800 masl, it is bordered to the North by the Sanzar River. The Sanzar River first flows parallel to the Zeravshan in the high mountains and then North through a gorge ...
Although the Cordillera de la Sal, close to San Pedro de Atacama (Chile), is one of the driest pl... more Although the Cordillera de la Sal, close to San Pedro de Atacama (Chile), is one of the driest places on Earth, it contains extensive cave systems that have developed in halite. A detailed morphological study of these caves, combined with 16 AMS radiocarbon ages on wood and bone fragments recovered from cave ceilings and diamictons, have allowed us to define when these systems formed and when sediments were emplaced. The sometimes huge cave passages appear to have formed in less than 2000 years by a succession of short-lived flash floods, probably after single extreme rain events.
The Montello-Collalto (MC) area, located at the front of Southeastern Alps, is very interesting f... more The Montello-Collalto (MC) area, located at the front of Southeastern Alps, is very interesting for the high convergence rates documented by geodetic measurements; geological and geophysical surveys provide evidence of active compressive structures. Historically this area has been struck by at least one event with M>6; during the last decades the seismicity has been moderate, with one MD=4.0 earthquake, and only few events with MD>3. At the end of 2011, a high-quality seismometric network has been deployed in the MC area for monitoring the seismicity potentially induced by gas storage activities in an underground natural reservoir, depleted in the 90'ies. The network allows to record background microseismicity with a completeness magnitude that reaches ML=0.0 locally. None of the 518 events of our catalogue (January, 1 st , 2012 till October, 31 st , 2014) is located in proximity of the reservoir; instead the imaging at depth of the main tectonic structures can be clearly ...
The SW termination of the Tian-Shan in Uzbekistan is the westernmost topographical expression of ... more The SW termination of the Tian-Shan in Uzbekistan is the westernmost topographical expression of the mountain range. It is bordered by active tectonic structures such as the Tadjik depression to the SE and the Main Alai thrust to the E. It is commonly assumed that the SW termination itself is not particularly active. The activity is rather seen as concentrated in the E Tian-Shan where half of the India-Eurasia convergence is absorbed. However, there is no data constraining the recent tectonic activity at the SW termination. The SW termination is marked by the Zeravshan River, which flows east from the high mountains of northern Tadjikistan in a 500 km long straight E-W trending valley towards the Kizil-Kum desert. As the Zeravshan River leaves the deeply entrenched Upper Valley to reach the 70 km wide Middle Valley at 800 masl, it is bordered to the North by the Sanzar River. The Sanzar River first flows parallel to the Zeravshan in the high mountains and then North through a gorge ...
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Earth, it contains extensive cave systems that have developed in halite. A detailed morphological study of
these caves, combined with 16 AMS radiocarbon ages on wood and bone fragments recovered from cave
ceilings and diamictons, have allowed us to define when these systems formed and when sediments were
emplaced. The sometimes huge cave passages appear to have formed in less than 2000 years by a succession
of short-lived flash floods, probably after single extreme rain events.
Earth, it contains extensive cave systems that have developed in halite. A detailed morphological study of
these caves, combined with 16 AMS radiocarbon ages on wood and bone fragments recovered from cave
ceilings and diamictons, have allowed us to define when these systems formed and when sediments were
emplaced. The sometimes huge cave passages appear to have formed in less than 2000 years by a succession
of short-lived flash floods, probably after single extreme rain events.