Papers by Lucilla Capotondi
Applied Sciences, 2020
This study focused on the geochemical and sedimentological characterization of recent sediments f... more This study focused on the geochemical and sedimentological characterization of recent sediments from two marine sites (S1 and E1) located in the North Adriatic Sea, between the Po River prodelta and the Rimini coast. Major and trace metal concentrations reflect the drainage area of the Po River and its tributaries, considered one of the most polluted areas in Europe. Sediment geochemistry of the two investigated sites denote distinct catchment areas. High values of Cr, Ni, Pb and Zn detected in sediments collected in the Po River prodelta (S1 site) suggest the Po River supply, while lower levels of these elements characterize sediments collected in front of the Rimini coast (E1 site), an indication of Northern Apennines provenance. Historical trends of Pb and Zn reconstructed from the sedimentary record around the E1 site document several changes that can be correlated with the industrialization subsequent to World War II, the implementation of the environmental policy in 1976 and t...
Journal of Marine Systems, 2012
Abstract An instrumented mooring line with sediment traps, current meters and recorders of temper... more Abstract An instrumented mooring line with sediment traps, current meters and recorders of temperature and conductivity was deployed just south of the Antarctic Polar Front (63 26'S, 178 03'E; water depth 4400 m) from January 10th 1999 through January 3rd 2000. Sediment traps at 900 and 3700 m had a single large cup to collect particulate material throughout the 1-year study whereas time-series sediment traps were used to characterize the temporal variability at 1300 and 2400 m. Samples were characterized via several parameters ...
1 Dipartimento di Biologia Ambientale, Sapienza Università di Roma, Rome, ITALY 2 Istituto per l’... more 1 Dipartimento di Biologia Ambientale, Sapienza Università di Roma, Rome, ITALY 2 Istituto per l’Ambiente Marino Costiero (IAMC) – CNR, Napoli, ITALY 3 Istituto Scienze Marine, ISMAR-CNR, Bologna, ITALY 4 Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Pisa, ITALY 5 Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell’Ambiente e delle Risorse, Università degli Studi ”Federico II”, Napoli, ITALY 6 Dipartimento di Fisica e Geologia, Università di Perugia, Perugia, ITALY
Methods in Oceanography, 2013
ABSTRACT In order to correctly understand the rates and mechanisms of biogeochemical cycling alon... more ABSTRACT In order to correctly understand the rates and mechanisms of biogeochemical cycling along the water column, special attention must be paid to data analysis techniques. We propose a revised procedure combining precision and practicality to minimize sample handling errors that would affect the determination of both mass fluxes and the composition of material collected by sediment traps in the Antarctic region. The key points to take in account are: (i) the mesh size used for removing “large” particles or aggregates (from 150 micron to 1 mm); (ii) the absence of filters; and (iii) the use of a microscope to pick out “swimmers”. We also recommend: removal of all swimmers using a 650-micron mesh; analysis using a stereomicroscope; and quantitative subdividing using a peristaltic pump.
Terra Nova, 2010
New bathymetry and bottom samples analysis from SW Iberia • F. D'Oriano et al.
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, Dec 1, 2009
Detailed swath bathymetry, high resolution seismic profiles and bottom sampling, collected during... more Detailed swath bathymetry, high resolution seismic profiles and bottom sampling, collected during the SWIM 2005 and SWIM 2005 cruises, provide new data to constrain the emplacement mechanism of the Monchique-Madeira hotspot in the Central-Eastern Atlantic Sea. During last decades, although this volcanic province has been the object of several investigations, the location of hotspot track and the alignments of the volcanic centers, such as Ormonde, Ampere and Coral Patch seamounts, are still matter of debate. Several ...
Marine Geology, 2015
The recurrence of mass flow units within sapropel S1, an organic carbon rich lower Holocene marke... more The recurrence of mass flow units within sapropel S1, an organic carbon rich lower Holocene marker bed in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, was used to study the interplay between earthquakes and sedimentation along the seismically active Calabrian Arc (Ionian Sea). Nine turbidite beds interrupt anoxic conditions during the deposition of sapropel S1. Each of these turbidites is associated with sharp grain size and geochemical elemental anomalies (high Al and Si, low Ca and coarse grained basal part marked by Zr peaks), and with displaced foraminiferal species from different bathymetric ranges. We used these proxies to identify turbidite beds also above and below the sapropel, where turbidite signature is less clear due to the absence of major color changes. Turbidite structure and composition, as well as comparison with historical seismoturbidites, suggest a seismic triggering for such mass flow events. The peculiar color, well known composition, geochemistry and age of sapropel S1, make this unit a key bed within which turbidites may be considered a sort of sedimentary "bar code" recording high energy events within the background pelagic sedimentation; deciphering this code will reconstruct paleo seismicity in this well defined stratigraphic interval. The pelagic units bracketing turbidite beds were radiometrically dated, and the age of the sapropel S1, deduced through age modeling, is between 6.0 and 10.2 kyr cal BP. The emplacement age of each turbidite was estimated considering the average time interval between successive turbidite beds (from pelagic sediment thickness and sedimentation rate). Subsequently these ages were further refined through age modeling. In this way, we compiled a catalogue of mass flow events during sapropel S1 deposition, a time span long enough to include several earthquake cycles and allow reliable seismic and tsunami hazard assessment in this area.
Revision of the tephrostratigraphy previously proposed for the marine core AD91-17 (Adriatic Sea)... more Revision of the tephrostratigraphy previously proposed for the marine core AD91-17 (Adriatic Sea), supported by energydispersive-spectrometry (EDS) chemical data, has allowed to challenge previous interpretation and proposed a core chronology on the basis of new tephrochronological data. Four different tephra layers were identified and correlated with known eruption from southern Italian volcanoes. The upper tephra layer was tentatively correlated with AD 1631eruption from Somma-Vesuvius, specifically using chemical composition of pyroxenes. The second one (actually represented by two distinct layers), due to pervasive alteration of glass shards, is difficult to be correlated even if is attributed to Somma-Vesuvius volcano. Close to sapropel S1 interruption a rhyolitic layer was correlated to E1/Gabellotto-Fiumebianco eruption from Lipari (Aeolian Islands). The lowermost tephra layers are correlated to the Mercato eruption (Somma-Vesuivus). This seems to confirm the multiple occurrence of Mercato distal deposits in distal areas, as testified by other findings in Mediterranean cores. This suggests that this eruption is probably more complex than previously hypothesised, and characterised by at least two phases fed by the same phonolitic magma.
Geosciences, 2021
The continental margin is a key area for studying the sedimentary processes related to the advanc... more The continental margin is a key area for studying the sedimentary processes related to the advance and retreat of the Ross Ice Shelf (Antarctica); nevertheless, much remains to be investigated. The aim of this study is to increase the knowledge of the last glacial/deglacial dynamics in the Central Basin slope–basin system using a multidisciplinary approach, including integrated sedimentological, micropaleontological and tephrochronological information. The analyses carried out on three box cores highlighted sedimentary sequences characterised by tree stratigraphic units. Collected sediments represent a time interval from 24 ka Before Present (BP) to the present time. Grain size clustering and data on the sortable silt component, together with diatom, silicoflagellate and foraminifera assemblages indicate the influence of the ice shelf calving zone (Unit 1, 24–17 ka BP), progressive receding due to Circumpolar Deep Water inflow (Unit 2, 17–10.2 ka BP) and (Unit 3, 10.2 ka BP–present)...
ABSTRACT The Southern Ocean plays an important role in world climate as it is a key area for the ... more ABSTRACT The Southern Ocean plays an important role in world climate as it is a key area for the formation of oceanic bottom waters, and it is an important region for air-sea CO2 exchange, accounting for 20 to 25 % of the annual oceanic uptake of CO2. In this contest, biogeochemical changes that occur in the water column play an important role. In this study we analyze the biogeochemical composition of sediment trap samples collected in the Ross Sea continental shelf. The samples have been collected in the site B, located at 74°00.178'S and 175°05.864'E in the northern Joides Basin, during 1999 and 2008. This area is characterized by high biological productivity during spring, algal blooms in summer and high spatial and temporal variability of fluxes. A series of biogeochemical analyzes were carried out on these samples including organic carbon, nitrogen, bio-silica and total mass flux. In this area, generally, the maximum flux to the seabed occurs at least two months after the peak of productivity, which is usually in December or early in the year. The biomass produced is retained at the upper water column for a longer time respect to other ecosystems with high productivity due to the difference between the community development of phytoplankton and the growth of zooplankton. Our data document that the period of highest mass and biogenic flows changes over time occurring in January during 1995, in February-March during 1999, and in March-April during 2008. The integration between biogeochemical results and environmental forcings of the study area suggests that the delay can be related to the extent and concentration of seasonal ice. In addition, changes related to the physicochemical parameters of the water column (such as temperature and salinity) and nutrients input could have caused late bloom of diatoms and physiological variations in phytoplankton communities.
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, Dec 1, 2006
The importance of understanding recent and past climatic changes is crucial to provide the correc... more The importance of understanding recent and past climatic changes is crucial to provide the correct perspective in studies aimed to define future global climate evolution. The Southern Ocean and in particular the Ross Sea are crucial areas for this purpose, mostly because they play a key role in controlling the global carbon cycle, as represent, on a whole, one of the largest oceanic ventilation area where intermediate and deep waters are in direct contact with the atmosphere. The record of past environmental changes, and their ...
Global and Planetary Change, 2011
Two deep-sea cores (ANTA95-157 and ANTA98-1) were collected in the Pacific sector of the Southern... more Two deep-sea cores (ANTA95-157 and ANTA98-1) were collected in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean across the present-day position of the Antarctic Polar Front Zone (APFZ) to document paleoenvironmental changes during the last 2.60 Ma. The stratigraphic framework was established using a combination of diatom marker species, Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS), 14C datings, magnetostratigraphy, and oxygen stable isotopes. The study was based on carbon and nitrogen isotopes of diatom-bound organic matter, dry ...
The overarching goal of our study was to describe and quantify the influence of lateral advection... more The overarching goal of our study was to describe and quantify the influence of lateral advection relative to the vertical export in the Antarctic Polar Front (Southern Pacific Ocean). In areas where lateral advection of particulate material is significant, budgets of bioactive elements can be inaccurate if fluxes through the water column and to the seabed are exclusively interpreted as passive sinking of particles. However, detailed information on the influence of lateral advection in the water column in the southern ocean is lacking. ...
Quaternary International, 2013
Abstract A high-resolution integrated stratigraphy is presented for the Late Quaternary in the so... more Abstract A high-resolution integrated stratigraphy is presented for the Late Quaternary in the southern-eastern Tyrrhenian Sea. It is based on calcareous plankton taxa (planktonic foraminifera and nannoplankton) distribution, δ 18 O G. ruber record, tephrostratigraphy and radiometric dating methods (210 Pb and 137 Cs, AMS 14 C) for a composite sediment core (from the top to the bottom, C90_1m, C90 and C836) from the continental shelf of the Salerno Gulf. High sedimentation rates from ca 1cm/100 y for the early Holocene, to 3.45 ...
Rendiconti Lincei, 2011
The high-resolution study of sediment core C90-1 m collected at the continental shelf of the Gulf... more The high-resolution study of sediment core C90-1 m collected at the continental shelf of the Gulf of Salerno (southern Tyrrhenian Sea) provides an excellent opportunity to show paleoenvironmental changes during the last 500 years induced by natural variability and human impact. Based on 210 Pb and 137 Cs measurements, the sedimentation rate results 0.20 cm/year for the last 100 years. The high sampling resolution (1 cm sample spacing) of core C90-1 m, 105 cm long, provides a time resolution of approximately 5 years/cm. Quantitative changes in the planktonic and benthonic foraminiferal assemblages combined with d 18 O G.ruber variations allow to identify regional climatic and oceanographic signals. A significant turnover between herbivorous and opportunistic species and carnivorous planktonic foraminifera after the Maunder event suggests changes in river runoff and/or an increase in coastal flooding events in the studied area. Variations in the microfauna since 1940 yAD document environmental changes induced by the construction of a dam in the Sele River. Keywords Planktonic and benthonic foraminifera Á Oxygen stable isotope stratigraphy Á Last half millennium Á Continental shelf Á Tyrrhenian Sea This paper is an outcome of the FISR project VECTOR (Vulnerability of the Italian coastal area and marine Ecosystem to Climate changes andtheir role in the Mediterranean carbon cycles), subproject VULCOST (VULnerability of COaSTal environments to climate changes) on: land seainteraction and costal changes in the Sele River plain, Campania.
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, Dec 1, 2001
The 1600km-long North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ) has been rupturing across Turkey from east to w... more The 1600km-long North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ) has been rupturing across Turkey from east to west in a series of large earthquakes during the last century. The rupture advanced 160 km in 1999 in two disastrous earthquakes. The next rupture is expected to occur within the next few decades beneath the Marmara Sea. Because the seismic risk to Istanbul (population: 15 million) is severe, a large international research effort is focussing on this area. In particular, several recent expeditions acquired multibeam bathymetry data ...
We present an high resolution multidisciplinary study for the latest part of the Quaternary that ... more We present an high resolution multidisciplinary study for the latest part of the Quaternary that combines geochemical, physical and biological investigations of a sediment core collected from the continental shelf of the Tyrrhenian Sea (Salerno Gulf). Calcareous plankton proxies and oxygen isotope stratigraphy were integrated with different dating methods (210Pb and 137Cs, AMS 14C and tephrostratigraphy) and a secular to millennial scale resolution age-depth model for the study area was obtained. Oxygen isotopic signal and changes of planktonic foraminifera and calcareous nannofossils assemblages allowed us to recognize the most important paleoclimate and paleoceanographic phases. Two distinct phases, associated to the deposition of sapropel S1 (4.7 kyr long) in the eastern Mediterranean Sea and to the Bronze and Golden ages (1.57 kyr long), were recorded during the early and middle Holocene time interval. The Medieval Warm Period (MWP)-Little Ice Age (LIA) transition (1462 AD) repr...
ABSTRACT The marine isotopic stages (MIS) 13–9 represent an extraordinarily time interval (betwee... more ABSTRACT The marine isotopic stages (MIS) 13–9 represent an extraordinarily time interval (between ~300 and ~500ka) for investigating the baseline natural climate changes. This period has been considered by the scientific community an unusually warm interval during the last 1000 ka. In particular MIS11 represents the first interglacial after the mid-Brunhes carbon-cycle event with atmospheric greenhouse gases concentrations and temperatures similar to the today interglacial phase. These knowledges are crucial in order to understand the present climatic variability and to predict its possible future evolution. In this framework, we present the new high-resolution planktonic foraminiferal data throughout MIS 13-9 on the sediment core KC01B collected in the Ionian basin (eastern Mediterranean Sea) at 3643 m water depth. This deep marine record represents a key site for the construction of a sapropel-based astronomical timescale for the last 1.1 My (LOURENS, 2004) in the Mediterranean sea and contains an high number of tephra layers. This study is based on quantitative analysis of planktonic foraminifera with a time resolution of about 380 kyr. The constructed planktonic foraminiferal paleoclimatic curve of the investigated time interval documents different climate patterns during the interglacials MIS 13, 11 and 9 in terms of intensity and internal variability. In addition, the distributional trend of Globigerinoides ruber group, Turborotalia quinqueloba and Globigerina bulloides suggests important changes in productivity and stratifications induced by a strong linkage between climate variability and hydrographic conditions.
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Papers by Lucilla Capotondi