bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Precursory phenomena and destructive events related to the Late Bronze Age Minoan (Thera, Greece) and
AD
79 (Vesuvius, Italy) Plinian eruptions; inferences from the stratigraphy in the archaeological areas
Authors: Cioni Raffaello , Gurioli Lucia , Sbrana Alessandro , Vougioukalakis Georges 
Published: April 2008

Abstract

Volcanological studies in the Bronze Age settlement of Akrotiri (Santorini, Greece) and in the Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum (Vesuvius, Italy) have provided information about the precursory phenomena preceding the Minoan and
AD
79 Plinian eruptions and the impact of the eruptive products on the human settlements. The Akrotiri settlement was badly damaged by earthquakes before the onset of the eruption. A building debris layer, related to these earthquakes, covers the Minoan soil. The fallout pumice bed, mantling the ruins, freezes a state of partial destruction of the settlement. The deposition of the following pyroclastic flows completed the covering of the site. Strong seismicity also occurred during the opening and the Plinian phases. At the Herculaneum and Pompeii excavations clear evidence of strong pre- and syn-eruptive earthquakes is absent. Herculaneum, just 7 km west of the crater of Vesuvius, was destroyed by several pyroclastic flows, which buried the town under 20 m of deposits. Pompeii was covered by a 3 m thick blanket of pumice fall deposit. Distal dilute and turbulent ash clouds reached the town toward the end of the Plinian phase, killing all remaining inhabitants. The following turbulent cloud related to the onset of the caldera collapse completely destroyed the town, which was successively covered by the final phreatomagmatic products of the eruption.
Human response to Etna volcano during the classical period
Authors: Chester D. K. , Duncan A. M. , Guest J. E. , Johnston P. A. , Smolenaars J. J. L. 
Published: April 2008

Abstract

Volcanoes and eruptive activity played a part in the lives of many people in southern Italy during the classical era, no more so than on the flanks of Mount Etna (Sicily), a volcano that has been continually active throughout the historical period. Both the Romans and Greeks settled at the foot and on the lower flanks of the volcano and it seems likely that they were attracted to the region by its considerable agricultural potential, in particular its plentiful supplies of water. In this paper, literary sources are used to explore three aspects of human response to the activity of Etna during the classical period. First, the role of Etna as a stimulus to the development of myth and legend is considered, and is followed by a discussion of more ‘scientific’ explanations of the volcano’s activity. To a large extent Etna’s volcanic activity was ascribed by early writers to mythological figures, but other authors, such as Empedocles and Lucretius, stand apart from this tradition by seeking more rational explanations. The paper concludes with a discussion of what can and cannot be gleaned about the eruptive behaviour of Etna during the classical period by using literature-based and geological sources of information in combination. Records suggest that the city of Catania was partly destroyed by lava in
c.
693
BC
and in 425
BC
. The eruption of 122
BC
was unusual for Etna in being explosive, and significant amounts of ash and lapilli were deposited on the southeastern flanks of the volcano, causing great distress in Catania, which required the provision of state aid.
Endemic stress, farming communities and the influence of Icelandic volcanic eruptions in the Scottish Highlands
Authors: Dodgshon R. A. , Gilbertson D. D. , Grattan J. P. 
Published: April 2008

Abstract

This paper explores present understanding of the possible impacts that volcanic eruptions in Iceland might have had upon the environments and traditional farming systems of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, before ‘the Clearances’ of the late 18th and 19th centuries
AD
. It reconstructs both the nature of the impacts and the character of the risks that might have been faced by subsistence communities within the historical period from such Icelandic volcanic eruptions, and as such serves to redirect a research emphasis that has previously been principally focused upon the European Bronze Age. The study also emphasizes that it is inadequate to envisage the impacts from volcanic aerosols as threats to the community to be understood solely along a continuum of environmental hazards. For example, in the historical period before the Clearances, the wider social, political and economic contexts of subsistence economies affected can be shown to have raised or lowered the thresholds at which environmental risks became real or were turned into subsistence crises. In times past, as now, the capacity of people to cope with such environmental vicissitudes would have varied according to a complex of pre-disposing factors, their recent experiences, attitudes and perceptions, political and social relationships, health and well-being (especially their susceptibility to respiratory problems), economy, education and memory, and general inventiveness and resilience. Unlike much earlier research, which focused upon the European Late Bronze Age and emphasized global climatic change and its regional-scale consequences, this account of more recent times emphasizes the small scale, the importance of local pre-disposition and contingency, and hence the likely patchiness and indeterminacy of consequences on the ground of distant volcanic eruptions. The paper concludes that in the historical past, for a variety of environmental, agricultural, social and political reasons, some communities in the Highlands and Islands would have already been typically at risk of a subsistence crisis one year in every four or five. Hence a particular group of people could have been at notable further risk if a significant quantity of volcanically derived noxious and toxic materials had fallen upon them. As a result, for both habitats and human populations in historical times, the consequences of an Icelandic volcanic eruption are likely to have varied from place to place and from time to time. This analysis also suggests that it is difficult to envisage that any postulated region-wide abandonment of settlement in the British Isles might be attributable, directly or indirectly, to the distal impacts of volcanic eruptions in Iceland.
Volcanic soils: their nature and significance for archaeology
Authors: James Peter , Chester David , Duncan Angus 
Published: April 2008

Abstract
Whereas previous reviews of volcanic soils are biased in favour of those in tephra, the present paper examines the nature of weathering and pedogenesis in both tephra and lava. The classification of volcanic soils is discussed and examples are described of the response of pedogenesis to variations in climate, drainage, topography, vegetation and type and age of parent material. Archaeological implications considered include the distinctive properties of soils in tephra and the problems these may pose for laboratory analysis, evidence from buried soils, the ages of soils and their rates of development, and the fertility and erosion of volcanic soils.
The use of volcaniclastic material in Roman hydraulic concretes: a brief review
Authors: Siddall Ruth 
Published: April 2008

Abstract

The realization that the addition of volcaniclastic material to hydrated lime cements produced a concrete that was not only waterproof but would also set under water revolutionized the building programmes of the Roman Empire. The material became known as
pulvis Puteolis
(dust of Puteoli) from the Latin name for modern Pozzuoli on the Bay of Naples. Pozzuoli itself is the root of ‘pozzolana’, meaning any material (in most natural cases, volcanic in origin) that is capable of producing a hydraulic (waterproof) set when combined with lime cement. A reaction between quicklime (CaO) and volcanic ash promotes the growth of phases that, rather than reverting to calcium carbonate on curing, as in non-hydraulic cements, produce a hard, watertight material. Although volcanic materials were the aggregates of choice in the building projects of Imperial Rome, being locally derived, abundant and relatively easily quarried, their hydraulic properties were soon fully realized, perhaps as a result of observations of naturally calcite-cemented scoria and ash flows in sea water or from experimental building. Away from the Imperial centre, terrestrial architecture involving waterproofing (baths and cisterns) effectively used waste ceramic sherds as a substitute for volcanic ash. However, for marine and riparian architecture, volcanically derived pozzolanic cements were the preferred material of use.
Fault pattern of Nisyros Island volcano (Aegean Sea, Greece): structural, coastal and archaeological evidence
Authors: Stiros Stathis C. 
Published: April 2008

Abstract
There has been much debate about the fault pattern of Nisyros Island at the southeastern edge of the Aegean volcanic arc. The small active volcanic island, less than 200–100 ka old, is dominated by a well-developed caldera and by post-caldera domes that are less than 25 ka old and up to 600 m high. Detailed mapping of the tectono-volcanic features of Nisyros have revealed that faults have a clear radial pattern, and they are more abundant in the northwest of the island, where volcanic domes are also concentrated. In contrast to previous speculations that certain major faults control the tectono-volcanic development of Nisyros, this paper argues that the radial fracture pattern is expected where faulting is a secondary effect of volcanic doming. Structural, coastal and archaeological evidence supports this contention. Most faults have a short fault length and a ‘scissors-type’ geometry typical of magma or salt ascent dynamics, and variable throws that are too high to reflect simply tectonic effects. Elevated coastal marine fossils (vermetids) in the northwest of the island indicate rates of uplift too high to be explained solely by differential fault movements. In the same area, a fault that borders the fortifications of a fourth-century BC castle is inferred to be the source of seismic damage effects observed in its ramparts and responsible for the near-total destruction of its westernmost fortifications. Together, the evidence suggests that localized high rates of uplift, faulting and tilting reflect tectonvolcanic deformation effects, and remind us that associated fault activity is likely to have constituted a major threat for the island since antiquity.
Along-strike variability of forced regressive deposits: late Quaternary, northern Peloponnesos, Greece
Authors: McMurray Lesley S. , Gawthorpe Robert L. 
Published: April 2008

Abstract
Late Quaternary depositional sequences in northern Peloponnesos, central Greece, occur as a number of offlapping and downstepping forced regressive wedges. Major along-strike variability is evident, with three environmental responses to forced regression: (i) attached shoreface deposits; (ii) detached shoreface deposits; (iii) fan-deltas. All three depositional systems are cut by incised valleys. Relative sea-level change was responsible for similarities in key stratal surfaces and stacking patterns; regional uplift drove the overall forced regression, whereas individual sequences relate to fourth- and fifth order glacioeustatic cycles. Variations in basin physiography and the amount and type of sediment led to along-strike variability of depositional sequences. Fan-deltas developed at the mouths of incised valleys in the west of the area, where supply of coarse-grained sediment was high and slope gradients were steep. In contrast, limited supply of coarse-grained sediment and low slope gradients over most of the study area promoted the development of shoreface systems. Forced regressive wedges in the shoreface systems attach and detach along strike. Detached wedges developed where both slope gradients and coarse-grained sediment supply were low, away from the axes of major incised valleys.
Early Stages of Evolution of the Black Sea
Authors: Kazmin V. G. , Schreider A. A. , Bulychev A. A. 
Published: April 2008

Abstract
Comparison of two sets of structural and thickness maps of the Black Sea Basin produced by Russian and Italian workers revealed important differences in the interpretation of thickness and structure of the lower sedimentary unit, referred to in both works as ‘Palaeocene-Eocene’. The map based on the Italian data shows two depocentres with τ 5 km of sediment in the westernmost part of the Western Black Sea Basin (WBSB), while in the rest of the WBSB and in the Eastern Black Sea Basin (EBSB) the thickness is 2–3 km. Analysis of the land and submarine geology suggests that depocentres correspond to two segments of this system is represented by the Karkinit Graben on the northern shelf of the Black Sea. Submarine studies reveal that the graben originated behind and Early Cretaceous volcanic arc situated on the present day continental slope and rise.
Most of the WBSB and the EBSB opened in the Eocene. For the EBSB this age is supported by data on its landward extension — the Adjaro—Trialet Basin. The EBSB could not open due to anticlockwise rotation of the Shatsky Rise because there was no corresponding subduction or shortening in the Greater Caucasus Basin. An alternative hypothesis is that of simultaneous opening of the EBSB and the WBSB as a result of southward drift of the Pontides and clockwise rotation of the Andrusov Rise.
Patterns of flow and suspended sediment concentration in a macrotidal saltmarsh creek, Bay of Fundy, Canada.
Authors: Schostak Laura E. , Davidson-Arnott Robin G. D. , Ollerhead Jeff , Kostaschuk Ray A. 
Published: April 2008

Abstract

Measurements of velocity and suspended sediment concentration were carried out in a saltmarsh tidal creek network in the Cumberland Basin, Bay of Fundy, Canada. The study area was located on the NW shore of the basin in part of an undyked marsh that is about 200 m wide with a simple reticulate creek network. The area is macrotidal with spring tides greater than 12 m and suspended sediment concentrations in the basin characteristically range from 150–300 mg l
−1
. The purpose of the study was to determine vertical and along channel variations in these two parameters over individual tidal cycles and to use these data to assess the role of the tidal creeks in the import and export of water and sediment from the marsh surface.

Measurements using a vertical array of co-located electromagnetic current meters and OBS probes for measuring suspended sediment concentration were carried out over four spring tides at a cross section in the lower part of Middle Creek. Six sets of measurements were carried out at four locations along the length of the creek, a distance of about 200 m over six tides ranging from spring to neap. Maximum mean velocities measured over sampling times of eight minutes did not exceed 0.1 m sec
−1
in Middle Creek and 0.15 m sec
−1
in Main Creek. Transient high velocities associated with the overbank flows were weakly developed as a result of the absence of significant levees or embankments on the marsh surface. Suspended sediment concentrations in the creek generally decreased steadily over the period of inundation. Flow across the marsh margin occurred simultaneously with the achievement of bankful conditions and the creeks themselves appear to play a relatively minor role in the movement of water and sediment onto and out of the marsh. Despite the fact that the marsh surface is still low in the tidal frame and active sedimentation is still occurring, the low flow velocities and observations in the field suggest that the tidal creek network is unable to flush itself and that it is contracting.
Lake gravel beach sedimentological variability, Milarrochy Bay, Loch Lomond, Scotland
Authors: Pierce Lydia R. 
Published: April 2008

Abstract
The nature and environmental significance of variations in sedimentological parameters of a restricted-fetch lake coastal system (Milarrochy, Loch Lomond) are described in the context of climate change. Grain size characteristics of the beach, streams, cliffs and nearshore/offshore sedimentary environments are distinct, with variability being related to sediment supply, beach altitude and process conditions. Beach grain sizes range from silt to cobble, and are predominantly rounded discs and blades. There is an overall trend of offshore fining with increasing depth, beyond the mixed surf zone and clear limit of coarse sediment (coarser than -1 phi), resulting from dominant shore-normal process trends. Seasonal trends of water level fluctuation, sediment discharge and transfer from river to beach are important controls on local scale variability. The broader significance is that local physiography, sediment characteristics and supply strongly influence beach sedimentology and morphological response, even in the context of larger scale climate change. The record of sedimentological variability detailed here is significant for beach management projects and a better understanding of lake sedimentary facies within the Quaternary.
Post-reclamation changes in estuarine mudflat sediments at Bothkennar, Grangemouth, Scotland
Authors: Barras Beverley F. , Paul Michael A. 
Published: April 2008

Abstract
The Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council research site at Bothkennar is located on former intertidal mudflats adjacent to the Forth estuary, which were reclaimed for agricultural use around the year 1784. A desiccated surface crust has developed in the 200 years following the reclamation, largely in response to the introduction of artificial drainage. Its formation has involved both compaction and material translocation, due to effective stress changes and to infiltration and geochemical alteration respectively. At first, new deposits accumulated in an artificial tidal lagoon and underwent autocompaction under saturated conditions. The subsequent introduction of field drains and cultivation then induced suction stresses due to evapotranspiration, leading to overconsolidation by around 150–200 kPa. These processes have also been associated with the development of an immature soil profile to a depth of around 0.7 m. The infiltration of fresh water has caused both desalination and the eluviation of clay particles. There is also a general rise in pH and fall in Eh with depth, which is associated with leaching and the downward translocation of DCB (dithionate-citrate-bicarbonate) soluble iron compounds. We conclude that the physical development of the crust was rapid and is now largely completed, whereas the chemical development is not yet completed and thus the soil profile remains immature.
Sedimentological controls on the erosion and morphology of saltmarshes: implications for flood defence and habitat recreation
Authors: Crooks Stephen , Pye Kenneth 
Published: April 2008

Abstract
The factors which influence the morphology, drainage characteristics and erosion resistance of saltmarshes are of major interest from the standpoint of flood defence and habitat recreation. Sedimentological characteristics, including grain size distribution, mineral composition and pore fluid chemistry are all highly important. Of particular importance in muddy marshes is the nature of the clay mineral assemblage and dissolved cations present in the pore fluids. In marshes which are deficient in detrital calcium carbonate, such as those in Essex, UK, sodium ions dominate the exchange sites on clays, leading to the formation of thick water films around the clay particles and slow rates of sediment consolidation. This, in turn, causes low erosion resistance and a tendency for the development of highly dissected marsh morphology. Calcium and magnesium-rich marsh sediments, on the other hand, allow these ions to replace sodium in exchange sites, leading to more rapid dewatering and consolidation. Erosion resistance is thereby enhanced and such marshes tend to be characterized by low drainage densities and a low ratio of bare mud to vegetated surface area. The possibilty of engineering the erosion resistance and morphology of marshes through chemical treatments requires further investigation.
Recent geological evolution and human impact: Fraser Delta, Canada
Authors: Barrie J. Vaughn 
Published: April 2008

Abstract
Throughout the Holocene, the river dominated Fraser Delta on the Pacific coast of Canada has prograded by continuous channel switching and avulsion into a deep (>300 m) basin. However, at the beginning of the 20th century the delta was modified to provide a navigable channel and port facilities for the city of Vancouver. Now most of the sand brought down by the river (35% of the sediment load) is removed from the system by dredging. The remaining fine-grained sediment is transported in a plume past the intertidal estuary within the distributary channels then deflected northwards by the dominant flood tidal flow into the basin. Two causeways to the south of the main channel and one to the north that cross the intertidal zone to the delta foreslope act as barriers to the dominant northward sediment transport causing estuarine and localized seabed erosion. An eroded distributary channel failure complex has been exposed on the delta foreslope, off the southern causeways, by flood tidal flows that scour the seabed and form northward migrating subaqueous dunes, further increasing the delta slope. This, combined with slow sea-level rise and seismicity, intensifies the risk of further erosion and instability of the delta, particularly along the subaqueous delta front and the intertidal estuaries.
How anthropogenic factors in the back-barrier area influence tidal inlet stability: examples from the Gulf Coast of Florida, USA
Authors: Davis Richard A. , Barnard Patrick L. 
Published: April 2008

Abstract
Human development along the coast of the world has caused important changes to coastal morphodynamics. The barrier-inlet system of Florida, especially the tidal inlets, has been severely impacted by this development. Beginning in the 1920s and continuing through the 1960s there was: (1) extensive construction of fill-type causeways connecting the mainland to the barrier islands, (2) widespread dredge-and-fill construction along the backbarrier and mainland, and (3) dredging of the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) in the back-barrier area.
The primary effect of these various types of construction and development was to cause instability of many inlets by diminishing the tidal flux through them. In some cases there was a combination of human and natural causes that resulted in the inlet degradation or closure such as at Dunedin Pass and Blind Pass, whereas at others this instability was almost exclusively the result of human activity such as at Midnight Pass. Although these detrimental development practices have been stopped, a large amount of irreparable damage has been done.