The present paper is dedicated to a new Terebratulidae locality within a Upper Tithonian unit (Biancone s.l.) near Cortina d'Ampezzo. The investigated area is the Tofane Mountains (Third or Inner ...Tofana). Terebratulidae come from a biomicrite holding rare planktonic Foraminifera and Tintinnids; Calpionella alpina Lorenz and Crassicollaria cf. intermedia (Durand—Delga) suggest an Upper Tithonian age.
The megafauna consists of Terebratulidae only; borings and epizooic organisms are totally missing. The fossils are rather well preserved; they are extremely frequent and build up a Terebratula Bed.
Three species belonging to the genus Tropeothyris Smirnova, 1972, have been identified, all represented by many specimens juvenile as well. Two species are new to Science: Tropeothyris francescoi SP. n. and Tropeothyris tofanensis SP. n.
Raybould's The Sibyl Series of the Fifteenth Century examines the change that occurred in representations of the sibyls during the early Renaissance, representations intended to provide new witness ...by these pagan prophetesses to the universality of the Christian message.
With 1429 animal species, the Triassic Cassian Formation in the Dolomites, Southern Alps (Italy), yields the highest species richness reported from any spatially constrained pre‐Quaternary formation ...known to science. The high preserved diversity is partly attributable to a high primary diversity governed by the tropical setting, increasing alpha diversity, and the breadth of habitats spurring beta diversity. More important is the excellent preservation of fossils and the ease with which they can be extracted from the poorly lithified sediments. We propose the term ‘liberation Lagerstätten’ to capture this preservational window. In contrast to conservation Lagerstätten, liberation Lagerstätten like the Cassian Formation originate from normal marine conditions but low‐grade diagenesis. Molluscs contribute substantially to species richness, comprising 67% of all invertebrate species in the Cassian Formation. The gastropod dominance (39% of all species) is nearly as great as in Recent tropical settings, contradicting the concept of a substantial Cenozoic rise.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
The estimation of runout distances on fans has a major role in assessing debris-flow hazards. Different methods have been devised for this purpose: volume balance, limiting topographic methods, ...empirical equations, and physical approaches. Data collected from field observations are the basis for developing, testing, and improving predictive methods, while laboratory tests on small-scale models are another suitable approach for studying debris-flow runout under controlled conditions and for developing predictive equations. This paper analyses the problem of assessing runout distance, focusing on six debris flows that were triggered on July 5th, 2006 by intense rainfall near Cortina d'Ampezzo (Dolomites, north-eastern Italy). Detailed field surveys were carried out immediately after the event in the triggering zone, along the channels, and in the deposition areas. A fine-scale digital terrain model of the study area was established by aerial LiDAR measurements. Total travel and runout distances on fans measured in the field were compared with the results of formulae from the literature (empirical/statistical and physically oriented), and samples of sediment collected from deposition lobes were used for laboratory tests. The experimental device employed in the tests consists of a tilting flume with an inclination from 0° to 38°, on which a steel tank with a removable gate was installed at variable distances from the outlet. A final horizontal plane works as the deposition area. Samples of different volumes and variable sediment concentrations were tested. Multiple regression analysis was used to assess the length of the deposits as a function of both the potential energy of the mass and the sediment concentration of the flow. Our comparison of the results of laboratory tests with field data suggests that an energy-based runout formula might predict the runout distances of debris flows in the Dolomites.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
The shell of marine gastropods conserves and reflects early ontogeny, including embryonic and larval stages, to a high degree when compared with other marine invertebrates. Planktotrophic larval ...development is indicated by a small embryonic shell (size is also related to systematic placement) with little yolk followed by a multiwhorled shell formed by a free‐swimming veliger larva. Basal gastropod clades (e.g. Vetigastropoda) lack planktotrophic larval development. The great majority of Late Palaeozoic and Mesozoic ‘derived’ marine gastropods (Neritimorpha, Caenogastropoda and Heterobranchia) with known protoconch had planktotrophic larval development. Dimensions of internal moulds of protoconchs suggest that planktotrophic larval development was largely absent in the Cambrian and evolved at the Cambrian–Ordovician transition, mainly due to increasing benthic predation. The evolution of planktotrophic larval development offered advantages and opportunities such as more effective dispersal, enhanced gene flow between populations and prevention of inbreeding. Early gastropod larval shells were openly coiled and weakly sculptured. During the Mid‐ and Late Palaeozoic, modern tightly coiled larval shells (commonly with strong sculpture) evolved due to increasing predation pressure in the plankton. The presence of numerous Late Palaeozoic and Triassic gastropod species with planktotrophic larval development suggests sufficient primary production although direct evidence for phytoplankton is scarce in this period. Contrary to previous suggestions, it seems unlikely that the end‐Permian mass extinction selected against species with planktotrophic larval development. The molluscan classes with highest species diversity (Gastropoda and Bivalvia) are those which may have planktotrophic larval development. Extremely high diversity in such groups as Caenogastropoda or eulamellibranch bivalves is the result of high phylogenetic activity and is associated with the presence of planktotrophic veliger larvae in many members of these groups, although causality has not been shown yet. A new gastropod species and genus, Anachronistella peterwagneri, is described from the Late Triassic Cassian Formation; it is the first known Triassic gastropod with an openly coiled larval shell.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
This study presents the application of the Boolean Stochastic Generation (BoSG) approach to the case study of the Mortisa landslide, an active earth slide flow in the Dolomites (Italy). The approach ...relies on the stochastic generation of different soil profiles for which the interfingering of distinct layers within a prevailing matrix is randomized. With this technique, it is possible to quantify the error associated with the simplification of stratigraphic profiles in geotechnical models. This is particularly valuable in slope stability assessment because little data are usually available in comparison with the typically complex geometry of large and deep landslides. A detailed geomorphological analysis of the study area informs an interpretation of the sequence of processes which generated the stratigraphy of the Mortisa slope. It appears to be composed of interfingered layers of silty clay and gravel that originated from subsequent earth slide and debris flow events occurring since the Late Glacial. In order to reproduce the behavior of the Mortisa slope via numerical modelling and to design effective mitigation works, it is crucial to account for the influence of the gravel lenses deposited by ancient debris flow events on the dynamics of the whole landslide. A total of 1200 possible soil configurations of the central and most active section of the Mortisa landslide have been generated. The method has been used to estimate (i) the possible errors that might occur when the presence of the gravel layers is not accounted for and (ii) the variability deriving from the position of the layers. Moreover, through the analysis of the whole ensemble of configurations, it is possible to identify the areas within the slope where the presence (or absence) of gravel layers appears to have the greatest influence on the dynamics of the landslide. This information is useful to plan future investigations and to evaluate the most effective structural mitigation measures.
L'articolo si prefigge di ricostruire il percorso collezionistico di Mario Rimoldi, sulla base di una nuova analisi delle opere custodite presso il Museo d'Arte Moderna "Mario Rimoldi" di Cortina ...d'Ampezzo. La collezione – comprendente 360 opere, oggetti d'antiquariato e un fondo archivistico – fu donata da Rosa Braun vedova Rimoldi nel 1972 alle Regole d'Ampezzo, custodi millenarie del patrimonio locale. A tale donazione si è aggiunto nel 2017 il Fondo Renato Balsamo comprendente ulteriori testimonianze della originaria collezione Rimoldi, in particolare documenti fotografici e il Libro d'Oro.
The first tunicates with a calcareous exoskeleton are reported from Late Triassic buildup‐slope deposits of the Dolomites. Although examples of this group have been known since the early 1900s from ...the middle–upper Permian of eastern Asia and Sicily as Khmeria, they were erroneously attributed to rugose corals. These early representatives are small, double‐valved, conical skeletons, which evolved into multi‐plated capsules with up to 35 opercula. The latter are joined along zigzag margins, which in life could probably be opened for the atrial and branchial siphons. The construction and shape of these skeletons distinguish them from plants or other invertebrate phyla, while they share several similarities with living tunicates, specifically to sessile ascidians. Apart from a soft‐bodied genus from the lower Cambrian of China, ascidians are known only from isolated spicules, which occur sporadically from the Lower Jurassic onwards. The calcareous skeleton of these Late Triassic tunicates consists of aragonitic fibres, which form spherulitic or clinogonal microstructures. It seems that the stellate aragonitic spicules of Jurassic to Recent ascidians are a vestige of Permian–Triassic ancestors, which after the Carnian lost the ability to construct compound solid skeletons but partly still retain a soft double‐valved or multi‐operculate cellulose‐like tunic. The following taxa are described as new: Order Khmeriamorpha with the genera Khmeria Mansuy and Zardinisoma gen. nov., and the following species: Khmeria stolonifera (late Permian), Khmeria minima (Late Triassic), Zardinisoma japonicum (late Permian), Z. cassianum, Z. pyriforme, Z. polyplacophorum and Z. pauciplacophorum (all Late Triassic).
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
In contrast to almost all other invertebrate phyla that constructed biomineralized skeletons during the “Cambrian explosion” and maintained them during the entire fossil record, ascidian tunicates ...evolved this protective and stabilizing advantage only during the Permian, although soft-bodied representatives of this subphylum made their first appearance already in the early Cambrian. It remains enigmatic why these compound calcareous skeletons persisted only until the Late Triassic, subsequently followed by less-rigid internal skeletons from the Lower Jurassic onwards, which consist of scattered isolated spicules only. In addition to recently described aragonitic ascidian exoskeletons from the Permian and Triassic, new discoveries of similar, but colonial ascidian compound endoskeletons in the lower Carnian exhibit a short-living branch of this group, which moreover contain the first indubitable calcareous spicules. The latter are embedded in the solid endoskeleton, which is composed of polygonal aragonitic plates with smooth outer and zigzag lined inner boundaries. They consist of irregular, parallel (orthogonal), or fan-shaped (clinogonal) arrangements of acicular aragonite crystals. The following taxa are described as new: order Cassianomorpha new order with the family Cassianosomidae new family and the genus Toscanisoma new genus with the species T. multipartitum new species and T. triplicatum new species. UUID: http://zoobank.org/03555353-cdab-42e8-8e99-9bfce15fa249
A new record of halimedacean algae is reported from the Upper Triassic (Carnian) of the Dolomites (Southern Alps) near Cortina d’Ampezzo. Based on the gross morphology (non-segmented non-branched ...thalli) and the internal skeletal arrangement (e.g., medulla with thicker siphons, sometimes bifurcating at high angles; cortex with thinner siphons with multiple Y-like branching), the material can be assigned to the genus Boueina. It is the first record of halimedacean algae from the Upper Triassic of the Southern Alps (Dolomites) and the highly diverse San Cassiano Formation sensu lato (Heiligkreuz Formation). Although the fossilization potential of these algae was low, it is likely that they were much more common than suggested by this sparse fossil record and that they contributed considerably to carbonate production in early Mesozoic times.
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