The first part of this book consists in the translation of Alojzij Res's diary from Slovenian into Italian language. The author of the diary reported from the Isonzo front of the First World War. The ...second part contains a critical part, which aims to analyse and present the work and the author more in detail.
Der erste Teil dieses Buchs besteht aus der Übersetzung des Tagebuchs von Alojzij Res vom Slowenischen ins Italienische. Der Autor des Tagebuches berichtete von der Isonzo-Front des Ersten Weltkrieges. Der zweite Teil enthält einen analytischen Part, der darauf abzielt, das Werk und den Autor genauer zu begründen und vorzustellen.
The paper presents the map of intrinsic groundwater vulnerability of the Isonzo/Soča High Plain, which is located between the Collio Hills and the Classical Karst Region and holds an aquifer shared ...between Italy and Slovenia. The map, produced at a scale of 1:25,000 and printed in A0 format, was obtained by means of the SINTACS method and shows the intrinsic vulnerability of the aquifer in terms of seven vulnerability classes, from extremely high to low. It is accompanied by four supplementary sketches that illustrate the geological framework, the bedrock top surface, the groundwater flow paths, the Hazard Index map and three diagrams that summarize the percentages of vulnerability classes and of Hazard Index classes of the study area.
The south-western part of the Carinthian (or Frög) group of the Early Iron Age, located between the valley of the Gail/Zilja and Villach/Beljak (Rosegg/Rožek), bordered the Veneti in northern Italy ...and the Sveta Lucija group in western Slovenia. The relationships with these neighbours, alongside the trade in amber from the Baltic Sea, salt from Hallstatt and Dürrnberg, as well as iron and lead from the Alps, brought to the eastern Alpine areas not only foreign luxury goods, but also people and ideas. One communication with the southern neighbours led across the Predel/Predil Pass, evidence of which can be found in a pin with a moulded neck from Napoleonwiese at Villach that has parallels in Tolmin. Further along the Soča/Isonzo, contacts between Caput Adriae and Carinthia/Kärnten may be reflected in the pottery with lead appliqués. Evidence of such contacts and circulations of ideas can also be seen in the use and development of the Unec type pendants, in the boat fibulae (Kahnfibeln) of the Villach type and the Paularo type of east Alpine animal-headed fibulae (ostalpine Tierkopffibel) that indicate a common artisanal tradition in Posočje and Kärnten in the 5th/4th century BC, as well as in the commonalities that the tumulus from Schmeißer Boden at Gurina shows with the tumuli in Mel near Belluno.
The Soča/Isonzo front line was about 90 km long battlefield area along the Soča (ital. Isonzo) river valley and the surrounding mountain tops and ridges, running from the Julian Alps (Slovenia) in ...the north to the Gulf of Trieste in the south. Using available historical data, sketches, rare photographs and written documents, supplemented with contemporary aerial photographs, orthophotos and airborne lidar data, we interpreted the exact position of fire trenches, supply tracks, barracks, cable lifts and other objects for selected areas. A variety of visualizations and presentations, such as changes of the front line during some battles, space-time cubes, augmented reality visualisations, and animated flyovers, were prepared from various computational environment and background image datasets.
Purpose
Mercury (Hg) mining has negatively impacted the environmental quality of the entire Isonzo/Soča River basin (NE Italy and NW Slovenia), which suffers from a high degree of contamination. This ...study aims to expand the knowledge on Hg distribution in soils, assess the degree of contamination and apply statistical methods for management purposes. The Hg speciation in soils and the determination of gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) could be useful for an environmental risk assessment of the area.
Materials and methods
Surface and subsurface soil samples (
n
= 262) were collected for total Hg and selective sequential speciation (
n
= 36) following the ISO (
2005
) guidance for the determination of the pedo-geochemical background and background values for inorganic and organic substances in soils. Total Hg was measured according to the US-EPA 7473, and speciation was conducted following the five-step method proposed by Bloom et al. (Anal Chim Acta 479:233–248,
2003
). GEM was measured during field-work operations. Statistical analysis was performed in order to have a preliminary evaluation of the whole dataset and distinguish the pedo-geochemical areas and differences between surface and subsurface Hg background levels for management purposes using EXCEL™ and PAST statistical programs.
Results and discussion
Total Hg concentrations ranged from the natural background (< 0.06 mg kg
−1
) to 41.0 mg kg
−1
, and contamination was widespread (60% of the samples were classified as “highly to extremely contaminated”) along the whole river basin at variable distances from the river banks. Hg speciation indicated that mostly insoluble mineral bound species (such as cinnabar and meta-cinnabar) prevail, whereas the presence of bioaccessible forms was negligible. In the atmosphere, GEM concentrations were mostly lower than 3.0 ng m
−3
, which is close to the background value reported for the Mediterranean area, and consequently, local inhabitants are not at risk through inhalation pathways.
Conclusions
The results showed that soils of the Isonzo/Soča River basin are contaminated and that the contamination is not restricted to the river banks. Mercury is mostly present in a tightly bound mineral fraction, i.e. cinnabar (mostly insoluble), whilst the presence of bioaccessible forms (e.g. stomach-acid soluble) and GEM were almost negligible. The limits set by Italian law for total Hg in soils are often exceeded, thus creating the necessity to apply a risk assessment evaluation. In this case, the results of Hg speciation could replace the total Hg value in the generally accepted exposure pathway (i.e. ingestion, inhalation and dermal absorption).
The evolution of alluvial megafans has mainly been investigated in unconfined settings; however, at the boundary of these large depositional systems, the development of fluvial channels can be ...affected by structural constraints with regional extent. Here we present the study of the eastern sector of the megafan of Isonzo River, in the Gulf of Trieste, where this system fed through the southern Alps is constrained by the Karst and Istria cliffs. Although this area is now submerged under the northern Adriatic Sea, stratigraphy from seismo-acoustic profiles, drill cores and multi-beam bathymetry allows us to reconstruct the paleochannel system of the Isonzo River in detail, which was likely active within the period of 21–17.5 ka cal BP, at the end of LGM. This was reconstructed for over 50 km and currently represents the longest abandoned fluvial channel in the Mediterranean seabed. The occurrence of the mountain fringe and competition with nearby alluvial systems forced the paleochannel to follow the present coastline and conditioned the slope of its thalweg to decrease almost to null, resulting the transformation from the megafan to the undifferentiated alluvial plain.
Life–death (LD) studies of shelly macrofauna are important to evaluate how well a fossil assemblage can reflect the original living community, but can also serve as a proxy for recent ecological ...shifts in marine habitats and in practice this has to be distinguished using taphonomic preservation pattern and estimates of time-averaging. It remains to be rigorously evaluated, however, how to distinguish between sources of LD disagreement. In addition, death assemblages (DAs) also preserve important information on regional diversity which is not available from single censuses of the life assemblages (LAs). The northern Adriatic Sea is an ecosystem under anthropogenic pressure, and we studied the distribution and abundance of living and dead bivalve and gastropod species in the physically stressful environments (tidal flat and shallow sublittoral soft bottoms) associated with the delta of the Isonzo River (Gulf of Trieste). Specifically we evaluated the fidelity of richness, evenness, abundance, habitat discrimination and beta diversity. A total of 10,740 molluscs from fifteen tidal flat and fourteen sublittoral sites were analyzed for species composition and distribution of living and dead molluscs. Of 78 recorded species, only eleven were numerically abundant. There were many more dead than living individuals and rarefied species richness in the DA was higher at all spatial scales, but the differences are lower in habitats and in the region than at individual stations. Evenness was always higher in death assemblages, and probably due to temporally more variable LAs the differences are stronger in the sublittoral habitats. Distinct assemblages characterized intertidal and sublittoral habitats, and the distribution and abundance of empty shells generally corresponded to that of the living species. Death assemblages have lower beta diversity than life assemblages, but empty shells capture compositional differences between habitats to a higher degree than living shells. More samples would be necessary to account for the diversity of living molluscs in the study area, which is, however, well recorded in the death assemblages. There is no indication of a major environmental change over the last decades in this area, but due to the long history of anthropogenic pressure here, such a potential impact might be preserved in historical layers of the deeper sedimentary record.
► Living and dead molluscs characterize delta-associated habitats well. ► Death assemblages have high species richness and evenness, but low beta diversity. ► No large-scale redistribution of empty shells occurred. ► Death assemblages capture regional molluscan diversity better than live assemblages. ► Surface molluscan composition does not indicate a recent human-induced faunal change.
In this study, seasonal changes of mercury (Hg) species in the highly variable estuary of Soča/Isonzo River (northern Adriatic Sea) were investigated. Samplings were performed on a seasonal basis ...(September 2009, May, August and October 2010) and Hg species (total Hg, methylmercury (MeHg), dissolved gaseous Hg (DGM)) in waters, sediments and pore waters were determined. In addition, a range of ancillary parameters were measured (salinity, nutrients, organic carbon (OC), nitrogen species). Hg values were interpreted using these parameters and hydrological conditions (river flow, wave height) around the time of sampling. There were no significant changes in Hg load from river to the gulf, compared to previous studies. The load was temporarily higher in May 2010 due to higher river flow. Wave height, through changing hydrostatic pressure, was most likely to cause resuspension of already deposited Hg from the bottom (August 2010). The estuary is a net source of DGM to the atmosphere as suggested by DGM profiles, with salinity, redox potential and organic matter as the most probable controls over its production. MeHg is produced in situ in sediment or in water column, rather than transported by river, as indicated by its correlation with OC of the marine origin. Calculated fluxes for THg and MeHg showed sediment as a source for both the water column. In pore waters, OC in part affects partitioning of both THg and MeHg; however other factors (e.g. sulphide and/or oxyhydroxides precipitation and dissolution) are also probably important.
► Water, sediment and pore water mercury species in front of Soča River estuary were measured. ► Seasonally variable hydrological conditions were shown to influence water column Hg speciation. ► Fluxes for total Hg and MeHg from sediment to water were calculated. ► Sediment is a source of total Hg and MeHg to the water column. ► Correlation of MeHg with organic carbon of marine origin suggests in situ formation.
The climatic circulation of the Gulf of Trieste, which is a shallow semienclosed basin in the closed northeastern end of the northern Adriatic, is studied with a numerical model. In all seasons there ...is a general inflow into the Gulf of Trieste at its lower, deeper part. This inflow makes a cyclonic turn centered in the southern part during average winter conditions. This turn is enhanced during spring and closes in an elongated cyclonic gyre during average summer conditions. In spring and summer, the cyclonic gyre is coupled with an anticyclonic gyre near the closed eastern part of the gulf. A “dome”‐like density profile across the gulf's axis in the inner part of the gulf above the bottom appears with this circulation during spring and summer. In climatic autumn there is a smaller anticyclonic gyre on its southern side. Near the sea surface there is an outflow during winter, which is driven by the dominant “bora” wind blowing along the gulf's axis. This outflow, however, is detached from the southern coastline to the right, and crosses the gulf diagonally, merging with the belt of freshwater outflow along the northern coastline. This is shown to be a consequence of the balance between the pressure gradient force caused by elevation piled up in the direction out of the gulf, the Coriolis force, and vertical friction between layers near the sea surface. During the stratified season the surface of the gulf is occupied by an anticyclonic gyre due to the inertial plume of the Isonzo River.
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