Coral Mystery pt.II the History

In the spring of 1879 all the boats returned, wandering over the new bank of which Commander La Via provides a full description and mapping:
“From the plan I am honored to send to Your Excellency you can see the position and the extent of the coral bank, and though it is not marked with astronomical precision, even its approximation should serve, especially as this is not a danger to navigation but is a coral bank of great depth that very shortly, once the coral is finished, will be returned to oblivion like the one discovered in 1875, not too distant from this one.”
That this was becoming something truly big, important even for the Sciac-chitani, who this time didn’t even dream of going fishing for anchovies, can be deduced from another passage written by La Via:
“I think by now we can say that coral fishing is becoming familiar even for the sailors of the Sicilian coasts, and in fact in the interval between last year’s fishing and this year’s, many Sciacca boat owners bought boats similar to those of Torre del Greco, with the same fishing equipment and even hired a few Torresi sailors to train the others in coral fishing.”
The Italian Statistical Annals reveal that 1879 was an excellent fishing season. In fact they harvested 980,000 kg of coral, an amount that yielded 8,330,000 lire to the 750 boats involved. But still nothing compared to what would happen the following year, in 1880.
In January a new bank was discovered, larger than all the others, described thusly in a Report by the Merchant Marine Headquarters: “it is located 39° 0’ south from Capo San Marco, about 36 and a half miles distant. The tallest section of the bank, called ‘sommo’ by the fishermen, lies about 68 meters below the sea and the remaining surface is of variable depths, extending up to 90 meters.
The fishermen believe that the bank extends for almost four miles in length and is an average of one a half mile in width. Five miles southeast of the bank is a small appendix, about 42 to 45 meters deep, also containing coral.”
This was an enormous bank! Everyone was euphoric. And justifiably so as they were able to work simultaneously on two banks, the one from 1878 and the one from 1890.
Almost 1,800 boats were used during this fishing season and approximately 17,000 men. Numbers that make the Klondike gold rush pale by comparison! The amount of coral harvested was also incredible: 4,492,500 kg, yielding a gross income of lire 22,462,000.
To be Continued...

[text taken wth license of the author of the book Sciacca Mystery- Giuseppe Rajola]
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The Sciacca Mystery the History

In 1875, about 30 miles off the coast of Sciacca, Sicily, fishermen discovered a coral bank. But this coral was of a strange orange color, very different from what was normally found in the area. Stranger still was the fact that an enormous quantity of this coral was simply piled in great mounds in a very small area of the sea bed. News of the discovery quickly spread and teeming number of prefessional coral fishermen rushed to the area from everywhere, primarily to Torre del Greco. When it seemed that the bank was completely depleted, a second even larger bank was discovered, and then a third, larger still. The fishing went on for over twenty years, until the end of the century. But rather than fishing this was harvest. A unique, exceptional, unrepeatable event.
It was calculated that over 14,000 tons of coral were extracted from these banks.
Numerous scientists of the era were assigned to study the phenomenon, to try to understand the reason for all that coral and if such massive harvesting could damage its eventual reproduction in the same area. The answer was always the same; the coral was there because of a volcano located in the same area. A volcano that a few years prior had erupted into a island, the Isola Ferdinandea, the island that never was. It was all dead coral, and such it could not reproduce.
No one ever wondered why there was such a massive amount of coral in that site, nor how an organic matter like coral could be preserved in spite of such high temperatures.
No on, that is, until now.

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Volcano Rising

He may be a historian by training, but Dr. Ralph Harrington really gets his blood pumping by studying volcanoes, a past time that has followed him since seeing his first volcano Vesuvias alongside the Bay of Naples when he was very small.
He seems to know quite a lot about the connection between volcanoes and marine life too.  Through this Q&A with him, I learned that 80% of the world's volcanoes are beneath the ocean, many volcanoes are often associated with saltwater, but freshwater too, and that ocean acidification is often increased by volcanic activity (he points out a huge example in the interview below.)
To appease his insatiable curiosity for volcanoes and earth science, Dr. Harrington started the Volcanism blog--the kind of blog he wished for in the past, but created himself.
Volcanoes and marine biology: Truly an ever intriguing topic, and one that has become even more fascinating thanks to Dr. Ralph Harrington.

Why study volcanoes? 


There are countless reasons – volcanoes are such many-faceted and fascinating phenomena. Volcanism has played a key role in shaping the world around us: whatever processes you look at, from the shaping of the continents to the creation of the Earth’s oceans and atmosphere, volcanism has had a role to play. The organic building-blocks of life itself may owe their existence to volcanic activity in the oceans. Then there is the question of how humanity lives with volcanoes: the risks they pose, the benefits they offer. Finally, I would mention the cultural and historical aspects of volcanoes, their role in art, religion, the human imagination.  
 


Does your research on and fascination and experience with volcanoes connect or relate to the marine world? 


Perhaps here I should mention some personal influences. The first volcano I ever saw was Vesuvius, when I was a small child. The Bay of Naples region, with its deep and complex geological and human history, and that image of the sea, the volcano and the town spreading itself between the two – these have always remained in my mind as an archetype of the interaction between volcanoes and human society, which is where my fascination with volcanoes begins. As a historian I have researched the development of ideas about volcanoes in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when debates about the supposed role of the sea in volcanic activity were at the core of disputes between those who believed volcanoes were unimportant superficial phenomena and those who saw them as fundamental geological processes. My work as a historian and my fascination with volcanoes continually seem to bring me back to the marine world. 
 


What would the world be surprised to learn about volcanoes existing in or near the ocean? 


Perhaps how many of them there are, for a start. It’s been estimated that 80 per cent of the world’s volcanoes are beneath the oceans. These submarine volcanoes are very active, and in some cases surprisingly explosive. Very recently there has been some interesting news coverage of West Mata, a submarine volcano at the northern end of Tonga Trench in the south-west Pacific that U.S. scientists visited in remotely-operated submersibles in the spring of 2009. The vents at West Mata are over a kilometer below the surface, where the pressure should be too great for explosive activity, and yet the video these scientists shot shows the volcano roaring away like a firework display. The reason must be in the volatility of the magma, but surprises like this show how much there is still to explore and understand about submarine volcanism. 

Of course, even when volcanoes are not beneath the seas, they like to cluster in oceanic settings, as anyone looking at a map of the Earth’s volcanoes will notice. Most of the active continental volcanism on the planet is near the sea, because of the role of plate tectonics: heavy oceanic crust is subducted beneath lighter continental crust, so that classically you get a trench in the seabed and a line of volcanoes offset from the trench, fed by magma that rises from the subduction zone to the surface. Those volcanoes may be in the coastal region of a landmass or in a chain of islands: if you look down the Pacific coast of Russia, along the Kuril Islands and down through Japan, you can see how the volcanoes crowd along the coastal areas and island chains. Indeed, practically the whole Pacific Ocean is circled by regions of active volcanism, the famous Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’. It’s understandable that some volcano-watchers of previous ages thought that the sea directly drove volcanism, when you look at how many volcanoes are in marine settings. 

And people might be surprised by how important the relationship between volcanoes and water is, even when not directly concerned with the seas. Hydrovolcanism is an important aspect of volcanic activity, the relationship between volcanic activity and rainfall is a very important one, and many volcanoes are associated with bodies of fresh water. Crater lakes, often rendered highly acidic by volcanic emissions, are a whole area of study – and of potential volcanic hazard – in themselves.


How does having a volcano in the area affect the marine life there? 


Superficially, it would appear that an active volcano is a disaster for the life around it, in a marine setting as much as on land. A volcano might erupt on an island and destroy everything living there, or a flank collapse could produce a destructive tsunami; ashfall or acidic emissions might destroy life in a lake or an area of ocean. But there’s much more to the interaction of volcanoes and marine life than that, and it is far from being all a tale of destruction. 

As I mentioned earlier the building blocks of life on this planet may owe their very existence to marine volcanic processes. As we’ve come to know more about spreading ridges, black smokers and other aspects of submarine volcanism we’ve come to realize that an active volcano in the ocean does not result in a dead zone – anything but. Life is highly dynamic and will adapt to whatever conditions it finds itself in. The relationship between life and volcanism is an excellent example. Despite the poisonous and acidic emissions, heat and disruptive activity of active volcanism, certain forms of life flourish around volcanoes, relishing the heat and thriving on the emissions. Volcanism has been part of the marine biosphere for as long as there has been such a thing, and until plate tectonics grinds to a halt and the last volcano goes cold, marine life and volcanism will continue to get on fine.
 
 

You recently wrote a great blog entry in September about how a volcano in the Pacific is causing ocean acidification.  What other issues (marine conservation, climate change, etc.) can a volcano in or near a body of water cause.


‘In or near’ is an important distinction. A volcano in the water directly impacts upon its composition and behavior – acidification is an example, and this has a clear effect upon the life around it. A volcano near the water will impact upon it indirectly: its ash will fall into the water, flank collapses and lava emissions into the ocean can have a destructive impact, at least in the short term. These issues affect lakes near or in volcanoes as much as bodies of oceanic water. Ecosystems can be disrupted by volcanic activity, and will take time to adapt and recover. As for climate change, that’s a very big question! Climate is dynamic, not static, and volcanoes are an important factor in the ways climate changes over time. The more we study and understand the role of volcanoes in climatic variation, past and present, the better we will understand what is happening now and may happen in the future. And don’t forget, volcanoes have the capability to affect climate both gradually and catastrophically. Earth’s geological history, and the history of Earth’s climate, is punctuated by global volcanic cataclysms – that is, they would be cataclysmic for humanity. The planet rolls on regardless. 
 

How do these volcanoes affect marine life? 


A recent eruption in Tonga left fish and marine birds dead for miles around; likewise, the eruption of Kasatochi in the Aleutians turned a formerly thriving island ecosystem into an ash-covered wasteland. But life returns and adapts immediately: as in the case of Mount St Helens on land, volcanic activity at sea may seem to offer nothing but destruction but in fact it is part of the natural cycle of change and renewal. Undersea volcanism itself produces nutrients, recharging the water with the materials it needs to sustain life. 

The case of the acidification of the ocean by volcanic activity is an interesting one. The example I wrote about in the blog post you mention above was Maug in the Marianas Islands. Here the acidity of the upper 100 meters of the ocean has been increased 30% by volcanic activity: many organisms cannot live in such conditions at all, and corals and shellfish that do survive there have to use much more energy to sustain their shells. In a study of a Japanese submarine volcano called Eifuku scientists found that mussels were in effect cannibalizing their shells for the carbonate they needed for their internal chemistry, with the result that their shells were very thin and weak. It’s important that we know about these effects, and are aware of how life adapts and changes in acidified ocean environments. 
 


 
Is there anything the average person can do to help protect marine life and/or the ocean in areas where there is threat of a volcano eruption? 


The average person should always be doing what he or she can to understand the world about them, geologically, biologically and in other ways, so that every response to environmental change of whatever kind can be an informed response. But volcanic eruptions are part of the natural world, not a threat to it, in the seas and elsewhere, and there is little anyone can do about them. In a limited way there might be a role for human intervention in some particular cases: in the Galapagos Islands, for example, particularly destructive volcanic eruptions might lead to the evacuation of the local tortoises, and in Japan recently albatrosses from a colony on the active volcanic island of Tori-shima were recently transferred to another island where they will not be threatened by volcanic activity. But generally speaking marine volcanic eruptions offer people little opportunity to do anything directly – except study, observe, and learn. 

Finally, and this applies to marine and other environments, it’s worth making the point that human life needs protecting as well. Many volcanoes are in poor parts of the world, where the condition of the people is not helped by the pressures of irresponsible tourism, even if it is well-meaning. Volcano tourism is increasingly popular, but if you travel to areas such as the islands of the Pacific, Central America, or Indonesia, do it in a way that helps the people who have to make a living there – go with a professional sustainable travel company or tour organizer, there are many to chose from these days. And while we’re on the subject, even volcanoes are not free of the plague of litter, and I’d want to echo what Mathias Koester (who blogs as The Lost Geologist) said in your interview with him: wherever you go and whatever you do, take your rubbish away with you! 


[Interview by Ava taken from thereeftank.com]
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Coral Mistery the History

In March/April 1877 there they all were once again. Collecting the crumbs, (kg. 275,000) and selling, in fact almost donating, the coral, earning a total amount of 3,400,000 lire.
A report issued by the Merchant Marine Headquarters, dated 27 November 1887, provides some interesting information about the bank:
“It’s not very large, as it is simply a large underwater bank measuring about two or three hundred meters in length and less than that in width. The fishermen say that it is shaped like a cone, whose top is about 146 meters from the surface of the sea. In the first few years they harvested a great deal of excellent live coral, although those who cleaned it had to work in shifts because of the restricted area. Since so many boats had come, the bottom was soon thoroughly raked by the ‘ingegni’, such that a few years later fishermen found only a very small quantity of dead and fragmented coral, and the bank having by now become unproductive was abandoned. In May of 1887 the Commander of the royal steamship Muran plumbed its depths 24 times, to a minimum depth of 163 and a maximum of 215 meters; the sea bed was also dredged using the device employed by the coral boats but all they found was grey sand, with no trace of coral; they did not even find the summit of the cone or the top of the bank mentioned by the fishermen.”
Food for thought: there had been a mountain of coral and now it no longer existed. The fishermen had torn from the sea from a minimum of 20 to a maximum of 70 meters of coral!
In 1878 something new happened: around the beginning of August a new bank was discovered, not very far from the first. A description is provided in a Report issued by the Merchant Marine Headquarters: “as they were lamenting the scarce product of the first bank, a second one was discovered about 12 miles south-west of the previous one, almost 24 miles from Capo San Marco, at a bearing of 45°SW’.
“According to the fishermen this bank had a surface area of seven nautical miles in circumference and appeared to be an appendix to the adjacent Graham Shoal, which is significantly higher. Three coral zones were found in a NE, SE and WNW direction from the center of the bank, forming a channel over one mile long and three quarters of a mile wide. The zone to the northeast, which has provided good coral, lies at a depth of 80 to 85 meters, the eastern zone forms an inclined plane, from 90 to 95 meters deep while the western zone is less deep and is more favorable to the production of coral.
“Mindful of what had happened a few years prior, fishermen and boats from all over came, “numbering approximately 500, from Torre del Greco, Leghorn, Sciacca, and Trapani. There were even some boats from France and Malta and the product of the first year exceeded two and a half million lire”.
Highly significant in giving an idea of the conditions in which the fishermen worked in 1878, is the report that Commander G. La Via sends to the Minister:
“I am honored to provide Your Excellency with the following report on coral fishing in the waters of Sciacca.
“Around the end of the month of August 1878 several fishermen from Sciacca, who usually went fishing quite a distance from the coast, happened to find some pieces of coral in their nets, suggesting that there might be a coral bank in the vicinity, and this soon became a certainty. As soon as the news of this discovery became known, the site was inundated not only by all the boats of Sciacca, but also from nearby coasts and so the sardine fishermen soon became coral fishermen. Not last to arrive were the boats from Torre del Greco that usually went coral fishing along the coasts of Africa, but this time they preferred to go to the new bank that was soon invaded by numerous boats of different origins.

(text taken with license of the author from the book Sciacca Mistery -Giuseppe Rajola)

"To Be Continued..."

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The Discover of the Coral


Mid May 1875: Alberto Maniscalco, called Bertu Ammareddu (little shrimp) together with two of his friends, Giuseppe Muschidda and Alberto Occhidilampa, were on his boat. They were fishing using the parangali, a sort of mast with many hooks, about a dozen nautical miles off Capo San Marco, in other words near Sciacca.
When they pulled it up, it appeared to be very heavy, and Bertu had a surprise: a branch of coral had gotten stuck on the parangali! He lowered it again and the same thing happened: more coral.
He had discovered a coral bank!
When he returned to land at sunset, Bertu recounted the event to his incredulous fishermen friends, who “became convinced” only when Bertu showed them his extraordinary catch. In fact, they tried to find out more about where the bank was located. But Bertu would have none of it.
“If you want to know where I caught the coral, you have to give me three thousand lire” – such were the conditions of Bertu Ammareddu.
He was no fool! Three thousand lire, in those days, equaled a year of work for a fisherman
He was booed and jeered! But in the end they agreed on 250 lire, collected from among all the fishermen.
Not a great amount but it did allow him to enjoy a few luxuries.
The problem, however, was another: the fishermen of Sciacca were excellent at fishing anchovies and sardines, but they knew nothing about coral. So they decided to go see some “experts” and went, very confidentially, to a few boats from Torre del Greco that were fishing in the area and had stopped in Trapani.
You know how these things turn out: if you want a secret not to be a secret, talk to someone confidentially! They had sent the lamb to the wolves. Everyone tried to get into the act! From Trapani, Port Empedocles, Mazara del Vallo. All the fishermen of Torre del Greco and anywhere else, stopped fishing wherever they were and all rushed to the new bank.
The “Maritime Review” 2° Trim. 1876 reported that: “About 170 boats from Torre del Greco rushed from wherever they were after the discovery of the coral bank of Capo San Marco.”
“The Sciacchitani – said Commander E. Accinni, Commander of the ‘Esploratore’, a warship sent to maintain some sort of order – because of old prejudices, wanted to push everyone back and words quickly turned to actions, making it necessary to send a warship.”
It was a very real and serious problem. The bank was not very wide, and so it was unthinkable that 360 boats could be there simultaneously (145 Torresi, 124 Sciacchitani, 51 from Port Empedocles, 30 from Trapani, 30 from Mazara del Vallo, and even 1 from Alghero). Maneuvering space was insufficient and so they organized shifts, which were respected thanks to the presence of the warship, Esploratore, and everything went smoothly.
The bank at first provided good coral and according to Commander Accinni, “a small boat with 8 men collected from 15 and sometimes up to 20 kilograms a day; and since the price had been set at 30 lire per kilo, with a 5% tare, they earned a daily average of five hundred lire.
“This was not prime quality coral as it had little consistency but they collected so much that it was more profitable than the finer coral harvested in other sites.
“As the bank slowly became depleted, the Schiacchitani and the small boats lagged behind, because their fishing gear was not like that of the Torresi, strong enough to uproot the coral attached to the very bottom and at greater depth. In addition to the lesser quantity, its value also began to decrease, such that while on June 15 it was sold at 30 lire per kilogram with a 5 percent tare, on July15 it had gone down to 20 lire with 8 percent tare, on August 15 to 10 lire with 10 percent tare and in the final days it was being sold at 6 lire with a 19 percent tare.
“By the beginning of August, a small boat could not harvest more than 8 kilograms of coral a day, and the daily earnings of 500 lire in the beginning had by now become 72 lire a day.
“In August the sailors of Sciacca go fishing for sardines and anchovies which provide them with greater earnings, and so that month, tired from the brief coral campaign to which they were not accustomed, they returned to their customary type of fishing.”
It’s extraordinary how a man of the sea like Commander E. Accinni, manages – in the report he provided to the Minister – to flavour his report with both financial and social aspects. He concludes by saying:
“We can consider the fishing season over; the last remaining boats of Torre del Greco are preparing to leave.
“The bank is depleted and unless another one is discovered there will surely be no need to send another warship the following year to perform the same duties as the Esploratore.”
This was in October 1875. According to Accinni the bank would not be providing any more coral the following year. But what happens in 1876? You would think that no one would return to that particular bank. And you would be wrong: because more than 550 boats, compared to the 360 of the previous year, showed up!
But the quantity of coral fished in 1876 was 330,000 kg. compared to the 360,000 of the previous year. Which means that, on the average, each of the 550 boats brought home 600 kg of coral compared to the 1,000 kg of the preceding year.
(text taken with license of the author from the book Sciacca Mistery -Giuseppe Rajola)

"To Be Continued..."

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A History of Coral of times gone by

Lost Island Project pruodly presents an abstract of the incredible history of the Sciacca Coral. Thanks to our new expert dott. Giuseppe Rajola, one of the most red coral expert in the world and CEO of Rajola SPA, who give us the opportunity to share with you his incredible scientific research on this mysterious coral founded for the first time in 1875. You will discover the connection between the coral and the Lost Island volcano. You will love it!
Thank dott. Rajola to your support on our project.
Lost Island Project Team.

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What we are looking for: Fumarole

The exhalative field, strictly elongated north-south, from the depths of 90-100 m is followed down along the side of the building and then through the floor with marine volcanic, with an overall probably more than 3 km. The fumaroles have a reach really very high and give rise to violent eruptions gaseous form of chains of bubbles, which rise to several tens of meters forming dense and wide (20-30 m) columns; higher columns fray and thin, while remaining perfectly recognizable to the surface, where you can see large bubbles still on the rise. This is not the usual fumarolic exhalations; seem continuous steam of the geysers, expelled under great pressure.
We used (Sanfilippo, Lanzafame, 2006) a camera mounted in a Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) to study the fumarolic field in the floor with marine volcanic and we followed him to the north, to a depth of 173 m, without reaching the northern limit . The study of the seabed outside the northern base of the cone, showed that they are made from mobile sediments, sandy-muddy, whitish and organogenic nature. There are also isolated blocks, the number and the size of which increases in the vicinity of the cone, to indicate their origin gravitational at the expense of the slopes of the building. The sea floor is largely covered by a veil of black sand of volcanic origin, composed of material ialoclastico, as shown by the analysis of samples collected during the background investigation. The volcanic sands, with evidence, have been observed to hold the blocks and also sessile organisms living. The depths of the whole area examined (about 1 sq. km) are littered with depression, funnel-shaped, metric sizes (diameter and depth), often organized along north-south orientations, some of which are still home to very weak fumaroles. These findings, in reference to what is known even about the fields exhalative land, indicate that small craters are now sold out of the product flow fumarole high energy which, when they were in business, digging troughs removing the finest materials , bringing them up and dispersing them in the area. The observation of granules blacks, of volcanic origin, of living organisms confirms unequivocally that the phenomenon is still in place in the adjacent volcanic areas.

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Scientific Research

Overall, the volcanic products erupted in the Sicily Channel constitute a bimodal sodic, moderately alkaline association. The basic rocks, alkali basalts and hawaiites, are largely
predominant, and in many volcanic areas, as on the island of Linosa and in the submarine volcanoes of Adventure plateau and Graham and Nameless Banks, are the only products found. The general petrologic features of the volcanism of the Sicily Channel point to an anorogenic magmatism similar to that found in continental rift areas (Corti et al. 2006). The trace element distribution is comparable with that observed in intraplate basalts or ocean island basalts. Petrological evidence suggests that the ascent of magmas to the surface was relatively rapid, probably through channels superim- posed over the major tectonic discontinuities of the rift. Major and trace element data indicate an ocean island basalt affinity for Graham and Nameless Banks alkaline lavas and a depleted tholeiitic signature for one Pantelleria seamount, which had a shallower mantle source (Rotolo et al. 2006).
On a regional scale, the distribution of the positive magnetic anomalies appear to follow two main trends: one (where the largest magnetic anomaly was found) follows the axis of the Pantelleria Graben, slightly shifted to the south; the other situated along a broad NNE-SSW-oriented belt extending from Linosa Island to the eastern margin of the Nameless Bank. This belt partly coincides with that proposed by Argnani (1990) on the basis of bathymetric, volcanic, and seismic considerations, and was interpreted as a strike-slip transfer fault zone separating the rift system in two independent areas, the Pantelleria Graben to the west and the Malta and Linosa grabens to the east. The factors playing a major role in the distribution and affinity of the Sicily Channel volcanic rocks appear to be: (a) the petrological characteristics of the mantle source; (b) the geodynamic processes responsible of the crustal rifting, which in turn depends of the grade of intensity of the extensional stresses; (c) the presence of pre-existing crustal tectonic structures which favoured the rising of the mag- matic manifestations.
The main magnetic anomaly is closely related to a large magmatic body in correspondence to a boundary fault of the south–western Pantelleria Graben. Boundary faults seem to have played a crucial role in the distribution of volcanic manifestations, probably because they channeled the magmatic material along the principal fault planes. The other two anomalies seem to be either related to: (a) a sort of off-axis volcanism, because they are located relatively close to the boundary faults, but in an external position on the shoulders of the rift, as occurring in other divergent systems, like a segment of the East African Rift, where Bosworth (1987) described paired zones of volcanism and lithospheric thinning off-axis from the rift proper; or (b) to a focussing of magma emplacement in correspondence with a structurally complex area (where pre-existing structures are present) representing a transfer zone between the Pantelleria and Linosa/Malta grabens. Geophysical data show that the rifting in this sector of the African platform is a passive response to a regional stress field, allowing hot mantle rocks to penetrate locally the lithosphere. Ascend- ing magmas within the Pantelleria Graben floor seem to migrate from the S to E sector of the depression toward the N–W sector, which is almost entirely floored by igneous material, and where the volcanic edifice of the Pantelleria Island, elongated in the same direction as the rift itself, is emerged (Civile et al. 2010).
There are some analogies between the Sicily Channel volcanism and the main Ethiopian rift volcanism, where the structural control (both inherited and/or rift-related) on magma emplacement played a major role, with major magmatic features located in specific structural locations like boundary faults and transfer zones (Corti 2008). The sequence of events in this segment of the East African Rift system includes a first episode of volcanism (possibly with coeval doming), later followed by lithospheric rifting connected to the Afar plume, that in turn may be a superficial expression of a deeper (lower mantle) superp- lume (Corti 2009).

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A taste of Sicily


More of a sugar-spiked espresso than a milky cappuccino, Sicily will reward you with an intense bittersweet experience rather than anything lightweight and frothy. In Sicily it seems as though the sun shines brighter, the shadows are darker, and life is lived full on and for the moment. Overloaded with art treasures, undersupplied with infrastructure and continuously struggling to thwart Mafia-driven corruption, Sicily possesses some baffling social topography. Brace yourself to reconcile baroque architectural beauty in Catania with modern squalor in Palermo, artistic excellence with moral ambivalence and the rational with the sensual. This is an island to be visited with an open mind – and a healthy appetite; one factor remains a constant, and that is the uncompromisingly high quality of the cuisine.
After some 25 centuries of foreign domination, Sicilians are heir to an impressive cultural legacy, from the refined architecture of Magna Graecia to a beguiling, if contradictory, artistic fusion of Arab craftsmanship and Norman austerity. This complexity of culture is matched by a startling diversity of landscape that includes the smouldering Mt Etna, an aquamarine coastline with a tiara of Aeolian Islands and Parco Naturale Regionale Delle Madonie.
Today, Sicily’s new generation is loathe to remain trapped in the past. New ventures are seeing aristocratic entrepreneurs prising open the doors of some of Europe’s finest palazzi and villas, while sensitive agriturismi (farm stay accommodations) are shedding light on Sicily’s hidden rural treasures and national parks. Sicily also has a refreshing lack of neon-blazing entertainment and theme parks, which further helps preserve its individuality and appeal.

Enjoy!

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The road to discovery

 

The road to discovery

In our previous posts we have talked about the Balck Smokers and their great scientific importance. The evidence that we have collected over the last few days, give us hope. As you know the Island Ferdinandea is an unknown destination and out of the reach of diving centers, which in this area can be counted on the fingers of one hand. The stories of those few divers told us of a few sightings of bubbles coming from the bottom. It is important to understand that the island, even after 200 years after its sinking, is unexplored. Over the years there have been some scientific expeditions, but none of this has ever made an objective study of the seabed with the help of divers. Those who have immersed, they did it with outdated equipment and always with air, reaching at maximum the foot of the volcano and only for a few minutes, limiting their activities in some sampling of rocks. The awareness of being the first to venture on those unknown depths in the middle of the Strait of Sicily is a strong stimulus and feeds the discovery of fire that burns within us. But back to the mysterious object of our research, those "Black Smokers" or "Fumaroli," which should provide basic information about the origin of the volcano. We have combined the testimonies of divers to Multibeam data in our possession and we were able to highlight two zones within which exist the possibility to find a clear rising gas coming from underground. Proceed according to schedule, our first goal is to map the volcanic cone and highlight in a first stage a series of geological and biological Main Target. The map will be a key tool in our subsequent search of the mysterious gas lift. To know every centimeter  of the environment where we make our research is an indispensable condition for our success. If we manage to find the Balck Smokers our task will be to film them and to sample the gas that escapes from them paying attention to everything around them. The data we collect and the video samples will be sent to our scientific directors, who will analyze and study them. There is no doubt, if we could find one of these gas lift, this would be an exceptional find and probably one of the first ever occurred in the Mediterranean Sea.
We are ready ... and you?
Enjoy!

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Lost Island: What we are lookin' for Part II

 

Did you ever imagine that life could start at the very depths of the ocean floor? Some scientists hypothesize, with help from studies on “black smokers,” that underwater sea vents could be originators of life.

According to a 2007 report on livescience.com, geologists from Saint Louis University have discovered 1.43 billion-year-old fossils of deep-sea microbes next to fossils of sea vents. The new finding provides scientists with evidence that life may have started on the very bottom of the ocean floor.
Black smokers were discovered in 1977 as hydrothermal sea vents by scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The initial black smoker found was located in the East Pacific Rise in the Pacific Ocean, near the Galápagos Islands. Underwater vents are also being discovered in the Atlantic Ocean and along the Pacific Antarctic Ridge. The Earth Institute at Columbia University says that the latest locations to search for sea vents is about 1,000 miles from the west coast of Antarctica, where geochemist Gisela Winckler thinks sea vents could be located. With help from her colleagues, they have pinpointed six spots on the remote Pacific Antarctic Ridge where they think sea vents could appear.
According to the scientists in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment at the University of Delaware, a hydrothermal vent is a geyser on the seafloor. A geyser on the seafloor would be similar to a spring; in this case it erupts periodically, ejecting a column of hot water and steam into the water above. These sea vents constantly discharge extremely-hot, mineral-rich water that helps sustain a varied population of organisms.
Some black smokers have chimney-like pinnacles, and are formed from suspended metals that precipitate out when the super-hot vent water meets the neighboring cold ocean water. The temperature of the water that comes out of the chimney of these vents surpasses 360 °C. Most black smokers are found to be at an average depth of about 2,100 meters in areas of seafloor spreading along the Mid-Ocean Ridge system. These black smokers are the hottest of vents, ejecting mainly iron and sulfide, thus making iron monosulfide. With this compound, the black color is produced, hence showing where the name came from.
"Most of the deep ocean is like a desert, but these vents are oases of life and weirdness," said Winckler. "The Pacific Antarctic ridge is one of the ridges we know least about."
“Wherever we look along the ridge, we find vents,” Christopher German said in a 2007 interview, “and the vents in different regions of the ocean host very different animals.” German, Chief Scientist of Deep Submergence at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, conducts research on black smokers..
“Roughly 550 vent species have been discovered living in extreme temperature and pressure conditions, and new vent species are discovered at a rate of nearly two per month,”said Paul Tyler with the British National Oceanography Centre, Southampton.
Unique arrays of ecosystems are found around these underwater structures. People believed that all life on Earth sustained its energy from the sun; now that assumption is being challenged with proof of underwater creatures. Giant tubeworms, around eight feet tall take over most of the surrounding area, and clams cover the seafloor.
Creatures, such as eyeless shrimp and giant crabs, are also found around vents and get their food directly from black smokers. This is a process known as chemosynthesis. Bacteria in the water feed on noxious chemicals, and then smaller animals feed on these bacteria, and those smaller animals provide food for the larger animals. This creates a whole new ecosystem, separate from any other in the world of light, say experts.
These vents form on the seafloor, because in some regions along the Mid-Ocean Ridge, the colossal plates that form the Earth’s crust are spreading apart, constructing fractures and gaps in the bed of the seafloor. As seawater moves into openings, it becomes heated by magma that lies beneath Earth’s crust. As the water is boiling, it rises and looks for a path back out into the ocean through another opening; this creates the black smoker.
“I think that the idea that life originated from black smokers is a very plausible theory,” says Sam Berendzen, science instructor at Francis Howell High School. “However, we still need more evidence to resolve problems of the origin of life.”

Here some links to download pdf files on Black Smokers and a really cool video from ROV

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Lost Island Project: What we are lookin' for





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Explorin Mount Etna


Mount Etna  is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy, close to Messina and Catania. It lies above the convergent plate margin between the African Plate and the Eurasian Plate. It is the tallest active volcano on the European continent, currently standing 3,329 m (10,922 ft) high, though this varies with summit eruptions. It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps. Etna covers an area of 1,190 km2 (459 sq mi) with a basal circumference of 140 km. This makes it by far the largest of the three active volcanoes in Italy, being about two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius. Only Mount Teide in Tenerife surpasses it in the whole of the European–North-African region. In Greek Mythology, the deadly monster Typhon was trapped under this mountain by Zeus, the god of the sky and thunder and king of gods, and the forges of Hephaestus were said to also be located underneath it.
Mount Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and is in an almost constant state of activity. The fertile volcanic soils support extensive agriculture, with vineyards and orchards spread across the lower slopes of the mountain and the broad Plain of Catania to the south. Due to its history of recent activity and nearby population, Mount Etna has been designated a Decade Volcano by the United Nations.In May 2013, it was accepted as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and its official proclamation is scheduled for June.
Volcanic activity first took place at Etna about half a million years ago, with eruptions occurring beneath the sea off the ancient coastline of Sicily.About 300,000 years ago, volcanism began occurring to the southwest of the summit (centre top of volcano) then, before activity moved towards the present centre 170,000 years ago. Eruptions at this time built up the first major volcanic edifice, forming a stratovolcano in alternating explosive and effusive eruptions. The growth of the mountain was occasionally interrupted by major eruptions, leading to the collapse of the summit to form calderas.
From about 35,000 to 15,000 years ago, Etna experienced some highly explosive eruptions, generating large pyroclastic flows, which left extensive ignimbrite deposits. Ash from these eruptions has been found as far away as Rome, 800 km (497 mi) to the north.
Thousands of years ago, the eastern flank of the mountain experienced a catastrophic collapse, generating an enormous landslide in an event similar to that seen in the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. The landslide left a large depression in the side of the volcano, known as 'Valle del Bove' (Valley of the Ox). Research published in 2006 suggested this occurred around 8000 years ago, and caused a huge tsunami, which left its mark in several places in the eastern Mediterranean. It may have been the reason the settlement of Atlit Yam (Israel), now below sea level, was suddenly abandoned around that time.
The steep walls of the valley have suffered subsequent collapses on numerous occasions. The strata exposed in the valley walls provide an important and easily accessible record of Etna's eruptive history.
The most recent collapse event at the summit of Etna is thought to have occurred about 2,000 years ago, forming what is known as the Piano Caldera. This caldera has been almost entirely filled by subsequent lava eruptions, but is still visible as a distinct break in the slope of the mountain near the base of the present-day summit cone.
Large lava flow from an eruption in 1928 led to the first (and only) destruction of a population centre since the 1669 eruption. The eruption started high on Etna's northeast flank on November 2. Then new eruptive fissures opened at ever lower elevation down the flank of the volcano. The third and most vigorous of these fissures opened late on 4 November at an unusually low elevation, approximately 1,200 m (3,937 ft) above sea-level, in a zone known as Ripe della Naca. The village of Mascali, lying down-slope of the Ripe della Naca, suffered obliteration in just two days, with the lava destroying nearly every building. Only a church and a few surrounding buildings survived in the north part of the village, called Sant'Antonino or "il quartiere". During the last days of the eruption, the flow interrupted the Messina-Catania railway line and destroyed the train station of Mascali. The event was used by Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime for propaganda purposes, with the evacuation, aid, and rebuilding operations being presented as models of fascist planning. Mascali was rebuilt on a new site, and its church contains the Italian fascist symbol of the torch, placed above the statue of Jesus Christ. In early November 2008, the town of Mascali commemorated the 80th anniversary of the eruption and destruction of the village with a number of public events where eyewitnesses shared their memories of the eruption.
Other major 20th-century eruptions occurred in 1949, 1971, 1981, 1983 and 1991–1993. In 1971, lava buried the Etna Observatory (built in the late 19th century), destroyed the first generation of the Etna cable-car, and seriously threatened several small villages on Etna's east flank. In March 1981, the town of Randazzo on the northwestern flank of Etna narrowly escaped destruction by unusually fast-moving lava flows. That eruption was remarkably similar to one in 1928 that destroyed Mascali. The 1991–1993 eruption saw the town of Zafferana threatened by a lava flow, but successful diversion efforts saved the town with the loss of only one building a few hundred metres from the town's margin. Initially, such efforts consisted of the construction of earth barriers built perpendicularly to the flow direction; it was hoped that the eruption would stop before the artificial basins created behind the barriers would be completely filled. Instead, the eruption continued, and lava surmounted the barriers, heading directly toward Zafferana. Engineers then decided to use explosives near the source of the lava flow, to disrupt a very efficient lava tube system through which the lava travelled for up to 7 km (4 mi) without essentially losing heat and fluidity. The main explosion on 23 May 1992 destroyed the tube and forced the lava into a new artificial channel, far from Zafferana, and it would have taken months to re-establish a long lava tube. Shortly after the blasting, the rate of lava emission dropped, and during the remainder of the eruption (until 30 March 1993) the lava never advanced close to the town again.
Following six years (1995–2001) of unusually intense activity at the four summit craters of Etna, the volcano produced its first flank eruption since 1991–1993 in July–August 2001. This eruption, which involved activity from seven distinct eruptive fissures mostly on the south slope of the volcano, was a mass-media eruption, because it occurred at the height of the tourist season and numerous reporters and journalists were already in Italy to cover the G8 summit in Genoa. It also occurred close to one of the tourist areas on the volcano, and thus was easily accessible. Part of the "Etna Sud" tourist area, including the arrival station of the Etna cable car, were damaged by this eruption, which otherwise was a rather modest-sized event by Etna standards.
In 2002–2003, a much larger eruption threw up a huge column of ash that could easily be seen from space and fell as far away as Libya, 600 km (370 mi) south across the Mediterranean Sea. Seismic activity in this eruption caused the eastern flanks of the volcano to slip by up to two metres, and many houses on the flanks of the volcano experienced structural damage. The eruption also completely destroyed the tourist station Piano Provenzana, on the northeastern flank of the volcano, and part of the tourist station "Etna Sud" around the Rifugio Sapienza on the south flank. Footage from the eruptions was recorded by Lucasfilm and integrated into the landscape of the planet Mustafar in the 2005 film Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.The Rifugio Sapienza is near the site of a cable car station which had previously been destroyed in the 1983 eruption; it has now been rebuilt. Following a rather silent, slow and non-destructive lava outflow on the upper southeastern flank between September 2004 and March 2005, intense eruptions occurred at the Southeast Crater in July–December 2006. These were followed by four episodes of lava fountaining, again at the Southeast Crater, on 29 March, 11 April, 29 April and 7 May 2007. Ash emissions and Strombolian explosions started from a vent on the eastern side of the Southeast Crater in mid-August 2007.
On 4 September 2007 a spectacular episode of lava fountaining occurred from the new vent on the east side of the Southeast Crater, also producing a plume of ash and scoriae which fell over the east flank of the volcano. A lava flow travelled about 4.5 km (2.8 mi) into the uninhabited Valle del Bove. This eruption was visible far into the plains of Sicily, ending the following morning between the hours of 5 to 7 am local time.
An eruption on the morning of 13 May 2008, immediately to the east of Etna's summit craters was accompanied by a swarm of more than 200 earthquakes and significant ground deformation in the summit area. The eruption continued at a slowly diminishing rate for 417 days, until 6 July 2009, making this the longest flank eruption of Etna since the 1991–1993 eruption that lasted 473 days. Previous eruptions, in 2001, 2002–2003, and 2004–2005 had lasted 3 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months, respectively. Lava flows advanced 6.5 km during the first few days of this eruption but thereafter stagnated at much minor distances from the vents; during the last months of the eruption lava rarely advanced more than 1 km downslope.
Through January 2011 to February 2012, the summit craters of Etna were the site of intense activity. Frequent eruptions and ash columns forced the authorities to shut down the Catania airport on several occasions. The July 2011 episode also endagnered the Sapienza Refuge, the main tourist hub on the volcano, but the lava flow was successfully diverted.
In 2012 and 2013, activity subsided to more moderate levels, with regular but contained eruptions at Southeast Crater and Bocca Nuova.



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Documentation of the Hill of the Vulcanelli - National reserve of Macalube Aragona

Documentation Set in the Natural Reserve "Macalube of Aragona".
A series of little volcanoes of mud describing a lunar landscape.
The Reserve is born to protect a rare geologic phenomenon that, in analogy with the volcanic one, is defined sedimentary volcanism. This type of phenomenon has to be included in that superficial oil manifestations of gaseous type.
The sedimentary volcanism manifests itself in presence of gas submitted to certain pressure and in relationship with clays not consolidated which are intercalated in levels of saltuy water.
The gases of the Macalube are essentialy constituted be methane. These, owning to pressure, escape from the subsoil, through discontinuity fo the ground, dragging with itself clayey sediments and water that, deposing itself in the surface, gives place to a cone of mud, from whose summit, through a crater, the gas escapes.
There is therefore a morphological analogy with the volcanic apparatuses.
periodically the hillock of the Macalube is stunned by explosive eruptions, accompanied by roars, with expulsion of clayey material mixed to gas and water which are cast to notable height because of the pressure of gas accumulated, in the time, below its surface.
The Natural Integral Reserve Macalube of Aragona, is at a distance of about 4 km S.O. from Aragona and 15 k  N. from Agrigento. The area is characterized by sweet forms, constituted by predominantly clayey deposists and ploughed by a thick net of deep valleys, which are periodically crossed by the waters collected by seasonal precipitations.
In this general context strands the hill of the Vulcanelli.
It is a bare moor of grey and whitish colour, from which a series of little volcanoes of mud, tall around the meter, raise almost to remember a lunar landscape.

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