Scalera, Giancarlo

Mattia Damiani da Volterra (1705–1776), “renowned Doctor,” was the author in 1754 of a collection of scientifi c poems, Le Muse Fisiche (The Physical Muses) on two subjects: Newtonian physics and the plurality of the worlds. Damiani’s interest in science was precocious, but even at that, it was superimposed on his studies in jurisprudence completed in Pisa in 1726. In 2003, Damiani’s lost text, De Hygrometris et eorum defectibus disputatio (Disputation about hygrometers and their defects), which was printed in 1726 in Pisa, was brought to light. It characterizes him as a young scientist who refl ected upon the properties and limits of laboratory instruments and on nascent aspects of climatology. In this Disputation, a delightful amalgamation of scientifi c and humanistic literature is pursued. A discussion of the properties and limits of contemporary hygrometers and a comparison of the Cartesian and Newtonian hypotheses about cloud formations are interspersed with quotations of verses on natural phenomena, mostly from poems of the classic age—a prelude to the author’s future involvement in writing scientifi c verses. The poetry of Damiani, which often shows a musicality comparable to that of the poet Giacomo Leopardi (1798–1837), deserves to be recognized and saved from oblivion. Especially remarkable is the implicit “multimedia” project of a union among science, poetry, theater, and music. The rediscovered Disputation about hygrometers opens a new window on the personages involved and on the evolution of meteorological concepts in Europe in the context of the then-new Galilean and Newtonian physics.

Oil and associated phenomena can be found preferentially along old fold belts and margins which building models can be very different in different global tectonics theories. The fold belt building model proposed in preceding papers by SCALERA (2005, 2007, 2008) can be used to judge if the difficulties encountered by the different biogenic/abiogenic conceptions can be solved.

No abstract

The different slope of the Wadati-Benioff zones oriented towards east and west is considered a main asymmetry of the Earth's globe. Under the Americas they have angles of about 30o, while under the Pacific east coasts (Asia, Japan) the angles are steeper. In the framework of plate tectonics geodynamics the cause of this difference can be identified in the tidal drag that would cause a global shift of the lithosphere towards west. But this solution has been many times criticized on the basis of the irrelevance of the tidal forces with respect to viscous friction. Instead, it is possible to show that in a different framework, in which sudden extrusions of mantle materials occur by local phase change toward a more unpacked lattice, the value of the Coriolis fictitious force can rise of several magnitude orders, becoming the main cause of the east-west asymmetry of the Wadati-Benioff zones, which might be ascribed entirely to internal causes of the planet (its rotation and geodynamics) and not to external causes (influence of other celestial bodies). Some astrogeodetic clues supporting the new geodynamic scenario are scrutinized.

A one-day symposium on new and conventional ideas in plate tectonics and Mediterranean geodynamics was held in Rome on February 19, 2003 at the headquarters of INGV. There were two main reasons for such an initiative. The first was an invitation to Giancarlo Scalera from the «Gabriele D’Annunzio» University of Chieti to present his alternative ideas on global tectonics to final year students of the Regional Geology course. The second was a reciprocal invitation to Giusy Lavecchia and Francesco Stoppa to explain their criticisms of the application of subduction-related models to Italian geology and to present their data on the recently discovered intra-Apennines carbonatite occurrences. It was decided to dedicate an entire day to seminars, involving people with a more conventional approach to geodynamics, especially those involved with seismic tomography. In the last few years, high-resolution mantle tomographic models have been widely used to unravel the geometry of subduction zones. A turning point in the field, however, was a review paper written by Fukao et al. (Rev. Geophysics, 39, 291-323, 2001) showing that there was no clear evidence for slab subduction down to the core-mantle boundary, thus posing a major problem on the balance between the lithosphere subducted at consuming plate margins and the large amount of oceanic lithosphere accreted at diverging plate margins. This prompted the need to re-evaluate the nature of subduction and plate margin evolution. Accepting the theory of plate tectonics, many problems remain open, especially those regarding plate driving mechanisms and their possible link with the forces developed at the core-mantle boundary. Might these forces trigger pulsating tectonic and magmatic activity, with mantle upwellings and large-scale emission of CO2, capable of causing dramatic changes in the composition of the atmosphere and changes at the Earth’s surface? Could these lead to major catastrophic changes in Earth history? During the one-day symposium, a stimulating discussion took place involving different interpretations of observations, especially those relating to the geodynamics of the Mediterranean region. Although the papers in this collection do not provide unique solutions, they do, however, provide new insights into some problems and in some cases suggest new interpretations. Many questions also arise about the relationships between the tectonics of the lithosphere and the deep mantle processes. May the denser portions of the inner parts of the Earth transform into shallower, lighter chemical phases, with a possible increase in the Earth’s volume? May the asthenosphere above growing plume heads be capable of dragging the overlying lithosphere? May mantle plumes be wet rather than hot? Some papers consider gravitation to be a driving mechanism for the nucleation of contractional belts and others even doubt the compressional origin of orogens. Finally – as a link to fundamental physics – an original mechanism of energy conversion from gravitons to photons is proposed as a supply of energy for global tectonic processes. Obviously, because of an often diverse philosophical and scientific background, it is difficult for the ideas presented in this supplement to be shared by all readers and contributors. But we hope that these ideas will help to encourage critical evaluations of some commonly accepted concepts in modern plate tectonic theory. European geoscientists have available to them an exceptional natural laboratory – the Mediterranean and surrounding orogens – complete with all of its paradoxes and contradictions. In this natural laboratory, we hope that new evidence and new solutions to a variety of problems outside of the Mediterranean region will be found!

(extended abstract)

A digitization has been performed of all volcanic rock fragments, main thrust fronts and fold axes from the 'Synthetic Structural Kinematic Map' as well as of all intrasedimentary magnetic bodies from the map of Cassano et al. These two maps complement each other, and the buried magnetized bodies fill the gaps of volcanic rocks in various regions e.g. in Tuscany. Some other major gaps can be found along the Northern Apennines, the Central and Southern Apennines and the Calabrian arc. A comparison of a map representing the 'Log C - seismic macrozonation index' to the pattern of all volcanic rocks, reveals that more seismic energy is released in those areas where volcanic rocks are absent or where their continuity in space is interrupted. Furthermore seismic activity is inhibited in those areas where minimum values of Bouguer anomalies are recorded.

A volcano-seismic correlation was for a long time suspected to occur on the Pacific margin of South America. Scalera (2008) using the data available in 2006 in the Smithsonian Institution Catalogue of the volcanic eruptions, has revealed evidence that earthquakes happened into the South-American Wadati-Benio zone – with magnitude greater than 8.4 –are associated to an enhanced rate of volcanic eruptions, but has been impossible to determine the causal chain between the two phenomena. After 2006, the effort of the Smithsonian Institution to improve our knowledge of this region has resulted in a greatly increased completeness of the catalogue, adding the new eruptions for the 2000- 2010 interval, but also an additional 50% of new entries in the list of the Andean volcanoes. The occurrence of the Chilean earthquake of Maule – 27 February 2010 (M=8.8); occurred at five decades from the 1960 quake – has been the occasion to rework all the data searching for additional clues able to indicate a preferred causal direction eruptions-earthquakes or earthquakes-eruptions – or from a third more general cause (e.g. a mantle movements) to both eruptions and earthquakes. This short note discusses the three above-said hypotheses and tries to establish if these results could be useful to the aims of the Civil Protection in the programs of prevention and/or forecasting of natural disasters.

Dalle Scienze della Terra e dalle evidenze di espansione del pianeta (Egyed, 1961; Hilgenberg, 1967, 1974; Carey, 1976; Owen, 1976; Maxlow, 2002; Cwojdziński, 2003; Scalera, 1990, 1993, 2001, 2010, 2012, 2020), corroborate oggi dagli esperimenti di rivelazione dei neutrini terrestri di origine radiogenica (Borexino collaboration, 2017; Shimizu, 2017; Scalera, 2020) proviene la consapevolezza che la causa della espansione sia un flusso di materia costitutiva, o etere, che converge verso il centro del pianeta trasformandosi in materia ordinaria durante il tragitto superficie-geocentro. In questo lavoro adotteremo questa concezione a “torrente centrale”, risalente a Johann Bernoulli, e tenteremo un primo passo verso la conoscenza dei parametri caratterizzanti l’etere: densità, velocità, portate.

Many examples of ideal cities in the Renaissance and post-Renaissance time were only dreams or utopian literature. Some of them were realised (also in times very near to us) by totalitarian seigniory. Today a proposal can be put forward of an ideal city expression of the ideals and practical needs of our modern democracy. An actual ideal city should fulfil to the needs of common welfare, of economic growth, of increase of culture, and to stem to the catastrophic natural phenomena like earthquakes that have produced – starting from the first ancient urban settlements – social involutions and extinctions. This contribution is a first try of a suggestion for a ideal/real city, in which the antiseismic engineering could become a link between the two cultures.