The End

Hello All, It has been a pleasure learning about geology with you. I have truly enjoyed reading all of the blog posts and forums. I actually learned more here than I expected too. So without further ado here is my final post. Enjoy.


Italy has been and will continue to be plagued with natural disasters. It is a wonder that the country has such an abundance of ancient architecture and history and is one of the oldest nations in the world. Italy has a high risk of flooding, avalanches, mud slides, earthquakes, and tsunamis but the most dangerous natural hazard would have to be the risk of volcanic eruptions. Italy is home to the only active volcanoes in Mainland Europe. Situated near the boundary of the Eurasian and African plates the country is literally a hot spot. While there are several dormant volcanoes, Italy plays host to three active volcanoes, Mount Etna, Stromboli, and Mount Vesuvius. "Italy is home to three active volcanoes, all located in the south of the country. Mount Vesuvius, in Naples, is the only active volcano on mainland Europe. It is famous for the destruction of the Roman towns of Pompei and Herculaneum in 79 BC, an event described in great detail by Pliny the Younger" (http://www.understandingitaly.com/profile-content/volcanoes.html). I have chosen these volcanoes as the most dangerous natural hazard because of their ability to demolish an entire town, In fact Mount Vesuvius has done it.Ever hear of Pompeii? The second dangerous natural hazard would have to be earthquakes, mostly because of the age of the buildings and a general lack of building codes, a good earthquake can really do some damage. Lets not forget Italy is one giant peninsula surrounded by water on three sides, so with any good earthquake comes the risk of tsunami.

As far as addressing these hazards go that is a whole other game. There really is not a lot you can do to prevent a volcano, and lets face it what would be the long term effects on the planet if we did. I think the most important part for both hazards would be a state of the art warning system that gives hours notice. The infrastructure in Italy really needs to be improved including the stabilization of buildings and stricter building codes. Because they are already working on preserving Venice and trying to prevent high tide flooding and tsunami risks I would not start there but at other coastal cities, many Italian cities are built right on the side of cliffs and are ocean side.I would start from the southern most tip of Italy and working my way up each coast, my priority would be the stabilization of buildings there, continuing the building of water breaks and flood gates, I would also have government assistance programs for metal roofing to help prevent hot ash setting roofs on fire. I can't really pinpoint one specific risk area, the entire country needs an overhaul and soon.

As far as my house goes, I would probably build somewhere along the Northeast tip of the nation, perhaps somewhere between the beautiful city of Florence or Genoa near the French border. This would put my quite far from the active volcanoes. There is no avoiding fault lines, I would want my home somewhere with higher elevation but on a flat plot. I would want to take all the American safety features of building a home near fault lines plus include the ability for the home to sit on a rocker per say so it can sway in an earthquake like they do with sky scrapers.

Grab your tissues for some Coastal Issues

Italy is surrounded on three sides by large bodies of water. We have talked this semester about flooding, earthquakes, tsunamis, and much more devastating Italian regions.

With the entire country being one large Peninsula there are several Coastal Issues. The biggest issue being coastal erosion from loss of sediment.

At climatechange.org they talk about the different coastal areas and the causes of erosion and other coastal issues. Several factors help with erosion like river damns, and jetties to protect harbors. 

"The Italian coastline has a length of about 7500 km, of which about 3950 km (53%) are low or delta coastlines. Sand or gravel beaches stretch for approximately 3,240 km, whereas the remaining part are cliffs plunging into the sea and enclosing small pocket beaches. Sicily and Sardinia have 1,623 and 1,897 km of coastline, respectively. Sand or gravel beaches are prevalent on the former (1,117 km) and rock coasts on the latter (1,438 km).
Tidal range is very limited, about 0.3 m along most of the Italian coast. Most Italian shores are exposed to severe storms, with extremes on the western Sardinia coast (annual significant wave height = 7.0 m)" (climatechange.org).

For more from climatechange.org click the link above!

Egypt

This week we are talking about something a little different.... Extreme Weather in Egypt.

Egypt experiences several severe weather hazards including Earthquakes, droughts, fires, and flooding.



For more information click here.

Mass Wasting... A slippery slope

Italy has played host to many Mass Wasting Hazards over the years. These devastating events have often left the region in a state emergency with thousands of homes damaged and even worse causing human loss.

In 1998, The Italian government declared a state emergency when large landslides struck the Campania Region killing 87 people and damaging roughly 2,000 homes. To read the rest of the article on this devastating event click here.

According to http://landslides.usgs.gov/ Areas that are generally prone to landslide hazards:

• On existing old landslides.
• On or at the base of slopes.
• In or at the base of minor drainage hollows.
• At the base or top of an old fill slope.
• At the base or top of a steep cut slope.
• Developed hillsides where leach field septic systems are used

For more from USGS including what to do before and after a landslide click here.

One Italy's biggest landslides killed nearly 2,000 people. "On October 9, 1963, at 10:39pm 260 million cubic metres of rock broke off from the top of Monte Toc, on the border between Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia. It fell into the reservoir of the Vajont Dam, producing an enormous wave of at least 50 million cubic metres of water. The dam, completed in 1959 and one of the biggest in the world at the time, did not suffer any serious damage. However, flooding destroyed several villages in the valley and killed almost 2,000 people." To read more from this article and about this devastating event in Italian history click here.


Italy has also played host to several major avalanches;

In 1916 Troops fighting in the Italian Campaign between Italy and Austrio-Hungary were caught in what became known as White Friday when more than 500 men were buried alive. Both sides of the war had been intentionally causing avalanches to kill enemy forces downhill from them.

Most Recently 6 Skiers were killed in an Avalanche in March of 2016 and several other people reported missing.

In 2009 Italy asked a national research institute to develop a prototype for an early warning system. To read the full briefing click here.

Video of a 2010 Landslide in Italy

V

Video of an Italian Avalanche

Euronews. "'Six Dead' in Avalanche in Italian Alps, Others Missing."Euronews. N.p., 13 Mar. 2016. Web. 14 Oct. 2016

"Expecting Disaster: The 1963 Landslide of the Vajont Dam | Environment & Society Portal." Expecting Disaster: The 1963 Landslide of the Vajont Dam | Environment & Society Portal. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2016.

Hanley, Anne. "Italy Declares Emergency in Landslide Region." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, 08 May 1998. Web. 14 Oct. 2016.

"Landslide Preparedness." Landslide Preparedness. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2016.

Vulcano

Fun Fact: Volcano in Italian is Vulcano


There are currently THREE active Volcanoes in Italy. According to a website called Understanding Italy, "Italy is home to three active volcanoes, all located in the south of the country. Mount Vesuvius, in Naples, is the only active volcano on mainland Europe. It is famous for the destruction of the Roman towns of Pompei and Herculaneum in 79 BC, an event described in great detail by Pliny the Younger" (http://www.understandingitaly.com/profile-content/volcanoes.html).

According to an article posted on BBC News Europe, In 2003 Efforts were made to put in a warning system that would warn the Island where Vesuvius is and people up the coast of Italy as well, including the warning of people if a Tidal Wave is coming, "within 10 minutes, we will have alerted the whole coast" Says Emergency Official, Elvezio Galanti.  

To Read the full BBC article click here. 

Active Volcanoes in Italy

Name	Height (m)	Last Activity
Mount Etna	3,329	Continuous
Stromboli	926	Continuous
Mount Vesuvius	1,281	1944

Image of MT Edna

Dormant Volcanoes in Italy

Name	Height (m)	Last Activity
Pantelleria	836	1891
Vulcano	500	1890
Campi Flegrei	458	1538
Ischia	789	1302
Larderello	500	1282
Lipari	602	729
Vulsini	800	104 BC
Colli Albani	950	5,000 BC

- See more here

Citations:
"BBC NEWS | Europe | Early Warning System for Stromboli." BBC News. BBC, 07 Jan. 2003. Web. 23 Sept. 2016.

"Italian Volcanoes, Volcanoes in Italy, Volcanic Activity Italy, Mount Etna, Mount Vesuvius, Stromboli,active, Dormant, Extinct Volcanoes." Italian Volcanoes, Volcanoes in Italy, Volcanic Activity Italy, Mount Etna, Mount Vesuvius, Stromboli,active, Dormant, Extinct Volcanoes. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2016.

Eeeaaarrrtthhhqquaaaaaaake

 This week we are discussing Seismicity which refers to the occurence or frequency of earthquakes in a region.

 Italy has experienced several earthquakes over the last couple of months. The following is a link to view all the recent earthquakes in Italy: http://ds.iris.edu/seismon/eventlist/index.phtml?region=Europe&lon=13.1&lat=42.88.

On August 24, 2016 292 people died from a 6.2 earthquake and several large after shocks that followed.

Italy has been very slow to put measures in place to protect it's people.

On August 31st the Italian Prime Minister introduced some major plans for disaster preparedness saying, "The national plan will be called Casa Italia and will include making structures earthquake-proof across the country and a range of other environmental measures." To read the full article click here.

 Seismic Zones in Italy








This picture was taken from a basic google image search

Citation:
"Italy Commits to Long Term Earthquake Preparedness." Http://reliefweb.int/report/italy/italy-commits-long-term-earthquake-preparedness. N.p., 31 Aug. 2016. Web. 8 Aug. 2016. <http://reliefweb.int/report/italy/italy-commits-long-term-earthquake-preparedness>.

Is Italy the glue between tectonic plates??????

Italy is located on the edge of the Eurasion plate with the southern tip being on the African plate. It is a convergent boundary.

In the textbook Natural Hazards, by Keller and Blodgett, it is stated that "Convergent boundaries occur where plates are colliding" (Natural Hazards 10). The Appennine Mountains, a large range running all the way down the nation, were formed due to a process called subduction. In the text Natural Hazard the authors refer to subduction as "the process of one tectonic plate sinking below the other" (Natural Hazards 10).

In her article published on the Smithsonian website about the recent 6.2 magnitude earthquake in Italy, Erin Blakemore quotes Jonathan Amos a reporter for the BBC saying, "Tyrrhenian basin, which is located beneath the western Mediterranean Sea, is opening up slowly—over a tenth of an inch each year. That spread is complicated by counter-clockwise movement in the Adriatic Plate, which sits right at the boundary between the Eurasian and African plates 'Italy is literally being pushed and pulled every way,' concludes Amos—and he’s not the only one. The USGS calls the area “tectonically and geologically comple”(Blakemore).

I found all of this to be very interesting, people say California has it bad but Geologically speaking things are not looking good in Italy. To read the full article by Blakemore click this link http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/geology-behind-italys-catastrophic-quake-180960233/#8iyIWJ5wsHb1uCMV.99




Note the pictures used in this post were taken from a basic image search of Italian tectonic plates and are assumed to be public.

Citations:


Blakemore, Erin. "The Geology Behind Italy’s Catastrophic Quake." Www.smithsonianmag.com. N.p., 24 Aug. 2016. Web. 09 Sept. 2016. <http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/geology-behind-italys-catastrophic-quake-180960233/?no-ist>.

 Keller, Edward A., and Robert H. Blodgett. Natural Hazards: Earth's Processes as Hazards, Disasters, and Catastrophes. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2006. N. pag. Print.