Egidio Armadillo | University of Genova (original) (raw)

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Papers by Egidio Armadillo

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<p&amp... more <p>The Wilkes Subglacial Basin (WSB) is a major intraplate tectonic feature in East Antarctica. It stretches for ca 1400 km from the edge of the Southern Ocean, where it is up to 600 km wide towards South Pole, where it is less than 100 km wide. Recent modelling of its subice topography (Paxman et al., 2019, JGR) lends support to a long-standing hypothesis predicting that the wide basin is linked to flexure of more rigid and mostly Precambrian cratonic lithosphere induced by the Cenozoic uplift of the adjacent Trasantarctic Mountains,. However, there is also mounting evidence from potential field and radar exploration that its narrower structurally controlled sub-basins may have formed in response to more localised Mesozoic to Cenozoic extension and transtension that preferentially steered glacial erosion (Paxman et al., 2018, GRL).  </p><p>Here we exploit recent advancements in regional aerogeophysical data compilations and continental scale satellite gravity gradient imaging with the overarching aim of helping unveil the degree of 4D heterogeneity in the crust and lithosphere beneath the WSB. New views of crustal and lithosphere thickness stem from 3D satellite gravity modelling (Pappa et al., 2019, JGR) and these can be compared with predictions from previous flexural modelling and seismological results. By stripping out the computed effects of crustal and lithosphere thickness variations we then obtain residual intra-crustal gravity anomalies. These are in turn compared with a suite of enhanced aeromagnetic anomaly images. We then calculate depth to magnetic and gravity source estimates and use these results to help constrain the first combined 2D magnetic and gravity models for two selected regions within the WSB.</p><p>One first model reveals a major lithospheric scale boundary along the eastern margin of the northern WSB. It separates the Cambro-Ordovician Ross Orogen from a newly defined composite Precambrian Wilkes Terrane that forms the unexposed crustal basement buried beneath partially exposed early Cambrian metasediments and more recent Devonian to Jurassic sediments.</p><p>Our second model investigates a sector of the WSB further south, where the proposed Precambrian basement is modelled as being both shallower and of more felsic bulk composition. Although the lack of drilling precludes direct sampling of this cryptic basement, aeromagnetic anomaly patterns suggest that it may be akin to late Paleoproterozoic to Mesoproterozoic igneous basement exposed in part of the Gawler and Curnamona cratons in South Australia. We conclude that these first order differences in basement depth, bulk composition and thickness of metasediment/sediment cover are a key and previously un-appreciated intra-crustal boundary condition, which is likely to affect geothermal heat flux variability beneath different sectors of the WSB, with potential cascading effects on subglacial hydrology and the flow of the overlying East Antarctic Ice Sheet.</p>

<p>The West Antarctic Rift System (WARS) is known to have experienced distributed/w... more <p>The West Antarctic Rift System (WARS) is known to have experienced distributed/wide mode extension in the Cretaceous, followed by narrow mode and variably oblique extension/transtension in the Cenozoic, the latter potentially linked to the onset of oceanic seafloor spreading within the Adare Basin (Davey et al., 2016, GRL). However, onshore the extent and impact of Cenozoic extension and transtension within the Transantarctic Mountains sector of East Antarctica is currently much less well-constrained from a geophysical perspective.</p> <p>Here we combine aeromagnetic, aerogravity, land-gravity and bedrock topography imaging to help constrain the extent, architecture and kinematics of the largest Cenozoic pull-apart basin recognised so far in East Antarctica, the Rennick Graben (RG).</p> <p>Enhanced potential field imaging reveals the extent of a Jurassic tholeiitic Large Igneous Province preserved within the RG and the inherited structural architecture of its basement, including remnants of uplifted ca 530-500 Ma arc basement in the northern Wilson Terrane and a ca 490-460 Ma subglacial thrust fault belt separating the Cenozoic western flank of the RG from the eastern margin of Wilkes Subglacial Basin (WSB).</p> <p>The architecture of the RG is best explained in terms of a major composite right-lateral pull-part basin that extends from the Oates Coast to the Southern Cross Mountains block. We propose that Cenozoic strike-slip deformation kinematically connected the RG with both the western edge of the WARS and the eastern margin of the WSB. An earlier phase of left-lateral strike slip deformation is also emerging from recent geological field work in the study region but only relatively subtle offsets in aeromagnetic anomaly patterns are visible in currently available regional datasets.</p> <p>We conclude that the RG is part of a wider distributed region of the continental lithosphere in East Antarctica that was deformed in response to an evolving Cenozoic transtensional tectonic setting that may have also affected enigmatic sub-basins such as the Cook Basins in the adjacent WSB region.</p>

Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface

Geophysical Research Letters

The analysis of geomagnetic field variations is a useful tool to detect electrical conductivity c... more The analysis of geomagnetic field variations is a useful tool to detect electrical conductivity contrasts within the Earth. Lateral resolution of outlined patterns depends on the array dimensions and density of measurement sites over the investigated area. The inspection ...

In this work we show the results of a resistivity tomography performed over the shallow part of a... more In this work we show the results of a resistivity tomography performed over the shallow part of a large cave system in the Mt.Armetta karst, Pennavaira valley northwestern Italy. The cave has been explored and surveyed by the authors themselves, thus a precise knowledge of size and shape of the subsurface voids is available. The cave, whose shallowest part exhibits narrow passages and large chambers, was developed in the Mesozoic sedimentary cover(Caprauna Armetta tectonic unit), an allochtonous nappe characterized by four deformation phases. The main target of the experiment is a region located at about 30 m below surface precisely spotted by ve 235m long ERT sections. Since cave develops in a windy summit area, the long-term stability of an eolic power plant tower, located over a karst void, is also considered. As a matter of fact, the footings of the eolic towers (approx 100 m high) may interfere with unpredictable shallow hollows, whose presence, in the power plant area, is more...

Statistical analysis of the polar electrojet influence on geomagnetic transfer functions estimate... more Statistical analysis of the polar electrojet influence on geomagnetic transfer functions estimates over wide time and space scales. D.Rizzello(1),E.Armadillo(1),A.Manzella(2) 1)DISTAV - University of Genoa,Italy. 2)Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources - CNR, Pisa, Italy. Magnetotelluric (MT) and magnetovariational (MV) investigations can provide original information and constraints on the electrical conductivity, thermal state and structure of the crust and mantle at the base of the polar ice sheets. These methods provide depth resolution, lacking in potential field methods, and can reach high investigation depth, an invaluable advantage where very difficult logistic conditions prevent or limit the use of active methods such as seismic surveys. However, MT/MV surveys have not been applied extensively in polar areas mainly because electromagnetic data could be biased by the polar electrojet current systems (PEJ) occurring at high geomagnetic latitude. In fact, close to the au...

Time-series of radon concentration and environmental parameters were recently recorded in a urani... more Time-series of radon concentration and environmental parameters were recently recorded in a uranium mine gallery, located in the Maritime Alps (NW Italy). The mine was bored in metarhyolites and porphyric schists mainly composed by quartz, feldspar, sericite and fluorite. U-bearing minerals are generally concentrated in veins heterogeneously spaced and made of crystals of metaautunite and metatorbernite. Radon air concentration monitoring was performed with an ionization chamber which was placed at the bottom of the gallery. Hourly mean values of temperature, pressure, and relative humidity were also measured. External data of atmospheric temperature, pressure and rainfall were also available from a meteorological station located nearby, at a similar altitude of the mine. The analysis of the time series recorded showed variation of radon concentration, of large amplitude, exhibiting daily and half-daily periods, which do not seem correlated with meteorological records. Searching for...

An integrated geophysical MVG (Microgravity Vertical Gradient) and ERT (Electrical Resistivity To... more An integrated geophysical MVG (Microgravity Vertical Gradient) and ERT (Electrical Resistivity Tomography) survey was performed over a shallow cave in the Armetta Mountain karst area, close to the Liguria-Piedmont watershed (Tanaro valley). The aim of this study is to test the response of a known shallow karst cave. The cave was developed in the Mesozoic sedimentary cover (dolostones and limestones

We present the results of measurements of physical properties carried out on mafic lavas from the... more We present the results of measurements of physical properties carried out on mafic lavas from the Mt MelbourneVolcanic Field, useful for interpretation of geophysical surveys designed to shed light on the structure of thecrust. The thermal conductivity is comparable to that of glass and shows a clear negative dependence on porosity.The volume heat capacity and the thermal diffusivity are less variable. The concentration of the thermallyimportant natural radioactive isotopes was determined by gamma-ray spectrometry. Lavas denoted a rather lowheat-production rate, and the largest concentration of heat-producing elements (potassium, uranium, thorium)was found in the trachyte samples. The magnetic susceptibility is more variable than the other physical propertiesand, among the several iron-titanium oxides, it appears primarily controlled by the ulvöspinel-magnetite solidsolution series.

Earth, Planets and Space, 2001

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<p&amp... more <p>The Wilkes Subglacial Basin (WSB) is a major intraplate tectonic feature in East Antarctica. It stretches for ca 1400 km from the edge of the Southern Ocean, where it is up to 600 km wide towards South Pole, where it is less than 100 km wide. Recent modelling of its subice topography (Paxman et al., 2019, JGR) lends support to a long-standing hypothesis predicting that the wide basin is linked to flexure of more rigid and mostly Precambrian cratonic lithosphere induced by the Cenozoic uplift of the adjacent Trasantarctic Mountains,. However, there is also mounting evidence from potential field and radar exploration that its narrower structurally controlled sub-basins may have formed in response to more localised Mesozoic to Cenozoic extension and transtension that preferentially steered glacial erosion (Paxman et al., 2018, GRL).  </p><p>Here we exploit recent advancements in regional aerogeophysical data compilations and continental scale satellite gravity gradient imaging with the overarching aim of helping unveil the degree of 4D heterogeneity in the crust and lithosphere beneath the WSB. New views of crustal and lithosphere thickness stem from 3D satellite gravity modelling (Pappa et al., 2019, JGR) and these can be compared with predictions from previous flexural modelling and seismological results. By stripping out the computed effects of crustal and lithosphere thickness variations we then obtain residual intra-crustal gravity anomalies. These are in turn compared with a suite of enhanced aeromagnetic anomaly images. We then calculate depth to magnetic and gravity source estimates and use these results to help constrain the first combined 2D magnetic and gravity models for two selected regions within the WSB.</p><p>One first model reveals a major lithospheric scale boundary along the eastern margin of the northern WSB. It separates the Cambro-Ordovician Ross Orogen from a newly defined composite Precambrian Wilkes Terrane that forms the unexposed crustal basement buried beneath partially exposed early Cambrian metasediments and more recent Devonian to Jurassic sediments.</p><p>Our second model investigates a sector of the WSB further south, where the proposed Precambrian basement is modelled as being both shallower and of more felsic bulk composition. Although the lack of drilling precludes direct sampling of this cryptic basement, aeromagnetic anomaly patterns suggest that it may be akin to late Paleoproterozoic to Mesoproterozoic igneous basement exposed in part of the Gawler and Curnamona cratons in South Australia. We conclude that these first order differences in basement depth, bulk composition and thickness of metasediment/sediment cover are a key and previously un-appreciated intra-crustal boundary condition, which is likely to affect geothermal heat flux variability beneath different sectors of the WSB, with potential cascading effects on subglacial hydrology and the flow of the overlying East Antarctic Ice Sheet.</p>

<p>The West Antarctic Rift System (WARS) is known to have experienced distributed/w... more <p>The West Antarctic Rift System (WARS) is known to have experienced distributed/wide mode extension in the Cretaceous, followed by narrow mode and variably oblique extension/transtension in the Cenozoic, the latter potentially linked to the onset of oceanic seafloor spreading within the Adare Basin (Davey et al., 2016, GRL). However, onshore the extent and impact of Cenozoic extension and transtension within the Transantarctic Mountains sector of East Antarctica is currently much less well-constrained from a geophysical perspective.</p> <p>Here we combine aeromagnetic, aerogravity, land-gravity and bedrock topography imaging to help constrain the extent, architecture and kinematics of the largest Cenozoic pull-apart basin recognised so far in East Antarctica, the Rennick Graben (RG).</p> <p>Enhanced potential field imaging reveals the extent of a Jurassic tholeiitic Large Igneous Province preserved within the RG and the inherited structural architecture of its basement, including remnants of uplifted ca 530-500 Ma arc basement in the northern Wilson Terrane and a ca 490-460 Ma subglacial thrust fault belt separating the Cenozoic western flank of the RG from the eastern margin of Wilkes Subglacial Basin (WSB).</p> <p>The architecture of the RG is best explained in terms of a major composite right-lateral pull-part basin that extends from the Oates Coast to the Southern Cross Mountains block. We propose that Cenozoic strike-slip deformation kinematically connected the RG with both the western edge of the WARS and the eastern margin of the WSB. An earlier phase of left-lateral strike slip deformation is also emerging from recent geological field work in the study region but only relatively subtle offsets in aeromagnetic anomaly patterns are visible in currently available regional datasets.</p> <p>We conclude that the RG is part of a wider distributed region of the continental lithosphere in East Antarctica that was deformed in response to an evolving Cenozoic transtensional tectonic setting that may have also affected enigmatic sub-basins such as the Cook Basins in the adjacent WSB region.</p>

Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface

Geophysical Research Letters

The analysis of geomagnetic field variations is a useful tool to detect electrical conductivity c... more The analysis of geomagnetic field variations is a useful tool to detect electrical conductivity contrasts within the Earth. Lateral resolution of outlined patterns depends on the array dimensions and density of measurement sites over the investigated area. The inspection ...

In this work we show the results of a resistivity tomography performed over the shallow part of a... more In this work we show the results of a resistivity tomography performed over the shallow part of a large cave system in the Mt.Armetta karst, Pennavaira valley northwestern Italy. The cave has been explored and surveyed by the authors themselves, thus a precise knowledge of size and shape of the subsurface voids is available. The cave, whose shallowest part exhibits narrow passages and large chambers, was developed in the Mesozoic sedimentary cover(Caprauna Armetta tectonic unit), an allochtonous nappe characterized by four deformation phases. The main target of the experiment is a region located at about 30 m below surface precisely spotted by ve 235m long ERT sections. Since cave develops in a windy summit area, the long-term stability of an eolic power plant tower, located over a karst void, is also considered. As a matter of fact, the footings of the eolic towers (approx 100 m high) may interfere with unpredictable shallow hollows, whose presence, in the power plant area, is more...

Statistical analysis of the polar electrojet influence on geomagnetic transfer functions estimate... more Statistical analysis of the polar electrojet influence on geomagnetic transfer functions estimates over wide time and space scales. D.Rizzello(1),E.Armadillo(1),A.Manzella(2) 1)DISTAV - University of Genoa,Italy. 2)Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources - CNR, Pisa, Italy. Magnetotelluric (MT) and magnetovariational (MV) investigations can provide original information and constraints on the electrical conductivity, thermal state and structure of the crust and mantle at the base of the polar ice sheets. These methods provide depth resolution, lacking in potential field methods, and can reach high investigation depth, an invaluable advantage where very difficult logistic conditions prevent or limit the use of active methods such as seismic surveys. However, MT/MV surveys have not been applied extensively in polar areas mainly because electromagnetic data could be biased by the polar electrojet current systems (PEJ) occurring at high geomagnetic latitude. In fact, close to the au...

Time-series of radon concentration and environmental parameters were recently recorded in a urani... more Time-series of radon concentration and environmental parameters were recently recorded in a uranium mine gallery, located in the Maritime Alps (NW Italy). The mine was bored in metarhyolites and porphyric schists mainly composed by quartz, feldspar, sericite and fluorite. U-bearing minerals are generally concentrated in veins heterogeneously spaced and made of crystals of metaautunite and metatorbernite. Radon air concentration monitoring was performed with an ionization chamber which was placed at the bottom of the gallery. Hourly mean values of temperature, pressure, and relative humidity were also measured. External data of atmospheric temperature, pressure and rainfall were also available from a meteorological station located nearby, at a similar altitude of the mine. The analysis of the time series recorded showed variation of radon concentration, of large amplitude, exhibiting daily and half-daily periods, which do not seem correlated with meteorological records. Searching for...

An integrated geophysical MVG (Microgravity Vertical Gradient) and ERT (Electrical Resistivity To... more An integrated geophysical MVG (Microgravity Vertical Gradient) and ERT (Electrical Resistivity Tomography) survey was performed over a shallow cave in the Armetta Mountain karst area, close to the Liguria-Piedmont watershed (Tanaro valley). The aim of this study is to test the response of a known shallow karst cave. The cave was developed in the Mesozoic sedimentary cover (dolostones and limestones

We present the results of measurements of physical properties carried out on mafic lavas from the... more We present the results of measurements of physical properties carried out on mafic lavas from the Mt MelbourneVolcanic Field, useful for interpretation of geophysical surveys designed to shed light on the structure of thecrust. The thermal conductivity is comparable to that of glass and shows a clear negative dependence on porosity.The volume heat capacity and the thermal diffusivity are less variable. The concentration of the thermallyimportant natural radioactive isotopes was determined by gamma-ray spectrometry. Lavas denoted a rather lowheat-production rate, and the largest concentration of heat-producing elements (potassium, uranium, thorium)was found in the trachyte samples. The magnetic susceptibility is more variable than the other physical propertiesand, among the several iron-titanium oxides, it appears primarily controlled by the ulvöspinel-magnetite solidsolution series.

Earth, Planets and Space, 2001