A geo-chemo-mechanical study of a highly polluted marine system (Taranto, Italy) for the enhancement of the conceptual site model (original) (raw)

Geo-chemo-mechanical characterization of a polluted marine basin

E3S Web of Conferences, 2019

The work shows the first results of the characterization of the heavily polluted sediments in the Mar Piccolo basin (Taranto, south of Italy), obtained thanks to an integrated investigation method. In the field of the actions promoted by the Italian Government to select the most sustainable remediation strategies, a multidisciplinary investigation of the site has been carried out involving the reconstruction of the geological set-up of the basin, the analysis of the chemical contamination and the geo-mechanical properties of the sediments collected up to 30 m below the sea floor. The devices and methodologies used for the off-shore sampling, storage and transport of the sediments and for the laboratory testing were specifically designed to obtain the best possible picture of the site. The quality of the soil sampling resulted to be high enough for chemical, geochemical and geotechnical characterization and to develop integrated analyses. With this purpose, the paper discusses prelim...

Geo-Environmental Characterisation of High Contaminated Coastal Sites: The Analysis of Past Experiences in Taranto (Southern Italy) as a Key for Defining Operational Guidelines

Land

Despite its remarkable geomorphological, ecological, and touristic value, the coastal sector of the Apulia region (Southern Italy) hosts three of the main contaminated Italian sites (Sites of National Interest, or SINs), for which urgent environmental remediation and reclamation actions are required. These sites are affected by intense coastal modification and diffuse environmental pollution due to the strong industrialisation and urbanisation processes that have been taking place since the second half of the XIX century. The Apulian coastal SINs, established by the National Law 426/1998 and delimited by the Ministerial Decree of 10 January 2000, include large coastal sectors and marine areas, which have been deeply investigated by the National Institution for the Environmental Research and Protection (ISPRA) and the Regional Agency for the Prevention and Protection of the Environment (ARPA) with the aim of obtaining a deep environmental characterisation of the marine matrices (sedi...

Marine Sediments from a Contaminated Site: Geotechnical Properties and Chemo-Mechanical Coupling Processes

Geosciences, 2019

The city of Taranto in the south of Italy is one of the areas declared as “at high risk of environmental crisis” by the Italian government because it represents one of the most complex industrial sites in Europe, located near urban areas of high population density. The rich ecosystem of the Mar Piccolo basin, located at north of Taranto, started exhibiting unconfutable signs of environmental pollution, confirmed by the high concentrations of organic and inorganic contaminants. Among the different aspects involved in the environmental studies aiming at the basin remediation, this paper focuses on submarine sediments and reports some results of the geotechnical laboratory investigations which made also use of non-standard equipment and revised procedures for data interpretation in order to take account of the sediments’ contamination and heterogeneities. The geotechnical laboratory tests show that, despite the Mar Piccolo recent Holocene sediments having similar origin and composition...

Coupled geophysics and geochemistry to record recent coastal changes of contaminated sites of the Bagnoli industrial area, Southern Italy

Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 2020

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Environmental Status of Italian Coastal Marine Areas Affected by Long History of Contamination

Frontiers in Environmental Science, 2020

In the first decades of 2000s, several Italian sites affected by strong anthropogenic impact were recognized as Sites of National Interest (SINs) for a successive reclamation project, some of which also including marine sectors. These coastal areas are characterized by high complexity and diversity as regards the natural setting as well as for extent, history, type, and degree of contamination. For this, the Italian Ministry of Environment charged its scientific research Institute (earlier ICRAM, now ISPRA) with planning a flexible, adaptable, and large-scale environmental characterization. In this context, the investigation of marine sediments was identified as the primary target to assess the environmental status, because of their conservative capacity with respect to contaminants and their role in the exchange processes with other environmental matrices, such as water column and aquatic organisms. A multidisciplinary, chemicalphysical, and ecotoxicological survey was identified as the most appropriate and objective criterion for assessing the sediment quality associated, when necessary, with integrative studies. The results derived from this multidisciplinary approach highlighted the main sources of contamination, together with size and extent of the environmental impact on the coastal marine areas, strictly correlated with the kind of anthropogenic activities and coastal morphology. In order to underline how the different environmental setting influences the degree of anthropogenic impact, four different case studies, selected among the more complex by geochemical and geomorphological viewpoints and more extensively studied, were considered. A comprehensive evaluation of these case studies allowed to deduce some general principles concerning the effects of anthropogenic impact, which can be applicable to other transitional and marine coastal areas.

On the geotechnical characterisation of the polluted submarine sediments from Taranto

Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2016

This paper reports the results of the first geomechanical laboratory experiments carried out on the polluted submarine clayey sediments of the Mar Piccolo in Taranto (South of Italy). The study had to face with extreme difficulties for the very soft consistency of the sediments and the contaminants. The mineralogy, composition and physical properties of the sediments were analysed, along with their compression and shearing behaviour. The investigation involved sediments up to about 20 m below the seafloor, along three vertical profiles in the most polluted area of the Mar Piccolo, facing the Italian Navy Arsenal. The experimental results were used to derive a preliminary geotechnical model of the site, necessary for the selection and design of the most sustainable in situ mitigation solutions. Moreover, the experimental data reveal that the clayey sediments of the most polluted top layer do not follow the classical geotechnical correlations for normally consolidated deposits. This seems to open interesting perspectives about the effects of pollutants on the geotechnical behaviour of the investigated sediments.

On the geotechnical characterization of the polluted submarine sediments from Taranto

This paper reports the first results of an experimental investigation into the geotechnical characterization of the polluted submarine sediments of the Mar Piccolo in Taranto. The research has been mainly conducted in the geotechnical laboratory of the Technical University of Bari – Taranto site, and it benefited from the collaboration with the Institute for Geotechnical Engineering at the ETH in Zurich. From the techniques used for off-shore sampling, to the physical and mechanical characterisation in the laboratory, the study had to face with extreme difficulties for the very soft consistency of the sediments and the contaminants present in their pore water. The in-situ investigation allowed to derive new interesting information concerning the off-shore stratigraphy, with particular reference to the thickness of the very soft sediments. The laboratory results put in evidence that the complex processes deriving from chemo-hydro-mechanical coupling make the sediments exhibit unexpec...