The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), with its NextGen Air Transportation System (NextGen) and Performance-Based Navigation (PBN) initiatives, is moving towards a concept of integrated procedures implementation. Performance-Based Navigation initiatives include implementing Area Navigation (RNAV) and Required Navigation Performance (RNP) routes and procedures. The integrative concept of implementation of these procedures would mean a migration away from site by site (or runway by runway) procedure implementation process towards a NextGen readiness concept. This concept will include development of an integrated system of PBN routes and procedures by geographic area (incorporating metro areas and outlying airports). This concept delivers optimum benefits for the air traffic and carrier community. In addition, the integrative approach helps in prioritizing and formulating the funding requests to combine airspace, environmental, and procedures development. This paper discusses different aspects of this integrative approach.

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/5165450/5172820/05172877.pdf

Integrated approach

Realistic appraisal of paleoclimatic information obtained from a particular location requires accurate knowledge of its paleolatitude defined relative to the Earth’s spin-axis. This is crucial to, among others, correctly assess the amount of solar energy received at a location at the moment of sediment deposition. The paleolatitude of an arbitrary location can in principle be reconstructed from tectonic plate reconstructions that (1) restore the relative motions between plates based on (marine) magnetic anomalies, and (2) reconstruct all plates relative to the spin axis using a paleomagnetic reference frame based on a global apparent polar wander path. Whereas many studies do employ high-quality relative plate reconstructions, the necessity of using a paleomagnetic reference frame for climate studies rather than a mantle reference frame appears under-appreciated. In this paper, we briefly summarize the theory of plate tectonic reconstructions and their reference frames tailored towards applications of paleoclimate reconstruction, and show that using a mantle reference frame, which defines plate positions relative to the mantle, instead of a paleomagnetic reference frame may introduce errors in paleolatitude of more than 15° (>1500 km). This is because mantle reference frames cannot constrain, or are specifically corrected for the effects of true polar wander. We used the latest, state-of-the-art plate reconstructions to build a global plate circuit, and developed an online, user-friendly paleolatitude calculator for the last 200 million years by placing this plate circuit in three widely used global apparent polar wander paths. As a novelty, this calculator adds error bars to paleolatitude estimates that can be incorporated in climate modeling. The calculator is available at www.paleolatitude.org. We illustrate the use of the paleolatitude calculator by showing how an apparent wide spread in Eocene sea surface temperatures of southern high latitudes may be in part explained by a much wider paleolatitudinal distribution of sites than previously assumed.

/pdf/a-paleolatitude-calculator-for-paleoclimate-studies-4wysuo3ihc.pdf

A Paleolatitude Calculator for Paleoclimate Studies

Identifying triggers for liquefaction-induced soft-sediment deformation in sands

Orogenic architecture of the Mediterranean region and kinematic reconstruction of its tectonic evolution since the Triassic

Recognising triggers for soft-sediment deformation: Current understanding and future directions ☆

Seismically-induced slumps in Lower-Maastrichtian peritidal carbonates of the Apulian Platform (southern Italy)

The “mid”-Cretaceous carbonate succession of the Apulia Carbonate Platform cropping out in northern Murge area (Apulia, southern Italy) is composed of shallow-water carbonate rocks and is over 400 m in thickness. This paper focuses on the lithofacies analysis of this carbonate succession, its paleoenvironmental interpretation, and its sequence-chronostratigraphic architecture. Lithofacies analysis permitted to identify deposits which can be grouped into the following three facies belts: (1) terrestrial facies belt formed by: intraclast-supported paleosoils; solution-collapse breccias; (2) restricted facies belt made up of lithofacies deposited in protected peritidal environments; (3) normal-marine facies belt made up of lithofacies formed in moderate- to high-energy subtidal environments. The detailed study both in outcrops and in thin-sections revealed that, at the bed scale, lithofacies are cyclically arranged and form shallowing-upward small-scale depositional sequences comparable to parasequences and/or simple sequences. The following three small-scale sequence types have been distinguished: (1) subtidal sequences mostly made up of lithofacies formed in the normal-marine open subtidal domain; (2) peritidal sequences made up of lithofacies formed in the restricted peritidal domain; (3) peritidal sequences showing a cap formed by paleosoils. Small-scale sequences are not randomly arranged in the compiled succession but form discrete packages, or sets, that alternate in the sedimentary record. The repetition of such small-scale sequence packages in the succession has been the key to recognize large-scale sequences comparable to third-order depositional sequences. Although sedimentological data are often fragmentary due to late dolomitization, four large-scale sequences have been distinguished. The data support a generalized landward-backstepping of facies belts during transgression, which implies a gradual gain of accommodation culminating with the deposition of a package of small-scale sequences formed by normal-marine subtidal deposits. These mark periods of maximum accommodation space and form the maximum-flooding zones of large-scale sequences. A gradual seaward progradation of facies belts is recorded during highstand conditions, which implies a gradual loss of accommodation culminating with the deposition of a package of peritidal small-scale sequences capped by paleosoils or by solution-collapse breccias. The occurrence of terrestrial deposits marks periods of minimum accommodation on the platform and determines the sequence boundary of large-scale sequences. The large-scale sequences identified in this study fit with the main transgressive/regressive cycles published in the sequence-chronostratigraphic chart of European basins. As a consequence, it is interpreted that changes of the sea level recorded at the scale of European basins played an important role in determining the sequence-stratigraphic architecture of the studied succession. In spite of this, the occurrence of solution-collapse breccias, which implies a significant gap in carbonate sedimentation in between Early and Middle Cenomanian times, may also have an alternative interpretation. In particular, this deposit may represent the local fingerprint of the well-known tectonic phase which, during Late Albian-Early/Middle Cenomanian times, determined the subaerial exposure of large parts of Periadriatic carbonate platforms producing a marked regional unconformity.

Facies evolution and sequence chronostratigraphy of a “mid”-Cretaceous shallow-water carbonate succession of the Apulia Carbonate Platform from the northern Murge area (Apulia, southern Italy)

Tectonic triggering of slump sheets in the Upper Cretaceous carbonate succession of the Porto Selvaggio area (Salento peninsula, southern Italy): Synsedimentary tectonics in the Apulian Carbonate Platform

. The first and foremost boundary condition for kinematic reconstructions of the Mediterranean region is the relative motion between Africa and Eurasia, constrained through reconstructions of the Atlantic Ocean. The Adria continental block is in a downgoing plate position relative to the strongly curved central Mediterranean subduction-related orogens, and forms the foreland of the Apennines, Alps, Dinarides, and Albanides–Hellenides. It is connected to the African plate through the Ionian Basin, likely with Lower Mesozoic oceanic lithosphere. If the relative motion of Adria versus Africa is known, its position relative to Eurasia can be constrained through a plate circuit, thus allowing robust boundary conditions for the reconstruction of the complex kinematic history of the Mediterranean region. Based on kinematic reconstructions for the Neogene motion of Adria versus Africa, as interpreted from the Alps and from Ionian Basin and its surrounding areas, it has been suggested that Adria underwent counterclockwise (ccw) vertical axis rotations ranging from ~ 0 to 20°. Here, we provide six new paleomagnetic poles from Adria, derived from the Lower Cretaceous to Upper Miocene carbonatic units of the Apulian peninsula (southern Italy). These, in combination with published poles from the Po Plain (Italy), the Istrian peninsula (Croatia), and the Gargano promontory (Italy), document a post-Eocene 9.8 ± 9.5° counterclockwise vertical axis rotation of Adria. Our results do not show evidence of significant Africa–Adria rotation between the Early Cretaceous and Eocene. Models based on reconstructions of the Alps, invoking 17° ccw rotation, and based on the Ionian Basin, invoking 2° ccw rotation, are both permitted within the documented rotation range, yet are mutually exclusive. This apparent enigma could possibly be solved only if one or more of the following conditions are satisfied: (i) Neogene shortening in the western Alps has been significantly underestimated (by as much as 150 km); (ii) Neogene extension in the Ionian Basin has been significantly underestimated (by as much as 420 km); and/or (iii) a major sinistral strike-slip zone has decoupled northern and southern Adria in Neogene time. Here we present five alternative reconstructions of Adria at 20 Ma, highlighting the kinematic uncertainties, and satisfying the inferred rotation pattern from this study and/or from previously proposed kinematic reconstructions.

/pdf/did-adria-rotate-relative-to-africa-1ew8ioz2jk.pdf

Did Adria rotate relative to Africa

The geological mapping of the 438 Sheet «Bari» (scale 1:50.000), located in the northern part of the Murge area (Apulia, southern Italy), offered the opportunity to revise the local stratigraphy of the mid-Cretaceous carbonate succession belonging to the Calcare di Bari Fm. Despite the flat topography, the strong urbanization and a widespread cover of «terra rossa» soils prevented the study of a continuous and undisturbed succession, several fragmentary lithostratigraphic and biostratigraphic data have been collected and correlated along many stratigraphic sections. This correlation allowed us to reconstruct a 470 m-thick composite section mostly made up of mud-supported shallow-water limestones and dolomites. This thickness is considerably lower than about 1000 m estimated before in the same area for the same time interval. In agreement with the previous edition of the Geologic Map of Italy few stratigraphic intervals showing a rich content in rudist assemblages and an interval of dolomitic breccias have been used as reference layers and successfully used for lithostratigraphic correlations. New biostratigraphic data show the first record of «primitive» orbitolinid assemblages and other important index taxa which refer the lower and the middle part of the studied succession to the Albian in disagreement with the previous attribution to the Cenomanian.

Luigi Spalluto

Papers

Seismically-induced slumps in Lower-Maastrichtian peritidal carbonates of the Apulian Platform (southern Italy)

Facies evolution and sequence chronostratigraphy of a “mid”-Cretaceous shallow-water carbonate succession of the Apulia Carbonate Platform from the northern Murge area (Apulia, southern Italy)

Tectonic triggering of slump sheets in the Upper Cretaceous carbonate succession of the Porto Selvaggio area (Salento peninsula, southern Italy): Synsedimentary tectonics in the Apulian Carbonate Platform

Did Adria rotate relative to Africa

Stratigraphy of the mid-Cretaceous shallow-water limestones of the Apulia Carbonate Platform (Murge, Apulia, southern Italy)