Papers by Francesco Fiorillo
Assetto stratigrafico e strutturale dei terreni nella Valle dei Templi (Agrigento)
Bollettino Della Societa Geologica Italiana, 1999
PLOS water, Feb 1, 2023
Water can represent a hazard causing soil erosion and it is essential to anticipate the potential... more Water can represent a hazard causing soil erosion and it is essential to anticipate the potential environmental impacts of sustained rainwater energy to achieve sustainability. Here, we present the modelling of the erosive force of water for the production of soil sediment in a Mediterranean basin of central Italy (Ombrone River Basin, ORB). A point of departure is the historical recognition of the environmental factors causing sediments loss (SL) by water. A semi-empirical framework was then proposed for the upscaling of SL based on the Foster-Thornes approach (EUSEM: Environmental Upscaling Sediment Erosion Model) in order to give an insight into annual sediment losses (SL) over the period 1949-1977 (calibration) and over a longer time-frame (1942-2020: reconstruction). Two change-points were detected: 1967 and 1986. During this period, SL was affected by a sharp decrease from 625 Mg km -2 yr -1 , before the first change-point (when SL was only occasionally below the tolerable soil loss threshold of 150 Mg km -2 yr -1 ), to 233 Mg km -2 yr -1 , during the transition phase 1967-1985 (mostly above the warning treshold of 140 Mg km -2 yr -1 ). This decrease coincided with an enhancing of vegetation throughout the basin due to an ongoing afforestation process. After this period, a resurgence of climatic forcing led to a further, but more contained, increase in SL, from 1996 onwards. This case-study illustrates the application and results that can be obtained with the framework for the outcome of environmental change due to sediment losses in a Mediterranean fluvial basin. Limitations and perspectives of this approach are given as conclusion.
Comparison of long karst spring discharge series
Bollettino Della Societa Geologica Italiana, Sep 1, 2013
Long spring discharge series have been compared to find their fluctuations and relations to clima... more Long spring discharge series have been compared to find their fluctuations and relations to climate variables. In some cases hydrological data cover more than one hundred years of records. Data come from aquifers of southern Italy, where karst springs constitute the main water resource and are located inside protected areas (Regional Park).As the spring discharge expresses the output of the aquifer, it is connected to recharge processes, which depend mainly on the rainfall and temperature catchment distribution. For these reasons, spring discharge “mediates” the climate parameter records on long term, and can be considered an important indicator of the climate.
Sono presentate alcune prospezioni mediante rilievi a distanza con scanner operante nel campo del... more Sono presentate alcune prospezioni mediante rilievi a distanza con scanner operante nel campo dell'infrarosso termico (8 -12 jlrn): Queste applicazioni evidenziano una grande potenzialità circa l'acquisizione di tali dati in settori vari della Geologia Applicata. Le immagini che si ottengono sono in stretta connessione con la temperatura superficiale dei corpi investigati (termografie); l'interpretazione quindi è funzione del significato che si puo' attribuire alla distribuzione della. temperatura sulla superficie dei corpi. Il sistema infatti evidenzia, sotto forma di toni di grigio o di falsi colori, l'energia termica irradiata e, in minor misura-, riflessa dai corpi ripresi. Le applicazioni, tutte effettuate da rilievi a terra, riguardano la indi viduazione di sorgenti sottomarine, campo di tradizionale applicazione da piattaforme aereotrasportate, e la osservazione di un versante in frana.
Rainfall induced landslides: the example of Ferrandina (southern Italy)
Spring hydrograph recession: A brief review focused on karst aquifers
Hydrogeology (International Association of Hydrogeologists), Apr 14, 2016
Water
It is widely accepted that spring hydrographs are an effective tool for evaluating the internal s... more It is widely accepted that spring hydrographs are an effective tool for evaluating the internal structure of karst aquifers because they depict the response of the whole aquifer to recharge events. The spring hydrograph is affected by various factors such as flow regime, geometry, type of recharge, and hydraulic properties of conduit. However, the effect of conduit network geometry received less attention and required more comprehensive research studies. The present study attempted to highlight the impact of the two most frequent patterns of karst conduits (i.e., branchwork and network maze) on the characteristic of the spring hydrograph. Therefore, two conduit patterns, branchwork and network maze, were randomly generated with MATLAB codes. Then, MODFLOW-CFP was used to quantify the effect of conduit pattern, conduit density, and diffuse or concentrated recharge on the spring hydrograph. Results reveal that peak discharge, fast-flow recession coefficient, and the return time to bas...
Hydrological deformation of karst aquifers detected by GPS measurements, Matese massif, Italy
Environmental Earth Sciences
Climatic fingerprint of spring discharge depletion in the southern Italian Apennines from 1601 to 2020 CE
Environmental Research Communications
Annual mean spring discharge (ASD) is an important water supply source, essential for ecological ... more Annual mean spring discharge (ASD) is an important water supply source, essential for ecological systems and societies dependent on groundwater resources. Influenced by both regional and local climate fluctuations, the inter-annual variability of ASD represents a climate memory signal, significantly affected when the drought pattern manifests itself in changing climatic regimes. Gaining a better historical perspective on ASD changes requires extended time-series of discharge data and relevant climate drivers. Here, using a parsimonious model, we present a continuous (modelled) time-series of annual ASD for the karst spring of Caposele, in the Cervialto Massif of southern Italy, which is hitherto the longest (1601–2020 CE) such time-series for the entire Mediterranean region. The model was designed to capture the importance of large-scale seasonal (spring, autumn and winter) precipitation (hydro-meteorological factor), and flood and drought indices (climatological factor), and to be ...
Sustainability
The need to produce energy from clean energy sources has caused public administrations and privat... more The need to produce energy from clean energy sources has caused public administrations and private companies to look for suitable places. The windiness detected in the eastern area of the Matese karst massif (southern Italy) has favored the construction of wind farms to produce electricity from clean energy sources. During the installation of the first wind turbines, some alterations in the supply of drinking water, fed by the springs of this area, were attributed by the population to this installation. Therefore, in order to assess whether there has been an impact produced by the wind farms on the quality of groundwater, a detailed hydrogeological study was developed. Karst hydrogeological features of the area were mapped, focusing on endorheic areas, sinkholes and karst springs. Artificial tracer tests were then carried out to investigate groundwater flow circulation and connection between surface karst landforms and springs. Chemical and physical characteristics of the groundwate...
Hydrological features of endorheic areas in southern Italy
Analisi degli effetti di barriera capillare nell'attivazione di debris-avalanches in coltri piroclastiche
The upwelling water flux which feeds karst springs
AQUA 2015 - 42nd IAH CONGRESS, 2016
The phenomenon of ascendant flow which characterizes karst springs, southern Apennines
<p>The hydraulic phenomenon of upwelling, affecting several karst springs o... more <p>The hydraulic phenomenon of upwelling, affecting several karst springs of Apennines, has been investigated through water level monitored in several boreholes of different depth, and chemical-physical data of springs water. Three different springs in Campania region, southern Italy, were analyzed (Serino, Grassano and Caposele springs), characterized by different ground­water hydraulic schemes, but with the same upwelling phenomenon at the springs.</p><p>Even if the ascending groundwater flow is expected from the hydraulic features connected to the local and regional groundwater flow theory, these observations are original in areas analyzed.    </p><p>Some data (spring discharge and piezometric levels) have been acquired mainly from aqueduct companies, other data (physical-chemical param­eters and Radon values (<sup>222</sup>Rn)) have been collected ad hoc in spring waters.</p><p>All data pointed out that karst springs considered are fed by ground­water flux that locally is vertical; in some cases, CO<sub>2</sub> and H<sub>2</sub>S dissolved gas in the deep groundwater are transported in surface by the ascendent flow, which can cause typical collapse sinkholes near the karst springs. All these features, common to others springs of Apennines, can be relevant in the realization of the tapping work, in their maintenance and for the definition of the protection area of the springs.</p>
Comparison of long karst spring discharge series
Bollettino Della Societa Geologica Italiana, 2013
Long spring discharge series have been compared to find their fluctuations and relations to clima... more Long spring discharge series have been compared to find their fluctuations and relations to climate variables. In some cases hydrological data cover more than one hundred years of records. Data come from aquifers of southern Italy, where karst springs constitute the main water resource and are located inside protected areas (Regional Park).As the spring discharge expresses the output of the aquifer, it is connected to recharge processes, which depend mainly on the rainfall and temperature catchment distribution. For these reasons, spring discharge “mediates” the climate parameter records on long term, and can be considered an important indicator of the climate.
Analysis of recharge processes in some karst systems, Southern Italy
Bollettino Della Societa Geologica Italiana, 2017
The recharge processes have been evaluated for some karst massifs of southern Italy. The first st... more The recharge processes have been evaluated for some karst massifs of southern Italy. The first step is the evaluation of the annual mean recharge for a long-time period (30 years) by GIS tools, by regression analysis of annual mean values of different ground-elevated rain gauges and thermometers. The estimation takes into account the presence of the wide endorheic areas, or closed areas, distinguished from the rest of the catchment, characterized by the open areas. In a first step, the ratio between the output spring discharge and input rainfall has been also estimated (long term recharge coefficients) for both closed and open areas. The second step is the assessment of the daily recharge, splitting the daily rainfall into several amounts (evapotranspiration, soil moisture retention, recharge s.s. and runoff), calibrating the daily simulation on the long-term recharge coefficient found in the first step. These analyses have been carried out for the Cervialto karst massif (southern I...
The Petacciato (CB) unstable coastal slope: geological, geomorphological and hydrological features
Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment, 2020
Дано описание δ-дифференцирований (n + 1)-мерных n-арных алгебр Филиппова и, как следствие, прост... more Дано описание δ-дифференцирований (n + 1)-мерных n-арных алгебр Филиппова и, как следствие, простых конечномерных алгебр Филиппова над алгебраически замкнутым полем характеристики нуль. Приведены новые примеры нетривиальных δ-дифференцирований алгебр Филиппова. Показано отсутствие нетривиальных δ-дифференцирований простой тернарной алгебры Мальцева M8. Библиография: 27 наименований. Ключевые слова: δ-дифференцирование, алгебра Филиппова, тернарная алгебра Мальцева.
Metodo Per La Gestione DI Un Sistema DI Allertamento Idroclimatico Condiviso Con Funzioni Predittive
Recharge processes of karst massifs in southern Italy
IAH - Selected Papers on Hydrogeology, 2016
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Papers by Francesco Fiorillo