Efficiency of frost-cracking processes through space and time: An example from the eastern Italian Alps

It is widely accepted that climate has a strong impact and exerts important feedbacks on erosional processes and sediment transport mechanisms. However, the extent at which climate influences erosion is still a matter of debate. In this paper we test whether frost-cracking processes and related temperature variations can influence the sediment production and surface erosion in a small catchment situated in the eastern Italian Alps. To this extent, we first present a geomorphic map of the region that we complement with published 10Be-based denudation rates. We then apply a preexisting heat-flow model in order to analyze the variations of the frost-cracking intensity (FCI) in the study area, which could have controlled the sediment production in the basin. Finally, we compare the model results with the pattern of denudation rates and Quaternary deposits in the geomorphic map. The model results, combined with field observations, mapping, and quantitative geomorphic analyses, reveal that frost-cracking processes have had a primary role in the production of sediment where the intensity of sediment supply has been dictated and limited by the combined effect of temperature variations and conditions of bedrock preservation. These results highlight the importance of a yet poorly understood process for the production of sediment in mountain areas.

Geological map of the Scalaro Valley – Sesia Zone (Italian Western Alps)

In the Sesia Zone (Italian Western Alps), slivers of continental crust characterised by an Alpine high-pressure imprint are intermingled with abundant mafic rocks and Mesozoic metasediments. An extensive study of the central Sesia Zone was undertaken to identify and reconstruct the lithological setting of the mono-cyclic sediments of the Scalaro Unit. A new geological map (1:5000) and schematic cross sections across the Scalaro Unit and the adjoining Eclogitic Micaschist Complex are presented here. In order to delimit the size and shape of the mono-metamorphic unit and understand its internal geometry with respect to the poly-metamorphic basement, an integrated approach was used. Linking observations and data across a range of scales, from kilometres in the field down to petrological and chronological data obtained at micrometre scale, we define for the first time the real size and internal geometry of the Scalaro Unit, as well as its large-scale structural context.

Inversion, Obviation, and Animacy in Native Languages of the Americas: Elements for a Cross-linguistic Survey

Native languages of the Americas whose predicate and clause structure reflect nominal hierarchies show an interesting range of structural diversity not only with respect to morphological makeup of their predicates and arguments but also with respect to the factors governing obviation status. The present article maps part of such diversity. The sample surveyed here includes languages with some sort of nonlocal (third person acting on third person) direction-marking system.

Il plurilinguismo in un corso di tedesco per immigrati italiani ultrasettantenni a Berna

In diesem Artikel möchten wir einen Blick in die Sprachenvielfalt eines besonderen Deutschkurses werfen. Es handelt sich dabei um einen Kurs für pensionierte italienische Migrantinnen in Bern. Die Teilnehmerinnen, alle älter als 70 Jahre, mit meist geringer Schulbildung, haben sich dazu entschlossen, nach der Pensionierung die Sprache des Gastlandes zu erlernen oder ihre Kompetenzen zu verbessern. Wie frühere Studien zeigen konnten, hatten viele Immigranten der 60er Jahre in der Schweiz auf Grund der Diglossie (Werlen 2007) Probleme die deutsche Standardsprache zu erlernen oder sie haben keine der Varietäten gelernt weil Zeit, Motivation und Angebot fehlten. Ein weiteres Resultat dieser diglossischen Situation, mit welcher die Migranten konfrontiert sind, ist ihre Sprachkompetenz, welche als Varietätenkontinuum zwischen einem Deutschschweizer Dialekt und der Standardsprache betrachtet werden kann. Daher werden wir anhand einiger Unterrichtssequenztranskriptionen die sprachlichen Varietäten von vier Kursteilnehmerinnen analysieren und die Funktion der verschiedenen Sprachen und Sprachvarietäten innerhalb des Kurses bestimmen.