In the paper we present the research of the Selo landslide (Vipava Valley, SW Slovenia), which was triggered more than 42 ka ago as a rock avalanche (triggering factor being most probably an earthquake). Landslide stands out for its volume (190 million m3 of material), which we have determined by field and GPR measurements in GIS environment. By integrating these data and sediment properties, we have investigated also the landslide transport mechanisms. Application of our research represents a contribution to better understanding of mass movement processes, which have occurred in the past and will continue in the future.
COBISS.SI-ID: 1322334
Tesserae from 15 different Roman mosaics, ranging from the first century BC to the fifth century AD., at archaeological sites in Slovenia were investigated on the basis of microfacies analysis and 13 different microfacies were identified. The investigated tesserae are not local in provenance. The majority of the white tesserae belong to the Upper Cretaceous shallow-water limestones of the Dinaric Carbonate Platform, probably from the Karst area. The black ones originate in a deeper-water or restricted lagoonal environment, with dysoxic to anoxic conditions. They belong either to the Jurassic deeper-water rocks found in the central part of Slovenia, or the Cretaceous rocks deposited during OAEs on the Dinaric Carbonate Platform of the Karst region. Sedimentological – microfacies study approach has been successfully used in provenance archeology investigation. Tesserae as a typical form of rock (microfacies), relate these characteristics to a particular sedimentary environment and define the provenance of the stone materials.
COBISS.SI-ID: 1269086
The study gives an example of the use of stable isotopes to trace and determine the extent of contaminants in the marine coastal area. The purposes of study were to measure nitrogen isotope composition of Patella sp. as a potential bioindicator for tracing anthropogenic pollution in the coastal marine environment and to detect possible isotopic variations between different sizes of limpets or between different organism tissues. The results indicated that the limpet is a useful indicator for tracing anthropogenically derived organic matter in coastal marine ecosystem. The main contribution is the possibility of using the technique (small quantity of sample required, accessibility of analysis) and selected organisms (abundance) for future analyses of pollution of coastal marine environments.
COBISS.SI-ID: 1072478
In case of foamed lightweight aggregates (LWA), porosity is introduced by the addition of a foaming agent to the glassy matrix, which degasses at an elevated temperature, so that the resulting gasses remain trapped inside the glassy structure. The efficiency of action of MnO2 as a foaming agent in wasteglass and waste glass / silica mud systems was studied. Samples were fired at different temperatures and with different dwelling times at a certaintemperature, and the development of porosity was investigated by means of X-ray micro-tomography. It was found that, with the prolongation in dwelling times, the number of pores decreased, while, on the other hand, the volume of these pores increased, and that the addition of silica mud increasesthe foaming temperature and slows down the foaming process.
COBISS.SI-ID: 1980007
Pohorje is one of the only four known locations of ultrahigh pressure metamorphic (UHPM) rocks in the Alpine mountain chain and the first and only known location of UHP rocks in the Eastern Alps. Therefore, phase relations among the mineral assemblages of UHP kyanite eclogite in the Pohorje Mountains were investigated in details. Ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism resulted from intracontinental subduction during the Cretaceous (ca. 92 Ma), and Pohorje is the only known location of UHP metamorphism in the Alps connected to Alpine (Cretaceous) orogeny (the rest of UHPM occurences are connected to younger, tertiary orogeny). Kyanite-bearing eclogites in Pohorje are associated with meta-ultramafic rocks including UHP garnet peridotites and are embedded in metapelitic gneisses and micaschists. Calculated peak P–T conditions of 3.0–3.7 GPa and 710–940 °C are in the stability field of coesite and in the same range as metamorphic conditions recorded by the associated garnet peridotites. This implies that eclogites and their host rocks were subducted to depths of about 100 km. Based on regional thermal and pressure gradients intracontinental subduction was oriented towards S and SE and Pohorje rocks encountered in P-T conditions sufficient for crystallization of diamonds.
COBISS.SI-ID: 962142
The Slovenska Bistrica ultramafic complex (SBUC; Eastern Alps, Slovenia) occupies the south-easternmost part of the Pohorje Mountains, which represent an exhumed piece of continental crust subducted during the Cretaceous Eo-Alpine orogeny. The SBUC is composed of serpentinised harzburgites with local occurrences of garnet lherzolite. Comparable LREE enrichment of all samples and absence of negative Nb and Th anomalies suggests that this piece of mantle was already metasomatised by melts or fluids before serpentinisation. Garnet lherzolite in the SBUC recorded an UHP stage (4 GPa, 900 °C) not visible in the harzburgites. Because of the evidence of an earlier lower pressure stage within the spinel stability field, the SBUC represents a piece of subducted mantle. The protolith of the harzburgites is probably oceanic mantle, considering the high degree of melt depletion yet the lack of a subduction-zone signature. It therefore most likely represents a part of previously subducted Meliata oceanic mantle, which was part of a deeper section of the hanging wall along which subduction of the continental crust that is now exposed in Pohorje took place. Alternatively, it may represent mantle depleted and metasomatised in a continental rift zone, which was later incorporated in the hanging wall of the subduction zone and subsequently dragged down to UHP conditions.
COBISS.SI-ID: 782686
The analysis of high resolution airborne lidar topography represents an essential tool for the geomorphological investigation of surface features. Here we present a detailed lidar-based geomorphological analysis of the ravines, cut into the slopes of the upper Vipava valley, NW Slovenia. The NE slopes are defined by an Oligocene thrustfront of Mesozoic carbonates overthrusted on Tertiary flysch and covered by numerous fan-shaped Quaternary gravity flows, deposited in palaeoravines cut into the flysch base rock. In contrast, the opposite SW slopes are composed solely of flysch. Research revealed that although the ravines on both slopes of the Vipava valley are lithologically and tectonically controlled, significant statistical differences in their directions exist. Along the ravines, several slope mass movements took place, as debris flows, debris avalanches and other complex movements. Investigations are important with respect to influences on slope mass movement processes on the motorway Razdrto–Vipava, which intersects the studied area and is problematic due to its position on the SW slopes of the valley.
COBISS.SI-ID: 36068141
Heavy metal contamination of soils is widespread and induces a long-term risk to ecosystem health. Research has focused on the heavy metal contamination, transfer values and risk assessment in the Kočani Field plant system (Republic of Macedonia). To identify the heavy metal concentrations in Kočani crops (rice and maize), the geochemical analysis was performed by inductive coupled plasma mass spectrometer and thereupon the transfer factor (TF) and estimated daily intake amount values were calculated. The highest As, Cd, Mo, Pb and Zn values were determined in the rice samples grown in the paddy fields near the Zletovska River. The highest Pb and Mo concentrations measured in the maize samples were from the maize fields near the Zletovska River and Ciflik city. High TF values for Mo, Zn, Cd and Cu revealed a strong accumulation of Mo, Zn and Cd by rice and Mo and Zn by maize crops. The results of the estimated daily intake showed that the regular consumption of rice and maize crops containing the highest Cd, Mo, Pb and Zn concentrations could pose a serious threat to human health, because the daily intake of Cd, Mo, Pb and Zn for crops grown in the fields around the Zletovska River exceeded the recommended provisional tolerable daily intake values. Taking into account the results, the area around Zletovska River is considered as the most anthropogenically impacted part of Kočani Field.
COBISS.SI-ID: 937310
We use multibeam sonar scanning of the seafloor and high resolution subbottom sonar profiling to investigate pre Holocene geomorphic features in the Gulf of Trieste that are visible in seafloor topography. We focus on two channel like features, the Paleorižana and Paleoreka. Sub bottom profiles and published core log data reveal that these features represent the transgressive surface at the boundary between Pleistocene continental and Holocene marine sedimentation. The geometry of the paleosurface, the architecture, and the acoustic facies of underlying sediment bodies clearly show that this surface represents an alluvial plain containing a moderate- to low energy floodplain. The Paleorižana feature represents a meander belt with multiple meander scars and oxbow lakes, while the Paleoreka is a single, slightly sinuous channel river with well developed levees. Geomorphic characteristics of the two rivers are replicated in seafloor topography in astonishing detail, despite being draped by up to 10 m of Holocene marine sediments. We extract Paleoreka thalweg depths from sub bottom profiles to construct a longitudinal channel profile, which runs approximately perpendicular to the main tectonic structures of the Gulf. We find no evidence of long term mm scale localized relative vertical tectonic movements which were previously inferred from repeated geodetic levelling surveys on landalong the SW-NE oriented Slovenian coastline. We speculate that the geodetic data may instead indicate short term interseismic deformation along the Slovenian coast, which would necessitate further investigation of tectonic activity and seismic hazard in the Gulf area.
COBISS.SI-ID: 1322846
We used GPS and earthquake focal mechanisms to measure rates of active tectonic deformation in the AdriaEurasia collision zone. We quantified the kinematics of the Adriatic microplate, and have for the first time used GPS data from the outcrops of Adria on the Istria peninsula. Motion of Adriatic microplate relative to the stable Eurasia plate was determined from computed velocity vectors of GPS sites, located on the Adriatic plate, and from slip vectors of large earthquakes. We defined the currently most accurate Euler pole parameters of AdriaEurasia motion. Our data show that the territory of Slovenia is being shortened in the NNW-SSE direction at the rate of 2.4 mm/year. Our results indicate that the northern part of Adria is moving coherently as a rigid plate.
COBISS.SI-ID: 4730465