Seminars


2024


Potential water scarcity in Central Italy due to Climate Change
18/12/2024
Presentation of the European geological platform EGDI, implemented by European Geological Services (Eurogeosurveys) for the GSEU project.
How new techniques could improve passive seismic monitoring of the time-dependent mechanical properties of rocks.
07/11/2024

Microseismic response uncovering the effect of environmental stressors on ‘Tower’ rock stability in the AcutoFieldLaboratory"
18/10/2024
Long-term and seasonal variations in environmental factors can lead to the development and expansion of rock fractures, and even the rock instability, such as landslides, collapses, and rockfalls. To end these disasters, microseismic monitoring technology highly correlated with rock fracture activity can be employed to assess the stability of the 'Tower' rock at AcutoFieldLab, Italy. Using microseismic data collected over two years by 8 geophones arranged in different oritation, an automatic detection method for rock fracture microseismic events is developed. This method further explores the influence of environmental stressors on rock fracture behavior.
Hydrogeology Seminar (Dr. Hunt and Feinstein) - September 20
20/09/2024
Notice is hereby given of the above seminar, organized by Prof. Petitta, involving Dr. Randy J. Hunt and Dr. Daniel T. Feinstein, both from the U.S. Geological Survey, Upper Midwest Water Science Center.
Seminar: Giovanni Aloisi "Stable isotope tracers from Earth System Science to human physiology"
18/06/2024
Stable isotopes are used as tracers of geo(bio)logical processes and are an effective tool for deciphering the evolution of the Earth System over time. Key concepts in this approach include isotopic mass balance, isotope mixing, and thermodynamic and kinetic isotope fractionation. Recently, stable isotopes have been applied in human physiology—the study of functions and processes in the human body—to investigate a wide range of pathologies, such as osteoporosis, cancer, and kidney diseases. I will present examples from both the earth and medical sciences to demonstrate how these fundamental isotope concepts bridge the gap between these seemingly disparate disciplines. In the earth sciences, I will address the processes that led to the late-Miocene emplacement of the Mediterranean Salt Giant, one of Earth’s largest and most recent giant salt deposits. Chloride isotopes (37Cl/35Cl) in halite support the hypothesis that an exceptional sea-level drawdown event (~2 km) was associated with the accumulation of the Mediterranean salt layer, while multiple sulfur isotopes (34S/32S and 33S/32S) suggest microbial processes may have contributed to the formation of marginal gypsum deposits in the Vena del Gesso (central Apennines, Italy). In the medical sciences, I will show how calcium isotopes (44Ca/42Ca) are used to deduce whole-body bone mineral balance, an elusive quantity crucial for the early diagnosis of osteoporosis, and how dissolved chloride isotopes are used in exploratory studies to investigate the nature of certain kidney diseases. These examples illustrate that the modern separation between earth and medical sciences stems not from differences in underlying physical and chemical laws but from the complexity of the studied systems, which require a highly specialized training to be fully apprehended.
Seminars visiting researcher – Alejandro Fernandez-Martinez. Geochemistry and Mineralogy of Acid Mine Drainage (AMD)
19/04/2024
AMD occurs in zones where pyrite formations are oxidized due to rock weathering, a phenomenon that is accelerated in the presence of mining operations. AMD waters are highly acidic, mobilizing metals and metalloids, among which many pollutants. These are present in many parts of the world, presenting important environmental concerns. Here, an overview of the phenomenon, and a detailed analysis using nanoscale techniques of the most important Fe and Al colloids formed in AMD, and their environmental relevance, will be presented.
Seminars visiting researcher – Alejandro Fernandez-Martinez. Mineral colloids in acid mine drainage: from toxic elements to critical elements
11/04/2024
The acid mine drainage present in the Rio Tinto site from the Tartessian times represent a legacy of metal pollution of unprecedented importance due to the large volume and high concentrations of toxic elements mobilized. Here, an overview of the phenomenon, and a detailed analysis using nanoscale techniques of the most important Fe and Al colloids formed in AMD, and their environmental relevance, will be presented. Moreover, the acidity of AMD waters facilitates the mobilization of rare earth elements and valuable metals like copper, potentially paving the path for economically viable site restoration efforts.
Seminars visiting researcher – Alejandro Fernandez-Martinez. Mineral nucleation and growth in aqueous systems: unveiling the secrets of crystallization
10/04/2024
In the last decade, the use of advanced characterization techniques at the nanoscale allowing to probe early stages of formation of minerals in supersaturated aqueous solutions has allowed the discovery of non- classical nucleation pathways. Here, an overview of old vs. new paradigms in the field of mineral formation will be given, presenting a state-of-the-art of the current physico-chemical understanding of precipitation phenomena.
Seminars visiting researcher – Alejandro Fernandez-Martinez. Synchrotron nanoscale characterization techniques for the Earth sciences
03/04/2024
The Pair Distribution Function (PDF) technique, classically used to the study of liquids and amorphous materials, has seen a renewal interest due to the ability to collect quickly scattering patterns using 2D detectors at 4th generation synchrotron sources, with enough signal-to-noise ratio to be able to analyse the diffuse scattering coming from the disordered component of a material. This technique will be introduced and several examples in the field of mineral nucleation and growth, and of cement hydration, will be shown.
(Triple) oxygen isotope geochemistry of evolving surface environments
19/03/2024
Prof. Ilya Bindeman, University of Oregon, Eugene (OR)

2023


Mineral Evolution: A Case Study of a New Natural Law
24/11/2023
The diversity and distribution of Earth's minerals have changed through 4.5 billion years as a consequence of varied physical, chemical, and ultimately biological processes. "Mineral evolution," the study of this rich history of change, has led to a new mineral classification scheme that complements the official system of the International Mineralogical Association. The new "Evolutionary System" of mineralogy attempts to place every mineral species in its historical setting and formational environment. In this way, minerals provide one vivid example of a much more general natural process. Indeed, a pervasive wonder of the natural world is the evolution of varied systems, from stars to minerals to life. These evolving systems seem to be conceptually equivalent in that they display three notable attributes: (1) they form from numerous components that have the potential to adopt combinatorially vast numbers of different configurations; (2) processes exist that generate numerous different configurations; and (3) configurations are preferentially selected based on function. We identify universal concepts of selection—static persistence, dynamic persistence, and novelty generation—that underpin function and drive systems to evolve through the exchange of information between the environment and the system. Accordingly, we propose a new law, the “law of increasing functional information”: The functional information of a system will increase (i.e., the system will evolve) if many different configurations of the system undergo selection for one or more functions. Mineral evolution is a revealing test case of this law.
Seminar Dr. Yanan Quian
10/11/2023
Impact assessment of environmental stressors on the stability of rock cliffs by acoustic sensing
Multispectral analysis with XRF and FORS (non-invasive approach) regarding pigments on Pompei
22/09/2023

Seminar of Dr. Yawar Hussain
28/07/2023

Energy Transition Seminar (13.06.2023)
13/06/2023

Seminar: Sonja Aulbach “Properties of Earth’s mantle and subduction zone processes through time: The message from eclogite xenoliths” 07.06.2023
07/06/2023
Kimberlite-borne xenolithic (“mantle”) eclogite has been studied for many decades. Given their origin as mid-ocean ridge basalt and gabbro, such samples can provide insights into the convecting mantle source from which their igneous protoliths were derived, and into the conditions during their subduction back into the mantle. Such applications are contingent on a good grasp of each individual sample’s multistage petrogenesis, comprising differentiation processes in the ocean floor, seafloor weathering, metamorphic reactions in palaeo-subduction zones, and overprint during their later extended residence in the lithospheric mantle. I will discuss what we can learn from eclogite xenoliths about the temperature and redox evolution of the convecting mantle from which their protoliths formed, about the supercontinent cycle from their age distribution, and about redox conditions and interactions with slab-derived liquids during their subduction in Archaean and Palaeoproterozoic time.
Seminar: Groundwater – surface water interaction in agricultural landscape: Examples from the Canadian prairies (31.05.2023)
31/05/2023
Seminar for the teaching of the Master's Degree in Applied Geology in Engineering, Land and Hazards. Courses in Applied Hydrogeology and Hydrogeological Modeling. May 31, 2023, 9:30 a.m., Room 9 meet.google.com/sir-eenv-caj Groundwater-surface water interaction in the agricultural landscape: Examples from the Canadian prairies. Prof. Masaki Hayashi - Department of Geosciences, University of Calgary, Canada. https://ucalgary.ca/people/hayashi
From the Theory of Ice Ages to IPCC climate projections - International Science Council, Maria Fernanda Sanchez Goni
16/05/2023
Despite improved understanding of global and regional climate change and increased model complexity, the relative contribution of different feedbacks (clouds, ocean circulation, vegetation and its coupling with water and carbon cycles, ice…) continues to vary from model to model, leading to mismatches between climate reconstructions and simulations. Acquiring new Quaternary paleoclimatic records and comparing them with model results is, more than ever, the basic science needed to explain current climate change and improve climate projections. In this lecture, María Fernanda Sánchez Goñi, Professor of Paleoclimatology, will briefly introduce the discovery of the ice ages, the astronomical theory explaining them, and the unexpected identification of abrupt climate variability (millennial-to-centennial) in the 1980s. After summarizing the evolution of global climate over the last million year, she will show its impact on different regions of the planet. She will highlight the mismatch between past climates and model simulations and, in particular, the problems linked to modelling regional responses to past global climate changes, for example in monsoon regions. These issues have strong implications for future climate models, projections of sea level rise and regional impact of climate change. Basic research on the Quaternary is still needed to evaluate model simulations and improve climate projections.
The ballade of noble gases, paleoclimate and Arsenic…
21/04/2023
Prof. Dr. Rolf Kipfer - Dept. Water Resources & Drinking Water (W+T) Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science & Technology (Eawag Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH))
Urban Geo-climate Footprint
13/04/2023
Seminar presentation of the "Urban Geo-Climate Footprint" project, which originated within the Urban Geology Expert Group of Euro Geo Surveys (https://eurogeosurveys.org/the-urban-geo-climate-footprint/), the European confederation of geological services.
Probing Seismogenic Faults with Machine Learning
12/04/2023
We would like to announce that Chris Johnson will give a talk at Sapienza on their recent work to apply Machine Learning techniques for earthquake physics.
Triaxial extension deformation tests on Berea sandstone. Effects of pore fluid pressure on extension and extension-shear mix-mode fractures
March 10, 2023
On Friday, March 10, 2023 at 11:00 a.m. in the Lucchesi Classroom, Prof. HIROKO KITAJIMA of Texas A&M University will give a seminar entitled: Triaxial extension deformation tests on Berea sandstone. Effects of pore fluid pressure on extension and extension-shear mix-mode fractures.
Advances in Global Seismic Tomography With applications in Geodynamics and Mineral Physics
20/01/2023
The concept of imaging Earth’s interior based on the full physics of seismic wave propagation was introduced approximately 35 years ago. Thanks to modern numerical methods and high-performance computers, seismic Full Waveform Inversion (FWI) has finally come to fruition in the past decade. Today, FWI is used across nine orders of frequency and wavelength, from megahertz frequencies and millimeter wavelengths in ultrasound medical imaging and nondestructive testing to millihertz frequencies and thousand- kilometer wavelengths in global seismology. The goal of FWI is to use every wiggle in a seismogram to understand the underlying physics. In this talk I give an overview of the status of global seismic waveform tomography, with applications to problems in geodynamics and mineral physics.

2022


2020


Un'atmosfera Venusiana sulla Terra Primordiale: Implicazioni per l'Evoluzione Planetaria
12 Marzo 2020

Roma chiama Roma - Meeting for the PhD students from Sapienza and Roma Tre - 30 January 2020

"Roma chiama Roma", the first meeting between phd students in Earth Science at Uni Roma 3 e La Sapienza.

2019


Laser ablation ICP-MS element mapping: applications to volcanology and the geosciences
21 maggio 2019

Laser ablation ICP-MS element mapping: applications to volcanology and the geosciences
21 maggio 2019

seminar
21 maggio 2019

seminar
21 maggio 2019

seminar


Giornata di studio sul Rift Etiopico - Mercoledì 23 gennaio 2019
23 gennaio 2019
Mercoledì 23 gennaio 2019, si terrà, in Aula Lucchesi, una "Giornata di studio sul Rift Etiopico" propedeutica all'escursione 2019 del Dottorato di Ricerca in Scienze della Terra

2018


Seminario prof. Antonio Doménech-Carbó
4 ottobre 2018
Giovedì 4 ottobre 2018, alle ore 10.00, presso l'Aula Sergio Lucchesi il prof. Antonio Doménech-Carbó (Department of Analytical Chemistry-University of Valencia) terrà un seminario dal titolo: "Solid-state electrochemical techniques: a new tool for analyzing cultural heritage".
Seminario del dott. M. Cuffaro (IGAG-CNR)
11 Gennaio 2018
Giovedì 11 Gennaio 2018, ore 13.00, in Aula Lucchesi, il dott. M. Cuffaro (IGAG-CNR) terrà un seminario dal titolo: "Lo studio delle trasformi oceaniche come scopo di un viaggio in Antartide". Si invitano gli interessati a partecipare.
Seminario: Dottorato e mondo del lavoro
29 Gennaio 2018
Lunedì 29 Gennaio 2018, ore 9.15, in Aula Lucchesi si terrà il seminario dal titolo: "Dottorato e mondo del lavoro". Giornata di confronto tra i dottorandi e rappresentanti del mondo del lavoro sulle competenze specifiche più richieste per avere successo lavorativo extra-universitario.
Seminario della Dott.ssa Martina Pierdomenico (IGAG-CNR)
8 febbraio 2018
Giovedì 8 febbraio 2018 si terrà un seminario della Dott.ssa Martina Pierdomenico (IGAG-CNR) dal titolo: "Studio multidisciplinare di canyon sottomarini: geomorfologia, habitat e impatti antropici".
Seminario del dott. D. Iurino
8 marzo 2018
Giovedì 8 marzo 2018 alle ore 13.00, in Aula Lucchesi, il dott. Dawid Iurino terrà un seminario dal titolo: "Il mondo virtuale della paleontologia: studio, restauro e ricostruzione dei fossili". Gli interessati sono invitati a partecipare.
Seminario del dott. Carlo Robiati
3 aprile 2018
Martedì 3 aprile 2018 ore 11.00 Aula Lucchesi, il dott. Carlo Robiati, dottorando presso la Camborne School of Mines della University of Exeter, UK, terrà un seminario dal titolo:"Application of Remote Sensing data for evaluation of rockfall potential from a quarry slope".
Seminario del dott. Luca Cardello
11 Aprile 2018
Mercoledì 11 Aprile 2018, ore 13.00, in Aula Lucchesi, il dott. Luca Cardello (DST- Sapienza Università di Roma) terrà un seminario dal titolo: "Structural evolution of the SW Helvetic Alps from Cretaceous to Neogene".
Seminario del prof Luigi Jovane
20 Aprile 2018
Venerdì 20 Aprile 2018, alle ore 11.00-12.00, in Aula Lucchesi il prof. Luigi Jovane (Instituto Oceanográfico da Universidade de São Paulo) terrà un seminario dal titolo: "Evoluzione tettonica e oceanografica dell'Atlantico Meridionale con esempi del Cearà e della Elevazione di Rio Grande"
Seminario dott.ssa Francesca Di Turo
10 maggio 2018
Giovedì 10 maggio 2018, ore 13.00, in Aula Lucchesi la dott.ssa Francesca Di Turo terrà un seminario dal titolo: "Archeometria: la Ricerca Scientifica al servizio della Storia".
Seminario della dott.ssa Corinne Frigo
22 maggio 2018
La dott.ssa Corinne Frigo terrà un seminario martedì 22 maggio 2018, dalle 12.00 alle 13.00, in Aula Lucchesi.
Seminario del dott. Valerio Cerantola
23 maggio 2018
Il dott. Valerio Cerantola terrà un seminario il 23 maggio 2018, dalle 12.00 alle 13.00, in Aula Lucchesi.
Seminario prof.ssa Gillian Pickup
5 luglio 2018
Il giorno 5 Luglio a partire dalle 9,30 la professoressa Gillian Pickup, dall'Università Heriot-Watt di Edimburgo (UK) terrà un seminario di una giornata dal titolo: "Numerical modelling of CO2 storage". Il seminario è dedicato a dottorandi e ricercatori.

2017


Seminari Prof. Allen Nutman
12 luglio 2017
Il Prof. Allen Nutman (University of Wollongong, Australia), uno dei massimi esperti mondiali di evoluzione della Terra primordiale, terrà il giorno 12 luglio 2017 in Aula Lucchesi due seminari, tratti da recenti pubblicazioni su Nature
Seminario prof. Chris Marone - 10 ottobre 2017
10 Ottobre 2017
Martedi 10 Ottobre ore 14.00 Aula 12 il prof. Chris Marone, The Pennsylvania State University-USA, terrà un seminario dal titolo: "The Mechanics of Slow Earthquakes and the Spectrum of Fault Slip Behavior". Si invitano tutti gli interessati a partecipare.
Studiare e fare ricerca all'estero
27 ottobre 2017
Venerdì 27 ottobre 2017 in Aula 12, alle ore 10.00 - 12.00, ci sarà il seminario "Studiare e fare ricerca all'estero"
Giornata del dottorando
10 Novembre 2017
Venerdì 10 novembre ore 9.00-13.00 in Aula 1 si terrà la "Giornata del Dottorando"
Seminario prof.ssa Roberta Somma
17 Novembre 2017
Venerdì 17 novembre alle ore 11.00 presso l'Aula Lucchesi la prof.ssa Roberta Somma, Direttore del Master in Geologia Forense Università degli Studi di Messina, terrà un seminario dal titolo: "Il contributo della Geologia Forense nella risoluzione di procedimenti giudiziari".
Seminari prof. Luca Bindi - 24 novembre 2017
24 Novembre 2017
Venerdì 24 Novembre, ore 10.00-13.00, in Aula 1 (ingresso Geologia), il Prof. Luca Bindi dell'Università di Firenze terrà due seminari sulla scoperta e sulle condizioni di formazione dei quasicristalli, una nuova categoria di minerali ritenuti "impossibili”. Si invitano tutti gli interessati a intervenire (rivolgersi al Prof. G.B. Andreozzi per informazioni e richiesta di attestati di partecipazione).
Seminario del dott. M.A. Di Vito
15 dicembre 2017
Il dott. Mauro Antonio Di Vito, INGV – Osservatorio Vesuviano, terrà venerdì 15 dicembre 2017 ore 9.30, in Aula 12, il seminario dal titolo: "Integrazione di dati geologici, archeologici, storici e documentali per la ricostruzione dei movimenti del suolo nella caldera dei Campi Flegrei in epoca storica".

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