Marco Vattano

• PhD
• Cultore di Materia at University of Palermo

The application of numerical modeling to the analysis of the stability of both natural and man-made underground caves is rapidly increasing due to the availability of powerful numerical codes, that can account for either continuum or discontinuum behavior of the rock masses. Numerical methods allow to overcome traditional methods for cave stability...

Many caves in Sicily have been shown to have a sulfuric acid or other hypogenic origin. We studied three caves (Palombara, Scrivilleri, Monello) near Syracuse (eastern Sicily), in an area that was strongly uplifted and faulted, creating multiple Pleistocene marine terraces. Mineralogy, stable isotopes and dating methods (paleomagnetism, U/Th) were...

Nella speleogenesi sulfurea (SAS), l'ossidazione del H 2 S rappresenta un processo fondamentale per la forma-zione delle grotte. Difatti, non appena 3) vie-ne esposta all'acido solforico (H 2 SO 4) , il processo di corrosione ha inizio. In condizioni aeree, il carbonato di calcio (CaCO 3) viene facilmente sostituito dal gesso (CaSO 4 ·2H 2-muni pro...

Le grotte ipogeniche sono connesse gas, quali CO 2 e H 2 S, che conferendo loro un elevato grado di acidità, favo-riscono lo sviluppo dei processi spele-ogenetici. Le cavità ipogeniche sono caratterizzate da morfologie e depositi chimici peculiari, spesso diversi rispet-to a quelli che contraddistinguono le "classiche" grotte epigeniche con ri-cari...

The last deglaciation (Termination I) saw rapid northern latitude temperature changes and ice-sheet loss, coupled with changes in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. However, the modes, timing and sustaining mechanisms that propagated these changes to the Mediterranean region are far from well understood. Here, we compare two high-reso...

Salnitro Cave is a small cavity located on the right slope of the Carboj River canyon, in Southern Sicily. This cave is carved in Lower Jurassic limestone and is composed of three large chambers connected through short galleries. Its name derives from the presence of a huge bat guano pile which in the past was wrongly named as saltpetre. The guano...

New biogenic forms were recently observed inside the caves of Palawan. They consist of perfectly rounded holes, developed over any kind of limestone surface interested by bat droppings. Their genesis is controlled by the peculiar Palawan climate, which is characterized by short but strong rainfalls followed by rather long dry periods.

The study of sulphur stable isotope signatures in Sulphuric Acid Speleogenetic (SAS) caves gave rise to interesting information on both H 2 S sources and reactions involved in the sulphur cycle. In general, the stable isotope geochemistry of gypsum, sulphur and other sulphate by-products found in underground SAS environments, provides the most robu...

Since 2011, the European Space Agency organises a training programme named CAVES (Cooperative Adventure for Valuing and Exercising human behaviour and performance Skills). Cave systems impose risks, complexities and stressors similar to those imposed by space exploration, including lack of natural light and common reference points, isolation, and t...

Dissolution-corrosion (DC) represents an important factor for speleogenesis, and can be measured monitoring weight variation over time of carbonate and gypsum tablets exposed in underground environments. The oxidation of H2S produces H2SO4, which in carbonate host rock induces the surface of carbonate tablets to be rapidly corroded by sulphuric aci...

Flank margin caves form in coastal regions by mixing dissolution. Their development is controlled by the position of the fresh-salt water mixing boundary, which in turn, is related to sea-level position. They are characterized by a typical cave pattern and cave-wall morphologies and represent good indicators of past sea levels. This contribution sh...

Caves remain among the most challenging exploration frontiers on planet Earth. They are difficult to access, present a range of unique and unusual environmental characteristics, and can only be mapped through direct human exploration. These challenges and several environmental factors specific to caves mean that speleology shares several analogies...

Gypsum (CaSO 4 •2H 2 O) speleothems (i.e. stalactites, stalagmites, etc.) in caves form frequently through dissolution of the gypsum host-rock by seepage water and subsequent secondary mineral re-precipitation from gypsum-saturated solutions [1]. Gypsum takes its structurally-bound hydration water (GHW) from the liquid; the isotopic composition (δ...

In Italy, especially along the Apennine Chain, numerous active and inactive sulfuric acid speleogenetic (SAS) caves have been documented in the last two decades. Here we present an overview of these peculiar hypogene systems, illustrating their main geomorphological and mineralogical features, and the microbial signatures observed in the active und...

Guano is a typical deposit found in caves derived from the excretions of bats and in minor cases of birds. These organic deposits decompose and form a series of acid fluids and gases that can interact with the minerals, sediments, and rocks present in the cave. Over sixty phosphates are known and described from caves, but guano decay also often lea...

Santa Cesarea Terme (provincia di Lecce) rappresenta l’unica area del Salento, e in generale della regione Puglia, nella quale siano state documentate grotte ipogeniche. Questa area è caratterizzata dalla risalita di fluidi termali sulfurei che si miscelano sia con le acque di precipitazione meteorica che con quelle marine. Le quattro grotte sulfur...

Sulfuric acid minerals are important clues to identify the speleogenetic phases of hypogene caves. Italy hosts ~25% of the known worldwide sulfuric acid speleogenetic (SAS) systems, including the famous well-studied Frasassi, Monte Cucco, and Acquasanta Terme caves. Nevertheless, other underground environments have been analyzed, and interesting mi...

Y. BIGOT et al., L'impact méconnu des chauves-souris et du guano dans l'évolution morphologique tardive des cavernes KARSTOLOGIA n° 68, 2016 • 1-20 RÉSUMÉ : Les chauves-souris sont considérées comme des occupants emblématiques des grottes. Les colonies, parfois de taille gigantesque, peuvent occuper les cavernes sur de très longues périodes. Ainsi,...

Karst in Sicily develops in both Messinian gypsum and Mesozoic or Tertiary limestone rocks. Caves are also found in the basalts of Mount Etna. Except for some rare cases, until recently most caves developed in limestone were considered to be of epigenetic origin. The discovery of gypsum in some of these caves, and especially detailed morphological...

Santa Cesarea Terme in Salento is the only area in which hypogenic caves have been recognized in the Apulia region. In this spa area, the rising of sulfidic thermal waters that mix with both recent fresh infiltration waters and coastal salt water has formed four active sulfuric acid speleogenesis (SAS) caves. These caves are characterized by the ty...

The assessment of stability of man-made underground caves, excavated in the past and later on abandoned, represents a serious challenge for land and urban planning operations, especially for the areas of possible interaction of the caves with overlying structures and infrastructures. Several areas of Southern Italy are characterized by the presence...

Almost 20% of Italy is characterised by the outcropping of, sometimes large, carbonate massifs ranging in age from Cambrian to Quaternary. Coastal karst is present in many Italian regions: from North-East to South and West: the Gulf of Trieste, the Conero (South of Ancona, Marche), the Adriatic coast of Apulia including Gargano, Murge and Salento,...

In the past 15 years several expeditions by French, American and especially Italian cavers have surveyed over 15 km of salt cave passages in the Cordillera de la Sal, close to San Pedro de Atacama village (Atacama Desert, Northern Chile). Over 50 caves have been explored up to now at an elevation around 2,500 m asl. These karst systems are characte...

As part of activities of the " Inside the Glaciers " project, managed by an Italian team of speleologists and geologists with the purpose of studying several ice-caves in Europe and South America, a research campaign was recently carried out in Mount Etna (Sicily, Italy). This volcano is the highest active in Europe and hosts more than 200 caves in...

Italy is a country hosting a large number of hypogenic sulfuric acid (SAS) speleogenesis caves, mostly located along the Apennine chain, but also in Campania (along the coastline of Capo Palinuro), Apulia (along the coastline of Santa Cesarea Terme) and Sicily. Besides the typical morphologies related to their special geochemical origin (cupolas, r...

Bats are considered as symbolic caves inhabitants. The colonies, sometimes huge, may occupy caves through long periods. Large guano deposits were accumulated. Some have been mined for phosphates, either by hand or at the industrial scale. Bat impact is triple: breathing releases CO2, urine is corrosive, and guano mineralization releases acids (carb...

Although outcropping rarely in Italy, evaporite (gypsum and anhydrite) karst has been described in detail since the early 20 th century. Gypsum caves are now known from almost all Italian regions, but are mainly localised along the northern border of the Apennine chain (Emilia Romagna and Marche), Calabria, and Sicily, where the major outcrops occu...

This paper proposes a morphoevolutionary model for western Sicily. Sicily is a chain–foredeep–foreland system still being built, with tectonic activity involving uplift which tends to create new relief. To reconstruct the morphoevolutionary model, geological, and geomorphological studies were done on the basis of field survey and aerial photographi...

Over the past 15 years several expeditions by French, American and especially Italian cavers have unveiled over 50 caves in the Cordillera de la Sal (Atacama Desert, Northern Chile). Many of these caves contain a variety of speleothems and minerals, some of which have rarely been observed within karst systems. Most of the secondary deposits in thes...

The little known impact of bats and bat guano in the late stages of cave morphogenesis. Bats are considered as symbolic caves inhabitants. The colonies, sometimes huge, may occupy caves through long periods. Large guano deposits were accumulated. Some have been mined for phosphates, either by hand or at the industrial scale. Bats impact is triple:...

Caves are elective shelters for bat fauna, above all from a climatic point of view. The “buffer effect” on the variability of environmental parameters of cavities, make them a suitable habitat for bats. The choice of roosting sites, the shift of colonies from one chamber or passage to another and the different species composition in the communities...

After the preliminary study on the hypogenic caves in Sicily, new explorations allowed to discover new areas characterized by ascending fluid movements and rich in caves. In those areas speleogenetic, geomorphological and mineralogical studies started to define the hypogenic processes and to link this to the geomorphological evolution of the differ...

La Grotta dei Personaggi è localizzata in Sicilia occidentale, nei pressi di Monte Magaggiaro, a S del centro abitato di Montevago (AG). Nell’area sono presenti sorgenti termali, caratterizzate da acque cloro-solfate alcalino-terrose con temperatura di circa 40 °C e pH 7. La Grotta dei Personaggi, conosciuta già dai primi anni del 1900 e nota anche...

RIASSUNTO-L'area di Marsala, Sicilia occidentale, è stata sto-ricamente interessata da attività estrattiva con scavi sia in su-perficie che in sotterraneo. La roccia estratta è una calcarenite del Pleistocene inferiore denominata " Calcarenite di Mar-sala " e appartenente al Sintema che prende il nome dalla stessa località. Le cave sotterranee sono...

PROPOSTA DI UN GEOSITO RIASSUNTO Vengono presentati i risultati di uno studio multidisciplinare condotto nell'area de La Montag-nola (Sicilia centrale). L'area indagata presenta peculiari aspetti scientifici e culturali. Essa costitu-isce un settore rappresentativo della geologia e della geomorfologia dei Monti Sicani. In questo set-tore si riconos...

A study of deep-seated gravitational slope deformation (DSGSD) phenomena affecting areas of various geological and geomorphological settings in western Sicily is described. Western Sicily is underlain by a thin-skinned imbricate wedge of Meso─Cenozoic carbonate and siliciclastic rocks that formed by the stacking of several thrust nappes over the Ib...

Although hypogene cave systems have been described since the beginning of the XXth century, the importance of ascending fluids that acquired their aggressiveness from in-depth sources in speleogenesis has been fully realized only in the last decades. Aggressiveness of waters can be related to carbonic and sulfuric acids and the related corrosion-di...

Sulfuric acid caves can display a variety of forms, from 3D maze systems, to isolated chambers, and more or less maze-like water table caves. Most of the voids are normally generated at or immediately above the water table, where condensation-corrosion processes are dominant, creating a set of characteristic meso- and micromorphologies. This paper...

First results of a study on hypogenic caves in Sicily are presented. Inactive water-table sulphuric acid caves and 3D mazecaves linked to rising of thermal waters rich in H2S were recognized. Cave patterns are guided by structural planes, mediumand small scale morphological features are due mainly to condensation-corrosion processes. Calcite and gy...

In Sicily hypogene caves develop in carbonate rocks under unconfined conditions and are linked to rising of thermal waters rich in H2S. To date watertable sulfuric acid caves (Acqua Fitusa cave) and 3D maze caves (Monte Inici and Monte Kronio karst systems) have been recognized. Generally the pattern of these cavities is guided by structural planes...

Nell’ambito delle iniziative rivolte alla diffusione della cultura scientifica delle Scienze della Terra, nonché della tutela e valorizzazione del patrimonio naturalistico del nostro Paese, l’AIGeo ha svolto due stage di rilevamento geomorfologico nel territorio di Baunei (Sardegna centro orientale) negli anni 2009 e 2010. Gli stage, ai quali hanno...

The Marsala area (western Sicily) is characterized by the presence of a Lower Pleistocene (Calabrian) calcarenite succession (Marsala Calcarenite Fm). It can be divided into three lithofacies that show the regressive evolution of the depositional system: a) coarse to fine yellow bio- and lithoclastic calcarenites, b) sands, and c) gray sandy clays....

Explanatory Notes of palermo geological sheet 1. - EXTENDED ABSTRACT The Map Sheet 1:50.000 595 ”Palermo” includes marine and land areas of the topographic map sheet “Palermo”. The map sheet “Palermo” (Palermo Province) covers a part of the Sicily Fold and Thrust Belt (FTB) which has developed along the plate boundary between Africa and Europe in t...

In Sicily, karst is well developed and exhibits different types of landscapes due to the wide distribution of soluble rocks in different geological and environmental settings. Karst affects both carbonate rocks, outcropping in the northwest and central sectors of the Apennine chain and in the foreland area, and evaporite rocks, mainly gypsum, that...

A preliminary study was carried out in two hypogenic cave systems in Sicily in order to define their morphological and depositional features, and to understand the speleogenetic mechanisms responsible for their origin and evolution. These are Monte Inici karst system and Acqua Fitusa cave

Marsala territory (western Sicily) is characterized by the presence of a Lower Pleistocene (Calabrian) calcarenite succession (Marsala Calcarenite Fm). It can be divided into three lithofacies that show the regressive evolution of the depositional system: a) coarse to fine yellow bio-and lithoclastic calcarenites, b) sands, and c) gray sandy clays....

Hypogenic caves are generated by water recharging from below independently of seepage from the overlying or immediately adjacent surface. These waters are often thermal and enriched in dissolved gases, the most common of which are CO2 and H2S. Hypogenic caves can be thermal caves, sulphuric acid caves, basal injection caves. They differ from epigen...

The Monte Conca karst system is located in Central-western Sicily, where Messinian evaporites are widespread. Here, the evaporites lie on lower Messinian-middle Serravallian clayey-marly-sandy deposits and are overlain locally by Pliocene marly limestones. These successions are affected by E-w, and to a lesser degree N-S and Nw-SE, high-angle fault...

Peculiar channels cut in gypsum cave walls have been observed in the Grotta di Entella, a gypsum cave about 900 m long and with a positive vertical range of +30 m, located in the Messinian evaporite outcrops in Western Sicily. The Grotta di Entella is developed mainly along the strikes of two fault systems (N60W and N130E) which in-fluence the cave...

RIASSUNTO -La Grotta di Carburangeli – ricostruzione climatica dell'Olocene per la piana costiera della Sicilia nord-occidentale -Una stalagmite prelevata dalla Grotta di Carburangeli (Sicilia) indica che tutto l'Olocene fu caratterizzato da instabilità climatica. La stalagmite ha iniziato a crescere poco prima di 9737±290 anni BP e testimonia un O...