1.
Summit
–
A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. Mathematically, a summit is a maximum in elevation. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak, and zenith are synonymous, the UIAA definition is that a summit is independent if it has a prominence of 30 metres or more, it is a mountain if it has a prominence of at least 300 metres. This can be summarised as follows, A pyramidal peak is an exaggerated form produced by ice erosion of a mountain top, Summit may also refer to the highest point along a line, trail, or route. In many parts of the western United States, the term refers to the highest point along a road, highway. For example, the highest point along Interstate 80 in California is referred to as Donner Summit while the highest point on Interstate 5 is Siskiyou Mountain Summit, geoid Hill List of highest mountains Maxima and minima Nadir Summit accordance Peak finder
Summit
–
The highest elevation summit, Mount Everest, shown with a climber at the summit wearing an oxygen mask. The summit is 8850 m (29,035 ft) elevation. (While the cruising altitude of jetliners is roughly 10,000 m (32,808 feet), they are pressurized.)
Summit
–
View from the summit of Switzerland's highest,
Monte Rosa
Summit
–
The summit of
Mount Damavand,
Iran, in winter
Summit
–
Jeff Davis Peak, one of the highest peaks entirely within
Nevada
2.
Topographic prominence
–
It is a measure of the independence of a summit. A peaks key col is a point on this contour line. By convention, the prominence of Mount Everest, the Earths highest mountain, is taken to equal the elevation of its summit above sea level, if the peaks prominence is P metres, to get from the summit to any higher terrain one must descend at least P metres. Together with the convention for Mount Everest, this implies that the prominence of any island or continental highpoint is equal to its elevation above sea level, for every ridge connecting the peak to higher terrain, find the lowest point on the ridge. The key col is defined as the highest of these cols, the prominence is the difference between the elevation of the peak and the elevation of the key col. The following mental exercise may illustrate the meaning of topographic prominence, imagine you are standing at the top of a peak and imagine that an imaginary sea level rises to your feet. Now slowly lower the sea level and an imaginary island appears beneath your feet. Your island will grow and will merge with other islands that emerge, the parent peak may be either close or far from the subject peak. The summit of Mount Everest is the parent peak of Aconcagua at a distance of 17,755 km, the key col may also be close or far from the subject peak. The key col for Aconcagua is the Bering Strait at a distance of 13,655 km, the key col for the South Summit of Mount Everest is about 100 m distant. Prominence is interesting to many mountaineers because it is a measurement that is strongly correlated with the subjective significance of a summit. Peaks with low prominences are either subsidiary tops of some higher summit or relatively insignificant independent summits, peaks with high prominences tend to be the highest points around and are likely to have extraordinary views. Only summits with a sufficient degree of prominence are regarded as independent mountains, for example, the worlds second-highest mountain is K2. While Mount Everests South Summit is taller than K2, it is not considered an independent mountain because it is a subsummit of the main summit, many lists of mountains take topographic prominence as a criterion for inclusion, or cutoff. John and Anne Nuttalls The Mountains of England and Wales uses a cutoff of 15 m, in the contiguous United States, the famous list of fourteeners uses a cutoff of 300 ft /91 m. Also in the U. S.2000 feet of prominence has become a threshold that signifies that a peak has major stature. This generates lists of peaks ranked by prominence, which are different from lists ranked by elevation. Such lists tend to emphasize isolated high peaks, such as range or island high points, one advantage of a prominence-ranked list is that it needs no cutoff, since a peak with high prominence is automatically an independent peak
Topographic prominence
–
Figure 3. Diagram of a mountain range showing peaks and cols, from which mountain parentage and prominences can be determined.
Topographic prominence
–
Topographic prominence of three peaks near Great Pond Mountain, Maine, USA. Red triangles mark the peaks, the lowest contour line encircling each peak are shown in black and the green dots mark the key cols. The prominences are Atkins Hill: 430 – 310 = 120 ft, Cave Hill: 570 - 530 = 40 ft, Mead Mountain: 671 - 530 = 141 ft. The parent peak of each peak is Great Pond Mountain.
3.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
–
Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
4.
Aeolian Islands
–
The Aeolian Islands are a volcanic archipelago in the Tyrrhenian Sea north of Sicily, named after the demigod of the winds Aeolus. The islands inhabitants are known as Aeolians, the Aeolian Islands are a popular tourist destination in the summer and attract up to 200,000 visitors annually. The largest island is Lipari and the islands are referred to as the Lipari Islands or Lipari group. The other islands include Vulcano, Salina, Stromboli, Filicudi, Alicudi, Panarea, the present shape of the Aeolian Islands is the result of volcanic activity over a period of 260,000 years. There are two active volcanoes – Stromboli and Vulcano, the volcanic activity of steaming fumaroles and thermal waters are on most of the islands. The volcanic activity has left the islands with very fertile soil that is conductive to the growth of natural flora. Geologically the archipelago is defined as a volcanic arc, the origin of the Aeolian Islands is due to movement of the Earths crust as a result of plate tectonics. The African continental shelf is in constant movement towards Europe, the resulting collision has created a volcanic area with ruptures in the Earths crust with consequent eruptions of lava. The Aeolian Arc extends for more than 140 km, but the area of instability caused by the collision of Africa. It includes Sicily, Calabria, and Campania together with Greece, the complex of the eight Aeolian Islands, covering an area of 1,600 km2, originated in the Tyrrhenian Basin, a great plain at the bottom of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Curbing urban development has been a key to preserving the Aeolian islands in a natural state, existing residences can be bought and restored but must be constructed to resemble its whitewashed houses. Traditional houses consist of modular cubes constructed from indigenous building materials—stone, lava, pumice, almost all houses have a large outdoor terrace, usually shaded by grape-vines and flowering vines. The houses, balconies and terraces are decorated with brightly patterned terra-cotta tiles. The first evidence of Sicilian migration was in Lipari, a manufacture and commerce of obsidian objects was highly developed until the introduction of metals. During the Bronze Age, the Aeolians prospered by means of commerce in an area which extended from Mycenae to the British Isles. Villages on the Aeolian islands flourished on Capo Graziano, Castello, Serro dei Cianfi, Capo Milazzese, all these settlements were destroyed by new Italic invasions in 1250 BC. The Aeolian Islands were occupied by the Ausonians led by Liparus, Liparus was succeeded by Aeolus whose house, according to the Odyssey by Homer, gave hospitality to Odysseus. In 580 BC, Greeks exiled from Rhodes and Knidos landed at Lipari and began a period of Greek domination, there was production of vases and other ceramics
Aeolian Islands
–
Sunset at the Aeolian Islands seen from mount Dinnammare,
Peloritani
Aeolian Islands
–
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Aeolian Islands
–
View from Vulcano, Lipari in the middle, Salina at the left, Panarea at the right.
Aeolian Islands
–
The Aeolian Islands as seen from space.
5.
Italy
–
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
Italy
–
The
Colosseum in Rome, built c. 70 – 80 AD, is considered one of the greatest works of
architecture and
engineering of ancient history.
Italy
–
Flag
Italy
–
The
Iron Crown of Lombardy, for centuries symbol of the
Kings of Italy.
Italy
–
Castel del Monte, built by German Emperor
Frederick II,
UNESCO World Heritage site
6.
Complex volcano
–
A complex volcano, also called a compound volcano, is mixed landform consisting of related volcanic centers and their associated lava flows and pyroclastic rock. They may form due to changes in habit or in the location of the principal vent area on a particular volcano. Stratovolcanoes can also form a caldera that gets filled in by a lava dome, or else multiple small cinder cones, lava domes. Although a comparatively unusual type of volcano, they are widespread in the world, metamorphosed ash flow tuffs are widespread in the Precambrian rocks of northern New Mexico, which indicates that caldera complexes have been important for much of Earths history. Yellowstone National Park is on three partly covered caldera complexes, the Bennett Lake Caldera in British Columbia and the Yukon Territory is another example of a Cenozoic caldera complex. Andrew Strait Taal Volcano, Mount Talinis, Three Sisters Te Tatua-a-Riukiuta Tongariro, Valles Caldera Whale Island Yellowstone Caldera Volcanic group
Complex volcano
–
Homa Mountain,
Kenya in 1994
Complex volcano
–
An eruption of
Pacaya,
Guatemala in 1976
Complex volcano
–
Mt. Banahaw,
Luzon, Philippines in 1989
Complex volcano
–
Kelimutu,
Flores,
Indonesia
7.
Stratovolcano
–
A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a conical volcano built up by many layers of hardened lava, tephra, pumice, and volcanic ash. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a profile and periodic explosive eruptions and effusive eruptions. The lava flowing from stratovolcanoes typically cools and hardens before spreading far due to high viscosity, the magma forming this lava is often felsic, having high-to-intermediate levels of silica, with lesser amounts of less-viscous mafic magma. Extensive felsic lava flows are uncommon, but have travelled as far as 15 km, stratovolcanoes are sometimes called composite volcanoes because of their composite layered structure built up from sequential outpourings of eruptive materials. They are among the most common types of volcanoes, in contrast to the less common shield volcanoes, two famous stratovolcanoes are Krakatoa, best known for its catastrophic eruption in 1883 and Vesuvius, famous for its destruction of the towns Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 CE. Both eruptions claimed thousands of lives, in modern times, Mount Saint Helens and Mount Pinatubo have erupted catastrophically. Existence of stratovolcanoes has not been proved on other bodies of the solar system with one exception. Their existence was suggested for some isolated massifs on Mars, e. g. Zephyria Tholus, stratovolcanoes are common at subduction zones, forming chains along plate tectonic boundaries where oceanic crust is drawn under continental crust or another oceanic plate. The release of water from hydrated minerals is termed dewatering, and occurs at pressures and temperatures for each mineral. The magma then rises through the crust, incorporating silica-rich crustal rock, when the magma nears the top surface, it pools in a magma chamber under or within the volcano. There, the low pressure allows water and other volatiles dissolved in the magma to escape from solution, as occurs when a bottle of carbonated water is opened. Once a critical volume of magma and gas accumulates, the obstacle of the cone is overcome. In recorded history, explosive eruptions at subduction zone volcanoes have posed the greatest hazard to civilizations. Subduction-zone stratovolcanoes, such as Mount St. Helens, Mount Etna and Mount Pinatubo, typically erupt with explosive force, as a consequence, the tremendous internal pressures of the trapped volcanic gases remain in the pasty magma. Following the breaching of the chamber, the magma degasses explosively. The gases and water out with speed and force. Since 1600 CE, nearly 300,000 people have killed by volcanic eruptions. Most deaths were caused by flows and mudflows, deadly hazards that often accompany explosive eruptions of subduction-zone stratovolcanoes
Stratovolcano
–
Mount Vesuvius near Naples, Italy, erupted in AD 79. The last eruption of this stratovolcano occurred in March 1944. It has been essentially dormant since then.
Stratovolcano
–
Mount Etna on the Island of
Sicily
Stratovolcano
–
Mount Unzen in southwestern Japan
Stratovolcano
–
Mayon Volcano erupted on December 29, 2009, producing lava flows.
8.
Types of volcanic eruptions
–
Several types of volcanic eruptions—during which lava, tephra, and assorted gases are expelled from a volcanic vent or fissure—have been distinguished by volcanologists. These are often named after famous volcanoes where that type of behavior has been observed, some volcanoes may exhibit only one characteristic type of eruption during a period of activity, while others may display an entire sequence of types all in one eruptive series. There are three different types of eruptions, the most well-observed are magmatic eruptions, which involve the decompression of gas within magma that propels it forward. Phreatomagmatic eruptions are another type of eruption, driven by the compression of gas within magma. Within these wide-defining eruptive types are several subtypes, the weakest are Hawaiian and submarine, then Strombolian, followed by Vulcanian and Surtseyan. The stronger eruptive types are Pelean eruptions, followed by Plinian eruptions, subglacial and phreatic eruptions are defined by their eruptive mechanism, and vary in strength. An important measure of strength is Volcanic Explosivity Index, an order of magnitude scale ranging from 0 to 8 that often correlates to eruptive types. Explosive eruptions are characterized by gas-driven explosions that propels magma and tephra, effusive eruptions, meanwhile, are characterized by the outpouring of lava without significant explosive eruption. Volcanic eruptions vary widely in strength, on the one extreme there are effusive Hawaiian eruptions, which are characterized by lava fountains and fluid lava flows, which are typically not very dangerous. On the other extreme, Plinian eruptions are large, violent, volcanoes are not bound to one eruptive style, and frequently display many different types, both passive and explosive, even the span of a single eruptive cycle. Volcanoes do not always erupt vertically from a crater near their peak. Some volcanoes exhibit lateral and fissure eruptions, notably, many Hawaiian eruptions start from rift zones, and some of the strongest Surtseyan eruptions develop along fracture zones. Scientists believed that pulses of magma mixed together in the chamber before climbing upward—a process estimated to several thousands of years. But Columbia University volcanologists found that the eruption of Costa Rica’s Irazú Volcano in 1963 was likely triggered by magma that took a route from the mantle over just a few months. The volcanic explosivity index is a scale, from 0 to 8 and it is used by the Smithsonian Institutions Global Volcanism Program in assessing the impact of historic and prehistoric lava flows. It operates in a way similar to the Richter scale for earthquakes, the vast majority of volcanic eruptions are of VEIs between 0 and 2. Volcanic eruptions by VEI index Magmatic eruptions produce juvenile clasts during explosive decompression from gas release, Hawaiian eruptions are a type of volcanic eruption, named after the Hawaiian volcanoes with which this eruptive type is hallmark. Hawaiian eruptions are the calmest types of events, characterized by the effusive eruption of very fluid basalt-type lavas with low gaseous content
Types of volcanic eruptions
–
Some of the eruptive structures formed during volcanic activity: a
Plinian eruption column,
Hawaiian pahoehoe flows, and a lava arc from a
Strombolian eruption.
Types of volcanic eruptions
–
Ropey
pahoehoe lava from
Kilauea,
Hawaiʻi.
Types of volcanic eruptions
–
An example of the lava arcs formed during Strombolian activity. This image is of
Stromboli itself.
Types of volcanic eruptions
–
Tavurvur in
Papua New Guinea erupting.
9.
Sicilian language
–
Sicilian is a Romance language spoken on the island of Sicily and its satellite islands. It is also spoken in southern and central Calabria, in the parts of Apulia, Salento, and Campania, on the Italian peninsula. The Ethnologue describes Sicilian as being distinct enough from Standard Italian to be considered a language and is recognized as a minority language by UNESCO. Some assert that Sicilian represents the oldest Romance language derived from Vulgar Latin, Sicilian has the oldest literary tradition of the Italic languages. Sicilian is currently spoken by the majority of the inhabitants of Sicily, the latter are found in the countries which attracted large numbers of Sicilian immigrants during the course of the past century or so, especially the United States, Canada, Australia and Argentina. In the past two or three decades, large numbers of Sicilians were also attracted to the zones of northern Italy and indeed the rest of the European Union. It is not used as an official language anywhere, even within Sicily, there is currently no central body, in Sicily or elsewhere, that regulates the language in any way. However, since its inception in 1951, the Centro di studi filologici e linguistici siciliani in Palermo has been researching and publishing information on the Sicilian language. The autonomous regional parliament of Sicily has legislated to encourage the teaching of Sicilian at all schools, further, the Sicilian language would be protected and promoted under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. However, Italy has signed this treaty, but the Italian Parliament has not ratified it, the term Calabro-Sicilian refers to the fact that a form of Sicilian, or a dialect closely related to Sicilian, is spoken in central and southern Calabria. Sicilianu is the name of the language in Sicily itself, the term Siculu describes one of the larger prehistoric groups living in Sicily before the arrival of Greeks in the 8th century BC. It can also be used as an adjective to qualify, or further elaborate on, the very earliest influences, visible in Sicilian to this day, exhibit both prehistoric Mediterranean elements and prehistoric Indo-European elements, and occasionally a blending of both. Ruffino 2001 Before the Roman conquest, Sicily was occupied by populations considered indigenous, including Sicels, Sicani, Elymians, the Greek language influence remains strongly visible, while the influences from the other groups are less obvious. What can be stated with certainty is that there remain pre-Indo-European words in Sicilian of an ancient Mediterranean origin, of the three main prehistoric groups, only the Sicels were Indo-European, and their speech is likely to have been closely related to that of the Romans. The following table, listing words for twins, illustrates the difficulty linguists face in tackling the various sub-strata of the Sicilian language, a similar qualifier can be applied to many of the words that appear in this article. For instance, by the time the Romans had occupied Sicily during the 3rd century BC, the words with a prehistoric Mediterranean derivation often refer to plants native to the Mediterranean region or to other natural features. g. of a fruit timpa crag, cliff. The Sicels are a source of such words, but there is also the possibility of a cross-over between ancient Mediterranean words and introduced Indo-European forms. Some examples of Sicilian words with an ancient Indo-European origin, dudda mulberry, the latter would bring with them the Vulgar Latin from that region, a language not too different from that to be found in central Italy at the time
Sicilian language
–
Sicilian
10.
Tyrrhenian Sea
–
The Tyrrhenian Sea is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian people, identified since the 6th century BCE with the Etruscans of Italy, the sea is bounded by the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, the Italian peninsula to the east, and the island of Sicily. The maximum depth of the sea is 3,785 metres, the Tyrrhenian Sea is situated near where the African and Eurasian Plates meet, therefore mountain chains and active volcanoes such as Mount Marsili are found in its depths. The eight Aeolian Islands and Ustica are located in the part of the sea. On the Southwest, A line running from Cape Lilibeo to the South extreme of Cape Teulada in Sardinia, in the Strait of Bonifacio, A line joining the West extreme of Cape Testa in Sardinia with the Southwest extreme of Cape Feno in Corsica. On the North, A line joining Cape Corse in Corsica, with Tinetto Island and thence through Tino, there are four exits from the Tyrrhenian Sea, The Tyrrhenian Basin is divided into two basins, the Vavilov plain and the Marsili plain. They are separated by the ridge known as the Issel Bridge. Its name derives from the Greek name for the Etruscans, who were said to be emigrants from Lydia, the Etruscans settled along the coast of modern Tuscany and referred to the water as the Sea of the Etruscans. The main ports of the Tyrrhenian Sea in Italy are, Naples, Palermo, Civitavecchia, Salerno, Trapani, in France the most important port is Bastia. Note that even though the port of Rome is frequently used. Instead, the port of Rome refers to the facilities at Civitavecchia, some 68 km to the northwest of Rome. Giglio Porto is an island port in this area. It rose to prominence, when the Costa Concordia ran aground a few metres off the coast of Giglio, the ship was recently removed and towed to Genoa. In Greek mythology, it is believed that the cliffs above the Tyrrhenian Sea housed the four winds kept by Aeolus, the winds are the Mistral from the Rhône valley, the Libeccio from the southwest, and the Sirocco and Ostro from the south
Tyrrhenian Sea
–
Monte Argentario
Tyrrhenian Sea
–
Tyrrhenian Sea.
Tyrrhenian Sea
–
Pizzo
Tyrrhenian Sea
–
Zambrone
11.
Sicily
–
Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous Region of Italy, along with surrounding minor islands, Sicily is located in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula, from which it is separated by the narrow Strait of Messina. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe, the island has a typical Mediterranean climate. The earliest archaeological evidence of activity on the island dates from as early as 12,000 BC. It became part of Italy in 1860 following the Expedition of the Thousand, a revolt led by Giuseppe Garibaldi during the Italian unification, Sicily was given special status as an autonomous region after the Italian constitutional referendum of 1946. Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially regard to the arts, music, literature, cuisine. It is also home to important archaeological and ancient sites, such as the Necropolis of Pantalica, the Valley of the Temples, Sicily has a roughly triangular shape, earning it the name Trinacria. To the east, it is separated from the Italian mainland by the Strait of Messina, about 3 km wide in the north, and about 16 km wide in the southern part. The northern and southern coasts are each about 280 km long measured as a line, while the eastern coast measures around 180 km. The total area of the island is 25,711 km2, the terrain of inland Sicily is mostly hilly and is intensively cultivated wherever possible. Along the northern coast, the ranges of Madonie,2,000 m, Nebrodi,1,800 m. The cone of Mount Etna dominates the eastern coast, in the southeast lie the lower Hyblaean Mountains,1,000 m. The mines of the Enna and Caltanissetta districts were part of a leading sulphur-producing area throughout the 19th century, Sicily and its surrounding small islands have some highly active volcanoes. Mount Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe and still casts black ash over the island with its ever-present eruptions and it currently stands 3,329 metres high, though this varies with summit eruptions, the mountain is 21 m lower now than it was in 1981. It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps, Etna covers an area of 1,190 km2 with a basal circumference of 140 km. This makes it by far the largest of the three volcanoes in Italy, being about two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius. In Greek Mythology, the deadly monster Typhon was trapped under the mountain by Zeus, Mount Etna is widely regarded as a cultural symbol and icon of Sicily. The Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, to the northeast of mainland Sicily form a volcanic complex, the three volcanoes of Vulcano, Vulcanello and Lipari are also currently active, although the latter is usually dormant
Sicily
–
Mount Etna rising over suburbs of Catania
Sicily
–
Sicily Sicilia
Sicily
–
Sicilian landscape
Sicily
–
Location of the
Salso
12.
Wood
–
Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees, and other woody plants. It is a material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers which are strong in tension embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression. Wood is sometimes defined as only the secondary xylem in the stems of trees, in a living tree it performs a support function, enabling woody plants to grow large or to stand up by themselves. It also conveys water and nutrients between the leaves, other growing tissues, and the roots, Wood may also refer to other plant materials with comparable properties, and to material engineered from wood, or wood chips or fiber. In 2005, the stock of forests worldwide was about 434 billion cubic meters. As an abundant, carbon-neutral renewable resource, woody materials have been of intense interest as a source of renewable energy, in 1991 approximately 3.5 billion cubic meters of wood were harvested. Dominant uses were for furniture and building construction, a 2011 discovery in the Canadian province of New Brunswick discovered the earliest known plants to have grown wood, approximately 395 to 400 million years ago. Wood can be dated by carbon dating and in species by dendrochronology to make inferences about when a wooden object was created. People have used wood for millennia for many purposes, primarily as a fuel or as a material for making houses, tools, weapons, furniture, packaging, artworks. Constructions using wood date back ten thousand years, buildings like the European Neolithic long house were made primarily of wood. Recent use of wood has changed by the addition of steel. The year-to-year variation in tree-ring widths and isotopic abundances gives clues to the climate at that time. This process is known as growth, it is the result of cell division in the vascular cambium, a lateral meristem. These cells then go on to form thickened secondary cell walls, composed mainly of cellulose, hemicellulose, if the distinctiveness between seasons is annual, these growth rings are referred to as annual rings. Where there is little seasonal difference growth rings are likely to be indistinct or absent, if the bark of the tree has been removed in a particular area, the rings will likely be deformed as the plant overgrows the scar. It is usually lighter in color than that near the portion of the ring. The outer portion formed later in the season is known as the latewood or summerwood. However, there are differences, depending on the kind of wood
Wood
–
Diagram of
secondary growth in a
tree showing idealised vertical and horizontal sections. A new layer of wood is added in each growing season, thickening the stem, existing branches and
roots, to form a
growth ring.
Wood
Wood
–
A knot on a tree at the
Garden of the Gods public park in
Colorado Springs, Colorado (October 2006)
Wood
–
Wood knot in vertical section
13.
Mining
–
Mining is extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth usually from an orebody, lode, vein, seam, reef or placer deposits. These deposits form a mineralized package that is of economic interest to the miner, ores recovered by mining include metals, coal, oil shale, gemstones, limestone, chalk, dimension stone, rock salt, potash, gravel, and clay. Mining is required to obtain any material that cannot be grown through agricultural processes, Mining in a wider sense includes extraction of any non-renewable resource such as petroleum, natural gas, or even water. Mining of stones and metal has been a human activity since pre-historic times, Mining operations usually create a negative environmental impact, both during the mining activity and after the mine has closed. Hence, most of the nations have passed regulations to decrease the impact. Work safety has long been a concern as well, and modern practices have significantly improved safety in mines, levels of metals recycling are generally low. Unless future end-of-life recycling rates are stepped up, some rare metals may become unavailable for use in a variety of consumer products, due to the low recycling rates, some landfills now contain higher concentrations of metal than mines themselves. Since the beginning of civilization, people have used stone, ceramics and, later and these were used to make early tools and weapons, for example, high quality flint found in northern France, southern England and Poland was used to create flint tools. Flint mines have been found in areas where seams of the stone were followed underground by shafts. The mines at Grimes Graves and Krzemionki are especially famous, other hard rocks mined or collected for axes included the greenstone of the Langdale axe industry based in the English Lake District. The oldest-known mine on archaeological record is the Lion Cave in Swaziland, at this site Paleolithic humans mined hematite to make the red pigment ochre. Mines of an age in Hungary are believed to be sites where Neanderthals may have mined flint for weapons. Ancient Egyptians mined malachite at Maadi, at first, Egyptians used the bright green malachite stones for ornamentations and pottery. Later, between 2613 and 2494 BC, large building projects required expeditions abroad to the area of Wadi Maghareh in order to secure minerals and other resources not available in Egypt itself. Quarries for turquoise and copper were found at Wadi Hammamat, Tura, Aswan and various other Nubian sites on the Sinai Peninsula. Mining in Egypt occurred in the earliest dynasties, the gold mines of Nubia were among the largest and most extensive of any in Ancient Egypt. These mines are described by the Greek author Diodorus Siculus, who mentions fire-setting as one used to break down the hard rock holding the gold. One of the complexes is shown in one of the earliest known maps, the miners crushed the ore and ground it to a fine powder before washing the powder for the gold dust
Mining
–
Surface
coal mining
Mining
–
Chalcolithic copper mine in
Timna Valley,
Negev Desert
Mining
–
Ancient Roman development of the
Dolaucothi Gold Mines, Wales
Mining
–
Agricola, author of
De Re Metallica
14.
Alum
–
Alum /ˈælum/ is both a specific chemical compound and a class of chemical compounds. The specific compound is the potassium aluminium sulfate with the formula KAl2·12H 2O. When the trivalent ion is aluminium, the alum is named after the monovalent ion, alums are useful for a range of industrial processes. They are soluble in water, have a taste, react acid to litmus. In alums each metal ion is surrounded by six water molecules, when heated, they liquefy, and if the heating is continued, the water of crystallization is driven off, the salt froths and swells, and at last an amorphous powder remains. The most important members - potassium, sodium, and ammonium - are produced industrially, typical recipes involve combining alumina, sulfuric acid, and the sulfate second cation, potassium, sodium, or ammonium. Potassium alum has been used at least since Roman times for purification of drinking water, Alum solution has the property of dissolving steels while not affecting aluminium or base metals, and can be used to recover workpieces made in these metals with broken toolbits lodged inside them. Alum in block form can be used as a blood coagulant, styptic pencils containing aluminium sulfate or potassium aluminium sulfate are used as astringents to prevent bleeding from small shaving cuts. Alum may be used in depilatory waxes used for the removal of hair or applied to freshly waxed skin as a soothing agent. In the 1950s, men sporting crewcut or flattop hairstyles sometimes applied alum to their hair as an alternative to pomade, when the hair dried, it would stay up all day. Alums antiperspirant and antibacterial properties contribute to its use as an underarm deodorant. It has been used for purpose in Europe, Mexico, Thailand, throughout Asia. Today, potassium or ammonium alum is sold commercially for this purpose as a deodorant crystal, Alum powder, found in the spice section of many grocery stores, may be used in pickling recipes as a preservative to maintain fruit and vegetable crispness. Alum is used as the component of some commercial baking powders. Alum was used by bakers in England during the 1800s to make bread whiter and this was thought by some, without adequate scientific grounds, to cause rickets. The Sale of Food and Drugs Act 1875 prevented this and other adulterations, solutions containing alum may be used to treat cloth, wood, and paper materials to increase their resistance to fire. Alum is used to water by neutralizing the electrical double layer surrounding very fine suspended particles. After flocculation, the particles will be enough to settle
Alum
–
Bulk alum.
Alum
–
An Alum Block sold as an
astringent in pharmacies in
India
Alum
–
Crystal of potassium alum
Alum
–
Alum crystal with small amount of
chrome alum to give a slight
violet color
15.
Sulfur
–
Sulfur or sulphur is a chemical element with symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent, and nonmetallic, under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with chemical formula S8. Elemental sulfur is a yellow crystalline solid at room temperature. Chemically, sulfur reacts with all elements except for gold, platinum, iridium, tellurium, though sometimes found in pure, native form, sulfur usually occurs as sulfide and sulfate minerals. Being abundant in native form, sulfur was known in ancient times, being mentioned for its uses in ancient India, ancient Greece, China, in the Bible, sulfur is called brimstone. Today, almost all elemental sulfur is produced as a byproduct of removing sulfur-containing contaminants from natural gas, the greatest commercial use of the element is the production of sulfuric acid for sulfate and phosphate fertilizers, and other chemical processes. The element sulfur is used in matches, insecticides, and fungicides, many sulfur compounds are odoriferous, and the smells of odorized natural gas, skunk scent, grapefruit, and garlic are due to organosulfur compounds. Hydrogen sulfide gives the characteristic odor to rotting eggs and other biological processes, sulfur is an essential element for all life, but almost always in the form of organosulfur compounds or metal sulfides. Three amino acids and two vitamins are organosulfur compounds, many cofactors also contain sulfur including glutathione and thioredoxin and iron–sulfur proteins. Disulfides, S–S bonds, confer mechanical strength and insolubility of the keratin, found in outer skin, hair. Sulfur is one of the chemical elements needed for biochemical functioning and is an elemental macronutrient for all organisms. Sulfur is derived from the Latin word sulpur, which was Hellenized to sulphur, the spelling sulfur appears toward the end of the Classical period. In 12th-century Anglo-French, it was sulfre, in the 14th century the Latin ph was restored, for sulphre, the parallel f~ph spellings continued in Britain until the 19th century, when the word was standardized as sulphur. Sulfur was the form chosen in the United States, whereas Canada uses both, the IUPAC adopted the spelling sulfur in 1990, as did the Nomenclature Committee of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 1992, restoring the spelling sulfur to Britain. Sulfur forms polyatomic molecules with different chemical formulas, the best-known allotrope being octasulfur, cyclo-S8. The point group of cyclo-S8 is D4d and its dipole moment is 0 D. Octasulfur is a soft, bright-yellow solid that is odorless and it melts at 115.21 °C, boils at 444.6 °C and sublimes easily. At 95.2 °C, below its melting temperature, cyclo-octasulfur changes from α-octasulfur to the β-polymorph, the structure of the S8 ring is virtually unchanged by this phase change, which affects the intermolecular interactions. At higher temperatures, the viscosity decreases as depolymerization occurs, molten sulfur assumes a dark red color above 200 °C
Sulfur
–
Sulfur, 16 S
Sulfur
–
Spectral lines of sulfur
Sulfur
–
Nearly exhausted sulfur vat from which railroad cars are loaded, Freeport Sulphur Co., Hoskins Mound, Texas (1943).
Sulfur
–
Most of the yellow and orange hues of
Io are due to elemental sulfur and sulfur compounds, produced by active volcanoes.
16.
House of Bourbon
–
The House of Bourbon is a European royal house of French origin, a branch of the Capetian dynasty. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Navarre in the 16th century, by the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma. Spain and Luxembourg currently have Bourbon monarchs, the royal Bourbons originated in 1268, when the heiress of the lordship of Bourbon married a younger son of King Louis IX. The house continued for three centuries as a branch, while more senior Capetians ruled France, until Henry IV became the first Bourbon king of France in 1589. Restored briefly in 1814 and definitively in 1815 after the fall of the First French Empire, a cadet Bourbon branch, the House of Orléans, then ruled for 18 years, until it too was overthrown. The Princes de Condé were a branch of the Bourbons descended from an uncle of Henry IV. Both houses were prominent in French affairs, even during exile in the French Revolution, until their respective extinctions in 1830 and 1814. When the Bourbons inherited the strongest claim to the Spanish throne, the claim was passed to a cadet Bourbon prince, a grandson of Louis XIV of France, who became Philip V of Spain. The Spanish House of Bourbon has been overthrown and restored several times, reigning 1700–1808, 1813–1868, 1875–1931, Bourbons ruled in Naples from 1734–1806 and in Sicily from 1734–1816, and in a unified Kingdom of the Two Sicilies from 1816–1860. They also ruled in Parma from 1731–1735, 1748–1802 and 1847–1859, all legitimate, living members of the House of Bourbon, including its cadet branches, are direct agnatic descendants of Henry IV. The term House of Bourbon is sometimes used to refer to this first house and the House of Bourbon-Dampierre, the second family to rule the seigneury. In 1268, Robert, Count of Clermont, sixth son of King Louis IX of France, married Beatrix of Bourbon, heiress to the lordship of Bourbon and their son Louis was made Duke of Bourbon in 1327. His descendant, the Constable of France Charles de Bourbon, was the last of the senior Bourbon line when he died in 1527. Because he chose to fight under the banner of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and lived in exile from France, the remaining line of Bourbons henceforth descended from James I, Count of La Marche, the younger son of Louis I, Duke of Bourbon. With the death of his grandson James II, Count of La Marche in 1438, all future Bourbons would descend from James IIs younger brother, Louis, who became the Count of Vendôme through his mothers inheritance. In 1514, Charles, Count of Vendôme had his title raised to Duke of Vendôme and his son Antoine became King of Navarre, on the northern side of the Pyrenees, by marriage in 1555. Two of Antoines younger brothers were Cardinal Archbishop Charles de Bourbon, Louis male-line, the Princes de Condé, survived until 1830. Finally, in 1589, the House of Valois died out and he was born on 13 December 1553 in the Kingdom of Navarre
House of Bourbon
–
The castle of
Bourbon-l'Archambault
House of Bourbon
–
House of Bourbon
House of Bourbon
–
Henry IV of France, the first Bourbon King of France
House of Bourbon
–
Dynastic group portrait of Louis XIV (seated) with his son
le Grand Dauphin (to the left), his grandson
Louis, Duke of Burgundy (to the right), his great-grandson the duc d'Anjou, later Louis XV, and
Madame de Ventadour, his governess, who commissioned this painting some years later; busts of
Henry IV and
Louis XIII in the background.
17.
Expedition of the Thousand
–
The Expedition of the Thousand was an event of the Italian Risorgimento that took place in 1860. A corps of volunteers led by Giuseppe Garibaldi landed in Sicily in order to conquer the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the project was an ambitious and risky venture aiming to conquer, with a thousand men, a kingdom with a larger regular army and a more powerful navy. However, the Expedition was instigated by Francesco Crispi, who utilized his political influence to bolster the Italian unification project. In 1860 Garibaldi, already the most famous Italian revolutionary leader, was in Genoa planning an expedition against Sicily and Naples, Sicilian leaders, among them Francesco Crispi, were discontented with Neapolitan rule over the island. The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont needed a presentable casus belli in order to attack the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. This was needed for the House of Savoy, which never gave any declaration of war against the Bourbon kingdom. The only occurrence that would have satisfied this requirement was an uprising from within, in March 1860, exile Rosolino Pilo exhorted Giuseppe Garibaldi to take charge of an expedition to liberate Southern Italy from Bourbon rule. At first, Garibaldi was against it, but eventually agreed, by May 1860, Garibaldi had collected 1,089 volunteers for his expedition to Sicily. The largest number of volunteers came from Lombardy, other significant numbers of volunteers came from occupied Venetia Genoa and Tuscany. There were about 45 Sicilian volunteers and 46 Neapolitan volunteers - but only 11 from Rome, thirty three foreigners joined the expedition, amongst them István Türr and three other Hungarians and fourteen Italians from the Trentino of the Austrian Empire. The majority of the volunteers were students and artisans from the lower classes, the 1,089 volunteers were poorly armed with dated muskets and were dressed in a minimalist uniform - consisting of a red shirt and grey trousers. During the night of 5 May, a group led by Nino Bixio seized two steamships in Genoa from the Rubattino shipping company in order to transport the volunteers to Sicily. They took the two ships, which they had renamed Il Piemonte and Il Lombardo, to the rocks at Quarto dei Mille, Genoa. The ships landed at Marsala, on the westernmost point of Sicily, on 11 May, the Lombardo was attacked and sunk only after the disembarkation had been completed, while the Piemonte was captured. The landing had been preceded by the arrival of Francesco Crispi and others, on 14 May, at Salemi, Garibaldi announced that he was assuming dictatorship over Sicily in the name of King Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia. The Mille won a first battle at Calatafimi against around 2,000 Neapolitan troops on 15 May. The battle boosted the morale of the Mille and, at the time, depressed the Neapolitans, who were poorly led by their often corrupted higher officers. Having promised land to every male who volunteered to fight against the Bourbons the ranks of the Mille enlarged to 1,200 with local men, on 27 May, with the help of a popular insurrection, the Mille laid siege to Palermo, the islands capital
Expedition of the Thousand
–
The beginning of the expedition at Quarto
Expedition of the Thousand
–
The steamship PIEMONTE one of the two steamships that transported the Thousand to Sicily
Expedition of the Thousand
–
Francesco Crispi
Expedition of the Thousand
–
Battle of Calatafimi
18.
Villa
–
A villa was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably, after the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity, sometimes transferred to the Church for reuse as a monastery. Then they gradually re-evolved through the Middle Ages into elegant upper-class country homes, in modern parlance, villa can refer to various types and sizes of residences, ranging from the suburban semi-detached double villa to residences in the wildland–urban interface. In ancient Roman architecture a villa was originally a house built for the élite. The Roman villae rusticae at the heart of latifundia were the earliest versions of what later, not included as villae were the domus, a city house for the élite and privileged classes, and insulae, blocks of apartment buildings for the rest of the population. In Satyricon, Petronius described the range of Roman dwellings. Another type of villae is the villa marittima, a seaside villa, a concentration of Imperial villas existed on the Gulf of Naples, on the Isle of Capri, at Monte Circeo and at Antium. Examples include the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum, and the Villa of the Mysteries, wealthy Romans also escaped the summer heat in the hills round Rome, especially around Tibur (Tivoand Frascati, such as at Hadrians Villa. Cicero allegedly possessed no fewer than seven villas, the oldest of which was near Arpinum, pliny the Younger had three or four, of which the example near Laurentium is the best known from his descriptions. Roman writers refer with satisfaction to the self-sufficiency of their latifundium villas, archeologists have meticulously examined numerous Roman villas in England. The grand villa at Woodchester preserved its mosaic floors when the Anglo-Saxon parish church was built upon its site, grave-diggers preparing for burials in the churchyard as late as the 18th century had to punch through the intact mosaic floors. The even more palatial villa rustica at Fishbourne near Winchester was built as an open rectangle. Villae rusticae are essential in the Empires economy, two kinds of villa-plan in Roman Britain may be characteristic of Roman villas in general. The more usual plan extended wings of all opening onto a linking portico. The other kind featured a central hall like a basilica. The villa buildings were often independent structures linked by their enclosed courtyards, timber-framed construction, carefully fitted with mortises and tenons and dowelled together, set on stone footings, were the rule, replaced by stone buildings for the important ceremonial rooms. Traces of window glass have been found, as well as ironwork window grilles, with the decline and collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the fourth and fifth centuries, the villas were more and more isolated and came to be protected by walls. In England the villas were abandoned, looted, and burned by Anglo-Saxon invaders in the fifth century, in regions on the Continent, aristocrats and territorial magnates donated large working villas and overgrown abandoned ones to individual monks, these might become the nuclei of monasteries
Villa
–
The
Villa Medici in Fiesole with early terraced hillside
landscape: by
Leon Battista Alberti
Villa
–
The
Getty Villa, an adaptation of the
Villa of the Papyri, in
Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles
Villa
–
Model of
Fishbourne Roman Palace, a governor's villa on the grandest scale
Villa
–
The Villa di Medici by
Giuliano da Sangallo -1470:
Poggio a Caiano,
Tuscany
19.
Vineyard
–
A vineyard /ˈvɪnjərd/ is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of production is known as viticulture. The earliest evidence of production dates from between 6000 and 5000 BC. Wine making technology improved considerably with the ancient Greeks but it wasnt until the end of the Roman Empire that cultivation techniques as we know them were common throughout Europe. In medieval Europe the Church was a supporter of wine. They owned and tended the best vineyards in Europe and vinum theologium was considered superior to all others, European vineyards were planted with a wide variety of the Vitis vinifera grape. However, in the late 19th century, the species was nearly destroyed by the plant louse phylloxera accidentally introduced to Europe from North America. Native American grapevines include varieties such as Vitis labrusca, which is resistant to the bug, the quest for vineyard efficiency has produced a bewildering range of systems and techniques in recent years. Due to the much more fertile New World growing conditions. Innovation in palissage and pruning and thinning methods have replaced more general, traditional concepts like yield per unit area in favor of maximizing yield of desired quality. Many of these new techniques have since adopted in place of traditional practice in the more progressive of the so-called Old World vineyards. Other recent practices include spraying water on vines to protect them from sub-zero temperatures, new grafting techniques, soil slotting, such techniques have made possible the development of wine industries in New World countries such as Canada. Today there is increasing interest in developing organic, ecologically sensitive, biodynamics has become increasingly popular in viticulture. The use of irrigation in recent years has expanded vineyards into areas which were previously unplantable. The research includes developing improved grape varieties and investigating pest control, the International Grape Genome Program is a multi-national effort to discover a genetic means to improving quality, increasing yield and providing a natural resistance to pests. The implementation of mechanical harvesting is often stimulated by changes in laws, labor shortages. It can be expensive to hire labor for periods of time. Numbers of New World vineyard plantings have been increasing almost as fast as European vineyards are being uprooted, the size of individual vineyards in the New World is significant
Vineyard
–
The extensive vineyards of the
Languedoc-Roussillon region, southern France
Vineyard
–
Aerial view of vineyards in
Markgräflerland, Baden, Germany.
Vineyard
–
Satyrs in vineyard.
Attic red-figure volute-
krater, ca. 490 BC,
State Collections of Antiques in Munich.
Vineyard
–
A vineyard with bird-netting.
20.
Grapes
–
A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus Vitis. Grapes can be fresh as table grapes or they can be used for making wine, jam, juice, jelly, grape seed extract, raisins, vinegar. Grapes are a type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of the grape began 6, 000–8,000 years ago in the Near East. Yeast, one of the earliest domesticated microorganisms, occurs naturally on the skins of grapes, the earliest archeological evidence for a dominant position of wine-making in human culture dates from 8,000 years ago in Georgia. The oldest known winery was found in Armenia, dating to around 4000 BC, by the 9th century AD the city of Shiraz was known to produce some of the finest wines in the Middle East. Thus it has proposed that Syrah red wine is named after Shiraz. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics record the cultivation of grapes, and history attests to the ancient Greeks, Phoenicians. The growing of grapes would later spread to regions in Europe, as well as North Africa. Vitis vinifera cultivars were imported for that purpose, Grapes are a type of fruit that grow in clusters of 15 to 300, and can be crimson, black, dark blue, yellow, green, orange, and pink. White grapes are actually green in color, and are derived from the purple grape. Mutations in two genes of white grapes turn off production of anthocyanins, which are responsible for the color of purple grapes. Anthocyanins and other pigment chemicals of the family of polyphenols in purple grapes are responsible for the varying shades of purple in red wines. Grapes are typically an ellipsoid shape resembling a prolate spheroid, most grapes come from cultivars of Vitis vinifera, the European grapevine native to the Mediterranean and Central Asia. Vitis riparia, a vine of North America, is sometimes used for winemaking. It is native to the entire Eastern U. S. Vitis rotundifolia, the muscadines, used for jams and wine, are native to the Southeastern United States from Delaware to the Gulf of Mexico. Vitis amurensis is the most important Asian species, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization,75,866 square kilometers of the world are dedicated to grapes. Approximately 71% of world production is used for wine, 27% as fresh fruit
Grapes
–
Grapes
Grapes
–
"White"
table grapes
Grapes
–
Concord is a variety of North American labrusca grape
Grapes
–
Wine grapes on the vine
21.
Malmsey
–
Grape varieties in this family include Malvasia bianca, Malvasia di Schierano, Malvasia negra, Malvasia nera, Malvasia near di Brindisi and a number of other varieties. Malvasia wines are produced in Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Corsica, the Iberian Peninsula, the Canary Islands, the island of Madeira, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Australia and Brazil. These grapes are used to produce table wines, dessert wines. Most ampelographers believe that the Malvasia family of grapes are of ancient origin, most likely originating in Crete, during the Middle Ages, the Venetians became so prolific in the trading of Malvasia wine that merchant wine shops in Venice were known as malvasie. A competing theory holds that the name is derived from the district of Malevizi, in any case, Malmsey was one of the three major wines exported from Greece in medieval times. Both Monemvasia and Candia have lent their names to modern grape varieties, in Greece, there is a variety known as Monemvasia, evidently named after the port, though now grown primarily in the Cyclades. In western Europe, a variety of Malvasia is known as Malvasia Bianca di Candia. DNA analysis does, however, suggest that the Athiri wine grape is ancestral to Malvasia, most varieties of Malvasia are closely related to Malvasia bianca. One notable exception is the variety known as Malvasia di Candia which is a distinctly different sub-variety of Malvasia. Malvasia bianca is grown throughout the world in places like Italy, the San Joaquin Valley of California, the Greek Islands of Paros and Syros. Throughout central Italy, Malvasia is often blended with Trebbiano to add flavor, in Rioja, it performs a similar function when blended with Viura. Malvazija Istarska Malvazija Istarska got the name after peninsula of Istria shared between Croatia, Slovenia and Italy and it represents one of the main white wines of Croatian Istria and the north Dalmatian coast. The vine was introduced to the area by Venetian merchants who brought cuttings from Greece, the malvasia is called malvazija in Croatian language. It is the white wine in the region. Other The Dalmatian Maraština is identical to the Italian variety Malvasia Lunga, Malvasia Istriana In Italy this wine is grown in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region in Collio DOC and Isonzo DOC. The name comes from the Istria peninsula spanning over Croatia, Slovenia, the vine was introduced to the area by Venetian merchants who brought cuttings from Greece. Malvasia Istriana is also found in the Colli Piacentini region of Emilia where it is used to make sparkling wine known locally as champagnino or little Champagne. Following World War II, lack of interest in the market lead to a sharp decline in plantings with many varieties on the verge of extinction
Malmsey
–
Malvasia grapes on the vine
Malmsey
–
A map of the island fortress of Monemvasia in the 17th century
Malmsey
–
Malvasia grapes
Malmsey
–
Bottles of Malvazija istarska (Istrian Malvasia) quality wine
22.
African Plate
–
The African Plate is a major tectonic plate straddling the equator as well as the prime meridian. It includes much of the continent of Africa, as well as oceanic crust which lies between the continent and various surrounding ocean ridges, between 60 million years ago and 10 million years ago, the Somali Plate began rifting from the African Plate along the East African Rift. All of these are divergent or spreading boundaries with the exception of the northern boundary, the cratons are, from south to north, the Kalahari craton, Congo craton, Tanzania craton and West African craton. The cratons were widely separated in the past, but came together during the Pan-African orogeny, the cratons are connected by orogenic belts, regions of highly deformed rock where the tectonic plates have engaged. The African Plate is rifting in the interior of the African continent along the East African Rift. This rift zone separates the African Plate to the west from the Somali Plate to the east, the African Plates speed is estimated at around 2.15 cm per year. It has been moving over the past 100 million years or so in a general northeast direction and this is drawing it closer to the Eurasian Plate, causing subduction where oceanic crust is converging with continental crust. Along its northeast margin, the African Plate is bounded by the Red Sea Rift where the Arabian Plate is moving away from the African Plate. The New England hotspot in the Atlantic Ocean has probably created a line of mid- to late-Tertiary age seamounts on the African Plate. USGS - Understanding plate motions Meijer, P. Th, wortel, M. J. R. Cenozoic dynamics of the African plate with emphasis on the Africa-Eurasia collision. Journal of Geophysical Research, Solid Earth
African Plate
–
African Plate
23.
Eurasian Plate
–
It also includes oceanic crust extending westward to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and northward to the Gakkel Ridge. The eastern side is a boundary with the North American Plate to the north and a boundary with the Philippine Sea Plate to the south, and possibly with the Okhotsk Plate and the Amurian Plate. The southerly side is a boundary with the African Plate to the west, the Arabian Plate in the middle, the westerly side is a divergent boundary with the North American Plate forming the northernmost part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which is straddled by Iceland. The geodynamics of central Asia is dominated by the interaction between the Eurasian and Indian Plates, in this area, many subplates or crust blocks have been recognized, which form the Central Asian and the East Asian transit zones
Eurasian Plate
–
Eurasian & Anatolian Plate
Eurasian Plate
–
Eurasian Plate
Eurasian Plate
–
Geographic regions
24.
Caldera
–
A caldera is a large cauldron-like depression that forms following the evacuation of a magma chamber/reservoir. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a time period. The ground surface then collapses downward into the emptied magma chamber. Although sometimes described as a crater, the feature is actually a type of sinkhole, as it is formed through subsidence, only seven known caldera-forming collapses have occurred since the start of the 20th century, most recently at Bárðarbunga volcano in Iceland. The word comes from Spanish caldera, and this from Latin caldaria, in some texts the English term cauldron is also used. If enough magma is ejected, the chamber is unable to support the weight of the volcanic edifice above it. A roughly circular fracture, the fault, develops around the edge of the chamber. Ring fractures serve as feeders for fault intrusions which are known as ring dykes. Secondary volcanic vents may form above the ring fracture, as the magma chamber empties, the center of the volcano within the ring fracture begins to collapse. The collapse may occur as the result of a cataclysmic eruption. The total area that collapses may be hundreds or thousands of square kilometers, some calderas are known to host rich ore deposits. One of the worlds best-preserved mineralized calderas is the Sturgeon Lake Caldera in northwestern Ontario, Canada, if the magma is rich in silica, the caldera is often filled in with ignimbrite, tuff, rhyolite, and other igneous rocks. Silica-rich magma has a high viscosity, and therefore does not flow easily like basalt, as a result, gases tend to become trapped at high pressure within the magma. Further lava flows may be erupted, if volcanic activity continues, the center of the caldera may be uplifted in the form of a resurgent dome such as is seen at Cerro Galán, Lake Toba, Yellowstone, etc. by subsequent intrusion of magma. A silicic or rhyolitic caldera may erupt hundreds or even thousands of kilometers of material in a single event. Even small caldera-forming eruptions, such as Krakatoa in 1883 or Mount Pinatubo in 1991, may result in significant local destruction, large calderas may have even greater effects. When Yellowstone Caldera last erupted some 650,000 years ago, it released about 1,000 km3 of material, by comparison, when Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980, it released ~1.2 km3 of ejecta. The ecological effects of the eruption of a large caldera can be seen in the record of the Lake Toba eruption in Indonesia, more recently several geneticists, including Lynn Jorde and Henry Harpending have proposed that the human species was reduced to approximately five to ten thousand people
Caldera
–
Landsat image of
Lake Toba, on the island of
Sumatra,
Indonesia. A
resurgent dome formed the island of
Samosir. (100 km/62 mi long and 30 km/19 mi wide, a caldera of the world's largest class)
Caldera
–
Animation of analogue experiment showing origin of volcanic caldera in box filled with flour.
Caldera
–
Satellite photograph of the summit caldera on
Fernandina Island in the
Galapagos archipelago.
Caldera
–
Oblique aerial photo of Nemrut Caldera, Van Lake, Eastern Turkey
25.
Pyroclastic
–
Pyroclastic rocks or pyroclastics are clastic rocks composed solely or primarily of volcanic materials. Where the volcanic material has been transported and reworked through mechanical action, such as by wind or water, pyroclastic rocks may be a range of clast sizes, from the largest agglomerates, to very fine ashes and tuffs. Pyroclasts of different sizes are classified as bombs, lapilli. Ash is considered to be pyroclastic because it is a fine dust made up of volcanic rock, one of the most spectacular forms of pyroclastic deposit are the ignimbrites, deposits formed by the high-temperature gas-and-ash mix of a pyroclastic flow event. Three modes of transport can be distinguished, pyroclastic flow, pyroclastic surge, during Plinian eruptions, pumice and ash are formed when silicic magma is fragmented in the volcanic conduit, because of decompression and the growth of bubbles. Pyroclasts are then entrained in a buoyant eruption plume which can rise several kilometers into the air, particles falling from the eruption clouds form layers on the ground. Pyroclastic density currents, which are referred to as flows or surges depending on particle concentration, the deposits of pumice-rich pyroclastic flows can be called ignimbrites. A pyroclastic eruption entails spitting or fountaining lava, where the lava will be thrown into the air along with ash, pyroclastic materials, hawaiian eruptions such as those at Kīlauea can eject clots of magma suspended into gas, this is called a fire fountain. The magma clots, if hot enough may coalesce upon landing to form a lava flow, pyroclastic deposits consist of pyroclasts which are not cemented together. Pyroclastic rocks are pyroclastic deposits which have been lithified
Pyroclastic
–
USGS scientist examines
pumice blocks at the edge of a pyroclastic flow from
Mount St. Helens
Pyroclastic
–
Rocks from the
Bishop Tuff, uncompressed with
pumice on left; compressed with
fiamme on right.
26.
Vulcanian eruption
–
The term vulcanian was first used by Giuseppe Mercalli, witnessing the 1888-1890 eruptions on the island of Vulcano. His description of the style is now used all over the world for eruptions characterised by a dense cloud of ash-laden gas exploding from the crater. Mercalli described vulcanian eruptions as. Explosions like cannon fire at irregular intervals and their explosive nature is due to increased silica content of the magma. Almost all types of magma can be involved, but magma with about 55% or more silica is most common, increasing silica levels increase the viscosity of the magma which means increased explosiveness. They usually commence with phreatomagmatic eruptions which can be noisy due the rising magma heating water in the ground. This is usually followed by the clearing of the vent. As the vent clears, further ash clouds become grey-white and creamy in colour, vulcanian eruptions display several common characteristics. The mass of rock ejected during the eruption is usually between 102 -106 tonnes and contains a proportion of non-juvinial material. During active periods of activity, intervals between explosions vary from less than 1 minute to about a day. Pyroclastic flows are common features of this type of eruption. The gas streaming phase of vulcanian eruptions are characterised by discrete cannon-like explosions and these expulsions of gas can reach supersonic velocities resulting in shock waves. The tephra is dispersed over an area than that from Strombolian eruptions. The pyroclastic rock and the surge deposits form an ash volcanic cone. The eruption ends with a flow of viscous lava, vulcanian eruptions may throw large metre-size blocks several hundred metres, occasionally up to several kilometres. Vulcanian eruptions are dangerous to persons within several hundred metres of the vent, volcanic bombs are common products of this type of eruption. These are initially molten blobs of lava, which cool into blocks often 2 to 3 m across. At Galeras, an eruption ejected bombs which struck several volcanologists who were in the crater. The 11 September 1930 eruption of Stromboli was a vulcanian eruption and it started at 08,10 hours, when ash was vented for about 10 minutes
Vulcanian eruption
–
The Gran Cratere,
Vulcano. A sense of scale is provided by the tourist visible near the centre of the crater.
Vulcanian eruption
–
Volcanic eruption: 1 Ash plume, 2 Lapilli, 3 Lava fountain, 4 Volcanic ash rain, 5 Volcanic bomb, 6 Lava flow, 7 Layers of lava and ash, 8 Stratum, 9 Sill, 10 Magma conduit, 11 Magma chamber, 12 Dike
27.
Magma
–
Besides molten rock, magma may also contain suspended crystals, dissolved gas and sometimes gas bubbles. Magma often collects in magma chambers that may feed a volcano or solidify underground to form an intrusion, magma is capable of intruding into adjacent rocks, extrusion onto the surface as lava, and explosive ejection as tephra to form pyroclastic rock. Magma is a complex high-temperature fluid substance, temperatures of most magmas are in the range 700 °C to 1300 °C, but very rare carbonatite magmas may be as cool as 600 °C, and komatiite magmas may have been as hot as 1600 °C. Environments of magma formation and compositions are commonly correlated, environments include subduction zones, continental rift zones, mid-ocean ridges and hotspots. Despite being found in such locales, the bulk of the Earths crust. Except for the outer core, most of the Earth takes the form of a rheid. Magma, as liquid, preferentially forms in high temperature, low pressure environments within several kilometers of the Earths surface, magma compositions may evolve after formation by fractional crystallization, contamination, and magma mixing. By definition rock formed of solidified magma is called igneous rock, melting of solid rocks to form magma is controlled by three physical parameters, temperature, pressure, and composition. Mechanisms are discussed in the entry for igneous rock, as a rock melts, its volume changes. When enough rock is melted, the small globules of melt link up, under pressure within the earth, as little as a fraction of a percent partial melting may be sufficient to cause melt to be squeezed from its source. The degree of melting is critical for determining what type of magma is produced. The degree of partial melting required to form a melt can be estimated by considering the relative enrichment of incompatible elements versus compatible elements, incompatible elements commonly include potassium, barium, cesium, and rubidium. Rock types produced by small degrees of melting in the Earths mantle are typically alkaline. Typically, primitive melts of this composition form lamprophyre, lamproite, kimberlite and sometimes nepheline-bearing mafic rocks such as alkali basalts, pegmatite may be produced by low degrees of partial melting of the crust. Some granite-composition magmas are eutectic melts, and they may be produced by low to high degrees of melting of the crust. At high degrees of melting of the crust, granitoids such as tonalite, granodiorite and monzonite can be produced. Being only the time in recorded history that magma had been reached, IDDP decided to invest in the hole. A cemented steel case was constructed in the hole with a perforation at the close to the magma
Magma
–
Lava flow on
Hawaii. Lava is the
extrusive equivalent of magma.
28.
Giuseppe Mercalli
–
Giuseppe Mercalli was an Italian volcanologist and Catholic priest. He is best remembered for the Mercalli intensity scale for measuring earthquakes, born in Milan, Mercalli was ordained a Roman Catholic priest and soon became a professor of the Natural Sciences at the seminary of Milan. The Italian government appointed him a professor at Domodossola, followed by a post at Reggio di Calabria and he was professor of geology at the University of Catania in the late 1880s and finally was given a post at the Naples University. He was also director of the Vesuvius Observatory until the time of his death and he is best remembered for the Mercalli intensity scale for measuring earthquakes which, in modified form, is still used today. Unlike the Richter magnitude scale, which measures the energy released by an earthquake and it is poorly suited for measuring earthquakes in sparsely populated areas but ideal for comparing damage done by various tremors, and is useful in earthquake engineering. The scale in use today assigns indices ranging from I - Not felt, except by a few under favorable conditions, to XII - Damage total, Giuseppe Mercalli also observed eruptions of the volcanoes Stromboli and Vulcano in the Aeolian Islands. His descriptions of these became the basis for two indices in the Volcanic Explosivity Index,1 - Strombolian eruption, and 2 - Vulcanian eruption. He also photographed Vesuvius immediately after its eruption in 1906, in 1914, Mercalli burnt to death under suspicious circumstances, allegedly after knocking over a paraffin lamp in his bedroom. He is thought to have been working through the night, as he often did and his body was found, carbonized, by his bed, holding a blanket which he attempted to use to fend off the flames. Mercalli devised two earthquake intensity scales, both modifications of the Rossi–Forel scale, the first, now largely forgotten, had six degrees whereas the Rossi–Forel scale had ten. The second, now known as the Mercalli intensity scale, had ten degrees, Italian physicist Adolfo Cancani expanded the ten-degree Mercalli scale with the addition of two degrees at the top of the scale, XI and XII. This was later rewritten by the German geophysicist August Heinrich Sieberg. This was modified and published in English by Harry O. Wood and it was later improved by Charles Richter, developer of the Richter scale. The scale is known today as the Modified Mercalli intensity scale, works by or about Giuseppe Mercalli at Internet Archive
Giuseppe Mercalli
–
Giuseppe Mercalli
Giuseppe Mercalli
–
Mercalli's photograph of Vesuvius, taken immediately after its eruption in 1906
29.
Vulcanian eruptions
–
The term vulcanian was first used by Giuseppe Mercalli, witnessing the 1888-1890 eruptions on the island of Vulcano. His description of the style is now used all over the world for eruptions characterised by a dense cloud of ash-laden gas exploding from the crater. Mercalli described vulcanian eruptions as. Explosions like cannon fire at irregular intervals and their explosive nature is due to increased silica content of the magma. Almost all types of magma can be involved, but magma with about 55% or more silica is most common, increasing silica levels increase the viscosity of the magma which means increased explosiveness. They usually commence with phreatomagmatic eruptions which can be noisy due the rising magma heating water in the ground. This is usually followed by the clearing of the vent. As the vent clears, further ash clouds become grey-white and creamy in colour, vulcanian eruptions display several common characteristics. The mass of rock ejected during the eruption is usually between 102 -106 tonnes and contains a proportion of non-juvinial material. During active periods of activity, intervals between explosions vary from less than 1 minute to about a day. Pyroclastic flows are common features of this type of eruption. The gas streaming phase of vulcanian eruptions are characterised by discrete cannon-like explosions and these expulsions of gas can reach supersonic velocities resulting in shock waves. The tephra is dispersed over an area than that from Strombolian eruptions. The pyroclastic rock and the surge deposits form an ash volcanic cone. The eruption ends with a flow of viscous lava, vulcanian eruptions may throw large metre-size blocks several hundred metres, occasionally up to several kilometres. Vulcanian eruptions are dangerous to persons within several hundred metres of the vent, volcanic bombs are common products of this type of eruption. These are initially molten blobs of lava, which cool into blocks often 2 to 3 m across. At Galeras, an eruption ejected bombs which struck several volcanologists who were in the crater. The 11 September 1930 eruption of Stromboli was a vulcanian eruption and it started at 08,10 hours, when ash was vented for about 10 minutes
Vulcanian eruptions
–
The Gran Cratere,
Vulcano. A sense of scale is provided by the tourist visible near the centre of the crater.
Vulcanian eruptions
–
Volcanic eruption: 1 Ash plume, 2 Lapilli, 3 Lava fountain, 4 Volcanic ash rain, 5 Volcanic bomb, 6 Lava flow, 7 Layers of lava and ash, 8 Stratum, 9 Sill, 10 Magma conduit, 11 Magma chamber, 12 Dike
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