Ricerc@Sapienza

Heavy oil and bitumens have been exploited in Italy during the past, in particular over the Maiella Mountain’s northwest flank (Central Italy), where relatively undeformed, hydrocarbon-bearing carbonate- ramp reservoirs of the Bolognano Formation crop out. These res- ervoirs represent the exhumed analog of a wider petroleum system that has been investigated also in the subsurface by exploration activities, both onshore and offshore (Central Adriatic).

Compact and mono-centric cities in southern Europe have recently experienced a chaotic expansion, in partial contrast with the spatially-balanced development typical of western European cities. Our study investigates long-term changes (1951-2011) in the spatial structure of Naples - a representative example of compact cities grown through sequential urbanization waves - discussing the weakness of its actual metropolitan organization, considered spatially-unbalanced and with a limited potential to growth.

Diversification in urban functions—a key component of urban complexity—was analysed using Pielou’s evenness indexes for 12 socioeconomic dimensions (economic structure, working classes, education, demographic structure by age, composition of non-native population by citizenship, distribution of personal incomes, land-use, land imperviousness, building use, vertical profile of buildings, building age, construction materials) at a local spatial scale in the Athens’ metropolitan region, Greece.

Within the Neogene-Quaternary evolution of the Mediterranean intermountain basins, the eastern Tiberino Basin provides new multifaceted chronological, biostratigraphic, palaeoecological, and palaeoenvironmental information, appreciably improving the knowledge of palaeoenvironmental and climate conditions during the middle-late Matuyama Chron(late early Pleistocene). Shallow to relatively deep lacustrine deposits and alluvial plain deposits, magnetostratigraphically calibrated, hold malacofaunas, ostracofaunas, and carpological remains, as well as a pollen record. Palaeocarpological