Snow is here already

Well, to be honest, I am a layman on this subject.
I can say that, here in Italy, for example in TV programmes about the Dolomiten, I always hear about "DOLOSTONE"...
In the various TV programmes, they talk and debate (bla bla bla bla bla bla... ... ...) and there was always this word : "DOLOSTONE".
"... because in the Dolomiten..., bla, bla, bla, bla, bla, ..., THE DOLOSTONE, bla, bla, bla, bla... "
" It's due to..., bla, bla, bla, bla, bla, THE DOLOSTONE, bla, bla, bla, bla..."
"Blimey" - I wonder - "What is this DOLOSTONE after all ???"
(As I said, I am a layman in this subject. That's why all the words sounds to me like meaningless "bla bla bla...")
Right now, I've made a search on Wikipedia and - as you suspected - yes, DOLOSTONE (that is MgCa(CO3)2 ), is also used to make concrete (as well as "ornamental rock" ).
Instead, I can say that I know about "Marble" ( CaCO3 ).
It is also a Carbonate (Calcium Carbonate) and I well know it for two reasons.

1. It is the material that the Cathedral (the "Duomo") of my native town (Milan) is made of.
2. This material has a problem:
due to the air pollution, are the acid rains that make a chemical reaction with CaCO3 and the various marble statues and structures of the Duomo are corroded.
The Duomo of Milan was made by marble because the montains near "Lake Maggiore" were rich in marble.
They ship the marble from the top of the mountains to the "Lake Maggiore", then they load it on large boats and the marble was ship through the lake, through the effluent "Ticino River", then through a water canals network - linked to the river - to the very city centre of Milan.
From there, there was anly a few yards to walk in order to carry the marble to the site where they were building the Cathedral ("Piazza del Duomo" - "Dome Square", in english ).
Nowadays many of these water canals are not any longer because they have been covered and roads and streets are above them.

Bye !

 

Sorry Capney, we seemed to have turned your thread into a geology/geography exchange, but we are snowed in and have little else going on.

Hi Maksim,

Thats usefull to know, that you can get magnesium lime putty, never know when I might have to repair some.

Although we have no true marble in the uk, we still get the same problems with the acid rain combining with our limestone to form calcium sulphate (gypsum) this is water soluble so forms a black crust on any part of the building that is not rained on, like under hood moldings & the chins of statues. The crust causes blistering of the stone if not removed. We use ammonium carbonate to soften it before scraping/brushing it off.

Our local town, Langport had many wharves coming off the river, but sadly they too have been filled in. http://www.picturesofengland.com/England/Somerset/Langport/pictures/1018113

 

Ziggy
This is all interersting stuff and keeps the grey matter ticking over nicely..

 

Last week I had a three days journey to the beautiful city of Hamburg ("Hamborg" as they prounounce it with the northern german accent).
I travelled there to enjoy the attractions that this city offers (Museums, Christmas markets, shopping centres as well as its busy port at the estuary of the river Elbe to the North Sea).
When I landed after a 1h 30min flight from Milan Malpensa, I found a place covered by a deep snow and ice.
Here some shots that I took:

 

Accidenti Maksim,

I wondered where you had been.

That looks great.

Hope you been keeping warm, thanks for the pictures :gnthb:

 

Thanks for the lovely pictures, Maksim. Buon Anno!

 

Happy New Year !
Glückliches neus Jahr !
Prospero año nuevo !
Buon anno !

(...and enjoy your snow... :wink

 

Stunning pictures and they sure look cold. Thanks for sharing your trip.

 

Woke up to this little lot this morning...

 

Oh no. Not more of the stuff. Is it enough to make travel difficult for you?

 

Not really ClaraLou.. days like today I usually stay indoors...:D

 

Make sure its gone before my niece comes back up to your uni Robert :D

 

Sorted ziggy... I think I can honestly say this morning is the first day since early Dec that that we lookout and not see snow, ice, or heavy frost.. !

 

Well done Sargent.

More coming tonight though.

 

In these early days of January, snow and freezing temperatures - as far as western Europe is concerned - seem to be just a memory.

But - despite the warm atlantic air-mass that has enhanced the temperatures all over western Europe - in my region, temperatures just only a few degrees above freezing point keep on hanging.

My region is the so called "Po valley".

It is a completely flat low region whose main river is the river "Po".

The Alps and the "Appenine Mountains" border and embrace it by forming a sort of Amphitheatre.

A fact that gives to my region a peculiarity to its climate: after a winter long cold spell, the cold air is hardly replaced by other possibly milder air-masses.

Indeed, due to the "Cul-de-sac" layout of the region, the previously arrived cold air is litteraly "entrapped".

Furthermore, a cold air mass is heavy and, as a consequence of that, it is a really "hard job" for the other air masses to manage to move it. Indeed the heavy cold air "pillow" looks like being "stuck" to the low flat ground.

Having said that, the consequence is that these are some temperatures recorded this afternoon in Western Europe:

LONDON HEATHROW +5

PARIS CHARLES DE GAULLE +13

FRANKFURT +13

HAMBURG +11

BUT, ODDLY ENOUGH, MILAN LINATE +3

The maps below show that all.








As you can see, a sort of "cold air wedge" keep on hanging in northern Italy as it is litteraly entrapped in such a "cul-de-sac" region as Po valley is (being it a flat low region bordered, in an anphitheatre layout, by the Alps and the Appennine mountains).