Assessing the quality of an argument is a complex, highly subjective task, influenced by heterogeneous factors (e.g., prior beliefs of the annotators, topic, domain, and application), and crucial for its impact in downstream tasks (e.g., argument retrieval or generation). Both the Argument Mining and the Social Science community have devoted plenty of attention to it, resulting in a wide variety of argument quality dimensions and a large number of annotated resources.
This work aims at a better understanding of how the different aspects of argument quality relate to each other from a practical point of view. We employ adapter-fusion (Pfeiffer et al., 2021) as a multi-task learning framework which a) can improve the prediction of individual quality dimensions by injecting knowledge about related dimensions b) is efficient and modular and c) can serve as an analysis tool to investigate relations between different dimensions. We conduct experiments on 6 datasets and 20 quality dimensions. We find that the majority of the dimensions can be learned as a weighted combination of other quality aspects, and that for 8 dimensions adapter fusion improves quality prediction. Last, we show the benefits of this approach by improving the performance in an extrinsic, out-of-domain task: prediction of moderator interventions in a deliberative forum.

Bridging Argument Quality and Deliberative Quality Annotations with Adapters

Serpentinization highlights the intersection of habitability and geology in comparative planetology. Its significance is enhanced for Mars from orbital nuclear spectroscopy evidence for more mafic crustal chemistry compared to Earth. This may also enable serpentinization to sequester crustal water, possibly complementing phyllosilicate minerals considered recently. However, despite numerous serpentine zones across Earth’s continents, detailed analog studies are limited to a few formations such as the ophiolites in Oman. Meanwhile, autochthonous soils at Sri Lanka’s serpentine zone provide the first laboratory evidence that perchlorates, found across in situ sites on Mars, can facilitate the release of biohazardous cations from soil into brines. The presence of variably developed soils across Sri Lanka’s serpentine zone offers a planetary end-case reference for pedogenesis in serpentinites. Furthermore, several thermal springs near this zone can elucidate fluid chemistry from meteoric waters percolating through serpentinites, significant to paleo-Martian conditions when a surface hydrosphere may have existed.</p>

Mars, Lanka and Habitability: Serpentinization as a Thread of Life

Shotgun Metagenomic Sequencing of hyper petroleum degraders from oil-polluted Niger Delta Soil

Microbial diversity profiles of two crude oil-polluted soils in the Niger Delta

The Tertiary Piedmont Basin (TPB) is an episutural basin located on top of the junction between the Western Alps and the Northern Apennines. This work combines geological mapping and interpretation of a seismic line provided by Eni S.p.A. aiming at investigating the sedimentary succession of the Arquata Scrivia-Carrosio area, a key sector separating the Alto Monferrato sector to the west from the Borbera-Curone sub-basin to the east. The seismo-stratigraphic analysis of a 33 km-long SE-NE striking seismic line extending from Carrosio to Alessandria and tied to a well, allowed recognizing seven key stratigraphic surfaces, which define six unconformity-bounded stratigraphic units. These could be tied to the outcrop by identifying component lithostratigraphic units at surface. This works contributes to better understanding of the tectono-sedimentary evolution of this sector of TPB, which can be summarized as follows: during the early Oligocene (Unit 1), coarse-grained deltas (Conglomerati di Savignone and Molare Fms.) established, which passed distally (i.e. to the NE) into turbidites and hyperpycnites (Monastero Fm). Following the swift late Oligocene transgression, these marginal fan deltas were onlapped SE-wards by hemipelagic marlstone, containing isolated channelized turbidites (Unit 2; Gremiasco Fm.). Coarse clastic supply was re-established during the Aquitanian-early Burdigalian, with deposition of confined turbidites, mass transport deposits, and channelized turbidites (Unit 3; Castagnola and Costa Montada Fms). In Unit 4 (Costa Areasa Fm., upper Burdigalian-lower Langhian) a basin plain environment established all over TPB, reflecting an increase of the accommodation space driven by southward tectonic tilting of the basin. A further event of basin inversion is that of the intra-Langhian sea level fall, driven by tectonic uplift to the south and recorded by Unit 5 (upper Langhian-lower Messinian), which comprises a range of shelfal systems (Marne di Cessole, Arenarie di Serravalle and Marne di S.Agata Fossili Fms.) making northward transition into turbidites (Cassinasco Fm.). Lastly, Unit 6 (upper Messinian-Pliocene) encompasses a basal package of conglomerates (Conglomerati di Cassano Spinola Fm.), followed upward by early Pliocene clays (Argille di Lugagnano Fm.), over which the shelf margin prograded depositing the Sabbie d’Asti Fm. In addition, the analysis of velocity data from four additional wells from other sectors of the TPB allowed defining a P-wave velocity and seismic wave propagation model. Besides the increase of velocity with depth, conglomeratic facies were found to show higher velocities (in the range 3500-4200 m/s at depths between 350 and 2800 m) than arenaceous and pelitic facies (in the range 2000-3370 m/s at depths between 350 and 3500 m below surface). Results will help time-depth conversion of seismic lines detailing the subsurface of TPB, contributing to accurate reconstruction of basin fill architecture.

Tectonics and sedimentation interplay in the eastern Tertiary Piedmont Basin (Arquata Scrivia, NW Italy): insights from new seismo-stratigraphic analysis

Early Palaeozoic represents a crucial period in Earth history, marked by intervals of life spread alternated with short-lasting crisis in biological activity. The Zagros Basin (SW Iran) could be a key area for the study of this time interval, due to the widespread and well-exposed Cambrian-Ordovician successions; nevertheless, these are still poorly constrained from a sedimentological and stratigraphic point of view. This study, carried out through a high-resolution facies and microfacies analysis of the Zard Kuh section, aims to give a contribution to the palaeogeographic evolution of this area. The studied section (296 m thick) includes the upper Mila C Member and Ilebeyk Formation, referred to the late Cambrian (Furongian) based on acritarch assemblages. The upper Mila C Member (23 m thick) is mainly characterized by medium to thin-bedded bioclastic packstones to mudstones grading upward into a nodular limestone unit. A sharp horizon marks the contact with the overlying Ilebeyk Formation, represented by a shale-dominated interval in the lower part. These mudrocks grade upward into heterolithic lithofacies, generating a coarsening upward sequence with an increase of siltstone and sandstone intercalations in the lower-middle part. The coarser-grained layers display scoured basal surfaces, with common gutter casts, capped by plane parallel lamination and hummocky cross-stratification (HCS). In the middle part of Ilebeyk Formation, siliciclastic deposits are alternated with relatively thick carbonatic intervals, showing similar features with Mila C Member. The upper part of the Ilebeyk Formation is dominated by shales, overlain at the topmost by a 28 m thick unit of micaceous sandstone and siltstone. The sandstone layers include plane-parallel bedding, trough cross-stratification and long-wavelength HCS. Based on the facies and microfacies analysis, the depositional system of the studied section is interpreted as a mixed carbonate-siliciclastic ramp. In the Mila C Member and carbonatic unit of Ilebeyk Formation, small cycles characterized by erosive surfaces and fining upward fossiliferous biomicrites suggest deposition in middle ramp setting, affected by storm events. On the other hand, the nodular limestone intervals at the top of the carbonatic units point to deposition below the SWB under a transgressional regime. The shale to heterolithic parasequences from the Ilbeyk Formation are interpreted as autocyclic fluctuations of the depositional system from lower to upper offshore environment. In the uppermost part, the sandstone-dominated interval is attributed to shoreface setting, marking an abrupt change in the bathymetric conditions after a forced regression. The sedimentological features of the studied area can be correlated with other coeval depositional events at both regional (Arabian plate) and global (Laurentia and Baltica) scales, providing new constraints for the lower Palaeozoic evolution of the northeastern Gondwanan margin.

Facies analysis and depositional environment of a late Cambrian mixed carbonate-siliciclastic ramp from the Arabian Plate (Zagros Basin, Southwestern Iran)

A better understanding of the evolution of bottom current circulation and associated deposits is significant for many applications including paleoclimatology and geological hazard. Besides the large contourite drifts, bottom currents may generate fields of large sediment waves that, depending on their height and velocity of migration, may pose severe risk for infrastructures. Conversely, the time span of their paleoceanographic record is generally relatively short. We use bathymetry data, sub-bottom and seismic reflection profiles and legacy oceanographic data to analyse the sediment waves occurring in a deep environment (from 2400 to 3800 m water depth at the foot of the Malta Escarpment in the Mediterranean Sea) to understand their evolution in time, their significance for paleoceanography, and their relation to present day hydrographic conditions. In the absence of direct stratigraphic information, we use the information from nearby studies and from ODP Site 964 and DSDP Site 374 to constrain the age of the sedimentary successions. We discover that these waves (about 2.5 km in wavelength, 50 m in eight, with crest sub-perpendicular to the continental slope trend) have been steadily growing and migrating northward since about 500 ka, although an irregular growth and unsteady migration is distinguishable since about 1,800 ka. The waves are generated by predominantly alongslope southward flowing bottom currents compatible with modern hydraulic conditions (mean flow speed of ~5 cm s-1, peaks of 15 cm s-1). The rate of crest migration (~ 2.0-3.2 mm a-1) and the average sedimentation rate (0.64 - 0.69 mm a-1) are unusually high for deep sea environments away from turbidity currents paths. We infer that the steady development of sediment waves is produced by a drastic increase in sediment input to the Ionian Basin resulting from the tectonic uplift in NE Sicily and Calabria and the onset of a relatively steady, low energy bottom current regime following the Mid-Pleistocene Transition. We attempt to extract information on orbital cyclicity preserved in the seismic record from the power spectra of virtual seismic traces from the well preserved succession of 5 visually discernible, regularly spaced sub-units consisting of alternation of high-amplitude and low-reflectivity packages within the last 500 ka. Peaks in the power spectra can be identified around orbital obliquity and precession periodicities, while eccentricity appears not to be recorded. We discuss the results of seismic cyclicity analysis relative to uncertainties of stratigraphic and petrophysical constraints. The sediment waves along the foot of the Malta escarpment are an excellent candidate for the extraction of a long, continuous and high resolution sedimentary record of the paleo circulation changes and climate cycles in the Mediterranean Sea since about 500 ka.

Bottom current-controlled Quaternary sedimentation at the foot of the Malta Escarpment (Ionian Basin, Mediterranean)

The terrigenous sediments of the Bengal deep-sea fan (Indian Ocean) represent an archive of Himalayan source-to-sink processes. Mineralogical and geochemical data on silt- and sand-sized sediments of the Bengal Fan turbiditic depositional system allow us to unravel their provenance, to discriminate between pre-depositional and post-depositional processes controlling sediment mineralogy, and to link their depositional history to uplift and erosion of different tectono-stratigraphic Himalayan domains. The IODP Expedition 354 to ~8°N in the Bay of Bengal drilled seven sites along a 320 km transect across the Fan thus providing a spatial overview of the turbiditic depositional system. A complete section of the fan and pre-fan deposits was recovered at the deep-penetration U1451 drill site. Eighteen samples from the shallow drill site U1454 and two deep-penetration drill sites U1450 and U1451 collected down to a depth of 1200 m were analysed, together with four additional samples from drill site U1444 collected during IODP Expedition 353. The mineralogical and geochemical variability among different samples, both collected at different depths within the same core (intra-core) and among cores (inter-core) was investigated. Intra-core mineralogical variability provides information about provenance changes and/or diagenetic effects, wheras inter-core variability helps us to check for potential differences associated with lateral shifts of dispersal patterns through time. The intensity of mineral dissolution in silt versus sand samples will also be analysed to verify whether least stable minerals are prone to be preserved better in less permeable mud-rich layers. In Pleistocene sediments down to 400 m below sea floor, rich heavy-mineral suites include hornblende, epidote and garnet, with subordinate apatite, clinopyroxene, tourmaline, sillimanite, kyanite, zircon, titanite, and rare staurolite and rutile. In Pliocene-Miocene sediments, the heavy mineral concentration decreases, and assemblages are relatively enriched in garnet and epidote at the expense of amphibole. The relative abundance of zircon, tourmaline, and apatite increase progressively in older strata. Mineralogical and geochemical compositions testify to long-distance provenance from the Himalayan Range via the Ganga-Brahmaputra fluvio-deltaic-turbiditic system and confirm that the Bengal Fan was a major sink for Himalaya-derived material since the Miocene. Petrographic and mineralogical data, combined with biostratigraphic, paleomagnetic, and geochemical evidence, allow us to unravel the sedimentary history of the Bengal Fan as related to Himalayan uplift, erosion, and monsoon development during the last 10 Ma.

Mineralogy and geochemistry of Bengal Fan turbidites (IODP 354): Himalayan provenance and depositional history

Basin evolution results from geodynamic and depositional events, but also from the burial history, that may be reflected in the diagenetic history recorded in the sedimentary rocks: the multidisciplinary study of diagenetic phases coupled with basin analyses may provide constraints on the timing of these events. The petrographic, cathodoluminescence (CL), stable isotope, and microthermometry investigation of inner platform facies of the pervasively dolomitized carbonate platform of the Norian (Upper Triassic) Dolomia Principale (Southern Alps, N Italy) identified two major dolomite phases. An early replacement fabric-retentive dolomite (D1 and D2, respectively replacing the sedimentary facies - from fenestral mudstone/wackestone to bioclastic packstone and mudstone and stromatolites- and early marine cements) is followed by a later, vug- and fracture-filling dolomite cement phase (D3, planar-s texture). The fabric-retentive dolomitized carbonates (< 4 µm−30 µm, D1) and marine fibrous cements (30 µm−250 µm, D2) exhibit dull luminescence under CL whereas the burial dolomite cement (200 µm−500 µm, D3) exhibits zoned luminescence. The δ13C values of the investigated dolomites (D1, D2, and D3) show a narrow range of variation (2.0 to 3.1 ‰ VPDB), pointing toward a fluid-buffered system. Differently, the δ18O values largely varies, ranging from −12.8 to +1.9 ‰ VPDB. In this range, D3 values cluster distinctively between −6.0 to −12.8 ‰ VPDB with respect to D1 and D2, which cluster from about −4 to +1.9 ‰ VPDB. The estimated oxygen isotope composition of the parent fluid of D1 and D2 (~0 to −5 ‰ VSMOW) suggests possible contributions from marine to slightly evaporated seawater, which is consistent with the arid climate and some basin restrictions suggested by earlier studies, whereas that of D3 (+1 to +5 ‰ VSMOW) is consistent with burial fluids. Microthermometric measurements of the primary two-phase fluid inclusions in D3 yielded a mean homogenization temperature of 112.4 ± 8.2oC. These results can be famed in the burial history of the studied basin, providing constraints on the timing of the diagenetic events. Supposing a surface seawater temperature of at least 20-25°C and a geothermal gradient of about 40°C/km (during the Early Jurassic rifting that led to the opening of the Alpine Tethys) such temperature might be reached at reasonable burial depth ranging from 2.0 km to about 2.5 km. According to the subsidence curve this depth, compatible with the temperature recorded by the fluid inclusions, was reached during the Early Jurassic, with D3 cement precipitation causing a significant reduction of the porosity. The followed integrated approach highlights the possibility to better characterize the occurrence of multiple diagenetic events in time and space, as well as their feedback effects on the porosity evolution of dolomitized carbonate reservoirs, framing the diagenetic events at basin scale.

Burial history and diagenesis: stable-isotope and fluid inclusion constraints on the timing of diagenetic events in the dolomitized Dolomia Principale Norian, Southern Alps of Italy)

Over the last decade, there has been a resurgence of interest in the climatic and tectonic mechanisms that drove the Messinian salinity crisis (MSC) and the associated deposition of thick evaporites. The MSC represents an unprecedented palaeoceanographic change that led to a very short (c. 630 kyr) ecological and environmental crisis (Andreetto et al., 2021).  However, across the Levantine offshore basin, the sedimentological nature of the top evaporitic units and the mechanisms that controlled the transition from a hypersaline evaporitic unit to brackish deposits (final MSC stage 3) are still disputed. Here,  we re-evaluate the deposits associated with the terminal phase of the MSC (ca. later stage of  3.2 by Meilijson et al.,2019) ,  named in offshore Lebanon as the Nahr Menashe deposits (NM, Madof et al.,2019). We describe the NM seismic facies, characterize and map its internal seismic stratigraphy, and provide a new interpretation of its depositional environment, which persisted during the late Messinian and then evolved through a regional reflooding event. The base of the NM and some of its internal units overlies semi-circular depressions, randomly distributed linear marks and surface collapse features, which are indicative of a period of intense evaporite dissolution. The NMU seismic facies observed from the slope to the deep part of the basin support the interpretation of a layered salt-evaporite-sand depositional system subject to complex reworking, dissolution, deposition, and final erosion. A drainage network of valleys and complex tributary channels incising into the top NM shows marked erosional characteristics, which indicate a dominant southwards sediment transfer following deposition of the NM. This erosional drainage network formed due to the base-level fall associated with the last phase of the MSC. The base of the channel/valley network does not cut below the bottom of the Narh Menashe dissolution surfaces. The channel and valley network was subsequently infilled by layered sediments interpreted here to represent the post-MSC marine sediments deposited during reflooding.  Our analysis point out that the NM may represent a mixed evaporite-siliciclastic affected by karstic processes, deposited or re deposited in a shallow marine or lacustrine during the tilting of the offshore Lebanese basin .  Only subsequently did the NM experience a rapid erosional event followed by swift burial of  transgressive/high-stand sediments.

Formation, dissolution and fluvial incision of the top evaporite seismic unit (Nahr Menashe) recording the end of the  Messinian salinity Crisis , NE offshore Levant Basin, Eastern Mediterranean

The Crotone Province (Calabria - South Italy) extends for a total surface of circa 1.736 km² in which a wide spectrum of geological, geomorphological and tectonic configurations alternate from the mountainous hinterland portions towards the coastal plain settings. Through the integrated collection of data coming from separated databases such as Geoportale della Calabria, Geoportale Nazionale, Videpi Project, ARPACAL Multirisk Functional Center, CARG project, CASMEZ, a complete geodatabase which make available a wealth of different spatial and cartographic data useful for the study and monitoring of Province of Crotone was implemented through open source technologies such as Qgis and PostgreSQL. The processed data consist in: 1) A new unified Geological map obtained through the comparison of the CASMEZ 1: 25000 and CARG the 1: 50000 maps and the reinterpretation of the stratigraphies with the adaptation of the old nomenclature with the new standards defined by the CARG project; 2) Geomorphological map obtained through the integration of  the available bibliography with new data coming from geoportale della Calabria; 3) Topographic and land cover maps obtained through the processing of both national and regional data; 4) Aspect, Slope and Curvature maps of the studied territory obtained using the Digital Elevation Models (DEM); 5) Rainfall and drainage density maps obtained through the re-elaboration of the ARPACAL databases; 6) Subsidence and land movements maps obtained though the processing of the ascending and descending orbit of RADARSAT 1 and 2 (Band C) satellites (2013-2018) using PSP-DIFSAR technique, and the ascending orbit of the TerraSarX satellite (X Band) and the descending orbit of the CosmoSkyMED satellite (X Band) (2013-2018)  using SBAS technique. Lastly, using the qgis2web plugin an interactive WebMap was created with the final aim to disclose, query and interactively view as much information as possible from a single database which also allows periodic updating without major investments and with very low maintenance costs.

Development of a unified geographic database from separated existing data through open-source softwares, Crotone Basin, Southern Italy

The Tertiary Piedmont Basin of NE Italy is an episutural basin which lies at the junction between the Alpine and Apennine chains. Its late Eocene to Pliocene sedimentary fill is thus important because it may provide a record of a source to sink system modulated by tectonics. This study focuses on sedimentology and petrography of the sedimentary succession cropping out in the Arquata Scrivia-Carrosio area, a key sector separating the Alto Monferrato area to the west from the Borbera-Curone sub-basin to the east. The litostratigraphic succession indicates initial establishment of a conglomeratic fan-delta (Conglomerati di Savignone and Molare Fms., Rupelian), which is drowned and onlapped by slope hemipelagic marlstone and channelized turbidites (Gremiasco Fm., Chattian). These are followed up section by a suite of confined turbidites, mass transport deposits, and channelized turbidites (Castagnola and Costa Montada Fms., Aquitanian-Early Burdigalian pro-parte), which record a further deepening culminating in the establishment of a basin plain environment (Costa Areasa Fm., Early Burdigalian-Langhian). Lastly, from the late Langhian onward, tectonic uplift resulted in a regional unconformity capped by shelfal marly deposits with storm layers and hyperpycnites (Marne di Cessole Fm., Langhian). Quantitative petrographic analysis of the above succession allowed us to recognise 11 petrofacies, which were compared and contrasted in a stratigraphic perspective. In agreement with previous studies, we identified lithic fragments from the Voltri Group, the Sestri-Voltaggio Zone, the Ligurian Appenine Units and the Mortara Volcanic complex, which can be therefore regarded as the main sediment sources. Results show that quartz and feldspars fractions increase up-section, whereas that of lithics decreases. In the lithic fraction, a decrease in the content of metamorphic lithics is observed in favour of volcanic and sedimentary lithotypes. The increase in quartz and feldspars content requires further investigation to be linked to candidate source terrains (Dora Maira? Cristallino di Valosio?). On the other hand, the increase of the volcanic fraction is partly coeval to the Mortara Volcanic complex (Upper Oligocene-Lower Miocene), now buried about 50 km to the north of the study area, and may thus correlate to an acme of volcanic activity and/or dismantling of its products. Lastly, the increase of the carbonate fraction can be interpreted to reflect the establishment of carbonate platforms of similar age documented at outcrop both to the N and S of the study area (P. da Cantoni Fm. of the Basso Monferrato and Visone Fm. of the Alto Monferrato, respectively) and in the subsurface (Quargnento High) to the N.

Sedimentological and petrographic evolution of the Oligo-Miocene succession in the Carrosio and Arquata Scrivia area (eastern Tertiary Piedmont Basin, NW Italy) 

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Bridging Argument Quality and Deliberative Quality Annotations with Adapters

Mars, Lanka and Habitability: Serpentinization as a Thread of Life

Shotgun Metagenomic Sequencing of hyper petroleum degraders from oil-polluted Niger Delta Soil

Microbial diversity profiles of two crude oil-polluted soils in the Niger Delta

Tectonics and sedimentation interplay in the eastern Tertiary Piedmont Basin (Arquata Scrivia, NW Italy): insights from new seismo-stratigraphic analysis

Facies analysis and depositional environment of a late Cambrian mixed carbonate-siliciclastic ramp from the Arabian Plate (Zagros Basin, Southwestern Iran)

Bottom current-controlled Quaternary sedimentation at the foot of the Malta Escarpment (Ionian Basin, Mediterranean)

Mineralogy and geochemistry of Bengal Fan turbidites (IODP 354): Himalayan provenance and depositional history

Burial history and diagenesis: stable-isotope and fluid inclusion constraints on the timing of diagenetic events in the dolomitized Dolomia Principale Norian, Southern Alps of Italy)

Formation, dissolution and fluvial incision of the top evaporite seismic unit (Nahr Menashe) recording the end of the Messinian salinity Crisis , NE offshore Levant Basin, Eastern Mediterranean

Development of a unified geographic database from separated existing data through open-source softwares, Crotone Basin, Southern Italy

Sedimentological and petrographic evolution of the Oligo-Miocene succession in the Carrosio and Arquata Scrivia area (eastern Tertiary Piedmont Basin, NW Italy)

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