In slopes formed by tectonized clayey turbidites, the soil fissuring recurrently influences the hydro-mechanical soil properties, determining an impoverishment in strength and an increase in permeability of the slope that make them predisposing factors of landsliding. This paper presents three case histories of slopes within tectonized clayey turbidites that are representative of several others in the Southern Apennines and, more widely, in the southern Mediterranean. The paper reports a novel attempt to connect tightly the slope geomorphological and hydromechanical features to the slope geological history, through an introductory presentation of the geological setting and history of the chain where the slopes occur. The slopes, location of very slow landslides, have been reconstructed based upon field surveys and investigations, multi-aerial photo-interpretation, laboratory testing, monitoring and numerical modelling. Furthermore, novel is the attempt to present, all together, the behaviour of the soils involved in the three landslide case studies, in the light of the mechanical modelling approach to fissured clays recently presented in the literature.

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The paper presents the results of the analysis of the geo-chemo-mechanical data gathered through an innovative multidisciplinary investigation campaign in the Mar Piccolo basin, a heavily polluted marine bay aside the town of Taranto (Southern Italy). The basin is part of an area declared at high environmental risk by the Italian government. The cutting-edge approach to the environmental characterization of the site was promoted by the Special Commissioner for urgent measures of reclamation, environmental improvements and redevelopment of Taranto and involved experts from several research fields, who cooperated to gather a new insight into the origin, distribution, mobility and fate of the contaminants within the basin. The investigation campaign was designed to implement advanced research methodologies and testing strategies. Differently from traditional investigation campaigns, aimed solely at the assessment of the contamination state within sediments lying in the top layers, the new campaign provided an interpretation of the geo-chemo-mechanical properties and state of the sediments forming the deposit at the seafloor. The integrated, multidisciplinary and holistic approach, that considered geotechnical engineering, electrical and electronical engineering, geological, sedimentological, mineralogical, hydraulic engineering, hydrological, chemical, geochemical, biological fields, supported a comprehensive understanding of the influence of the contamination on the hydro-mechanical properties of the sediments, which need to be accounted for in the selection and design of the risk mitigation measures. The findings of the research represent the input ingredients of the conceptual model of the site, premise to model the evolutionary contamination scenarios within the basin, of guidance for the environmental risk management. The study testifies the importance of the cooperative approach among researchers of different fields to fulfil the interpretation of complex polluted eco-systems.

<p>The soil-vegetation-atmosphere interaction is becoming more and more the subject of intense scientific research, motivated by the wish of using smart vegetation implants as sustainable mitigation measure for erosive phenomena and slope instability processes. <br>The use of novel naturalistic interventions making use of vegetation has been already proven to be successful in the reduction of erosion along sloping grounds, or in increasing the stability of the shallow covers of slopes, whereas the success of vegetation as slope stabilization measure still needs to be scientifically proven for slopes location of deep landslides, whose current activity is climate-induced, as frequent in the south-eastern Apennines. Recently, though, peculiar natural perennial grass species, which develop deep root systems, have been found to grow in the semi-arid climate characterizing the south-eastern Apennines and to determine a strong transpirative flow. Therefore, their peculiar leaf architecture, their crop density, combined with their perennial status and transpiration capacity, make such grass species suitable for the reduction of the net infiltration rates, equal to the difference between the rainfall rate and the sum of the runoff plus the evapotranspiration rate. As such, the grass species here of reference have been selected as vegetation measure intended to determine a reduction of the piezometric levels in the slope down to large depths, in order to increase the stability of deep landslide bodies. <br>At this stage, only preliminary field data representing the interaction of clayey soils with the above cited vegetation species are available. These have been logged within a full scale in-situ test site, where the deep-rooted crop spices have been seeded and farmed. The test site (approximatively 2000 m<sup>2</sup>) has been set up in the toe area of the climate-induced Pisciolo landslide, in the eastern sector of the Southern Apennines.<br>The impact of the vegetation on the hydro-mechanical state of the soil is examined in terms of the spatial and temporal variation of the soil water content, suction an pore water pressure from ground level down to depth, both within the vegetated test site and outside it, where only spare wild vegetation occur, in order to assess the effects of the implant of the selected vegetation. The soil water contents, suctions and pore water pressures have been also analyzed taking into account of the climatic actions, monitored by means of a meteorological station. </p>