Jackson Pollock’s Number 1A, 1948 painting was investigated using in situ scanning macro-x-ray fluorescence mapping (MA-XRF) to help characterize the artist’s materials and his creative process. A multivariate curve resolution-alternating least squares (MCR-ALS) approach was used to examine the hyperspectral data and obtain distribution maps and signature spectra for the paints he used. The composition of the paints was elucidated based on the chemical elements identified in the signature spectra and a tentative list of pigments, fillers and other additives is proposed for eleven different paints and for the canvas. The paint distribution maps were used to virtually reconstruct the artist process and document the sequence and manner in which Pollock applied the different paints, using deliberate and specific gestures@en

Piet Mondrian’s Broadway Boogie Woogie (1942–1943) was examined using Macro X-Ray Fluorescence mapping (MA-XRF) to help characterize the artist’s materials and understand his creative process as well as the current condition issues of the painting. The presence and distribution of key chemical elements was used to identify the main pigments in the different paint layers and under-layers, namely titanium white/barium sulfate, zinc white, bone black, cadmium yellow and/or cadmium-zinc yellow, cadmium red and/or cadmium-barium red and ultramarine. The XRF data was also examined using a multivariate curve resolution-alternating least square (MCR-ALS) approach to virtually separate and help characterize the different paint layers. Results suggest that Broadway Boogie Woogie was originally conceived as an asymmetrical grid of interlacing red and yellow bars. Mondrian then reworked the composition extensively breaking the bars by painting small squares in red, blue and gray and repainting them over and over again changing their size, color or tonality, and by adding and reworking large colored shapes in the background. Mondrian scraped off the paint in some areas before making adjustments to the composition but did not do it consistently throughout the painting. The yellow paint on the surface is severely cracked. Wherever red paint has been covered with yellow paint, it has oozed through the cracks in the top layer. The results illustrate how the MA-XRF / MCR-ALS approach can complement the examination of a painting and contribute to the understanding of the artist’s process and choice of materials in a non-invasive way.@en

Tsunamis are highly energetic events that may destructively impact the coast. Resolving the degree of coastal resilience to tsunamis is extremely difficult and sometimes impossible. In part, our understanding is constrained by the limited number of contemporaneous examples and by the high dynamism of coastal systems. In fact, long-term changes of coastal systems can mask the evidence of past tsunamis, leaving us a short or incomplete sedimentary archive. Here, we present a multidisciplinary approach involving sedimentological, geomorphological and geophysical analyses and numerical modelling of the AD 1755 tsunami flood on a coastal segment located within the southern coast of Portugal. In particular, the work focuses on deciphering the impact of the tsunami waves over a coastal sand barrier enclosing two lowlands largely inundated by the tsunami flood. Erosional features documented by geophysical data were assigned to the AD 1755 event with support of sedimentological and age estimation results. Furthermore, these features allowed the calibration of the simulation settings to reconstruct the local conditions and establish the run-up range of the AD 1755 tsunami when it hit this coast (6–8 m above mean sea level). Our work highlights the usefulness of erosional imprints preserved in the sediment record to interpret the impact of the extreme events on sand barriers.@en

Tsunamis are highly energetic events that may destructively impact the coast. Resolving the degree of coastal resilience to tsunamis is extremely difficult and sometimes impossible. In part, our understanding is constrained by the limited number of contemporaneous examples and by the high dynamism of coastal systems. In fact, long-term changes of coastal systems can mask the evidence of past tsunamis, leaving us a short or incomplete sedimentary archive. Here, we present a multidisciplinary approach involving sedimentological, geomorphological and geophysical analyses and numerical modelling of the AD 1755 tsunami flood on a coastal segment located within the southern coast of Portugal. In particular, the work focuses on deciphering the impact of the tsunami waves over a coastal sand barrier enclosing two lowlands largely inundated by the tsunami flood. Erosional features documented by geophysical data were assigned to the AD 1755 event with support of sedimentological and age estimation results. Furthermore, these features allowed the calibration of the simulation settings to reconstruct the local conditions and establish the run-up range of the AD 1755 tsunami when it hit this coast (6–8 m above mean sea level). Our work highlights the usefulness of erosional imprints preserved in the sediment record to interpret the impact of the extreme events on sand barriers.@en