The loess-paleosol sequence at Monte Netto: a record of climate change in the Upper Pleistocene of the central Po Plain, northern Italy

Purpose At the northern fringe of the Po Plain (northern Italy), several isolated hills exist, corresponding to the top of Late Quaternary anticlines. These hills were thoroughly surveyed for their soils and surficial geology, furnishing detailed archives of the palaeoenvironmental evolution of the area. A new, thick and complex loess-paleosol sequence, resting upon fluvial/fluvioglacial deposits, exposed in a quarry at the top of the Monte Netto hill was studied in detail to elucidate its significance. Materials and methods Highly deformed fluvial and fluvioglacial deposits, probably of Middle Pleistocene age, are exposed in a clay pit at Monte Netto, underneath a 2- to 4-m-thick loess-paleosol sequence. A geopedological, sedimentological and micropedological investigation of the sequence shows a distinctive difference between the B horizons forming the sequence, while luminescence and radiocarbon age determinations and the occurrence of Palaeolithic lithic assemblages elucidate the chronology of the sequence. Results and discussion The pedosedimentary sequence consists of several loess layers showing different degrees of alteration; loess deposition and weathering occurred, according to optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and AMS-14C dating as well as archaeological materials, during the Upper Pleistocene. The lower part of the section consists of strongly weathered colluvial sediments overlying fluvial and fluvioglacial sediments. A tentative model of the exposed profiles involves the burial of the anticline, which forms the core of the hill, by loess strata since Marine Isotopic Stage (MIS) 4 and their subsequent weathering (and truncation) during subsequent interstadials. The degree of weathering of buried B horizons increases from the top of the sequence toward the bottom, suggesting a progressive decrease in the intensity of pedogenesis. Finally, the highly rubified paleosol at the top of the hill is regarded as a buried polygenetic soil or a vetusol, developed near the surface since the Middle Pleistocene. Conclusions The palaeopedological, geochronological and geoarchaeological analyses permit to define the phases and steps of development of the Monte Netto pedosedimentary sequence; the lower part of the sequence is dated to the Mid-Pleistocene, whereas loess accumulation occurred between MIS 4 and MIS 2. Moreover, analyses help to clarify the climatic and environmental context of alternating glacial and interstadial phases, during which the sediments where deposited, deformed and weathered

EARTHQUAKE ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS, INTENSITY AND SEISMIC HAZARD ASSESSMENT: THE EEE CATALOGUE (INQUA PROJECT #0418)

Earthquake Environmental Effects (EEE) are the effects produced by an earthquake on the natural environment, either directly linked to the earthquake source or triggered by the ground shaking. These include surface faulting, regional uplift and subsidence, tsunamis, liquefaction, ground resonance, landslides, and ground failure phenomena. The EEE catalogue is a data collection of Earthquake Environmental Effects from modern, historical and paleoseismic earthquakes compiled at global level by the INQUA TERPRO Project #0811 WG. The damages caused by recent catastrophic seismic events have been mostly linked to the vulnerability of physical environment enhancing the crucial role of EEEs, including tsunamis, for seismic hazard purposes. Therefore, these events have confirmed that the EEE Catalogue is an essential tool to complete traditional SHA based on PGA maps, since it allows to identify the natural areas most vulnerable to earthquake occurrence and to objectively compare in time and in space the earthquake intensity through the ESI scale

Intensity Prediction Equations Based on the Environmental Seismic Intensity (ESI-07) Scale: Application to Normal Fault Earthquakes

Earthquake environmental effects may significantly contribute to the damage caused by seismic events; similar to ground motion, the environmental effects are globally stronger in the vicinity and decrease moving away from the epicenter or seismogenic source. To date, a single intensity prediction equation (IPE) has been proposed in the Italian Apennines for intensity scale dealings with environmental effects: the Environmental Seismic Intensity (ESI-07). Here, we evaluate the sensitivity of the IPE with respect to input data and methodological choices and we propose IPEs with global validity for crustal normal faults. We show the strong influence of input data on the obtained attenuation investigating the 1980 Irpinia-Basilicata (Southern Italy) earthquake. We exploit a dataset of 26 earthquakes to build an IPE considering the epicentral distance. We also propose an IPE considering the distance from the fault rupture, which is derived from a dataset of 10 earthquakes. The proposed equations are valid for normal faults up to 40 km from the epicenter/fault and may flank other models predicting ground motion or damage to the built environment. Our work thus contributes to the use of the ESI-07 scale for hazard purposes

Environmental effects caused by the Mw 7.7, September 19, 2022, Michoacán (Mexico)

This document presents a collection of Earthquake Environmental Effects (EEEs) triggered by the Mw 7.7 Michoacan earthquake occurred on 19 September 2022. Data derive from original field surveys, published reports and papers, and from a search for EEEs posted online in social media and other websites. For each site where an EEE has been documented, the following information are provided: - Latitude and longitude; - Distance from epicenter (km); - Locality, i.e., geographic place where the EEE occurred; - EEE type; - Description of the observed effect; - Local intensity assessed using the ESI-07 (Environmental Seismic Intensity) scale; - Photographic documentation; - Referenc

Towards a map of the Upper Pleistocene loess of the Po Plain Loess Basin (Northern Italy)

Upper Pleistocene (MIS 4-2) loess sequences occur in most of continental Europe and in Northern Italy along the Po Plain Loess Basin. Loess is distributed along the flanks of the Po Plain and was deposited on glacial deposits, fluvial terraces, uplifted isolated hills, karst plateaus, slopes and basins of secondary valleys. Loess bodies are generally tiny and affected by pedogenesis, being locally slightly reworked by slope processes and bioturbation. Notwithstanding, loess in the Po Plain is an important archive of paleoenviron-mental record and its mapping provides new insights in paleoenvironmental and palaeoseismic reconstructions of Northern Ital

Surface faulting earthquake clustering controlled by fault and shear-zone interactions

Surface faulting earthquakes are known to cluster in time from historical and palaeoseismic studies, but the mechanism(s) responsible for clustering, such as fault interaction, strain-storage, and evolving dynamic topography, are poorly quantified, and hence not well understood. We present a quantified replication of observed earthquake clustering in central Italy. Six active normal faults are studied using 36Cl cosmogenic dating, revealing out-of-phase periods of high or low surface slip-rate on neighboring structures that we interpret as earthquake clusters and anticlusters. Our calculations link stress transfer caused by slip averaged over clusters and anti-clusters on coupled fault/shear-zone structures to viscous flow laws. We show that (1) differential stress fluctuates during fault/shear-zone interactions, and (2) these fluctuations are of sufficient magnitude to produce changes in strain-rate on viscous shear zones that explain slip-rate changes on their overlying brittle faults. These results suggest that fault/shear-zone interactions are a plausible explanation for clustering, opening the path towards process-led seismic hazard assessments

Ground effects of the Ml 5.2, November 24, 2004, Salò earthquake, Northern Italy: a case study for the use of the INQUA scale

On November 24, 2004, at midnight (23.59 PM, local time), a moderate earthquake (Ml 5.2, Mw 5.0; focal depth 8 km; source INGV, http://www.ingv.it/terremoti/bresciano2004/mecc-focale.html) hit the Lake Garda region, within the active fold and thrust belt of the Southern Alps (Figure 1). This earthquake was felt in the whole Northern Italy, from Venice to Milan and Genoa, and abroad, for instance in Switzerland; the epicentral area includes the town of Salò and its surroundings, where where significant damage occurred and more than 200 people were left homeless. Epicentral intensity of VII-VIII in the MCS scale has been assigned in a preliminary way based on severe damage at the villages of Clibbio and Pompegnino

Geological Criteria for Evaluating Seismicity Revisited: Forty Years of Paleoseismic Investigations and the Natural Record of Past Earthquakes,

The identifi cation of individual past earthquakes and their characterization in time and space, as well as in magnitude, can be approached in many different ways with a large variety of methods and techniques, using a wide spectrum of objects and features. We revise the stratigraphic and geomorphic evidence currently used in the study of paleoseismicity, after more than three decades since the work by Allen (1975), which was arguably the fi rst critical overview in the fi eld of earthquake geology. Natural objects or geomarkers suitable for paleoseismic analyses are essentially preserved in the sediments, and in a broader sense, in the geologic record. Therefore, the study of these features requires the involvement of geoscientists, but very frequently it is a multidisciplinary effort. The constructed environment and heritage, which typically are the focus of archaeoseismology and macroseismology, here are left aside. The geomarkers suitable to paleoseismic assessment can be grouped based on their physical relation to the earthquake\u2019s causative fault. If directly associated with the fault surface rupture, these objects are known as direct or on-fault features (primary effects in the Environmental Seismic Intensity [ESI] 2007 scale). Conversely, those indicators not in direct contact with the fault plane are known as indirect or off-fault evidence (secondary effects in the ESI 2007 scale)

Chroniques vulciennes, I. De l'age d'or des fouilles à la création du service de tutelle des monuments. Introduction

Introduzione al progetto sul patrimonio disperso e alle Cronache vulcent