Tectono-stratigraphic architecture of the Ionian piedmont between the Arso Stream and Nicà River catchments (Calabria, Southern Italy)

Along the northern Ionian margin of Calabria, three Neogene basins comprise wedge-top depozones containing syntectonic deposits which cover the frontal part of the fold-thrust belt. One of the best exposed onshore allochthonous siliciclastic successions is represented by the Cariati Nappe, cropping out in the Cirò Basin. Field geological mapping and aerial interpretations were used to characterize the stratigraphy and tectonics of the area between the Arso Stream and Nicà River catchments (about 170 km2), including a Paleozoic metamorphic basement complex unconformably overlain by Upper Oligocene to Quaternary siliciclastic deposits and minor carbonates. This paper presents a 1:25,000 scale map of the Ionian study area, providing lithological and structural data towards reconstructing its tectono-sedimentary evolution

Facies, composition and provenance of the Agnone Flysch in the context of the early Messinian evolution of the southern Apennine foredeep (Molise, Italy)

Clastic wedges deposited in deep-marine turbidite systemsalong the circum-Mediterranean region represent key tectonic elements that record the structural growing of the Apennine orogenic belt over the Adria margin. One of these clastic wedges is represented by the Agnone Flysch turbidite succession deposited in the Lagonegro-Molise foredeep basin in the early Messinian, for which the depositional facies and the related processes, as well as the sandstone and mudstone composition are poorly known. A combined sedimentology and sedimentary petrology study has been conducted on this turbidite succession that provides new insight to define the basin architecture and the provenance of the Agnone Flysch during late Miocene. Facies analysis suggests that this turbidite succession is constituted by depositional lobes that were emplaced in a sector of the basin showing a variable morphological confinement with frontal and lateral slope on which turbidite deposits onlapped. Consequently, this topographic context controlled the lateral and vertical distribution of turbidite facies, which record the effects of erosive processes, as well as impact, rebound and reflection processes, in turn related to the flow deceleration induced by structurally-controlled basin confinement. Detailed sandstones compositional analysis indicates a complex unroofing history that reflects structural changes in the source rock units and depositional basin physiography. By combining the sandstone composition with information deduced from the X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns after thermo-chemical treatments (heating and ethylene glycol treatments), it was possible to explain and predict the sedimentary evolution and geological processes affecting fine grained sediments and, thus, the relationship developed between source area and sedimentary basin. In particular, clay minerals data show that Agnone Flysch experienced an early diagenetic condition as showed by the occurrence of the I/S R0 and I/S R1 on the XRD pattern of the glycolated specimens. The sandstone composition (mainly quartzofeldspathic) shows an increase in the metamorphic rock fragments and a decrease of sedimentary lithics up-section. This compositional trend records, together with the paleocurrents data, a derivation of this material from a mountain range located in the Tyrrhenian sector and from the Calabrian arc terranes

RER2023: the landslide inventory dataset of the May 2023 Emilia-Romagna meteorological event

Landslide inventories play a vital role in assessing susceptibility, hazards, and risks and are essential for developing resilience strategies in mountainous areas. This importance is amplified in the context of climate change as existing inventories might not adequately reflect changing stability conditions. In May 2023, the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy was hit by two major rainfall events, leading to widespread flooding and the triggering of thousands of landslides. Predominantly, these were shallow debris slides and debris flows, occurring on slopes previously deemed to be stable based on historical data, with no prior landslides recorded. Our team supported the Civil Protection Agency through field surveys and mapping efforts to pinpoint and record these landslides, prioritizing areas critical to immediate public safety and focusing on thorough mapping for future recovery planning. The outcome is a detailed map of all landslides induced by these events, manually identified using high-resolution aerial photography (0.2 m pixel resolution; four bands - RGB and near-infrared (NIR)) and categorized with the help of a 3D viewer. This comprehensive landslide inventory, comprising 80997 landslide polygons, has been made openly accessible to the scientific community (10.5281/zenodo.13742643, Pizziolo et al., 2024)

Approcci avanzati per la ricostruzione di modelli geo-idro-meccanici di scivolamenti in roccia profondi

Gli scivolamenti in roccia profondi costituiscono un diffuso fenomeno di modellamento del rilievo in aree montuose. Pur non essendo generalmente associate a danni diretti alle persone per via dei bassi tassi di deformazione che le caratterizzano, costituiscono comunque un elemento di attenzione per le infrastrutture e i centri abitati, specialmente in paesi sviluppati. La caratterizzazione di sottosuolo e le relazioni tra lo stile di attività e stress climatici esterni sono ancora tematiche di ricerca aperte nello studio di tali fenomeni per via della loro inerente complessità, eterogeneità dei materiali coinvolti e la generale carenza di informazioni e osservazioni di superfice e di sottosuolo. La presente tesi indirizza la tematica attraverso l’integrazione della conoscenza geologica con osservazioni satellitari, informazioni dirette fornite dai fori di sondaggio e sistemi di monitoraggio insieme a informazioni indirette derivanti dalla geofisica per pervenire ad una rappresentazione unificata che incorpori i principali aspetti geologici e cinematici da implementare nella modellazione agli elementi finiti. In particolare, l’integrazione dei dati ha richiesto (1) l’interpretazione e la mappatura geomorfologica di mappe di base derivate da tecniche di laser imaging detection and ranging (LiDAR), (2) l’analisi congiunta di dati di monitoraggio di superficie forniti mediante interferometria radar ad apertura sintetica (PSInSAR) o sistemi di posizionamento satellitare (GNSS) con datasets di monitoraggio profondo derivante dagli inclinometri e dal monitoraggio idrogeologico di piezometri e sorgenti. L’operazione si è tradotta in un insieme di mappe e sezioni verticali che descrivono il modello cinematico. Gli aspetti salienti geologico-tecnici sono stati incorporati nel modello cinematico impiegando tecniche geofisiche, in particolare rilievi in tomografia elettrica (ERT), sismica attiva sia a riflessione (RFL) che in tomografia a rifrazione (RFR), e sismica passiva con acquisizione di rumore sismico (HVSR o horizontal to vertical spectral ratio). Il modello geologico è stato poi utilizzato come base per l’implementazione di modelli di flusso delle acque sotterranee e per modelli per l’analisi sforzo-deformazione agli elementi finiti (FE). La tesi descrive i risultati dell’applicazione di questa metodologia nello studio di due scivolamenti in roccia, Camugnano e Belprato che differiscono tra loro sia per l’assetto geologico sul quale si impostano sia per gli aspetti meteo-climatici. Il primo localizzato negli Appennini Settentrionali in provincia di Bologna che coinvolge gran parte del centro abitato dell’omonima cittadina, il secondo localizzato nella valle dell’Isarco nelle Alpi orientali e interagente con una delle maggiori arterie autostradali in Italia (A22) e un tratto ferroviario che collega Verona con Monaco di Baviera (Germania).Deep-seated landslides are acknowledged to be a widespread relief-shaping phenomenon in mountain range landscape. Despite being rarely related to casualties due to their slow and mainly continuous displacement rate, they are still a major concern to any man-made infrastructures and settlements, especially in developed countries. Sub-surface characterization and relationship between activity style and external climatic stresses are still open issues when dealing with deep-seated landslides due to their inherent complexity, heterogeneity of the material involved and general lack of exhaustive underground information and surface and sub-surface observations. This thesis approaches the issues by integrating expert geological knowledge information, remote sensing datasets, direct information provided by monitoring datasets and boreholes data together with indirect information gathered through geophysical surveys to attain a unified depiction of both kinematic and relevant geological reality to be implemented in finite element (FE) modelling. In detail, the data integration involved the interpretation and geomorphological mapping of laser imaging detection and ranging (LiDAR) base maps, the joint-analysis of surface displacement datasets provided by permanent scatterers differential interferometry (PSInSAR), global navigation satellite system monitoring (GNSS) and sub-surface displacement provided by inclinometer monitoring and hydro-geological information derived by piezometers and springs monitoring. This operation resulted in a set of maps and cross sections describing the reference kinematic model. Geophysics were also employed, namely electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), seismic reflection and refraction tomography (RFR, RFL) and seismic noise surveys e.g., horizontal to vertical spectral ratio (HVSR), to incorporate the relevant geological differentiation within the kinematic model. The geological model was than employed for the implementation of hydrogeological and stress-deformation FE modelling. The thesis shows and discuss the results of the application of this workflow in two case studies, which differ from one another in terms of geological, climatic setting and morphological evolution: the Camugnano and Belprato rock-slides, the former located in Northern Apennines involving most of the residential area of the homonymous municipality, while the latter located in the Isarco valley in the Eastern Alpes affecting a sector of one of the major highways in Italy (A22) and the railway Verona, Italia - München, Germany

Modellazione numerica del flusso nell'acquifero freatico dell'Alta Pianura Veneta per la definizione del bilancio idrogeologica

A 3D groundwater flow model was developed, with MODFLOW-2005 code (Harbaugh, 2005), to assess and validate the current water balance for the uncon-fined aquifer in the High Venetian Plain, through inverse modeling performed by using an automatic optimization software (PEST; Doherty, 2015). The automatic calibration approach was developed implementing three different scenarios for the hydraulic conductivity distribution and was aimed to minimize the residual between observed and simulated hydraulic head in the least squared sense by adjusting the values of the calibration parameters. The highly parameterized inversion turned out to be the best way to minimize the objective function, providing a model consistent with the current water balance for the aquifer estimated by previous studies (Cambruzzi et al., 2010; Fabbri et al., 2016), except for the Brenta and Piave rivers dispersion and the outflow from the southern margin of the model domain. Starting from the calibrated model and the results obtained from a climate model developed for the area (Baruffi et al., 2012), three predictive simulations were also performed for the period 2070-2100, considering different irrigation policies. The results of the predictive simulations suggest that the surface irrigation system could be a valuable way to avoid further withdrawal of the water table, which the aquifer has been experiencing through the last decade

Compositional and Geochemical Signatures for the Sedimentary Evolution of the Middle Triassic–Lower Jurassic Continental Redbeds from Western-Central Mediterranean Alpine Chains

Compositional and chemical analyses suggest that Middle Triassic–Lower Liassic continental redbeds (in the internal domains of the Betic, Maghrebian, and Apenninic chains) can be considered a regional lithosome marking the Triassic-Jurassic rift-valley stage of Tethyan rifting, which led to the Pangaea breakup and subsequent development of a mosaic of plates and microplates. Sandstones are quartzose to quartzolithic and represent a provenance of continental block and recycled orogen, made up mainly of Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks similar to those underlying the redbeds. Mudrocks display K enrichments; intense paleoweathering under a hot, episodically humid climate with a prolonged dry season; and sediment recycling. Redbeds experienced temperatures in the range of 100°–160°C and lithostatic/tectonic loading of more than 4 km. These redbeds represent an important stratigraphic signature to reconstruct a continental block (Mesomediterranean Microplate) that separated different realms of the western Tethys from Middle-Late Jurassic to Miocene, when it was completely involved in Alpine orogenesis.This work was funded by the Ministero dell’Universtità e della Ricerca Scientifica–Progetto di Ricerca Nazionale (MIUR-PRIN) 2001–2003 Project (“Age and Sedimentary Characters of the Mesozoic Continental Redbeds [Verrucano] from Northern Apennines to the Betic Cordillera: Implications for Paleogeographic and Tectonic Evolution of the Central-Western Mediterranean Alpine Belts,” S. Critelli, G. Mongelli, V. Perrone), MIUR-ex60% Projects (“Paleogeographic and Paleotectonic Evolution of the Circum-Mediterranean Orogenic Belts, 2001–2005” and “Relationships between Tectonic Accretion, Volcanism, and Clastic Sedimentation within the Circum-Mediterranean Orogenic Belts, 2006,” S. Critelli), the 2006–2008 MIUR-PRIN Project 2006.04.8397 (“The Cenozoic Clastic Sedimentation within the Circum-Mediterranean Orogenic Belts: Implications for Paleogeographic and Paleotectonic Evolution,” S. Critelli, G. Mongelli, V. Perrone), and Research Project CGL2005-03887 MEC (A. Martin-Algarra)