Fluvial inverse modelling for inferring the timing of Quaternary uplift in the Simbruini range (Central Apennines, Italy)

The regional topography of the Central Apennines results from convergence between the African and Eurasian plates that led to the formation of a Neogene NE-verging imbricate fold and thrust belt. During the final stages of the orogenic deformations, the whole area was affected by strong uplift and by extensional faulting oriented along the main direction of the Apennine chain. In this framework, the landscape evolution in subaerial conditions started diachronically and is testified by the relicts of clastic deposit at different height from base levels of the present drainage network. In the Simbruini range, there are no absolute dating records neither of the most ancient clastic units deposited after the Messinian thrust-top facies nor of tectonic events. Trying to fill this gap, we used geomorphometric analyses to infer the timing of the recent phases of the tectonic history of the Simbruini range. Specifically, we identified the main non-lithological knickpoints along the river longitudinal profiles, clustered their altimetric distribution and correlated them with the levels of continental clastic deposits reserved at different elevations. Furthermore, we inferred the uplift history of the range by applying the inverse modelling of the river longitudinal profiles. Assuming a block uplift model, the drainage network cutting the Simbruini range recorded on average about 2.4 Myr of tectonic history, characterized by variable base level fall rates (corresponding to uplift rates). According the average tectonic history, the highest base level fall rate of 690 m My-1 was reached at 1.65 Ma, followed by the minimum of about 370 m My-1 , reached at 0.75 Ma, and by a second rise, up to a present-day value of 660 m My-1

Available raw data collected in the Simbruini-Ernici Ridge and discussed in the paper: Shallow deformation in subduction zones: microstructural evidence for aseismic slip and low frequency tremor in molasse-type conglomerates from the Central Apennines accretionary wedge

This file contains uninterpreted geological data collected in the Simbruini-Ernici Ridge such as field photos, microphotos and SEM photos, along with coordinates of sampling localities and main structural data. Data are made available for supporting the paper: Shallow deformation in subduction zones: microstructural evidence for aseismic slip and low frequency tremor in molasse-type conglomerates from the Central Apennines accretionary wedg

A 3D Geological Model as a Base for the Development of a Conceptual Groundwater Scheme in the Area of the Colosseum (Rome, Italy)

Geological models are very useful tools for developing conceptual schemes owing to their capacity to optimize the management of stratigraphic information. This is particularly true in areas where archaeological heritage is exposed to hydrogeological hazards; 3D models can constitute the first step toward the construction of numerical models created to understand processes and plan mitigation actions to improve visitor safety and preserve archaeological heritage. This paper illustrates the results of a 3D hydrostratigraphic model of the site of the Colosseum in the Central Archaeological Area of Rome. In recent years, this area has experienced numerous floods caused by intense meteorological events. A new borehole survey provided the opportunity to update previous maps and cross sections and build a local scale 3D model. The resulting conceptual model was used to identify primary gaps in existing knowledge about the groundwater system and to optimize the planning of a piezometer monitoring network. Further studies can then focus on the development of groundwater numerical models to verify hypotheses regarding inflow-outflow dynamics and facilitate the optimization of water management

Fucino palaeo-lake: Towards the Palaeoenvironmental history of the last 430 Ka

© 2010 AIQUA - Associazione Italiana per lo Studio del Quaternario e EMMEVI - Servizio Congressi SPA. The sedimentary succession deposited in Fucino palaeo-lake potentially records the environmental history of the Central Mediterranean Region continuously since the early Pleistocene and up to recent historical times. Fucino palaeo-lake sediments are interbedded with numerous volcanic ash layers which allow the reconstruction a robust and independent chronological framework of past environment changes. This framework is a fundamental tool to synchronise different archives at a regional and extra-regional scale and to better understand the spatio-temporal climate variability in the Quaternary at the orbital and millennial-scales. Here we present new preliminary data for the last five glacial to interglacial cycles

RETRACE-3D PROJECT, a multidisciplinary approach for the construction of a 3D crustal model: first results and seismotectonic implications

The RETRACE-3D (centRal italy EarThquakes integRAted Crustal modEl) Project has been launched with the ambitious goal to build, as first result, a new, robust, 3D geological model of broad consensus of the area struck by the 2016-2018 Central Italy seismic sequencePublishedBologna3T. Sorgente sismica4T. Sismicità dell'Itali

The upper Quaternary sedimentary sequence at the Rieti Basin (central Italy): a record of sedimentation response to climatic changes

Lithostratigraphy, chronology and depositional environments of sixteen Holocene alluvial fill sediment cores from the southern part of the Conca of Rieti (central Italy) was established by sedimentological, palaeontological and C-14 analyses. The study area experienced a lacustrine (or palustrine) conditions and the water level was effectively controlled by a natural damming of the valley due to intermitted travertine deposition at Le Marmore site. Apart from cores S10, S13, S14 and S8 which, at their bottom, cored sediments referable to ?Upper Pliocene and Middle Pleistocene which are not the object of this paper, as a rule the drilled sediments can be referred, bottom to top, to the following four episodes: interval a, corresponding to freshwater lacustrine/palustrine environment affected by alluvial fan progradations from the edges of the valley and active by ?Middle/?Late Pleistocene to early Holocene, in this interval, several hiatuses are supposed but are not evidenced by the bad state of preservation of the sediment cores; interval b, from 361 to 371-376 m a.s,l,, recording a decrease of the water level, bracketed between the C-14 ages of 6000 and 2700 Sir B.P., which produced the formation of distinct shallow ponds/bogs, rich in aquatic vegetation; interval c, from 381 to 384 m a.s,l,, indicating a further rise of the water level, recorded by sediments containing abundant molluscs and ostracods; interval d, the upper part of the cores, records an almost continuous drying up the area as shown by abundant hydrophilic land molluscs; and interval e, the top of all sediment cores, representing the present-day soil. It has been found that the water level fluctuations occurring in the ancient Conca are chronologically consistent with the postglacial climate pattern. It is further noticed that the episodes of water highstand correspond to the Boreal-Atlantic and Subatlantic climatic ameliorations, respectively, and that the water level dropped during the global cooling episodes recurred from ca. 6000 to 2100 yr B.P. The resulting palaeoenvironmental history with that previously reported for the northern reach of the Conca of Rieti, thus suggesting a common setting for the area. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

Pluvial flood hazard in the city of Rome (Italy)

The map shows the result of a procedure for pluvial flood hazard (PFH) mapping in urban areas, developed by using easy to find data, usually available from local authorities. Data were processed using a sequence of tools in a GIS environment. Two parameters have been evaluated: (1) susceptibility, defined as the probability of a flood occurring in a certain area (‘flood-prone areas’) which depends on the ground morphology (i.e. presence of depressions, fill volume of depressions) and spatial density of previously observed floods and (2) potential impact, formed from all factors influencing the damage (e.g. value of exposed heritage or number of people potentially involved), as well as the induced hazard due to damage. Susceptibility and potential impact were each divided into five classes and a score matrix was constructed; the final PFH is then defined by the summation of the scores within the matrix. The methodology used is suitable for a comprehensive, mostly automatic, first-level analysis of PFH in urban areas, and it is easily replicable. The obtained flood hazard map could provide a useful tool for civil protection purposes, that is, for hazard evaluation and emergency planning.Published545 – 5537A. Geofisica per il monitoraggio ambientale e geologia medicaJCR Journa

A GIS-based procedure for preliminary mapping of pluvial flood risk at metropolitan scale

A GIS-based procedure for mapping pluvial flood risk in urban areas is proposed; risk is expressed through an index calculated as the sum of susceptibility and potential impact, combined in a matrix. The susceptibility is defined as the probability of a flooding to occur, because of the ground morphology and the spatial probability density of historical floodings. The potential impact was evaluated by considering the consequences of damages on human health, environment, cultural heritages and economic activities, and accounts for the potential cost of damage. Both the susceptibility and the potential impact are calculated by elaborations of base-data in GIS environment. Despite many limitations, the methodology furnishes a tool for a preliminary screening of areas potentially subjected to pluvial flood, useful for a municipal scale mapping. It permits comparative analysis for detecting areas higher at risk, helping prioritizing the emergency management and the planning of mitigation actions.Published64-847A. Geofisica per il monitoraggio ambientaleJCR Journa

How hydrocarbons move along faults. Evidence from microstructural observations of hydrocarbon-bearing carbonate fault rocks

The microscale mechanisms of hydrocarbons movement along faults and fault zones, the potential carriers of hydrocarbons toward the productive geological traps, remain largely unknown. The majority of previous studies inferred the hydraulic behavior of faults with respect to hydrocarbon movements without providing meso and microstructural observations from faults permeated by hydrocarbons. To fill this gap, we document meso-structures together with the first fossil microstructural portraits of hydrocarbon flow and pathways along two hydrocarbon-bearing carbonate-hosted normal faults exposed in the central Apennines, Italy. In particular, we show that hydrocarbons cyclically move within tectonically active carbonate normal faults possibly during interseismic and coseismic phases of the seismic cycle. Channelized structures, injection features, and clast-cortex grains suggest the occurrence of transient and localized pulses of pressurized hydrocarbons during coseismic slip. In particular, clast-cortex grains are very similar to microstructures that develop along fault planes for slip velocities between 0.0001 and 1 m/s. Patches of hydrocarbon-bearing breccias/cataclasites with lobate and irregular boundaries, crackle breccias filled by hydrocarbons, and hydrocarbons arrested against hydrocarbon-free discrete fault planes suggest hydrocarbon flow during the interseismic phases with hydrocarbon (over)pressure dissipation after coseismic phases. Fault permeability is created during the coseismic phase and hydrocarbons penetrate the most permeable and uncemented uncohesive fault rocks within the damage zone and arrest against and/or within low-permeability and cemented fault cores. Results are consistent with previous numerical simulations on hydrocarbon movements along faults and time-lapse seismic-reflection imaging, suggesting that the movement of hydrocarbon occurs during interseismic periods within tectonically active faults and along permeable zones cyclically created by seismic activity. Results from this paper are crucial for modelling the hydraulic behavior of carbonate fault damage zone, which have progressively gained popularity as targets of hydrocarbon exploration and production and for CO2 or H storage.(C) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved