The study of karstic aquifers by geodetic measurements in Bus de la Genziana station – Cansiglio plateau (Northeastern Italy)

We propose an interdisciplinary study of karstic aquifers using tiltmeters and GPS observations. The study region is located in northeastern Italy, in the seismic area of the Cansiglio Plateau. The Zöllner type Marussi tiltmeters are installed in a natural cavity (Bus de la Genziana) that is part of an interesting karstic area of particular hydrogeologic importance. The Livenza river forms from a number of springs at the foothills of the karstic massif and flows throughthe Friuli-Veneto plain into the Adriatic Sea. Comparing the tiltmeter signal recorded at the Genziana station withthe local pluviometrical series and the hydrometric series of the Livenza river, a clear correlation is recognized. Moreover, the data of a permanent GPS station located on the southern slopes of the Cansiglio Massif (CANV) show also a clear correspondence withthe water runoff. Here we present the hydrologic induced deformations as observed by tiltmeter and GPS. After heavy rain events we record rapid deformations bothby tiltmeters and GPS corresponding to the rainfall duration. In the following days a slow geodetic motion recovers the accumulated deformation witha distinctive pattern bothin tilt and GPS data, whichcorrelates withthe runoff of the karstic aquifer. The purpose of this researchis to open a new multidisciplinary frontier between geodetic and karstic systems studies to improve the knowledge of the underground fluid flow circulation in karstic areas. Furthermore a better characterization of the hydrologic effects on GPS and tilt observations will have the benefit that these signals can be corrected when the focus of the study is to recover the tectonic deformation

Diurnal and semidiurnal cyclicity of Radon (222Rn) in groundwater, Giardino Spring, Central Apennines, Italy

Understanding natural variations of Rn (222Rn) concentrations is the fundamental prerequisite of using this radioactive gas as a tracer, or even precursor, of natural processes, including earthquakes. In this work, Rn concentrations in groundwater were continuously measured over a seven-month period, during 2017, in the Giardino Spring, Italy, together with groundwater levels in a nearby well installed into a fractured regional aquifer. Data were processed to reduce noise, and then analyzed to produce the Fourier spectra of Rn concentrations and groundwater levels. These spectra were compared with the spectrum of tidal forces. Results showed that diurnal and semidiurnal cycles of Rn concentrations, and filtered oscillations of groundwater levels, in the nearby well, are correlated with solar and luni-solar components of tidal forces, and suggested no correlation with the principal lunar components. Therefore, influencing factors linked to solar cycles, such as daily oscillations of temperature and atmospheric pressure, and related rock deformations, may have played a role in Rn concentrations and groundwater levels. An open question remains regarding the correlation, which is documented elsewhere, of Rn concentrations and groundwater levels with the lunar components of the solid Earth tides

VADASE reliability and accuracy of real-time displacement estimation: Application to the Central Italy 2016 earthquakes

The goal of this article is the illustration of the newfunctionalities of the VADASE (Variometric Approach for Displacements Analysis Stand-alone Engine) processing approach. VADASE was presented in previousworks as an approach able to estimate in real time the velocities and displacements in a global reference frame (ITRF), using high-rate (1 Hz or more) carrier phase observations and broadcast products (orbits, clocks) collected by a stand-alone GNSS receiver, achieving a displacements accuracy within 1-2 cm (usually better) over intervals up to a few minutes. It has been well known since the very first implementation and testing of VADASE that the estimated displacements might be impacted by two different effects: spurious spikes in the velocities due to outliers (consequently, displacements, obtained through velocities integration, are severely corrupted) and trends in the displacements time series, mainly due to broadcast orbit and clock errors. Two strategies are herein introduced, respectively based on Leave-One-Out cross-validation (VADASE-LOO) for a receiver autonomous outlier detection, and on a network augmentation strategy to filter common trends out (A-VADASE); they are combined (first, VADASE-LOO; second, A-VADASE) for a complete solution. Moreover, starting fromthis VADASE improved solution, an additional strategy is proposed to estimate in real time the overall coseismic displacement occurring at each GNSS receiver. New VADASE advances are successfully applied to the GPS data collected during the recent three strong earthquakes that occurred in Central Italy on 24 August and 26 and 30 October 2016, and the results are herein presented and discussed. The VADASE real-time estimated coseismic displacements are compared to the static ones derived from the daily solutions obtained within the standard post-processing procedure by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia

Comparative analysis of local angular rotation between the Ring Laser Gyroscope GINGERINO and GNSS stations

The study of local deformations is a hot topic in geodesy. Local rotations of the crust around the vertical axis can be caused by deformations. In the Gran Sasso area the ring laser prototype GINGERINO and the GNSS array are operative. One year of data of GINGERINO is compared with the ones from the GNSS stations, homogeneously selected around the position of GINGERINO, aiming at looking for rotational signals with period of days common to both systems. At that purpose the rotational component of the area circumscribed by the GNSS stations has been evaluated and compared with the GINGERINO data. The coherences between the signals show structures that even exceed 60$\%$ coherence over the 6-60 days period; to validate this unprecedented analysis two different methods have been used to evaluate the local rotation using the GNSS stations. The analysis reveals that the shared rotational signal's amplitude in both instruments is approximately $10^{-13} rad/s$, an order of magnitude lower than the amplitudes of the signals examined using the coherence method. The ring laser array GINGER is at present under construction, and the confrontation of the ring laser data with GNSS antennas provides evidence of the fruibility and validity of the ring laser data for very low frequency investigation

Step-like displacements of a deep seated gravitational slope deformation observed during the 2016–2017 seismic events in Central Italy

Deep Seated Gravitational Slope Deformations are characterized by low deformation rates although they can experience partial-collapse phases or more rapid movements, especially in presence of active tectonic structures. In the Central Italy, considering the high seismicity rate, seismic activity must be considered to be an important trigger of deep slope movements. We aim to contribute to the research in this field by reporting the results of a monitoring program on a Deep Seated Gravitational Slope Deformation in this region that involves marly calcareous rocks. We documented the pre-earthquakes evolution of the phenomenon and measured its displacements during the seismic sequence in 2016 and 2017 in Central Italy, which largest events were Mw 5.0-to-6.5. A multidisciplinary approach that combines a field geomorphological survey, installation of permanent GPS stations, and InSAR elaborations was adopted for this study. The average ground motion rate of the slope deformation before the earthquakes was very low (< 3 mm/y) and not spatially homogenous, as detected by GPS and InSAR. In detail, the uppermost area of the slope instability likely moves faster than the lowest sector. On the other hand, GPS and InSAR recorded significant step-like movements, one to ten times higher than the normal activity rate, triggered by the M-w 5.0-to-6.5 earthquakes. In detail, the movement mainly depended on the magnitude of the earthquake and the distance from the epicenter, and only secondarily on the number of larger magnitude earthquakes on a given day. In conclusion, we furnished monitoring data on the activity rate of a Deep Seated Gravitational Slope Deformation in seismic context, we indicated two sectors of the investigated deformation that resulted more unstable and we proved that the combination of InSAR and GPS data is a useful monitoring system for earthquake activated, slow-moving slope instabilities.Published337-3482T. Deformazione crostale attivaJCR Journa

GINGER

In this paper, we outline the scientific objectives, the experimental layout, and the collaborations envisaged for the GINGER (Gyroscopes IN GEneral Relativity) project. The GINGER project brings together different scientific disciplines aiming at building an array of Ring Laser Gyroscopes (RLGs), exploiting the Sagnac effect, to measure continuously, with sensitivity better than picorad/ s, large bandwidth (ca. 1 kHz), and high dynamic range, the absolute angular rotation rate of the Earth. In the paper, we address the feasibility of the apparatus with respect to the ambitious specifications above, as well as prove how such an apparatus, which will be able to detect strong Earthquakes, very weak geodetic signals, as well as general relativity effects like Lense-Thirring and De Sitter, will help scientific advancements in Theoretical Physics, Geophysics, and Geodesy, among other scientific fields.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figure

Combination of coseismic displacement fields: a geodetic perspective

This study provides the mathematical framework for the rigorous combination of coseismic offsets observed by a global positioning system (GPS) network and investigates the results obtained on the occasion of the recent Emilia earthquakes (Italy). This seismic sequence that affected northern Italy from May 20, 2012, allowed two offset fields to be computed, one with reference to the mainshock (M 5.9, followed by two other M 5.1 events on the same day), and a second with reference to the replicas that occurred on May 29, 2012 (M 5.8, M 5.3 and M 5.2; ISIDe data archive, http://iside.rm.ingv.it). The final displacement field is basically the result of a comparison and validation process with repeated feedback between the different analysis groups at the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV; National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology) that was established to obtain prompt coseismic displacement solutions, as precise as possible, and in the first days after an event. This is important for early seismic-source evaluation as it represents the most complete and validated dataset at the very early stage of a seismic crisis, and it is also extremely useful in reducing random and systematic errors in the estimated parameters. This study is the result of a cooperative effort that involved different research groups at INGV, with the sharing of all of the collected GPS data. The intention was to compare these results and thus reducing sources of error associated with individual processing strategies, to allow the final combination of the different displacement fields into a single consensus solution. The process assessed the robustness of each single GPS result, thus minimizing erroneous interpretations of individual solutions. […

Kinematics of the Suez-Sinai area from an updated combined GPS velocity field

A combined GPS velocity solution covering a wide area from Egypt to Middle East allowed us to infer the current kinematics of the Suez-Sinai area, where the interaction of the African and Arabian plates is active. We have estimated 126 velocities from time series of 90 permanent and 36 non permanent GPS sites located in Africa (Egypt), Eurasia and Arabia plates in the time span 1996–2015, the largest available for the Egyptian sites. We have combined our velocity solution in a least-squares sense with two other recent velocity solutions of networks located around the eastern Mediterranean, obtaining a final IGb08 velocity field of about 450 sites. We have estimated the IGb08 Euler poles of Africa, Sinai and Arabia, and focused on the kinematics of the Sinai area, estimating the 2D strain rate field and examining particular velocity profiles. We show that it is possible to reliably model the rigid motion of Sinai block only including some GPS sites located south of the Carmel Fault. The estimated relative motion with respect to Africa is of the order of 2–3 mm/yr, however there is a clear mismatch between the modeled and the observed velocities in the southern Sinai sites. We have also assessed the NNE left shear motion along the Dead Sea Transform Fault, estimating a relative motion between Arabia and Africa of about 6 mm/yr in the direction of the Red Sea opening.UnpublishedVienna, Austria1T. Deformazione crostale attiv