Salvatore Gallicchio

Horizontal to Vertical Spectral Ratio (HVSR) Measurements in the Area Damaged by the 2002 Molise, Italy, Earthquake

Following the 2002 Molise, Italy, earthquake, we performed a set of horizontal to vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) measurements in the damaged area. We recorded microtremors in all the municipalities reaching VI on the Mercalli-Cancani-Sieberg intensity scale. To calibrate our measurements, we installed accelerometers in two of the most damaged areas. We wanted to study HVSR in an area that is geologically different from areas commonly affected by earthquakes in the Southern Apennines. We also wanted to avoid the damage-attraction effect: after a strong event, most researchers study site amplification just where most of the damage has occurred. They might not consider that different structure vulnerability may mask the true distribution of site amplification. We checked for a possible correlation between observed intensity and the average of the non-flat HVSR measured in each municipality. The significant correlation indicates that site amplification has played a role in the damage pattern observed.

Geology of the middle and upper Pleistocene marine and continental terraces of the northern Tavoliere di Puglia plain (Apulia, southern Italy)

The Tavoliere di Puglia is a large alluvial plain located in southern Italy (Foggia Province, Apulia Region). From a geological perspective view, it represents the northern part of the Bradanic trough located between the southern Apennine Chain and the Apulian Foreland. A detailed geological survey of the middle-late Pleistocene terraces has been performed in this area and a new geologic map, at 1:150,000 scale, is here described. Criteria to distinguish these units are based on the recognition of basal unconformity surfaces: seven different synthems (UBSU, Unconformity-bounded Stratigraphic Units) have been discriminated. The data are presented in a synthesis map in which the geometrical relationships between the different sedimentary units are shown. New results for this sector of the Bradanic trough are significantly different from previous literature data. Furthermore, the map allows a reliable reconstruction of the Tavoliere di Puglia paleogeography during the Late Quaternary. Moreover, a detailed map of the Pleistocene terraces is fundamental to analyze and solve environmental problems associated with soil loss and desertification processes and river flood events.

Revised stratigraphy of the Serra Palazzo Formation, a Miocene foredeep turbidite succession of the Southern Apennines (Italy)

This paper illustrates a new structural and stratigraphical framework of the Serra Palazzo Formation which represents a Miocene turbidite succession cropping out at the outer border of the Southern Apennines. The study has been performed in the type area of the Serra Palazzo Formation, in the neighbourhood of Stigliano village (Basilicata, Southern Italy). Structural evidence allowed to recognise that in the study area the Serra Palazzo Formation has been splitted in different east verging thrust sheets whose decollement level is localized in the upper part of the Flysch Rosso Formation. The stratigraphical features of the study formation have been collected in two sections (S1 and S2) belonging to two superimposed thrust sheets; biostratigraphic analyses have been performed by means of quantitative methods on the calcareous nannofossil assemblages. The obtained results indicate that in the type area the Serra Palazzo Formation is about 500 m thick and from the bottom to the top consists of: a lower coarse grained siliciclastic turbidite unit (Tempa Cisterna Member), which lies stratigraphically on the Flysch Numidico Formation and is Burdigalian-Langhian in age; an upper siliciclastic and calciclastic fine grained turbidite unit (Jazzo Porcellini Member) that is Serravallian in age. The Jazzo Porcellini Member passes upward into the Marne argillose del Toppo Capuana Formation, of Serravallian-Tortonian age. The Tempa Cisterna Member, which has a north western feeding, reaches its maximun thickness (350 m) in the inner thrust sheet; on the contrary, the Jazzo Porcellini Member shows evidence of a consistent eastern supply and has its maximun thickness (250 m) in the outer thrust sheet. Preliminary studies suggest that the stratigraphical framework of the Serra Palazzo Formation as reconstructed in the study area can be also recognised in other areas of the Southern Apennines; these evidences provide new data on the evolution of the Southern Apennines Miocene foredeep.

Shallow-marine systems in a wedge-top basin setting: an example from the middle-upper Pliocene deposits of the Southern Apennines mountain front (Basilicata region, South Italy)

Middle-upper Pliocene wedge-top deposits cropping out near San Mauro Forte village (Basilicata region), along the Southern Apennnines chain-front, unconformably overlie deformed, lower Pliocene deposits and the pre-Pliocene substratum, represented by Cretaceous to Miocene allochtonous units. The middle-upper Pliocene sedimentary succession is markedly transgressive, with deltaic sands and gravels, overlain by shallow-marine to shelfal hybrid arenites (panchine Auctt.) and open-shelf hemipelagic deposits. This sedimentary succession was syndepositionally deformed, as shown by growth strata and progressive unconformities. Different ranks of unconformity surfaces separate hierarchically ordered, informal stratigraphic units. Two main units have been recognised: the lower unit (designated as Sequence 1) is mainly represented by siliciclastic deposits; the upper one (Sequence 2), is made of hybrid arenites and the overlying hemipelagites. Growth strata in the hybrid arenites indicate a strong synsedimentary control of a N-S trending anticline-thrust.Siliciclastic deposits of Sequence 1 can be ascribed to coarsegrained delta environments, fed by hyperpychnal flows arising from the chain-front and spreading out towards the foreland areas.Hybrid arenites of Sequence 2 has a mixed carbonate-siliciclastic to pure silicilastic composition and was deposited in storm-driven, shoreface to open-shelf environments. Skeletal grains of Sequence 2 belong to the foramol-type association, in good agreement with other Neogene and Quaternary mixed carbonate-siliciclastic systems of the Mediterranean area. Stratigraphic-sedimentological data suggest that the aforementioned uplift of the anticline-thrust played a leading role in the establishment of favourable conditions for carbonate production. Regional-scale subsidence has brought to the final drowning of these carbonate factories, overwhelmed by hemipelagic sedimentation.

Stratigraphy of the subsurface of the Metaponto Plain vs a geophysical 3D view of the late Pleistocene incised-valleys (Basilicata, Southern Italy)

The stratigraphical analysis of several boreholes drilled in the Metaponto coastal plain (Basilicata region, southern Italy) highlighted the occurrence of two irregular erosional surfaces bounding three main overlapping sedimentary units. The upper unit, which base has been detected by using a geophysical method for the H/V spectral ratio (HVSR) of microtremors, fills and covers some paleovalleys that were incised during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). A 3D view of a main geophysical unconformity shows a surface with the occurrence of some deeper, narrow, and sinuous zones running roughly perpendicular to the present-day coastline and at depths of up to 90 m below the present-day sea level. These narrows likely correspond to the paleovalleys that developed in the region during the LGM and are buried below the Metaponto coastal plain. Some discrepancies between the geophysical and the geological data may be explained either as induced by a not well constrained projections of boreholes (from which derive the lithostratigraphic interpretations) or considering that the sedimentary models of incised-valley fills suggest the presence of different coeval deposits along dip through paleovalleys, inducing a contrast of seismic impedance readable as paleotopography rises.

A Basic Geothematic Map for Land Planning and Modeling (Daunian Subapennine - Apulia Region, Italy)

In this paper a geothematic map at 1:180,000 scale of the Daunian Subapennine, a sector of the Southern Apennines Chain, located in the Apulia Region (Southern Italy) is presented. The map was produced by analyzing, redrawing and integrating the official and historical geological sheets, at different scale, edited by the Italian Geological Service, ISPRA (ex APAT), between the 50s and 60s. The analyzed geological sheets were compiled by different authors, due to the extension of the area to be mapped. For this reason, the geological sheets do not provide an univocal geo-lithological framework of the whole area. The uncertain interpretations of the geological terms contained in the different geological sheets have been checked and updated by using recent geological bibliography. The result is a geolithological map, at regional scale, realized through a homogeneous method, which provides information on the lithologies outcropping in the Daunian Subapennine, useful mainly in the preliminary phase of designing in the engineering and land planning fields.

Contained-reflected turbidites and Slurry Beds in the Tufiti di Tusa Formation.Examples from Lucanian Apennines (Southern Italy) and their significance

Abstract from 88th Congress of the Italian Geological Society, 2016-09-07 - 2016-09-09, NaplesAbstract from 88th Congress of the Italian Geological Society, 2016-09-07, 2016-09-09, Naplesbook Edited by D. Calcaterra, S. Mazzoli, F.M. Petti, B. Carmina & A. Zuccari doi: 10.3301/ROL.2016.79

Climate variability through the Marine isotope Stage 19 in the Bradano Trough (Southern Italy): a multi-proxy record

Abstract from 88th Congress of the Italian Geological Society, 2016-09-07 - 2016-09-09, NaplesAbstract from 88th Congress of the Italian Geological Society, 2016-09-07, 2016-09-09, Naplesbook Edited by D. Calcaterra, S. Mazzoli, F.M. Petti, B. Carmina & A. Zuccari doi: 10.3301/ROL.2016.79