Local Seismic site effects estimated by detailed seismic surveys: the case of Castelnuovo village (L’Aquila Basin, central Italy)

<p>Assessing seismic site effects is essential in earthquake hazard studies. Local seismic amplification is strongly related to the site stratigraphy and topography, the dynamic properties of the subsoil deposits, and the earthquake features. The evaluation of these factors is mandatory to achieve a consistent model of the seismic hazard at small scale. Here we discuss the case of Castelnuovo village (L’Aquila, central Italy). Located on a small ridge, approximately 60 m higher than the valley floor, the village was heavily struck by April 6, 2009, M<sub>w</sub> 6.3 L’Aquila earthquake, with catastrophic collapse of several buildings. Previous studies ascribed the observed damage to the presence of shallow caves beneath the buildings or to the topographic amplification.</p><p>In this work, an updated and detailed subsoil model for Castelnuovo site has been provided, based updated geological surveys, such as borehole logs and geophysical data consisting in microtremor measurements and down-hole.</p><p>These measurements identified resonant frequencies occurring in the range of 0.7-3.0 Hz. These frequency peaks are related to the presence of a velocity contrast at depth between the San Nicandro silts and the Madonna della Neve breccias, as indicated by the performed deep boreholes. Thanks to analytical, numerical, and geostatistical techniques, we identified the main impedance contrast at approximately 210 m depth from the top of the hill, much deeper than previous studies. These new findings allowed to create an accurate and consistent subsoil model summarized by two geological cross-sections of the Castelnuovo ridge, showing that the seismic site effects at the Castelnuovo village are mainly related to stratigraphic amplification.</p>

Seismic characterization of Pizzoli (Central Italy) to estimate site effects induced by near-fault earthquakes

<p>Most of the towns, villages and infrastructures settled in Central Italy are placed nearby active faults and, consequently, the ground motion evaluation and the ground failures characterization under near-fault earthquakes are noteworthy issues to be investigated. The Madonna delle Fornaci - MDF – site, close to Pizzoli village (L’Aquila in Central Italy), has been selected as an emblematic site for assessing the effects induced by near-fault earthquakes, because it is located very close to the Pizzoli-Barete active Fault accountable for the February 2, 1703 Mw 6.67 earthquake. After this historical earthquake, remarkable surface manifestations, attributed to soil liquefaction and coseismic ground sinkholes, were observed at the MDF site, occurred in the Holocene alluvial deposit of the Aterno River, as witnessed by several written sources (among which Uria De Llanos, 1703). As concerns the geological setting, the MDF site is placed in the Plio-Quaternary NW-SE elongated L’Aquila intramontane basins which is bounded by a framework of active NW-SE trending and SW-dipping extensional faults which includes also the above mentioned Pizzoli-Barete active Fault. A comprehensive geophysical, geological, and geotechnical campaign has been carried out at the MDF site with the goal to obtain the seismic site characterization and the shallow and deep subsoil model preparatory to the quantitative estimation of the near-fault ground motion and the evaluation of the soil liquefaction potential induced by the 1703 seismic event.</p><p>The field survey consisted of three shallow continuous core drilling 15-20 m-deep boreholes; in one of the them, a down hole test and SPT measurements were conducted every 1 m depth; an open tube piezometer at the 11-12 m depth was installed in one of the boreholes; a couple of undisturbed samples were sampled for geotechnical laboratory tests; a MASW, Seismic refraction and ERT investigations were performed along two perpendicular 70-m long alignments; several single station microtremor measurements performed also in the neighbouring area. These data permitted preliminary to elaborate a quite confident 1-2D litho- and seismo-stratigraphic model for the MDF test site.</p><p>The MDF site is characterized by mainly calcareous grain-supported Holocene alluvial deposit: sandy gravel and gravelly sand with a silty component, sometimes predominant, in the matrix with water table level about 8-12 m b.g.l. Moreover, the following horizons are noteworthy to mention: an orange sand level at 11-12 m b.g.l. which could be considered preliminary as a liquefaction-prone level and an organic reddish-brown silty clay at 14-15 m b.g.l., which could be used for C14 dating.</p><p>Further, a 200 m-deep continuous core drilling borehole, executed nearby the MDF site by ISPRA for the mapping of the Italian geological sheet 348 “Antrodoco”, was also taken into consideration to obtain the complete 1D subsoil model for the near-fault ground motion amplification modelling.</p><p>The near-fault ground motion evaluation of the MDF site, considered as paradigmatic of the Central Italy seismicity, will go on through the geotechnical characterization of the alluvial deposits, the shear wave velocity versus depth profile and the seismic input evaluation to use for the numerical modelling.</p>

Study of Input Parameters of Layered Half-Space used for Soil Modelling

This article deals with a problem of soil modeling. That is a necessary part of foundation modeling.The soil modeling can directly influent the resulting deformation of the foundations and therefore deformationof the whole building. The accurate procedure that can simulate the foundation-soil interaction is still unknown.A greater understanding of the issue through experiments and numerical modeling is important for a goodapplication and proper use in practice. To improve this understanding an experimental test of a concrete slabwas performed on special testing equipment. The experiment is complemented by numerical modeling.Numerical models are created in the Ansys software. The article features three cube models and a half-spheremodel. Deformations on all featured models are discussed and compared to the experimental values andsimplified hand calculation. The subsoil model is based on the Boussinesq half-space theory. The soil section isassumed homogeneous and layered. The size of models is assumed as a changing parameter from 10 m to 30 m.A recommended model size was evaluated from the parametric study as a match of deformation from modelsand the experiment. This computed model size is compared with an affected depth described by the standardČSN 731001. Computation was performed using supercomputer Anselm in the National SupercomputingCenter IT4Innovations in the VSB-Technical University of Ostrava.

Estimating dissolved carbon concentrations in global soils: a global database and model

Dissolved carbon (C) leaching in and from soils plays an important role in C transport along the terrestrial-aquatic continuum. However, a global overview and analysis of dissolved carbon in soil solutions, covering a wide range of vegetation types and climates, is lacking. We compiled a global database on annual average dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in soil solutions, including potential governing factors, with 762 entries from 351 different sites covering a range of climate zones, land cover types and soil classes. Using this database we develop regression models to calculate topsoil concentrations, and concentrations versus depth in the subsoil at the global scale. For DIC, the lack of a proportional globally distributed cover inhibits analysis on a global scale. For DOC, annual average concentrations range from 1.7 to 88.3 (median = 25.27) mg C/L for topsoils (n = 255) and from 0.42 to 372.1 (median = 5.50) mg C/L for subsoils (n = 285, excluding lab incubations). Highest topsoil values occur in forests of cooler, humid zones. In topsoils, multiple regression showed that precipitation is the most significant factor. Our global topsoil DOC model ($${\mathrm{R}}^{2}=0.36$$ R 2 = 0.36 ) uses precipitation, soil class, climate zone and land cover type as model factors. Our global subsoil model describes DOC concentrations vs. depth for different USDA soil classes (overall ($${\mathrm{R}}^{2}=0.45$$ R 2 = 0.45 ). Highest subsoil DOC concentrations are calculated for Histosols.

Physical stratigraphy and geotechnical properties controlling the local seismic response in explosive volcanic settings: the Stracciacappa maar (central Italy)

Nowadays, policies addressed to prevention and mitigation of seismic risk need a consolidated methodology finalised to the assessment of local seismic response in explosive volcanic settings. The quantitative reconstruction of the subsoil model provides a key instrument to understand how the geometry and the internal architecture of outcropping and buried geological units have influence on the propagation of seismic waves. On this regard, we present a multidisciplinary approach in the test area of the Stracciacappa maar (Sabatini Volcanic District, central Italy), with the aim to reconstruct its physical stratigraphy and to discuss how subsoil heterogeneities control the 1D and 2D local seismic response in such a volcanic setting. We first introduce a new multidisciplinary dataset, including geological (fieldwork and log from a 45-m-thick continuous coring borehole), geophysical (electrical resistivity tomographies, single station noise measurements, and 2D passive seismic arrays), and geotechnical (simple shear tests performed on undisturbed samples) approaches. Then, we reconstruct the subsoil model for the Stracciacappa maar in terms of vertical setting and distribution of its mechanical lithotypes, which we investigate for 1D and 2D finite element site response analyses through the application of two different seismic scenarios: a volcanic event and a tectonic event. The numerical modelling documents a significant ground motion amplification (in the 1–1.5 Hz range) revealed for both seismic scenarios, with a maximum within the centre of the maar. The ground motion amplification is related to both 1D and 2D phenomena including lithological heterogeneity within the upper part of the maar section and interaction of direct S-waves with Rayleigh waves generated at edges of the most superficial lithotypes. Finally, we use these insights to associate the expected distribution of ground motion amplification with the physical stratigraphy of an explosive volcanic setting, with insights for seismic microzonation studies and local seismic response assessment in populated environments.

A FEM analysis of the settlement of a tall building situated on loess subsoil

In order to correctly model the behaviour of a building under load, it is necessary to take into account the displacement of the subsoil under the foundations. The subsoil is a material with typically non-linear behaviour. This paper presents an example of the modelling of a tall, 14-storey, building located in Lublin. The building was constructed on loess subsoil, with the use of a base slab. The subsoil lying directly beneath the foundations was described using the Modified Cam-Clay model, while the linear elastic perfectly plastic model with the Coulomb-Mohr failure criterion was used for the deeper subsoil. The parameters of the subsoil model were derived on the basis of the results of CPT soundings and laboratory oedometer tests. In numerical FEM analyses, the floors of the building were added in subsequent calculation steps, simulating the actual process of building construction. The results of the calculations involved the displacements taken in the subsequent calculation steps, which were compared with the displacements of 14 geodetic benchmarks placed in the slab.

The 1-D and 2-D Seismic Modeling of Deep Quaternary Basin (Downtown L'Aquila, Central Italy)

We compare the results of one-dimensional (1-D) and two-dimensional (2-D) modeling of the up-to-date geological section of downtown L'Aquila. The section transects a 300-m-deep Quaternary graben assumed as a “deep basin.” It is placed in the southern zone of downtown L'Aquila and is mainly filled up by silt and clay. The northern zone of downtown L'Aquila is conversely characterized by stiff rock (breccia superposed onto limestone). The study's aim is to validate this upgraded subsoil model and to investigate possible 2-D seismic effects. Considering both the experimental and simulated data, all the sites exhibit a clear resonance frequency ( F0:0.4–0.6 Hz), and its amplitude ( A0) decreases northward. The linear modeling is in good agreement with experimental data, confirming the subsoil model. In the southern zone, the A0 of the 2-D transfer function is higher than the A0 of the 1-D transfer function, which can be attributed to a bidimensional deep basin effect.

Global database and model on dissolved carbon in soil solution

Abstract. Dissolved carbon leaching in and from soils plays an important role in C transport along the terrestrial-aquatic continuum. However, a global overview and analysis of dissolved carbon in soil solutions, covering a wide range of vegetation types and climates, is lacking. We compiled a global database on annual average dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in soil solutions, including potential governing factors, with 762 entries from 351 different sites covering a range of climate zones, land cover types and soil classes. Using this database we develop regression models to calculate topsoil concentrations, and concentrations vs. depth in the subsoil at the global scale. For DIC, the lack of a proportional globally distributed cover inhibits analysis on a global scale. For DOC, annual average concentrations range from 1.7 to 88.3 (median = 25.27) mg C/L for topsoils and from 0.42 to 372.1 (median = 5.50) mg C/L for subsoils (excluding lab incubations). Highest topsoil values occur in forests of cooler, humid zones. In topsoils, multiple regression showed that precipitation is the most significant factor. Our global topsoil DOC model (R2 = 0.36) uses precipitation, soil class, climate zone and land cover type as model factors. Our global subsoil model describes DOC concentrations vs. depth for different USDA soil classes (overall R2 = 0.45). Highest subsoil concentrations are calculated for Histosols.