The first Italian study on the probability of surface faulting of a dam with strategic importance was presented at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.
The study has been carried out by the INGEO department of the University of Chieti-Pescara.
The hazard from surface faults is a highly localized seismic hazard that can be particularly critical to strategic infrastructure (dams, lifelines, industrial, energy, transportation, and emergency management structures).
Regarding the seismic vulnerability of the Montedoglio dam on the Tiber River (AR, Tuscany), the information available in the literature suggests that particular attention should be paid to the hazard of surface faulting during a strong earthquake in the Sansepolcro Basin (Tuscany-Umbria).
The specialized study, commissioned by the Ente Acque Umbro Toscane, was carried out by the founders of Shaking Professors Paolo Boncio, Professor Bruno Pace and Dr Alessio Testa from the INGEO Department, in collaboration with the University of Perugia. The study lasted 3 years and included numerous highly specialized geological, geophysical, geognostic and earthquake geological surveys. The data collected allowed to estimate the probability of secondary faults at the dam in case of a strong earthquake triggered by the largest active fault in the region, located about 1.5 km from the dam. The results show that the hazard of soil rupture at the dam cannot be considered zero, but is very low, both in terms of expected displacements (centimetres) and recurrence times of the phenomenon (tens of thousands of years).
A previous Probabilistic Fault Displacement Hazard Analysis (PFDHA) in the area has been published in Italian Journal of Geosciences (Testa et al., 2021).