Ricerc@Sapienza

Earthquakes are among the most catastrophic and least predictable of all natural hazards, with a potential for dramatic loss of life, colossal economic damage, and destabilization of countries. They also represent a fundamentally challenging scientific problem, with a great potential for new discoveries. In the last 15 years high-resolution geophysical investigations have documented that faults accommodate deformation via a spectrum of fault slip behaviour spanning from aseismic slow slip to regular earthquakes. In addition, earthquake ruptures seem to be very complex and lithology, inherited structures and fluid overpressure are a primary explanation for these complexities.
The aim of this project is to unravel the lithological, structural and mechanical conditions that control active faulting in the Apennines. In particular we will work to: a) determine the role played by the inherited Jurassic structures in the distribution and geometry of active normal faults; b) accurately describe the lithologies involved in active deformation; c) characterize the physical properties and potential fault slip behaviour of these lithologies.
Our proposed geological work will be the first systematic study that will provide a reference geological framework to constrain the role of inherited Jurassic structures on the mechanics of active faulting of the Apennines, with invaluable insights for understanding earthquake processes. The new comprehensive characterization of the frictional properties of materials such as carbonates, marls, clays and basement rocks under different levels of fluid pressure will open the door for a significant advancement of knowledge with direct impact for the mechanics of slow earthquakes and induced seismicity. Finally, the multidisciplinary team to be assembled will be a perfect environment to train PhD and Post-docs researchers interested in fault mechanics.