The purpose of the course is to allow the student to acquire knowledge, skills and abilities in the identification and management:
- the types of geological, seismic and volcanic hazards;
- actions to mitigate disasters related to seismic and volcanic activity.
The student will experiment with the materials, methods and tools of Geology for the Environment, in particular from the point of view of assessing the stability and security of a site from a seismic and volcanic point of view. Will be able to appreciate A) the variability and scale factors in natural processes connected with seismicity and volcanism, and B) the vulnerability of the physical environment with respect to seismic and volcanic phenomena. It will be required to learn C) the geological criteria for the location of a plant at risk of major accident with respect to the possible impacts of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and methodological implications, and D) the general principles that regulate the civil protection plans in case of seismic and volcanic emergency.

Prerequisites

The student must have knowledge of the theoretical bases of mathematics, chemistry, physics and geology.

Contents and program of the course

COURSE CONTENT

Fundamentals of General Geology and Litology: Physical state, composition, structure and movements of the earth's crust.

The core of the course is based on what is required, internationally, for sites for power electronuclear plants. Although very few works determine an environmental impact and a risk comparable to those related to an electronuclear power plant, the path followed for the localization and design of such structures is in fact paradigmatic and methodologically correct also for all the situations mentioned above. A similar approach will allow us to have a complete view of the activities to be carried out. The course will then provide all the necessary elements to select the type of analysis most appropriate to the work to be analyzed or to the type of hazard that must be addressed, including the physical context in which it falls and its cost.

The course is structured through a Seismic Risk Module and a Volcanic Risk Module.
The main topics discussed for the Seismic Risk Module are:
1. Methodological and conceptual approach;
2. Aspects related to the project earthquake: necessary data base. Methods for the calculation of the earthquake / s of reference for the project. Attenuation at the site and definition of the project earthquake. Paleoseismology and Seismic Landscape Concept;
3. Danger, vulnerability, risk, mitigation. Aspects of geological stability of the site linked to the earthquake: superficial faulting and liquefaction. Seismic hazard maps, Zoning and seismic regulations.

The main topics discussed for the Volcanic Risk Module are:
1. Introduction to volcanism and characterization of products of volcanic eruptions;
2. Danger, risk, mitigation and prediction. Types of volcanic hazards. Monitoring and short-term prediction. Volcanic hazard zoning and long-term prediction.

Detailed development of the Course:

PART I

Introduction to Seismic Risk, expectations, organization; The deformations of the rocks and the seismicity. Overview of crustal dynamics: continental and oceanic crust, plate tectonics, oceanic ridges, continental drift, subduction. The elementary tectonic structures: fractures, foliations, faults and folds. The association of elementary tectonic structures. The tectonic style of a territory. Vertical movements of the ground. Active tectonics. Measurement and location of earthquakes: epicenter, hypocenter, magnitude and macroseismic intensity, focal mechanism.

PART II
Structural geology and earthquakes, seismicity in a tectonic compressive, relaxing and transcendent environment. Case studies at the global level and in Italy; the earthquake of May 2012 in the Po Valley; the earthquake of L'Aquila 2009, Amatrice 2016, Ischia 2017.
The ESI2007 scale and the environmental effects of earthquake