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 longterm
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 earthquakes;
paleoseismi