Remotely controlled aerial and underwater vehicles in support to magnetic surveys

This article deals with the creation of a professional magnetometer, a flexible, light and compact instrument that can be installed on aerial and marine drones. The instrument can accurately measure the local magnetic field. Subsequently, it was installed on AUV and a micro ROV to test its effectiveness for archaeological purposes and magnetic surveys. Experimental data show that both systems can be used by filtering disturbances from vehicles.

Seismic microzonation by means of cluster analysis

The identification of areas with uniform behaviour in seismic perspective is a very complex task that involves the simultaneous assessment of many parameters. In this paper we propose an automatic procedure for the seismic microzonation based on cluster analysis and performed by means of an agglomerative hierarchical algorithm. It exploits a proximity matrix specifically defined on the parameters space and the average linkage criteria. The procedure has been used to carry out the expedite seismic microzonation of some high seismic hazard areas, only using the data inferred by the extensive application of the HVSR technique. The results of the clustering procedures have been assessed from a …

Hydrogeological and geotechnical modeling of the foundation soils of Maredolce Lake in Palermo, aided by geophysical surveys

The cultural heritage of Maredolce (Palermo) includes an Arab-Norman castle that originally stood on the shores of an artificial lake carved out of a basin dug out of the calcarenite and filled with water thanks to the channeling of the springs of San Ciro upstream. Subsequently, the lowering of the water table and the high hydraulic permeability of the outcropping rocks caused the lake to dry up. Recently, a project of enhancement of the cultural heritage required the restoration of the lake. The geophysical study presented here, including the integrated use of different techniques such as electrical and seismic tomography, Multichannel Analysis of the Surface Waves and ambient vibration r…

A constrained geophysical model of the landslide that affects the Agrigento Cathedral

Low-cost remotely operated underwater and unmanned aerial vehicles: New technologies for archaeo-geophysics

In this paper we present a device for magnetic survey devoted in particular for archaeological purposes. The device is able to perform accurate measurements of the total magnetic field, it is a flexible device, programmable by the users to be suitable for any specific need. The device relies upon microcontroller, a digital three axes Fluxgate magnetometer, a GPS, and a Real Time Clock (RTC) module. The device is compact and lightweight to be assembled on aerial and marine drones. Recently, Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) gained great potential for archaeo-geophysics because of their versatility and low cost, therefore the magnetometer represents a very us…

MODELLO IDROGEOLOGICO DEL CORPO IDRICO “FIUMARA DI CARONIA” (SICILIA SETTENTRIONALE)

L’Osservatorio delle acque del Dipartimento dell’Acqua e dei Rifiuti (DAR) della Regione Siciliana e l’Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia - Sezione di Palermo hanno attivato un accordo di collaborazione che prevede l’effettuazione di attività finalizzate alla redazione del “Piano di gestione delle Acque” della Regione Siciliana per numerosi bacini idrogeologici del territorio siciliano attraverso la definizione di modelli concettuali da sviluppare, previo approfondimento del quadro conoscitivo esistente, con l’effettuazione di indagini geologiche, idrogeologiche, geofisiche, idrogeochimiche ed isotopiche. In questo contesto, è stato analizzato il corpo idrico sotterraneo della f…

A multidisciplinary non-invasive approach in geoarchaeology conducted on the archaeological area of Selinunte

Southwestern Sicily is an area of infrequent seismic activity. Only an earthquake occurred in the Belice valley on 13 January 1968 is reported in the historic earthquake catalogues (see e.g. [1]) as severe event, that is characterized by moderate-high energy (M=6.5) and significant epicentral and local macroseismic intensities (Io=X and I=VII-VIII of the MCS scale). Nevertheless, some studies (e.g. [2]) suggest that probably at least two earthquakes struck this area, between the fourth century B.C. and the early Middle Ages, with energy able to damage and produce collapse in some temples of Selinunte. In this framework, we propose the use of non-invasive approaches in geoarchaeology for det…

GPR investigations at San Nicolò Church: a case-study from the 1669 eruption in the old settlement of Misterbianco (Etna, Sicily)

Misterbianco, located on the southern slope of Mt. Etna (eastern Sicily), was destroyed in the past by two catastrophic events that raised the old town to the ground. The first was the great eruption of 1669, whose lava front buried dozens of villages encountered along its path, entirely destroying the architectural heritage of Etna's southern flank. The second event was the disastrous 1693 Val di Noto earthquake, which caused major destruction throughout south-eastern Sicily, also damaging the few still standing buildings in the town. The GPR survey performed at this site, 350 years after the eruption, allowed a first attempt of planimetric reconstruction of the San Nicolo Church. Starting…

Multidisciplinary investigations at the Kamarina archaeological site (southern Sicily, Italy)

Multidisciplinary geophysical investigations have been carried out in a small area of the Greek archaeological site of Kamarina, in southern Sicily, in order to support some hypotheses, derived from historical and archaeological bases. After an aerial photographic and thermographic survey, a small area near to the Agora has been considered for magnetometric and GPR investigations. Obtained results show a good correlation and allow to highlight some structures oriented in agreement with the uncovered remains. The use of integrated geophysical techniques allowed a more robust interpretation of the detected anomalies in order to better address the choices for new excavations.