0000000001204959
AUTHOR
Marco Vattano
showing 74 related works from this author
Hypogenic caves in Sicily: a preliminary study of morphological and depositional features
2012
The Complex of tectonic caves of the Vallone di Margi Paolino (Valle Grovello) area - Sant'Angelo Muxaro (AG).
2010
Evoluzione geomorfologica della Sicilia occidentale
2014
Geomorphological and speleological aspects of the Vallone Ponte-Grotte d'Acqua karst system (Sant'Angelo Muxaro - AG)
2009
New insights on the Carburangeli Cave speleogenesis: a flank margin cave in Northern Sicily (Italy)
2022
Flank margin caves form in coastal regions by mixing dissolution. Their development is controlled by the position of the freshsalt water mixing boundary, which in turn, is related to sea-level position. They are characterized by a typical cave pattern and cave-wall morphologies and represent good indicators of past sea levels. This contribution shows the results of recent studies conducted in the Carburangeli Cave, a small sub-horizontal cavity developed in Northern Sicily, close to Palermo. This cave was firstly known for paleontological and archaeological findings and for these reasons, along with its speleological and biological interest, a Nature Reserve has been instituted by the Sicil…
New insights on secondary minerals from Italian sulfuric acid caves
2018
Sulfuric acid minerals are important clues to identify the speleogenetic phases of hypogene caves. Italy hosts ~25% of the known worldwide sulfuric acid speleogenetic (SAS) systems, including the famous well-studied Frasassi, Monte Cucco, and Acquasanta Terme caves. Nevertheless, other underground environments have been analyzed, and interesting mineralogical assemblages were found associated with peculiar geomorphological features such as cupolas, replacement pockets, feeders, sulfuric notches, and sub-horizontal levels. In this paper, we focused on 15 cave systems located along the Apennine Chain, in Apulia, in Sicily, and in Sardinia, where copious SAS minerals were observed. Some of the…
Gypsum karst systems of southern-central Sicily (southern Italy) as powerful markers in geomorphological studies
2011
Deep-seated gravitational slope deformations in western Sicily: Controlling factors, triggering mechanisms, and morphoevolutionary models
2014
Abstract A study of deep-seated gravitational slope deformation (DSGSD) phenomena affecting areas of various geological and geomorphological settings in western Sicily is described. Western Sicily is underlain by a thin-skinned imbricate wedge of Meso–Cenozoic carbonate and siliciclastic rocks that formed by the stacking of several thrust nappes over the Iblean foreland. Locally, the original thrust sheets are folded and cut by high-angle faults. Large areas of western Sicily now display high relief energy due to Plio-Pleistocene block-faulting and uplifting, and the Quaternary morphogenetic phases are characterised by incision, thereby triggering widespread DSGSDs. To identify controlling …
Examples of anthropogenic sinkholes in Sicily and comparison with similar phenomena in southern Italy
2013
A sinkhole, occurred in June 2011 and related to an underground quarry in the eastern sector of Marsala, is described in this paper as a case study (Figure 2). The site was selected for the availability of topographic data of the underground quarry, prior to the formation of the Abstract Anthropogenic sinkholes affect several built-up areas of Sicily (southern Italy) representing a great risk to people, buildings, and infrastructures. These phenomena are generally associated with the presence of ancient underground quarries for the extraction of calcarenite rock, used for building or ornamental materials. These quarries were poorly constructed and abandoned throughout history.
The "Paleorisorgenza" of the Monte Conca gypsum karst system (south-central Sicily)
2010
The great polje-like depressions in Sicily
2009
A three-dimensional back-analysis of the collapse of an underground cavity in soft rocks
2017
Abstract The assessment of stability of man-made underground caves, excavated in the past and later on abandoned, represents a serious challenge for land and urban planning operations, especially for the areas of possible interaction of the caves with overlying structures and infrastructures. Several areas of Southern Italy are characterized by the presence of abandoned underground quarries for the extraction of soft calcarenite rocks, which now threatens the overlying environment due to the risk of collapse and the consequent generation of sinkholes. This work presents a back-analysis of a sinkhole occurred in 2011 in the town of Marsala, caused by the collapse of an underground quarry, as…
Secondary minerals from salt caves in the Atacama Desert (Chile): a hyperarid and hypersaline environment with potential analogies to the Martian sub…
2017
Over the past 15 years several expeditions by French, American and especially Italian cavers have unveiled over 50 caves in the Cordillera de la Sal (Atacama Desert, Northern Chile). Many of these caves contain a variety of speleothems and minerals, some of which have rarely been observed within karst systems. Most of the secondary deposits in these caves are composed of halite, but also other halide, carbonate, sulphate, nitrate, phosphate, and silicate minerals have been found. Among the sixteen cave mineral species recognized, atacamite, darapskite, blödite, leonite, anhydrite, and especially antarcticite are worth mentioning. In one of the samples an unknown Ca-Sr-bearing chloride miner…
Il qanat di Villa Riso (Palermo, Sicilia)
2020
Durante i lavori di ristrutturazione del complesso edilizio di Villa Riso, villa storica ubicata nell’area della Piana dei Colli (Palermo), sono state applicate tecniche di prospezione georadar e di ispezione diretta che hanno permesso di rinvenire un cunicolo drenante di tipo qanat nel sottosuolo della corte antistante la villa. La presenza di cunicoli drenanti al di sotto di antiche ville è frequente in questo settore della città di Palermo, ma la possibilità di accedervi diventa sempre più difficoltosa, a causa del loro cattivo stato di conservazione. Il qanat di Villa Riso presenta la classica struttura dei qanat della Piana dei Colli, dai quali, tuttavia, si differenzia per la presenza…
The Cozzo Disi mine (Casteltermini, Sicily, Italy) a multi-disciplinary approach to record, study, preserve and develop the mining heritage in Sicily
2015
Cozzo Disi was one of the main sulphur mines in Italy, but after the closure and more than 10 years of desertion, urgent works are now necessary to save it from vandalism and flooding. This big mine contains geological and mineralogical peculiarities, so uncommon to be sometimes unique: this is the case of the “Grandi Garbere” at 3rd level, majestic karst cavities, containing magnificent selenite crystals documented by old miners. The possibility to have a “Sicilian Naica” attracted a multi-disciplinary underground task-force, now exploring the mine underground, in order to inspect old works and their good-safety conditions, and to achieve the rooms/caves of “Grandi Garbere”. This extraordi…
First report on the sinkhole phenomena in the Sicilian evaporites (Southern Italy)
2009
Caves in the Belmonte Mezzagno area (North-West Sicily)
2010
Geomorphological aspects of Monte Conca karst system (Caltanissetta, Sicily)
2004
An Overview of the Hypogene Caves of Sicily
2017
Karst in Sicily develops in both Messinian gypsum and Mesozoic or Tertiary limestone rocks. Caves are also found in the basalts of Mount Etna. Except for some rare cases, until recently most caves developed in limestone were considered to be of epigenetic origin. The discovery of gypsum in some of these caves, and especially detailed morphological studies, have allowed defining a hypogenic origin for a dozen of caves up to now. In some of these, the hypogenic evidences are very clear, while others remain in doubt because of the widespread presence of well-developed condensation-corrosion morphologies not necessarily related to hydrothermal fluids. This paper reports the present knowledge of…
Il sistema carsico di Monte Conca
2014
Geomorphology and speleogenesis of the Vallone Ponte-Grotte d'Acqua karst system (Sant'Angelo Muxaro - Southern Sicily
2010
Analisi numerica dei processi di instabilità in cave sotterranee a Marsala (Sicilia occidentale)
2014
La presenza di estesi sistemi caveali in sotterraneo, utilizzati nel secolo scorso per l’estrazione di materiale da costruzione in diversi contesti del territorio italiano, di frequente determina situazioni di pericolo per l’ambiente antropizzato, a causa dello sviluppo di processi di instabilità, che possono propagarsi verso l’alto, sino a raggiungere la superficie. Specialmente nei casi in cui la memoria storica della presenza ed estensione delle cave sotterranee è andata persa, lo sviluppo urbanistico dei centri abitati nel corso degli ultimi decenni può avere determinato la realizzazione di abitazioni ed infrastrutture al di sopra, o nelle immediate vicinanze, di zone interessate da com…
Aspetti geologici e geomorflogici dell'area di Pizzo Chiarastella (Sicilia settentrionale)
2004
Morphometric analysis of dolines in the Carbonara Massif (Madonie Mountains - Northern Central Sicily).
2009
Gypsum caves in Sicily (Italy)
2005
Primo contributo sui depositi argillosi a terra rossa dell'Abisso del Vento, Isnello (PA).
2004
Caves in the Belmonte Mezzagno area (PA).
2009
KARST OF SICILY AND ITS CONSERVATION
2012
Inside The Glaciers Project: Laser Scanning Of The Grotta Del Gelo (Mount Etna, Italy)
2017
As part of activities of the “Inside the Glaciers” project, managed by an Italian team of speleologists and geologists with the purpose of studying several ice-caves in Europe and South America, a research campaign was recently carried out in Mount Etna (Sicily, Italy). This volcano is the highest active in Europe and hosts more than 200 caves including Grotta del Gelo (Ice Cave) which is located on the Northern flank of Mount Etna at an altitude of about 2040 m a.s.l. This cave was formed during the Etna’s long and most destructive eruption dated from 1614 to 1624 and is one of the most famous because it hosts a small glacier, maybe the southernmost of the Northern hemisphere. Aim of this …
Evaporite karst in Italy: A review
2017
none 16 si Although outcropping rarely in Italy, evaporite (gypsum and anhydrite) karst has been described in detail since the early 20th century. Gypsum caves are now known from almost all Italian regions, but are mainly localised along the northern border of the Apennine chain (Emilia Romagna and Marche), Calabria, and Sicily, where the major outcrops occur. Recently, important caves have also been discovered in the underground gypsum mines in Piedmont. During the late 80s and 90s several multidisciplinary studies were carried out in many gypsum areas, resulting in a comprehensive overview, promoting further research in these special karst regions. More recent and detailed studies focused…
Relazioni tra grotte nei gessi e forme del rilievo di superficie: un modello morfoevolutivo di un'area carsica della Sicilia centro-meridionale
2008
Evaporites in Sicily: geological and karst features
2012
L’ultimo sprofondamento a Marsala: l’evento del 21 novembre 2013
2015
The Marsala area, at the western end of Sicily, has been historically interested by quarry activities, both at surface and underground. The carved rocks are Lower Pleistocene calcarenites, defined as “Calcarenite di Marsala” and referred to the Marsala syntheme. The subterranean quarries, now abandoned, show increasing instability signs becoming in time a risk factor for several causes, among which: a) breakdowns due to poor (weak) strength of rock and to large size of voids; b) progressive weathering of rock; c) effects of the discontinuities in the rock mass with the pillars and/or walls of the underground quarries. These factors contributed to enlargement of the subterranean voids and to…
1. Inquadramento geologico e geomorfologico
2021
Vengono descritti i caratteri geologici e geomorfologici del territorio comunale di Contessa Entellina (PA), i cui risultati sono sintetizzati in una carta geologica, una carta geomorfologica e una carta litologica.
La Grotta dei Personaggi di Montevago (AG), una nuova segnalazione di cavità ipogenica in Sicilia
2015
La Grotta dei Personaggi è localizzata in Sicilia occidentale, nei pressi di Monte Magaggiaro, a S del centro abitato di Montevago (AG). Nell’area sono presenti sorgenti termali, caratterizzate da acque cloro-solfate alcalino-terrose con temperatura di circa 40 °C e pH 7. La Grotta dei Personaggi, conosciuta già dai primi anni del 1900 e nota anche per ritrovamenti archeologici, non era mai stata dettagliatamente rilevata e studiata. La cavità si sviluppa prevalentemente in calcari di piattaforma della formazione Inici (Giurassico inf.) e in calcari di scarpata e pelagici della formazione Buccheri (Giurassico inf.-sup.). Si tratta di una cavità sub-orizzontale che presenta uno sviluppo di c…
I fenomeni carsici in Sicilia
2008
The Coastal Sulfuric Acid Cave System of Santa Cesarea Terme (Southern Italy)
2017
Santa Cesarea Terme in Salento is the only area in which hypogenic caves have been recognized in the Apulia region. In this spa area, the rising of sulfidic thermal waters that mix with both recent fresh infiltration waters and coastal salt water has formed four active sulfuric acid speleogenesis (SAS) caves. These caves are characterized by the typical set of sulfuric acid meso- and micromorphologies, and also by the presence of both gypsum and native sulfur. In all caves, biofilms are visible in the sulfidic thermal waters and on the cave walls.
I. 1. Inquadramento geologico
2015
Vengono illustrati brevemente i caratteri geologici e geomorfologici della Sicilia occidentale e analizzate le relazioni tra antichi insediamenti e geologia.
New Knowledge on the Monte Conca gypsum karst system (Central-Western Sicily).
2009
New knowledge on the Monte Conca gypsum karst system (Central-western Sicily, Italy)
2011
The Monte Conca karst system is located in Central-Western Sicily, where Messinian evaporites are widespread. Here, the evaporites lie on lower Messinian-middle Serravallian clayey-marly-sandy deposits and are overlain locally by Pliocene marly limestones. These successions are affected by E-W, and to a lesser degree N-S and NW-SE, high-angle faults that have also produced lateral contacts between the gypsum units and the clayey-marly deposits. The cave passages reachaltogether about 2.4 km in lengthand 130 m in depth, and the system consists of a sink cave, a resurgence and a relict resurgence. At large scale it is characterized by superimposed levels of sub-horizontal galleries connected …
Secondary Minerals From Italian Sulfuric Acid Caves
2017
Italy is a country hosting a large number of hypogenic sulfuric acid (SAS) speleogenesis caves, mostly located along the Apennine chain, but also in Campania (along the coastline of Capo Palinuro), Apulia (along the coastline of Santa Cesarea Terme) and Sicily. Besides the typical morphologies related to their special geochemical origin (cupolas, replacement pockets, bubble trails, etc), these caves often host abundant secondary mineral deposits, mainly gypsum, being the result of the interaction between the sulfuric acid and the carbonate host rock. Native sulfur deposits are also well visible on the ceiling and roof, and peculiar sulfuric acid minerals such as jarosite, alunite, and other…
KARST LANDSCAPES IN SICILY (SOUTHERN ITALY), WITH EXAMPLES OF SUSTAINABLE EXPLOITATION
2010
Study of anthropogenic sinkholes in the Marsala area (western Sicily) through numerical analyses of instability processes in underground quarries
2011
Analisi numerica dei processi di instabilità in cave sotterranee
2014
La presenza di estesi sistemi caveali in sotterraneo, utilizzati nel secolo scorso per l’estrazione di materiale da costruzione in diversi contesti del territorio italiano, di frequente determina situazioni di pericolo per l’ambiente antropizzato, a causa dello sviluppo di processi di instabilità, che possono propagarsi verso l’alto, sino a raggiungere la superficie. Specialmente nei casi in cui la memoria storica della presenza ed estensione delle cave sotterranee è andata persa, lo sviluppo urbanistico dei centri abitati nel corso degli ultimi decenni può avere determinato la realizzazione di abitazioni ed infrastrutture al di sopra, o nelle immediate vicinanze, di zone interessate da com…
L'impact méconnu des chauves-souris et du guano dans l'évolution morphologique tardive des cavernes
2016
The little known impact of bats and bat guano in the late stages of cave morphogenesis. Bats are considered as symbolic caves inhabitants. The colonies, sometimes huge, may occupy caves through long periods. Large guano deposits were accumulated. Some have been mined for phosphates, either by hand or at the industrial scale. Bats impact is triple: breathing releases CO2, urine is corrosive, and guano mineralization releases acids (carbonic, nitric, sulfuric, and phosphoric). Such aggressive compounds have an effect on carbonate rock and flowstones, either by direct ground corrosion at the contact of the guano, or by condensation-corrosion on walls and ceilings. The speleogenetic impact of t…
La Grotta di Carburangeli – ricostruzione climatica dell’Olocene per la piana costiera della Sicilia nord-occidentale
2005
Detection of Quaternary tectonic deformations through quantitative morphotectonic analysis in a drainage basin of northern Sicily (Italy)
2012
Sulfuric acid water table caves (Grotte du Chat / Acqua Fitusa /Bad Deutsch Altenburg + Kraushöhle).
2014
Sulfuric acid caves can display a variety of forms, from 3D maze systems, to isolated chambers, and more or less maze-like water table caves. Most of the voids are normally generated at or immediately above the water table, where condensation-corrosion processes are dominant, creating a set of characteristic meso- and micromorphologies. This paper deals with the description of four very typical sulfuric acid water table caves: the Grotte du Chat in Provence (France), the Acqua Fitusa Cave in Sicily (Italy), and the Bad Deutsch Altenburg and Kraushöhle caves in Austria.
DETECTION OF PLIO-QUATERNARY FAULTS IN MADONIE MOUNTAINS (SICILY) BY USING QUANTITATIVE GEOMORPHIC AND STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY ANALYSES
2011
The Northern Madonie Mountains (Northern-Central Sicily), sector of the Sicilian Maghrebian chain, consist of a tectonic thrust system developed through two subsequent main contractional events: 1) a shallow-seated compressional event developed during the Middle-Upper Miocene; 2) a deep-seated transpressional event occuring since the Late Miocene. Lower Pliocene (Trubi) to Quaternary clastic deposits unconformably lie on the tectonic units and are partially involved by deformation. In the selected area, syntectonic sedimentary basins characters are able to define the timing of deformation only until the Lower Pliocene; to resolve this gap of information application of quantitative geomorphi…
Sprofondamenti di origine antropica nell'area di Marsala (Sicilia occidentale) analizzati mediante rilievi in sito e analisi numerica dei processi di…
2013
Gypsum karst caves versus surface landforms to define a morphoevolutive model in Central Southern Sicily (Southern Italy)
2005
Il sistema carsico Vallone Ponte - Grotte d'Acqua
2012
Anthropogenic sinkholes in central-south Sicily
2013
Meccanismi di innesco dei fenomeni di espandimento laterale nei rilievi montuosi della Sicilia occidentale: i casi di Monte Speziale e Rocca Busambra
2011
Tlàloc 2012: il sistema e le ultime giunzioni
2013
EXPLORATIONS AND DOCUMENTATION ON THE ATEPETACO KARST SYSTEM (HUEYTAMALCO, PUEBLA, MEXICO)
2013
Primi risultati su alcune grotte ipogeniche della Sicilia
2012
Vengono presentati i risultati preliminari di uno studio condotto su alcune grotte ipogeniche della Sicilia, ritenute fino a questo momento di natura epigenica: il sistema carsico di Monte Inici e la Grotta dell’Acqua Fitusa. Il primo sistema è localizzato nella Sicilia nordoccidentale lungo il versante sudorientale di Monte Inici. È costituito da due cavità, la Grotta dell’Eremita e l’Abisso dei Cocci, che si sviluppano in calcari e calcari dolomitici della Fm. Inici (Giura inf.) e in calcari ad ammoniti della Fm. Buccheri (Giura medio-sup.). Si tratta di sistemi tridimensionali freatici che raggiungono una lunghezza di oltre 2km e una profondità superiore a 300m. Sono caratterizzati da di…
Recenti indagini sul sistema carsico di Sant’Angelo Muxaro (Sicilia Centrale)
2015
Il sistema carsico di Sant’Angelo Muxaro si sviluppa in corrispondenza del rilievo gessoso su cui sorge l’abitato omonimo, nel centro Sicilia, in provincia di Agrigento. Tale sistema è costituito da due inghiottitoi attivi (Grotta di Sant’Angelo Muxaro o localmente Grotta Ciavuli e Inghiottitoio Infantino), che si aprono al termine di due valli cieche alla base del versante meridionale del rilievo, e da una risorgenza attiva, ubicata alle pendici del versante nord-occidentale dello stesso rilievo. Le prime esplorazioni speleologiche e l’attività di ricerca in questo sistema nei gessi messiniani della Sicilia, escludendo le segnalazioni del geografo Olinto Marinelli, sono cominciate tra la f…
Aspetti geologici e geomorfologici dell'area di Pizzo Chiarastella (Sicilia settentrionale)
2007
Geomorphological evolution of western Sicily, Italy
2017
Abstract This paper proposes a morphoevolutionary model for western Sicily. Sicily is a chain–foredeep–foreland system still being built, with tectonic activity involving uplift which tends to create new relief. To reconstruct the morphoevolutionary model, geological, and geomorphological studies were done on the basis of field survey and aerial photographic interpretation. The collected data show large areas characterized by specific geological, geomorphological, and topographical settings with rocks, landforms, and landscapes progressively older from south to north Sicily. The achieved results display: (1) gradual emersion of new areas due to uplift, its interaction with the Quaternary gl…
Carta geologica d'italia alla scala 1:50.000 e note illustrative del foglio 595_Palermo
2013
The Map Sheet 1:50.000 595 ”Palermo” includes marine and land areas of the topographic map sheet “Palermo”. The map sheet “Palermo” (Palermo Province) covers a part of the Sicily Fold and Thrust Belt (FTB) which has developed along the plate boundary between Africa and Europe in the Central Mediterranean. The Sicily FTB links the African Maghrebide to the Calabrian arc and Southern Apennines. The FTB and its submerged western and northern extensions are part- ly located between the Sardinia block and the Pelagian-Ionian sector, and partly beneath the central southern Tyrrhenian Sea. In this sector of the Mediterranean area, the main compressional move- ments, after the Paleogene Alpine orog…
The "Paleorisorgenza" of the Monte Conca karst system (Campofranco - CL)
2009
Peculiar wall channels connected to fault breccia in the Grotta di Entella gypsum cave (Western Sicily, Italy)
2010
Sulfuric acid speleogenesis (SAS) close to the water table: Examples from southern France, Austria, and Sicily
2016
Caves formed by rising sulfuric waters have been described from all over the world in a wide variety of climate settings, from arid regions to mid-latitude and alpine areas. H2S is generally formed at depth by reduction of sulfates in the presence of hydrocarbons and is transported in solution through the deep aquifers. In tectonically disturbed areas major fractures eventually allow these H2S-bearing fluids to rise to the surface where oxidation processes can become active producing sulfuric acid. This extremely strong acid reacts with the carbonate bedrock creating caves, some of which are among the largest and most spectacular in the world. Production of sulfuric acid mostly occurs at or…
Guano-related phosphate-rich minerals in European caves
2019
International audience; Guano is a typical deposit found in caves derived from the excretions of bats and in minor cases of birds. These organic deposits decompose and form a series of acid fluids and gases that can interact with the minerals, sediments, and rocks present in the cave. Over sixty phosphates are known and described from caves, but guano decay also often leads to the formation of nitrates and sulfates. In this study twenty-two European caves were investigated for their guano-related secondary minerals. Using various analytical techniques, seventeen phosphates, along with one sulfate (gypsum), were recognized as secondary products of guano decay. Among those minerals, some are …
ASPETTI GEOLOGICI, GEOMORFOLOGICI E ANTROPOLOGICI DE LA MONTAGNOLA (SAN GIOVANNI GEMINI, AGRIGENTO): PROPOSTA DI UN GEOSITO
2014
A review on hypogene caves in Italy
2014
Although hypogene cave systems have been described since the beginning of the 20th century, the importance in speleogenesis of ascending fluids that acquired their aggressiveness from in-depth sources has been fully realized only in the last decades. Aggressiveness of waters can be related to carbonic and sulfuric acids and the related corrosion-dissolution processes give rise to different types of caves and underground morphologies. The abundance of hydrothermal springs and associated travertine deposits, and the widespread interaction between volcanic or sub-volcanic phenomena and karst in many sectors of the Italian peninsula are a strong evidence of hypogene speleogenesis. Furthermore, …
Anthropogenic sinkholes in the Marsala area (western Sicily) linked to underground quarries
2012
Sulfuric Acid Caves of Italy: An Overview
2016
Zubbia Gapparrone
2012
Sulfuric acid caves of Italy: A review
2019
Abstract In Italy, especially along the Apennine Chain, numerous active and inactive sulfuric acid speleogenetic (SAS) caves have been documented in the last two decades. Here we present an overview of these peculiar hypogene systems, illustrating their main geomorphological and mineralogical features, and the microbial signatures observed in the active underground environment. SAS caves are widely distributed in the northern and central Apennines, whereas they are less abundant in the southern Apennines, in the Apulian foreland, in Sicily and in Sardinia. Their location is significantly influenced by lithological and structural rock properties, as they occur in carbonate areas where acidic…
Secondary minerals from halite caves in the Atacama Desert (Chile)
2017
In the past 15 years several expeditions by French, American and especially Italian cavers have surveyed over 15 km of salt cave passages in the Cordillera de la Sal, close to San Pedro de Atacama village (Atacama Desert, Northern Chile). Over 50 caves have been explored up to now at an elevation around 2,500 m asl. These karst systems are characterized by in-cave temperature of around 17 °C and a relative humidity always very low, with a maximum of 15%. This extreme aridity is due to the severe conditions of the area with only a couple millimeters annual rainfall and several years without rain. Currently the rare precipitation events are enough to allow the dissolution of the salt rock and…
Cluster analysis for cavity detection using seismic refraction and electrical resistivity tomography
2017
Geophysical methods (in particular ERT technique) constitute an excellent tool for the detection of buried cavities. However the integration approach of e different geophysical methods could minimize the ambiguity of geophysical interpretation of the buried cavity. The technique of electrical tomography has been joined to the technique of seismic refraction tomography in order to obtain more robust interpretations. Many tests have been carried out using synthetic data and experimental ones. It was finally used a statistical approach based on cluster analysis of the P-wave velocity, the density of the seismic rays and the electrical resistivity of the synthetic and experimental models. Distr…