There are many teams of researchers, technologists and technicians of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) - offices in Rome, Ancona, Grottaminarda, Bologna, Pisa and Milan, which since the first hours after the 6.0 magnitude earthquake of the night of August 24 in central Italy they went to the epicentral area to study what was happening more closely. The goal is to intervene as soon as possible to:
- To study the distribution of aftershocks that occurred after the mainshock in order to delineate the characteristics of the faults. In the following hours and days, other faults are activated. Seismicity begins to affect a larger crustal volume and it becomes increasingly difficult to identify which fault is responsible for the earthquake.
- Carry out geodetic, geological and geochemical surveys. Timely surveys are essential to better understand the deformations and effects on the ground directly linked to the main shock, and to discriminate between these and secondary phenomena (post-seismic deformation, landslides and detachments, etc.).
Up to now, the mobile seismic network has installed fifteen new stations in the area equipped with seismometers and accelerometers which, combined with the permanent seismic stations of the National Seismic Network (RSN), will allow better monitoring and study of the ongoing phenomenon.
Co-seismic fracture at the base of the fault plane on Monte Vettoretto.
Yesterday (August 27) two other seismic stations were installed in the southern sector, towards the Campotosto area in Abruzzo. Three further seismic stations were put into operation in the area of Montereale in the province of Rieti (photo below) by the group that studies "site" effects, i.e. how seismic waves are amplified by the local geological conformation.
The data acquired with these experiments are very important for understand the response of the various terrains to seismic stresses and are therefore useful for the seismic microzonation studiesnecessary for planning new buildings and for adapting existing ones. Additional tools are being installed to characterize other critical geological situations, such as the transition from a rock area to an alluvial basin and more.
Another valuable source of data for reconstructing the characteristics of faults and ground deformations comes from geodetic data. Some Ingv teams went to the site to carry out GPS (Global Positioning System) measurements of strongholds that had been measured in previous campaigns before the earthquake of 24 August. New GPS stations have been set up to map the post-seismic deformation: the slow one which always occurs after earthquakes of this type and which provides important indications for characterizing the faults and the earth's crust.
Finally, some teams of researchers and technicians of the Institute, in collaboration with the Department of Civil Protection (DPC), I've been at work for days for one detailed study of the damage detected on the buildings. Both these analyzes and those of the geologists will be the subject of future insights on the INGVterremoti Blog.