INSIEME project

Summary

INSIEME: INduced Seismicity in Italy: Estimation, Monitoring, and sEismic risk mitigation
It has long been known that some human activities are capable of inducing seismicity. The magnitude 6.3, 1967 earthquake occurred in the Koyna-Warna Region in India following the impoundment of a large water reservoir, is the most emblematic case. Other human activities may be responsible for inducing seismicity such as the mining activity, enhanced geothermal systems, the injection/withdrawal of fluids into/from the ground associated with the gas storage, the CO2 sequestration, the exploitation of oil, etc. To date hundreds of worldwide cases of human-induced seismicity have been reported in literature, but this topic is almost unknown in Italy.Even if the basic mechanisms that can induce seismic events related to human activities are presently well understood, models to predict the size and location of earthquakes in response to human perturbations are compromised in large part due to the lack of basic data on the interactions among rock, faults, and fluid as a complex system. Therefore, human-induced seismicity is a pioneering research topic and it represents an open matter of debate within the scientific community, due to the strong social impact and its implications for seismic hazard and risk.Our project is aimed to study the induced seismicity phenomena through the monitoring and modelling of different physical, mechanical and geological parameters involved in the process, as a consequence of perturbations caused by the human activity related to some energy technologies. The research might provide the scientific community with new data to clarify the links among such parameters and the size and location of seismic events. The knowledge of natural and induced seismicity can improve seismic hazard assessment and risk mitigation of the country. The following Italian test sites characterised by different structural-geological setting and human activities are selected for this research project:- the Agri Valley area (Basilicata Region), site of important human activities such as the Eni S.p.A. oil and gas production field and the presence of the Pertusillo water reservoir;- the Collalto area, in the municipality of Susegana (Veneto Region), site exploited by Edison Stoccaggio S.p.A. for the storage of the natural gas.For a deeper understanding of seismicity induced by these sizeable human activities, a dense temporary seismic network with two multi-parametric boreholes and surface seismic stations will be installed in Agri Valley area, and continuous data recoded since November 2008 by a dense network of 10 seismic stations and one permanent GNSS geodetic station in Collalto will be analysed.The recordings of seismic events with dense and technologically advanced seismic networks will be used to compute 3D and 4D (spatial and temporal variation) high-resolution velocity models and to produce multi-parametric models through the integration with electromagnetic methods.The accurate re-locations in 3D/4D velocity models of a large number of small-to-moderate magnitude earthquakes (hopefully with a negative magnitude of completeness), together with geological and geophysical investigations, will provide a powerful tool for:1. defining the detailed geometry of faults in the investigated areas;2. tracking the small-scale variability of faulting style, stress and strength;3. studying seismic source processes and clustering and the space-time evolution of the seismicity;4. understanding interactions among rock, faults, and fluids as a complex system.New statistical methods will be applied to better understand the correlation between the induced seismicity and human activities and to recognize any pattern that can discriminate it from the natural seismicity.The accurate knowledge and characterization of the seismic hazard due to natural and induced seismicity combined with the built environment vulnerability allows for more suitable seismic risk estimation.

Start date: September 23, 2015

End date: March 23, 2019

SIR-MIUR link: http://sir.miur.it/index.php/finanziati/index

Related papers

Conferences presentations

International

Stabile, T. A., Serlenga, V., Vlcek, J., Wcisło, M., Panebianco, S., Satriano, C., Bellanova, J., Gallipoli, M .R., Tragni, N. “New insights into the natural and anthropogenic seismicity of the High Agri Valley (southern Italy) from data collected by the INSIEME seismic network”, 100th AGU Fall Meeting, Abstract N. S23E-0688, San Francisco, California, USA, 2019, December 9-13 (poster) – PRESENTER

Telesca, L., Stabile, T. A. “Analysis of the relationship between fluid injection and triggered seismicity in southern Italy by using decompositional and spectral methods”, 2nd International Electronic Conference on Geosciences (IECG 2019), 2019, June 08-15 (online), doi: 10.3390/IECG2019-06224

Stabile, T. A. “The High Agri Valley Geophysical Observatory: state of the art and future perspectives”, EMSEV 2018 International Workshop, Special Session on Research activities in Agri Valley, Potenza, Italy, 2018, September 17-21 (oral presentation) – INVITED SPEAKER

Stabile, T. A., Satriano, C., Romanelli, M., Gueguen, E., Serlenga, V., Bellanova, J., Gallipoli, M. R., Priolo, E., Ripepi, E., Saurel, J.-M. “The INSIEME Network: a broadband seismic network to study the induced seismicity in the High Agri Valley (southern Italy)”, ESC-2018 36th General Assembly, Session 1, ESC2018-S1-925, La Valletta, Malta, 2018, September 2-7, ISBN: 978- 88-98161-12-6 (oral presentation) – SPEAKER

Serlenga, V., Balasco, M., Lapenna, V., Romano, G., Siniscalchi, A., Stabile, T. A. “Towards a joint interpretation of Vp, Vp/Vs and resistivity models of the High Agri Valley (southern Italy)”, ESC-2018 36th General Assembly, Session 13, ESC2018-S13-911, La Valletta, Malta, 2018, September 2-7, ISBN: 978-88-98161-12-6 (oral presentation)

Wcislo, M., Stabile, T. A., Telesca, L., Eisner, L. “Analysis of attenuation and Vp/Vs variation in the vicinity of Costa Molina (southern Italy) wastewater injection well”, ESC-2018 36th General Assembly, Session 32, ESC2018-S32-550, La Valletta, Malta, 2018, September 2-7, ISBN: 978-88-98161-12-6 (oral presentation)

Vlcek, J., Eisner, L. Stabile, T. A., Telesca, L. “Temporal relationship between injection rates and induced seismicity”, ESC-2018 36th General Assembly, Session 32, ESC2018-S32-730, La Valletta, Malta, 2018, September 2-7, ISBN: 978-88-98161-12-6 (poster) – PRESENTER

Telesca, L., Stabile, T. A. “Investigating the relationship between fluid injection and triggered seismicity in southern Italy”, METMA IX, 9th Workshop on Spatio-temporal data modeling, pp. 114-118, Montpellier, France, 2018, June 13-15 (poster)

Stabile, T. A., Satriano, C., Romanelli, M., Gueguen, E., Serlenga, V., Bellanova, J., Gallipoli, M. R., Priolo, E., Ripepi, E., Saurel, J.-M. “Induced seismicity in the High Agri Valley (southern Italy): first observations from the INSIEME seismic network”, 2018 SSA-LACSC Meeting, Session “Observed Characteristics of Induced Seismicity: From Laboratory to Field Scale”, Seismological Research Letters 89(2B), pp. 860, Miami, Florida, USA, 2018, May 14-17, ISSN 1938-2057 (oral presentation) – SPEAKER

Serlenga, V., Stabile, T. A. “Does the integration of two different datasets affect tomographic images and earthquake location? The case study of the High Agri Valley (southern Italy)”, 2018 SSA-LACSC Meeting, Session “3D/4D Seismic Imaging and Their Interpretation for Seismic Hazard Assessment”, Seismological Research Letters 89(2B), pp. 784, Miami, Florida, USA, 2018, May 14-17, ISSN 1938-2057 (oral presentation)

Balasco, M., Romano, G., Siniscalchi, A., Stabile, T. A. “Magnetotelluric investigation across the Agri Valley: preliminary results”, Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol. 19, EGU2017- 16088, 2017 EGU General Assembly, Wien, Austria, 2017, April 23-28, ISSN 1607-7962 (poster)

Stabile, T. A., and the INSIEME Team “The SIR-MIUR project INSIEME: preliminary results of the first year of activities”, ESC-2016 35th General Assembly, Session 12, ESC2016-414, Trieste, Italy, 2016, September 4-10 (oral presentation) – SPEAKER

National

Stabile, T. A. “Sismicità indotta da attività antropiche: inquadramento globale e focus sulla Val d’Agri”, convegno itinerante Geo_Matera 2019, Melfi-Potenza-Matera, Italy, 2019, June 12-14 (oral presentation) – INVITED SPEAKER

Stabile, T. A. “Natural and induced seismicity in the High Agri Valley”, Workshop on Seismicity in the Val d’Agri area, Università degli studi della Basilicata, Potenza, Italy, 2018, December 6 (oral presentation) – INVITED SPEAKER

Stabile, T. A., and the INSIEME Team (2016). “Overview of the seismic network installed in the High Agri Valley in the framework of the INSIEME project”, Workshop su “Metodi e tecnologie innovative per la mitigazione del Rischio Sismico”, sala conferenze dell’area di ricerca di Potenza del CNR, C.da Santa Loja, Zona Industriale, Tito Scalo (PZ), Italy, 2016, October 18 (oral presentation) – SPEAKER

Stabile, T. A. “Reiniezione delle acque di strato al pozzo Costa Molina 2 e sismicità indotta”, Workshop su L’impatto ambientale della reiniezione dei fluidi nel sottosuolo: il ruolo delle metodologie geochimiche e geofisiche, Fondazione Osservatorio Ambientale Regionale, Marsico Nuovo (PZ), Italia, 2016, March 01 (oral presentation) – SPEAKER

Stabile, T. A. “Sismicita naturale ed indotta in Alta Val d’Agri ed il progetto SIR INSIEME”, Workshop su “Studi e ricerche sul rischio sismico naturale ed antropico in Val d’Agri”, Universita della Basilicata, Potenza, Italia, 2015, November 12 (oral presentation) – INVITED SPEAKER

The INSIEME seismic network