I'm a Geologist working as Researcher at INGV (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia) in Roma, Italy. My research interests encompass the study of active faults potential sources of damaging earthquakes, and the analysis of the effect induced by the tectonic activity on the landscape and geologic systems.
The identification and characterization of the seismogenic sources are the primary goals of my work, which is based on mapping and modeling of geologic and geomorphic markers used as indicators of the ongoing tectonism. Identification means to locate where tectonic activity is concentrated and describing the fault systems taking up the deformation, while characterization deals with the description of the geometrical and kinematical parameters of the active structures.
The outcome of most of my studies is the updating of the Database of Individual Seismogenic Sources (DISS; http://diss.rm.ingv.it/diss/), that is a compilation of potential sources for earthquakes larger than M 5.5 in Italy and surrounding areas. DISS is a geologic and tectonic based GIS database useful as input for different kind of seismic hazard calculations. The standards established within DISS for the definition and characterization of active faults and seismogenic sources was recently adopted at the continental scale by the European Project SHARE (http://www.share-eu.org/) that constitutes one of GEM's regional programmes (Global Earthquake Model).
The participation with a regional database of seismogenic sources such as DISS allows me to work in very diverse tectonic and geomorphic environments and use various approaches to unveil the active faults.
In Italy, tectonic activity is manifested with different style of faulting ranging from thrusting to normal and strike-slip, all of them occurring both on-land and off-shore as a consequence of the peculiar geographic and tectonic nature of the Italian peninsula that rests on the boundary between the slowly converging African and European plates.
The long history of interaction between the two plates, besides being the "engine" of the current earthquake activity, produced and is still governing the uplift of the Alps and Apennines mountain chains, that form most of the Italian territory. This has two practical consequences for earthquake geologists working in Italy: 1- most of the active faults are blind or hidden due to the strong inherited structural, geological and morphologic inprint left by previous tectonic phases that shaped the Italian landscape, and this is the rule even in the extensional and trascurrent regions where surface faulting would be more easily expected.; and 2- field evidence of the tectonic activity must be found in landscapes as various as the rugged crest of the Apennines or the almost perfectly flat alluvial Po Plain.
This observation pushes me as an earthquake geologist to use preferentially a multidisciplinary approach to detect the geologic and geomorphic signature of the seismogenic sources.
The long history of interaction between the two plates, besides being the "engine" of the current earthquake activity, produced and is still governing the uplift of the Alps and Apennines mountain chains, that form most of the Italian territory. This has two practical consequences for earthquake geologists working in Italy: 1- most of the active faults are blind or hidden due to the strong inherited structural, geological and morphologic inprint left by previous tectonic phases that shaped the Italian landscape, and this is the rule even in the extensional and trascurrent regions where surface faulting would be more easily expected.; and 2- field evidence of the tectonic activity must be found in landscapes as various as the rugged crest of the Apennines or the almost perfectly flat alluvial Po Plain.
This observation pushes me as an earthquake geologist to use preferentially a multidisciplinary approach to detect the geologic and geomorphic signature of the seismogenic sources.
I usually work making observation and gathering geologic and geomorphic data at the scale of the entire fault, i.e. km to tens of km, in order to capture the whole tectonic induced deformation. After the aquisition of the data, I run analytical fault dislocation models able to reproduce expected displacements, tilts and strains and returning the geometrical and kinematical parameters of the faults. My favourite markers are marine and river terraces and the drainage network, i.e. markers of known initial geometry and most sensitive to tectonic surface deformation.
I use remote sensing, numerical analyses of DEM and field work to map markers that potentially registered tectonic activity and to reconstruct the influence of the active faults on the landscape evolution. To constrain the rates of activity I use markers of known age or take samples for dating.
I also use analogue models to reproduce the evolution of the fault systems and discover how different boundary conditions may influence their final geometry.
Another very powerful tool that I use when dealing with blind faults is the reconstruction of 3D geological models, where data of different origin are integrated and structural modelling is performed.
My field areas are located either in compressional and extensional environments, from northern Italy to Sicily.
I use remote sensing, numerical analyses of DEM and field work to map markers that potentially registered tectonic activity and to reconstruct the influence of the active faults on the landscape evolution. To constrain the rates of activity I use markers of known age or take samples for dating.
I also use analogue models to reproduce the evolution of the fault systems and discover how different boundary conditions may influence their final geometry.
Another very powerful tool that I use when dealing with blind faults is the reconstruction of 3D geological models, where data of different origin are integrated and structural modelling is performed.
My field areas are located either in compressional and extensional environments, from northern Italy to Sicily.
See also Pierfrancesco web page (in Italian) on the INGV web portal.
