Engineering Geology 297 (2022) 106506

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Engineering Geology
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enggeo

New insights on bedrock morphology and local seismic amplification of the

Castelnuovo village (L’Aquila Basin, Central Italy)
Marco Spadi a, *, Marco Tallini a, Matteo Albano b, Domenico Cosentino c, Marco Nocentini d,
Michele Saroli e, b
a
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Edile-Architettura e Ambientale (DICEAA), Università degli Studi dell’Aquila, Via Giovanni Gronchi, 18, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy
b
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), via di Vigna Murata 605, 00143 Roma, Italy
c
Dipartimento di Scienze, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Largo San Leonardo Murialdo, 1, 00146 Roma, Italy
d
Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale - ISPRA, Via Vitaliano Brancati, 48, 00144, Roma, Italy
e
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile e Meccanica (DICeM), Università degli Studi di Cassino e del Lazio meridionale, via G. di Biasio 43, 03043 Cassino, Italy

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The Castelnuovo village is placed on a small NW-SE trending ridge, approximately 60 m higher than the valley
Castelnuovo hill floor, occupying a portion of the larger continental L’Aquila Basin (Central Italy). During the April 6, 2009
Deep boreholes L’Aquila earthquake (Mw 6.3), the village suffered heavy damage. Several studies investigated the local seismic
Microtremor measurements
amplification of the Castelnuovo area employing geotechnical, geophysical, and geological surveys, together
Resonant frequency
Impedance contrast
with 1D, 2D and 3D numerical models. However, all these studies relied on shallow geotechnical and geophysical
Geostatistical analysis surveys, which do not reach the engineering bedrock and do not constrain the presence of an impedance contrast
at depth. To date, no detailed study has been carried out to assess the depth of the engineering bedrock. In this
work, we fill this gap by executing two deep boreholes reaching the engineering bedrock, tied with an extensive
campaign of microtremor measurements all over the Castelnuovo ridge and the surrounding plain. The inter­
pretation of such new data, together with analytical, numerical, and geostatistical techniques, demonstrates that
local seismic amplification is linked to a strong impedance contrast at more than 200-m depth beneath the
Castelnuovo village associated with the lithological transition between clayey silts and breccias. Such results
differ from those provided by previous studies, where such impedance contrast was considered shallower, and
represent a milestone for assessing the local seismic hazard of the area.

1. Introduction 2013; Tallini et al., 2012, 2020).

The Italian Apennines (central Italy) are characterized by remarkable
seismicity and high seismic hazard, as testified by the moderate to strong
magnitude earthquakes that dramatically devastated the area in his­
torical and recent times (Chiarabba et al., 2005; Rovida et al., 2016;
Guidoboni et al., 2012). In this context, the amplitude and frequency
content of the seismic waves are modulated by sharp changes in stiffness
and thickness of soft sediments overlying the engineering bedrock
(stratigraphic effect), by morphological features, such as steep slopes
(topographic effects), by the lithological heterogeneity of the sedimen­
tary bodies, and by the presence of potential seismic instabilities, such as
active faults, liquefaction prone-sites, landslides, and underground
cavities (Amanti et al., 2020; Antonielli et al., 2020; Lai et al., 2020;
Lanzo et al., 2011b; Martelli et al., 2012; Saroli et al., 2014; Storti et al.,
Most of these features characterize the Castelnuovo area, located 20
km ESE of L’Aquila and placed within the tectonically active Paganica-S.
Demetrio-Castelnuovo Basin (PSC) Basin, the latter considered as part of
larger L’Aquila Basin (Giaccio et al., 2012; Nocentini et al., 2018)
(Fig. 1a). The area owes its name to the namesake village and represents
a peculiar case study due to the presence of stratigraphic, topographic
and morphological heterogeneities, and the presence of a network of
shallow cavities below the buildings. The Castelnuovo village rises on a
small NW-SE trending ridge with slopes up to 30 degrees, whose hilltop
(at approximately 860 m a.s.l.) stands of about 60 m with respect to the
surrounding plain (Fig. 1b). The village was heavily damaged during the
April 6, 2009, Mw 6.3 L’Aquila earthquake (MCS intensity: 9–10)
(Chiarabba et al., 2009) and by past earthquakes from XVI century till
now, e.g., the Mw 7.2 central-southern Apennines (1456) and the Mw 7.1

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: marco.spadi@univaq.it (M. Spadi).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2021.106506
Received 26 February 2021; Received in revised form 14 December 2021; Accepted 21 December 2021
Available online 27 December 2021
0013-7952/© 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
M. Spadi et al. Engineering Geology 297 (2022) 106506

Marsica earthquake (1915). The MCS intensity values estimated for each
of these seismic events was higher than eight, independently from
earthquake magnitude and epicentral distance (Galli et al., 2011; Rovida
et al., 2016).
Previous studies investigated the local seismic amplification of the
Castelnuovo area employing shallow geotechnical, geophysical, and
geological surveys, coupled with 1D, 2D and 3D numerical models. Such
studies provided different interpretations about the factors responsible
for the village’s heavy damage after the L’Aquila 2009 earthquake.
Ameri et al. (2011) exploited S-wave spectral amplitudes from 112

Fig. 1. a) Geo-lithological map of the Castelnuovo area, modified from Nocentini et al. (2018). The upper-right inset shows the Italian seismic hazard map, with peak
ground accelerations (g) with a 10% chance of being exceeded in 50 years (Meletti and Montaldo, 2007). The lower-left inset shows the stratigraphic scheme
illustrating the formations distribution around Castelnuovo village. Key to the legend: ALL = Alluvial deposits (Upper Pleistocene - Holocene). COL = Colluvial
deposits (Upper Pleistocene - Holocene). CON = Conglomerates deposits (Valle dell’Inferno and Valle Orsa formations) (Piacenzian-Gelasian). SI = Clayey silts (San
Nicandro Fm.) (Piacenzian-Gelasian). BR = Breccia deposits (Madonna della Neve and Valle Valiano formations) (Piacenzian-Gelasian). CB = Carbonate bedrock
(Meso-Cenozoic). 1 = Detail of the study area in Fig. 2. 2 = Inferred normal fault. 3 = Traces of cross-sections in Fig. 10. 4 = Buildings. b) 3D view of Castelnuovo
village from southeast.

2
M. Spadi et al.
aftershocks registered during the L’Aquila 2009 seismic sequence and
concluded that amplifications in the Castelnuovo village were due to
topographic effects. Lanzo et al. (2011a) carried out 1D and 2D dynamic
numerical simulations of the Castelnuovo hill and concluded that the
seismic response of the Castelnuovo hill appeared predominantly
affected by topographic amplification. Sica et al. (2014) investigated the
role exerted by underground cavities on the ground motion at the sur­
face of the Castelnuovo hill through 2D nonlinear numerical analyses.
They concluded that the presence of multiple shallow cavities had a non-
negligible effect on the local seismic amplification. Finally, Landolfi
(2013) and later Evangelista et al. (2016) performed a 3D dynamic
numerical model constructed by interpreting the 2D cross-sections of
Lanzo et al. (2011a) and declared that the topographic effects signifi­
cantly influenced the ground motion at the surface. In contrast, the role
of cavities seemed to be negligible.
All of these studies and the performed numerical models were cali­
brated interpreting shallow geotechnical surveys and geophysical mea­
surements (less than 50 m depth) only, performed mainly on the
Castelnuovo hilltop and not reaching the engineering bedrock. Other­
wise, no deep boreholes were executed in the area to investigate the
depth of the engineering bedrock and to assess the presence of an
impedance contrast at depth.
Assessing the seismic amplification at local scale requires developing
2D or 3D numerical models that must be sufficiently constrained with
deep geotechnical and geophysical measurements to provide a more
detailed picture of the bedrock shape and the soil linear and nonlinear
dynamic properties. Such an aspect is fundamental since basin geometry
and heterogeneity strongly affect the propagation of seismic waves and
their amplitude and frequency content (Chandran and Anbazhagan,
2017; Saroli et al., 2020). In this work, we provide an up-to-date picture
of the subsoil beneath the Castelnuovo hill and the depth of the engi­
neering bedrock by performing and interpreting for the first time the
findings of a deep borehole drilled at the top of the Castelnuovo hill up to
220 m depth and reaching the engineering bedrock. We also provide
new insights about the local fundamental frequencies of oscillation of
the subsoil by performing an extensive campaign of single station
microtremor measurements all over the Castelnuovo hill and the sur­
rounding plain. All these data were interpreted through geostatistical
and numerical approaches and confirmed the presence of a deep
impedance contrast, with resonant frequencies in the range of 0.7–3.8
Hz. The latter is attributed to a lithological passage between the clayey
silts of the San Nicandro Formation and the breccias of Madonna Della
Neve Formation, as highlighted by the performed deep borehole. Such a
new finding points out that local seismic amplification of the area is
mainly modulated by the stratigraphic effect, thus providing an updated
description of the subsoil’s linear dynamic properties with respect to
previous studies, helpful in assessing the seismic hazard of the area.
2. Geological setting
The Paganica-San Demetrio-Castelnuovo (PSC) Basin is an inter­
montane sedimentary basin filled with a thick succession of Plio-
Quaternary continental deposits, which unconformably overly the
Meso-Cenozoic bedrock (CB in Fig. 1a). The latter consists of platform-
and-slope limestones stacked onto upper Miocene turbidites during
the Apennine late Messinian-Zanclean compressional tectonics (Cosen­
tino et al., 2010). The post-orogenic succession is divided into several
synthems; the oldest one is called San Demetrio-Colle Cantaro Synthem,
which comprises several formations deposited in different environ­
ments, mainly related to a lacustrine system (Cosentino et al., 2017;
Nocentini et al., 2018). Along the northeastern margin of the area, al­
luvial fan and slope deposits developed with alluvial breccia deposits of
Valle Valiano Formation and intercalations of silts and fan of Madonna
Della Neve Formation, here grouped in the Breccia deposits unit (BR in
Fig. 1a). The lacustrine deposition is represented by San Nicandro For­
mation (SI in Fig. 1a), which consists of massive whitish calcareous silts
3
Engineering Geology 297 (2022) 106506
deposited in a lacustrine environment (Spadi et al., 2016). SI deposits in
the Castelnuovo hill contain several anthropic cavities, which are
approximately 25to 30 m long, 2 to 6 m high and are located 2–10 m
below ground level. Above or heteropic to SI, a Gilbert-type delta system
gradually formed, with deposition sandy gravel deposits of Valle Orsa
Formation and subsequent Valle dell’ Inferno Formation composed by
sub-horizontal beds of clast-supported conglomerates belonging to a
gravel-bed braided fluvial system (CON in Fig. 1a) (Giaccio et al., 2012;
Cosentino et al., 2019).
The younger synthems of the PSC Basin unconformably overlay the
San Demetrio-Colle Cantaro Synthem and were deposited in smaller sub-
basins all along the entire PSC Basin, with western migrated depocenters
(Giaccio et al., 2012; Tallini et al., 2019). Nearby the Castelnuovo
village, these more recent deposits occupy the lower part of the valley
floor with colluvial and alluvial deposit (ALL and COL in Fig. 1a), lying
in areas lower than 800 m a.s.l., and generically attributed to the Upper
Pleistocene-Holocene (Nocentini et al., 2018).
3. Data and methods
The investigation of the subsoil of the Castelnuovo hill (the area
enclosed within the dashed black rectangle in Fig. 1a) and its local
seismic amplification has been conducted according to the following
steps:
1. Collection and interpretation of data available from literature, con­
sisting in geological maps, shallow boreholes and geophysical sur­
veys, in situ and laboratory geotechnical tests, and shallow Vs-
profiles (less than 50 m).
2. Execution of new deep boreholes, extending at depths higher than
100 m and reaching the BR lithology (Fig. 1a), together with an
extensive campaign of single station microtremor measurements all
over the Castelnuovo hill and the surrounding plain.
3. Spatial analysis of resonant frequencies employing a geostatistical
approach.
4. Assessment of the impedance contrast at depth through 1D dynamic
modeling.
3.1. Available data from the literature
Available in situ and laboratory geotechnical surveys consist of
shallow boreholes (BDH1 to BDH6 the blue triangles in Fig. 2), NSPT
blow counts, grain size distributions, consistency limits and soil unit
weight measurements (Ilic et al., 2017; Working Group MS–AQ, 2010).
Geophysical measurements consist of seven Vs versus depth profiles
obtained from the interpretation of six down-hole tests performed in the
boreholes BDH1 to BDH6 (the blue triangles in Fig. 2) and one MASW
(the green square in Fig. 2) (Working Group MS–AQ, 2010). Such Vs-
profiles were validated by estimating Vs-values with depth with NSPT
using empirical relations proposed by the literature (Bajaj and Anbaz­
hagan, 2019).
3.2. New boreholes
A 223 m-depth borehole located at the top of the Castelnuovo hill
(the red diamond CN1 in Fig. 2 and supplementary Fig. S1a) and a core
destruction drilling borehole, 50 m deep, located to the east of the
Castelnuovo village (the red diamond CN2 in Fig. 2 and supplementary
Fig. S1b) were drilled to investigate the thickness of the SI lithology
beneath Castelnuovo hill. The CN1 borehole was carried out using a
continuous drilling EGT 710 MD probe. The drilling was performed
using a 1 m long core barrel with a diameter of 101 mm. The lining of the
hole was made with metal pipes 1.50 m long and with a diameter of 127
mm, while the drilling rods have a diameter of 89.9 mm and lengths of
1.50 and 3.00 m. The extracted samples were stored in PVC cataloguing
M. Spadi et al.
Fig. 2. Detail of the area enclosed in the dashed black rectangle in Fig. 1a showing the lithological map of the site, with the location of the available and new data.
Key to the legend: 1) New boreholes. 2) Available shallow boreholes and downhole. 3) MASW. 4) Microtremor measurements. 5) Traces of cross-sections in Fig. 10. 6)
Inferred normal fault. For the lithological symbols, refer to the legend in Fig. 1.
boxes.
The CN2 deep borehole was performed with the core-destruction
drilling technique (see Fig. S1b in supplementary material).
We followed the ISO 14688:2017 and ASTM D2487–11 standards for
the borehole execution, soil logging and sampling. The stratigraphic logs
of these two boreholes were interpreted with the contribution of
detailed geological outcropping data and the 1:25000 geological map of
Nocentini et al. (2018).
3.3. Implementation and processing of microtremor measurements
An extensive campaign of single station microtremor measurements
has also been performed at 71 sites over the Castelnuovo hill and the
surrounding areas to identify peak frequencies potentially associated
with deep impedance contrasts (pink circles in Fig. 2).
The spatial distribution of measurements is irregular. Such uneven
distribution is due to logistic impediments related to densely vegetated
areas and private properties.
We used a three-component SL07 seismometer by S.A.R.A, equipped
with an internal 2 Hz sensor (http://www.sara.pg.it) and set to a sam­
pling frequency of 100 Hz (supplementary Fig. S1c). We adopted a
recording length of approximately 30 min for each measurement, which
is recommended for spectral analysis at least down to 0.5 Hz (SESAME,
2004). The effect of anthropic signals has been mitigated by performing
recordings at different times during the day and night and more than 10
m far from infrastructures and trees (Molnar et al., 2018; Panzera et al.,
2019). The recordings at a single site were repeated in case of in­
consistencies with the neighboring measurements.
Microtremor measurements were exploited to evaluate the funda­
mental frequency (f0) of unconsolidated sediments lying over high-
4
Engineering Geology 297 (2022) 106506
velocity bedrock according to the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio
method (hereinafter HVSR) (Nakamura, 1989, 2019). HVSR method has
been exploited for the estimation of site resonant frequency and inverted
for the retrieval of shear-wave velocity profiles (Vs) in several seismic
microzonation and dynamic site characterization studies (Del Monaco
et al., 2013; Gosar and Lenart, 2010; Parolai, 2012; Saroli et al., 2020).
This method splits the horizontal and vertical components of a micro­
tremor measurement into several time windows of equal or varying
length and removes windows affected by strong noise transients. Then,
smoothed Fourier spectra are computed, and the ratio between the
horizontal spectra, given by the mean of the two horizontal components,
and the vertical spectra, is performed for each time window. Finally, the
mean HVSR curve is calculated by averaging the horizontal-to-vertical
spectral ratios of each time window (Molnar et al., 2018).
The HVSR curve is estimated with the Geopsy code (www.geopsy.org
) (Wathelet et al., 2020) for each available microtremor measurement.
Amplitude spectra were computed in the frequency interval of 0.25–20
Hz. The three spatial components of the recorded measurement were
divided into non-overlapping windows of 40 s long to guarantee at least
ten selected windows, according to the SESAME (2004) criteria. Win­
dows affected by transients were automatically removed based on an
anti-trigger algorithm that performs a comparison between the short-
term average (STA) and the long-term average (LTA) level of signal
amplitude, fixed to 1 s and 30 s, respectively. Only the windows with an
STA/LTA ratio between 0.1 and 2.5 were kept for the HVSR computation
(SESAME, 2004).
Finally, the computed Fourier spectra were smoothed with the
Konno–Ohmachi function (Konno and Ohmachi, 1998), with a band­
width coefficient b = 40. Such parameters are commonly adopted to
process microtremor measurements in Italy (Maresca and Berrino, 2016;
M. Spadi et al. Engineering Geology 297 (2022) 106506

Gallipoli et al., 2020; Lanzo et al., 2011a).

3.4. Spatial analysis of resonant frequencies

The spatial relationship between the resonant frequencies has been

investigated using a geostatistical approach. Such an approach has been
successfully applied to (i) identify one or more clusters of frequency
peaks related to different impedance contrasts at depth, (ii) assess the
presence of trends in the measurement distributions, (iii) identify sharp
peaks or shifts in the frequency values, potentially associated to the
presence of buried faults at depth, (iv) assess if there is a spatial corre­
lation between the obtained measurement peaks, and (v) provide the
uncertainty associated to the interpolated map (Saroli et al., 2020;
Trevisani et al., 2017, 2021). In this study, we exploited Kriging inter­
polation techniques (Krige, 1951), including a variety of least-squares
methods that provide predictions with the minimum variance of the
investigated variable (Oliver and Webster, 2014). First, a preliminary
exploratory spatial analysis of f0 has been conducted to recognize
possible correlations, trends, and outliers. Then, the experimental var­
iogram has been estimated to identify the presence of possible anisot­
ropies in the data. Finally, the experimental variogram has been fitted
with a gaussian plus nugget model defined by Eq. (1) (Oliver and
Webster, 2014):
⎧ { ( 2) }
⎨ c + c 1 − exp − h
⎪
for 0 < h
(1)
0
γ(h) = a2
⎪
⎩
0 for h = 0

where h is the lag distance, c0 is the nugget, c0 + c is the sill, and a is a

distance parameter, proportional to the effective range (r) according to
√̅̅̅̅̅̅
equation r = 3a. Experimental data have been interpolated with or­
dinary kriging, together with the associated variance (or standard
deviation).
The complete analysis has been performed with the geostatistical
package Gstat (Pebesma, 2004), accessible through the open-source R
code (R Team Core, 2019), together with the open-source GIS environ­
ment QGIS (QGIS Development Team, 2018).
3.5. Assessment of the presence of an impedance contrast at depth
A 1D dynamic numerical model has been constructed with the
STRATA code (Kottke et al., 2019). Available borehole logs, Vs-profiles
from down-hole and MASW measurements, and laboratory data have
been exploited to simulate the propagation of the seismic wave in the
study area and to assess the presence of an impedance contrast at depth.
We assumed a 1D soil column made of an elastic isotropic material,
neglecting the nonlinear behavior of soils. The stiffness variation with
depth has been assumed considering a first-order average velocity-depth
function according to the empirical Eq. (2) (Ibs-Von Seht and Wohlen­
berg, 1999; D’Amico et al., 2008):
( )
Vs (z) = Vs0 1 + z/z x (2)
0 respectively (Ilic et al., 2017). The average natural unit weight is
where z is the depth below the ground, z0 = 1 m, Vs0 is the shear wave
velocity at the surface, and x is an exponential term defining the depth
dependence of the shear-wave velocity. Eq. (2) coefficients (Vs0 and x)
are calibrated as the Vs-profile falls in the range and trend defined by
experimental data in Fig. 3d. The obtained 1D transfer function is then
compared with the experimental H/V curves from microtremor mea­
surements. Such a comparison shows a strong fit by Oubaiche et al.
(2016) and has been applied in several other studies (Saroli et al., 2020;
Di Naccio et al., 2020; Lanzo et al., 2011a).
Fig. 3. (a) Typical stratigraphy at BDH1 to BDH6 boreholes. (b) Soil grain size
distributions from available laboratory tests. (c) Trend of the soil natural unit
weight with depth (d) Shear-wave velocity profiles from available Down-hole,
MASW and interpreted from NSPT blow counts (Ilic et al., 2017; Working
Group MS–AQ, 2010).
4. Results
4.1. Available geotechnical properties of the Castelnuovo hill subsoil
The available shallow borehole logs and grain size distributions
testify that the soil in the first 50 m depth is almost homogeneous. It is
composed of clayey silts with centimetric to decametric levels of sand
belonging to the San Nicandro Formation (Fig. 3a-b and SI in Fig. 2),
with average water content and degree of saturation of 44.9% and 96%,
approximately 17 kN/m3 and does not show any dependency with
depth, at least in the first 30 m (Fig. 3c). Mean Atterberg limits of
approximately 58.4% for the liquid limit and 38.4% for the plastic limit
classify the SI lithology as moderately plastic (plasticity index =10) and
with solid consistency (consistency index = 1.35) (Ilic et al., 2017;
Working Group MS–AQ, 2010).
The available Vs profiles with depth (Fig. 3d), obtained from
Downhole and MASW, show values between 180 m/s and 500 m/s with
an overall increase with depth. Such trend is also confirmed by inter­
preting the NSPT blow counts executed at different depths in boreholes
BDH1-BDH3 with the empirical relations proposed by Seed and Idriss
(1981), Ohsaki and Iwasaki (1973) and Pitilakis et al. (1999) and valid
for slits and alluvial soils. The derived Vs values from the three relations

5
M. Spadi et al. Engineering Geology 297 (2022) 106506

are averaged at different depths and plotted as green circles in Fig. 3d.
4.2. Results of the new borehole logs
Two new boreholes were drilled on the top of the Castelnuovo hill
and in the nearby plain (the red diamonds in Fig. 2) to investigate the
thickness of the SI lithology and the relationship between the conti­
nental deposits and the carbonate bedrock. The CN1 continuous drilling
borehole (Fig. 4) is located at the hilltop at approximately 860 m a.s.l.
and shows a lithostratigraphic sequence composed mainly by alterna­
tions of fine-grained laminated and massive silts up to the depth of 210
m (SI) (Fig. 4) (Cosentino et al., 2019). In detail, the upper part of the
well-log (depth less than 120 m), partly matching the outcropping
succession, is characterized by the typical features of the San Nicandro
Formation, consisting of a cyclic alternation of white calcareous silts and
light grey clayey silts. In this interval, the CaCO3 content cyclically
ranges between 50% and 90% (Fig. 4a–b). In the lower part of the well-
log (depth greater than 120 m), clayey levels become abundant and
thicker, and organic-rich clay levels appear. In contrast, minima CaCO3
contents are periodically recorded, around 25% (Fig. 4c–g). The fine-
grained deposits roughly disappear below the depth of 220 m, passing
to coarse calcareous breccias pertaining to Madonna Della Neve For­
mation (BR) (Fig. 4h). The CN1 borehole represents the first direct ev­
idence of the considerable depth of the Plio-Quaternary deposits in the
PSC Basin. It also indicates for the first time the presence of a thick layer
of breccias between the lacustrine deposits and the pre-orogenic
substratum.
The CN2 destruction-core borehole is located to the east with respect
to the CN1 borehole at the foot of the Castelnuovo hill (approximately
800 m a.s.l.). It shows a similar stratigraphy but with different thick­
nesses. Indeed, the first 50 m consist of calcareous and clayey silts
belonging to the SI lithology, while the last 1 m is composed of calcar­
eous breccias referable to BR breccias (Fig. 4). Both boreholes highlight
that the SI lithology thickness reduces moving to the east-southeast. This
reduction of approximately 160 m is due in part to the change in altitude
between the two boreholes (about 60 m; CN1 ≈ 860 m a.s.l.; CN2 ≈ 800
m a.s.l.) and part to the irregular morphology of the underlying breccias,
whose roof increases his height of approximately 100 m moving from
CN1 to CN2 (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4. Schematic stratigraphy of the CN and CN2 borehole, together with the pictures of the main lithofacies of the CN1 borehole. a) laminated to massive
calcareous silt, t: blackish tephra, picture courtesy of Giovanni Zanchetta; b) laminated to massive greyish calcareous clayey silt with organic horizons (oh); c)
laminated to massive greyish silty clays with soft-sediment deformation (sd); d) laminated darkish organic silty clays with calcareous dropstone (d); e) laminated to
massive calcareous silt, sandy silt, and sand with a calcareous pebble; f) massive pebbly darkish clays; g) massive to laminated greyish clayey silt; h) coarse polygenic
calcareous breccia (Piacenzian breccia). a and b: San Nicandro silt; c, d, e, f, and g: Piacenzian clay.

6
M. Spadi et al.
4.3. HVSR results and spatial mapping
Before interpreting the obtained H/V peaks according to the subsoil
dynamic properties, we checked the possible occurrence of measure­
ment issues and anomalous peaks in the HVSR curve. Some measure­
ments were omitted because of recording issues related to wrong
positioning of the instrument, atmospheric disturbances, or anthropo­
genic interference on the device itself. Some measures, repeated at night
in the exact locations, did not show abnormal frequency peaks, thus
identifying a resonant frequency at the site. For each H/V curve, one or
more resonance peaks have been assessed following the criteria defined
Fig. 5. Map of resonant frequencies at measurements performed over the Castelnuovo area with some examples of H/V curves. The dashed white line indicates the
contour line at 820 m a.s.l. For the other symbols, please refer to Fig. 1.
7
Engineering Geology 297 (2022) 106506
by the SESAME working group (SESAME, 2004). Frequency peaks not
fulfilling the SESAME criteria were discarded. Still, three measurements
non-fulfilling the SESAME criteria were deemed resonant frequencies.
The obtained frequency peaks were consistent with to those at verified
measurements located at no more than 95 m (i.e., the average nearest
neighbor distance of the whole dataset) at the closest locations. The
complete set of the identified frequency peaks comprises 66 measure­
ments and is reported in Fig. 5 with some relevant H/V plots (the full list
of the H/V peak frequency is available in Fig. S2 and Table S1 in the
Supplementary Material).
Almost all measurements show a single resonant peak in the range
M. Spadi et al.
0.7–5.8 Hz (see S1 to S30 H/V curves in Fig. 5). Eight measurements
only show a second peak at frequencies higher than 6 Hz (see for
example, the S39 H/V curve in Fig. 5). These double peaks are neither
clustered on a specific area nor directly associated with a very shallow
impedance contrast. Therefore, the subsequent analyses focused only on
the first frequency peak, the latter being observable all over the study
area.
A preliminary statistical analysis of the computed resonant fre­
quencies (Fig. 6a) highlights that the whole dataset comprises two
distinct families, which separate at approximately 3.8 Hz.
The first group for f0 < 3.8 Hz (56 values) is located over the hill and
in the immediate surroundings (Fig. 5), where the clayey silts (SI) and
the alluvial/colluvial deposits (ALL and COL) mainly outcrop. The sec­
ond group for f0 > 3.8 Hz (10 values) comprises measurements located
at sites to the northern and eastern margins of the study area (the dark-
purple circles in Fig. 5), where breccias sub crop or outcrop (BR).
Fig. 6. a) Resonant frequency distribution for all the 66 microtremor measurements. b) Resonant frequency distribution for f0 < 3.8 Hz, skewness = 2.12. c)
Scatterplot of resonant frequencies for f0 < 3.8 Hz vs longitude. d) Scatterplot of resonant frequencies for f0 < 3.8 Hz vs latitude. e) Scatterplot of resonant frequencies
for f0 < 3.8 Hz vs altitude. f) Resonant period distribution, skewness = − 0.56.
8
Engineering Geology 297 (2022) 106506
HVSR curves for f0 < 3.8 Hz show bright and sharp frequency peaks,
whose shape and frequency values agree with the results of microtremor
surveys performed in previous studies on the Castelnuovo hill only
(Gallipoli et al., 2011, 2013; Lanzo et al., 2011a). Based on preliminary
analysis, these resonant frequencies could be related to an impendence
contrast located between 30 and more than 100 m at depth (Albarello
and Castellaro, 2011). Such an impendence contrast could be linked to
the passage between the clayey silts (SI) and the gravels and breccias
(BR) as observed in CN1 and CN2 boreholes (Fig. 4).
The frequencies for f0 > 3.8 Hz range between 3.8 and 5.8 Hz and
present small amplitude peaks, suggesting that the impendence contrast
is shallow (i.e., less than 30 m) (Albarello and Castellaro, 2011) and
probably associated with the presence of BR over the Meso-Cenozoic
carbonate bedrock (CB in Fig. 1).
The spatial analysis has been conducted considering the first group of
frequency peaks for f0 < 3.8 Hz (Fig. 6b), i.e., the measurements
M. Spadi et al.
performed all over the Castelnuovo hill and in the surrounding plain.
Such a choice stems from the observation that different f0 families
cannot be analyzed simultaneously. The spatial analysis for f0 < 3.8 Hz
highlights that frequency values gradually increase moving towards the
east (Fig. 6c) and south (Fig. 6d). Some sharp changes locate at longitude
≈ 387200E (Fig. 6c) and latitude ≈ 4,683,200 N (Fig. 6d), which are
probably associated with the presence of buried faults at depth. A
decrease of frequency values with increasing height is also observed in
Fig. 6e for altitude less than 820 m a.s.l. (the dashed white line in Fig. 5),
while at higher altitude frequency values are almost constant, amount­
ing at approximately 0.9 Hz.
In terms of amplitude, the HVSR curves show peaks up to 10 without
a clear spatial correlation with distance or altitude (supplementary
Fig. S3).
A better assessment of the spatial variation of resonant frequency
values below 3.8 Hz is attained by spatial mapping with Kriging inter­
polation. However, the f0 dataset (Fig. 6b) shows a positively skewed
statistical distribution (skewness coefficient = 2.12) with a long tail of
high f0 values. Positively or negatively skewed data inflate variances and
distort the variogram (Oliver and Webster, 2014). A practical solution
has been proposed by Trevisani et al. (2017) who suggested to work with
resonance periods (Fig. 6f) instead of f0. Such a modification greatly
reduces the data skewness from 2.12 to − 0.56, thus improving the
geostatistical interpolation (Trevisani et al., 2017; Saroli et al., 2020).
The calculated variogram cloud (Fig. 7a), variogram map (Fig. 7b)
Fig. 7. Geostatistical analysis of the resonant period values. a) Experimental variogram cloud. b) Experimental variogram map. c) Directional experimental var­
iograms. d) Experimental omnidirectional variogram (the light blue circles) and best fit with a gaussian plus nugget model (red line). Numbers indicate the samples
for each class. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
9
Engineering Geology 297 (2022) 106506
and directional variograms (Fig. 7c) of resonant periods do not show
evident anisotropies, local outliers, or patterns related to non-
stationarity. Then we calculated the isotropic experimental variogram
(Fig. 7d) assuming a unit lag of 95 m and a maximum length h of 800 m.
The selected unit lag corresponds to the average nearest neighbor dis­
tance between the dataset points, while the maximum length is fixed
because, at large distances, the number of sample pairs decreases, and
the experimental variogram becomes less stable. The final isotropic
experimental variogram (the light blue circles in Fig. 7d) presents a
small nugget effect, probably associated with the uncertainty inherent to
microtremor measurements.
The experimental variogram has been fitted with the isotropic
Gaussian plus nugget model of Eq. (1) (red curve in Fig. 7d), whose
parameters, i.e., r = 647.9 m, c0 + c = 0.135 s2, and c0 = 0.0015 s2,
resulted in being the best solution, with a weighted sum of squared error
(SSE) of 1.27 × 10− 8. Fitting the experimental variogram with different
theoretical models (e.g., exponential or power) gave higher SSE values.
Once we defined the theoretical variogram, we interpolated the
resonant periods using block-kriging interpolation. The obtained map is
shown in Fig. 8a, while the standard deviation error (Std) associated
with the predicted resonant period map is shown in Fig. 8b. The reso­
nant period map is blanked on areas where the prediction variance is
larger than the third quartile of the variance distribution (i.e., 0.0016
s2), corresponding to a maximum standard deviation of 0.04 s.
M. Spadi et al. Engineering Geology 297 (2022) 106506

Fig. 8. Results of the geostatistical analysis performed on the resonant period values. a) Interpolated map of the resonant period using block-Kriging. The circles
identify the measured resonant period from microtremor measurements. b) Kriging prediction standard deviation map of the resonant period. The black circles
identify the location of the microtremor measurements.

4.4. Assessment of the impedance contrast at depth
The resonant period map in Fig. 8a highlights an overall decrease of
resonant periods (corresponding to an increase in frequency) moving to
the east-southeast direction. The CN1 and CN2 boreholes (Figs. 2 and 4)
show that the thickness of the SI lithology reduces moving towards the
same direction. . Therefore, we argue that the observed changes of
resonant periods (or frequencies) are be related to the SI thickness
changes or, more specifically, to the presence of an impedance contrast
at the passage from the SI and BR lithologies. To verify such a hypoth­
esis, we estimated the first resonant frequency at CN1 and CN2 bore­
holes by simulating the 1D transfer function from the bedrock to the
outcropping soil at the CN1 and CN2 boreholes in Fig. 4. We compared
the computed transfer function with the HVSR curves of the S1 and S39

10
M. Spadi et al. Engineering Geology 297 (2022) 106506

microtremor measurements (Fig. 5), the latter being the closest micro­
tremor measurements to the CN1 and CN2 boreholes (1 m and 5 m,
respectively).
For the simulation of the theoretical transfer function at CN1 and
CN2 boreholes, we constructed a 1D column made of a homogeneous
linear-elastic material corresponding to SI lithology, laying on an elastic
half-space representing the engineering bedrock, which corresponds to
the BR lithology in Fig. 4. The SI lithology is modelled as a linear elastic
material, with a viscous damping ratio of 5% and a mean unit weight of
17 kN/m3, selected according to the experimental values in Fig. 3c and
the parametrization proposed by Lanzo et al. (2011a) and Evangelista
et al. (2016). The variation of Vs (or shear stiffness) with depth is
defined according to Eq. (2) for both CN1 and CN2 models. The pa­
rameters defining the position (Vs0) and shape (x) of the curve in Eq. (2)
have been selected to follow the trend identified by the available
experimental Vs profiles in Fig. 3d. The nonlinear behavior of the SI
lithology (i.e., the decay of stiffness and increase in damping with shear
strains) is neglected, given the elastic nature of microtremor measure­
ments and the associated small shear strains. Two different 1D models
were investigated (Fig. 9a and b), where the thickness of the SI layer
varies according to that identified in the CN1 and CN2 boreholes.
The STRATA code allows introducing the uncertainty associated
with the adopted mean shear wave profile with depth by applying a log-
normal distribution for the mean Vs value (Toro, 1995; Toro et al.,
1992), with a logarithmic std. of 0.5. In this way, the code performs 200
different simulations by randomly varying Vs-profile in the range
comprised in the grey areas in Fig. 9a and b. For the BR lithology, rep­
resenting the elastic half-space, an average shear wave velocity of 1000
m/s has been assumed. Such a value has been defined according to that
adopted in 2D and 3D numerical models by Lanzo et al. (2011b) and
Evangelista et al. (2016) and based on in-situ measurements executed on
similar lithologies (Amoroso et al., 2018). The seismic input has been
defined according to the Random Vibration Theory (RVT). The calcu­
lated theoretical transfer functions at CN1 and CN2 boreholes have been
compared with the experimental H/V curve of S1 and S39 measure­
ments, respectively.
The results of the analysis show that the computed 1D theoretical
transfer functions for the CN1 and CN2 profiles (the violet curves in
Fig. 9a and b) agree with the experimental H/V curves (the red curves in
Fig. 9a and b). Indeed, the computed first resonant frequency peaks,
equal to 0.92 Hz and 2.9 Hz for CN1 and CN2, respectively, almost
coincide with those experimentally derived at S1 and S39 microtremor
measurements, equal to 0.94 Hz and 3 Hz, respectively. . The adopted
average Vs curve (the blue curve in Fig. 9a and b), whose coefficients are
Vs0 = 240 m/s and x = 0.24 (Eq. (2)) follows the general trend of the
available experimental Vs profiles in Fig. 3d, reported as black
segmented lines in Fig. 9a and b.
5. Discussion
Different interpretations about the factors affecting the local seismic
amplification of the Castelnuovo village have been provided in the
literature (Lanzo et al., 2011a; Landolfi, 2013; Sica et al., 2014; Evan­
gelista et al., 2016). Discrepancies were attributed to uncertainties in the
definition of the depth of seismic bedrock and the absence of a direct
evidence of an impedance contrast at depth. Indeed, previous studies
relied on shallow geotechnical, geophysical, and geological surveys
only.
Thanks to the analysis of new deep boreholes performed in the study
area and crosscutting the SI lithology (CN1 and CN2 in Fig. 4), and new
geophysical surveys, we provided an updated picture of the subsoil
beneath the Castelnuovo hill and its local seismic amplification.
The Castelnuovo village is located on a hill, whose hilltop (at
approximately 860 m a.s.l.) stands of about 60 m with respect to the

Fig. 9. Results of the 1D numerical modeling. From left to right in each panel: 1D numerical model scheme adopted for the computation of the elastic transfer
function at CN1 (panel a) and CN2 (panel b) boreholes; Vs profile assumed for the SI layer according to Eq. (2). (blue curve) and comparison with the experimental Vs
profiles (black lines); computed theoretical 1D transfer function (purple curve) and comparison with the experimental HVSR curve (red curve) obtained from
adjacent microtremor measurements (S1 in panel a and S39 in panel b). (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to
the web version of this article.)

11
M. Spadi et al. Engineering Geology 297 (2022) 106506

surrounding plain (Fig. 1b). The hill is mainly composed of clayey silts of
medium plasticity (Fig. 3) belonging to the San Nicandro Fm. (SI in
Figs. 1a and 2), sometimes overlapped by few meters of recent colluvium
or alluvium at the foot of the Castelnuovo hill (ALL and COL in Fig. 1a).
The SI lithology lays on breccias deposits (BR in Fig. 4), which outcrop
on the northern and eastern margins of the area.
The performed CN1 and CN2 boreholes (Fig. 4) allowed for the first
time to measure the thickness of the SI lithology in the area and identify
the BR lithology at its bottom. Previous studies inferred such informa­
tion by interpreting shallow geotechnical and geophysical surveys only,
not reaching the BR lithology and not linked to any deep borehole
reaching the engineering bedrock (Lanzo et al., 2011a; Landolfi, 2013;
Sica et al., 2014; Evangelista et al., 2016). The CN1 borehole, drilled at
the top of Castelnuovo hill (Fig. 2), highlights the presence of a 210 m-
thick succession of clayey silts and clays (SI) (Fig. 4). Below this rela­
tively homogeneous succession, 10 m of breccias are present. The CN2
borehole, drilled at the foot of the Castelnuovo hill to the east-southeast
(Fig. 2), shows a stratigraphic sequence similar to CN1(Fig. 4), with 50
m of SI lithology overlying one meter of the BR deposits. Both boreholes
testify that the SI lithology tapers moving to the east-southeast. This
tapering of approximately 160 m is due to the change in altitude be­
tween the two boreholes (about 60 m; CN1 ≈ 860 m a.s.l.; CN2 ≈ 800 m
a.s.l.) and to the irregular morphology of the underlying breccias, whose
roof increases his height of approximately 100 m moving to the east-
southeast from CN1 to CN2 (Fig. 4).
The performed microtremor surveys identified clear and sharp
resonant frequency peaks at measurements performed mainly on the SI
lithology (for f0 < 3.8 Hz), in the central part of the study area (Fig. 5).

Fig. 10. Geological cross-sections of the Castelnuovo area, crossing the CN1 borehole located at the hilltop. The CN2 borehole in the AB cross-section is projected.
The cross-section traces are reported in Figs. 1a, 2 and 8a. For the symbol legend, please refer to the caption of Fig. 1a.

12
M. Spadi et al.
The computed resonant period map (Fig. 8a) highlights that resonant
period decreases (or resonant frequency increases), moving to the
southwest, from the CN1 borehole where the resonant period is
approximately 1.1 s (Fig. 8a; resonant frequency ≈ 0.9 Hz), to the CN2
borehole where the resonant period is approximately 0.33 s (Fig. 8a;
resonant frequency ≈ 3 Hz). We interpret these frequency peaks as the
resonant frequency of the SI lithology, associated with an impedance
contrast at depth at the transition between SI and BR lithologies. We also
explain such a period (or frequency) variation to the southeast direction
with the progressive tapering of the SI lithology, highlighted by the CN1
and CN2 boreholes (Fig. 4). This interpretation also explains the
apparent inverse proportionality between the f0 values and the altitude
in Fig. 6e. Measurements performed at heights less than 820 m a.s.l. are
distributed over a large area whose topography gently reduces moving
southwest (Fig. 5). Otherwise, the BR roof height gradually increases in
the same direction (CN1 and CN2 in Fig. 4). Both topography and BR
height contribute to the thinning of the SI lithology towards the south­
west and the consequent increase of frequency observed in Fig. 6e.
This explanation is confirmed by the performed 1D linear dynamic
analyses (Fig. 9). Indeed, the modelled stiffness contrast between the SI
and BR lithology produces a 1D elastic transfer function whose 1st
resonant frequency values are compatible with those observed with
microtremor surveys.
Assuming a power-law relationship between the SI thickness and the
resonant frequency of the type h = af0 b , (Ibs-Von Seht and Wohlenberg,
1999; D’Amico et al., 2008), where h (m) is the SI thickness at boreholes
CN1 and CN2 (Fig. 9), and f0 is the resonant frequency at S1 and S39
HVSR curves (Fig. 9), we can provide a rough estimate of a and b co­
efficients equal to 185.22 m/s and − 1.192, respectively. Although such
coefficients are calibrated with two couples of measurements only, their
values and the obtained curve fall within the ranges estimated with the
same empirical relation in other quaternary basins in Italy and world­
wide (supplementary Fig. S4). This relationship provides a 1st-order
picture of the trends of SI thickness and the BR roof height along two
cross-sections A–B and C–D in Fig. 10.
Moving from northwest to southeast (A-B cross-section in Fig. 10),
the resonant period (red line in Fig. 10a) shows an overall reduction
from 1.46 s to about 0.34 s, with a mean rate of approximately − 8.03 ×
10− 4 s/m. The rate of period change is not constant (blue line in Fig. 10).
Still, it shows a deceleration approaching the northwestern side of the
Castelnuovo hill to approximately − 1.6 × 10− 4 s/m, and a successive
acceleration moving towards the southeastern side with a peak of − 1.5
× 10− 3 s/m. The rate variation in the proximity of the hill is due to both
the inclined roof of the BR engineering bedrock testified by the CN1 and
CN2 boreholes and to the topography changes, which make the SI li­
thology ticker below the Castelnuovo hill, thus increasing the resonant
period.
In the SE-NW direction (C-D cross-section in Fig. 10), the resonant
period varies from 0.97 s on the southeast to 0.61 on the northwest (the
red curve in Fig. 10), with a mean rate of approximately − 3.1 × 10− 4 s/
m. Here, the maximum resonant period (about 1.12 s) is attained along
the northeastern side of the Castelnuovo hill and is shifted with respect
to the hilltop. Otherwise, the rate of period change (the blue curve in
Fig. 10) becomes positive in the proximity of the hilltop (7.5 × 10− 4 s/
m) and negative at the base of the hill to the northeast (− 1.3 × 10− 3 s/
m). Such variations reflect the changes in SI thickness due to both the
topography changes in the proximity of the Castelnuovo hill and the
possible presence of fault scarps or morphological lines that dislocate
and lower the BR in the northeastern part of the cross-section.
As per the local seismic amplification of the study area, microtremor
measurements for f0 < 3.8 Hz show significant peak amplitudes up to 10,
related to the impedance contrast at depth, without an evident rela­
tionship between HVSR amplitude and altitude (supplementary Fig. S3).
Such a result suggests that stratigraphic amplification is more critical
than topographic amplification. However, more data are required to
quantify both contributions to the local seismic amplification.
13
Engineering Geology 297 (2022) 106506
Indeed, the only two boreholes reaching the engineering bedrock
and the clustering of the microtremor measurements close to the
inhabited areas of the Castelnuovo village do not allow to provide a
detailed picture of the engineering bedrock and the possible presence of
sharp discontinuities due to buried faults. The latter are inferred in
Fig. 10 according to the rate changes of the resonant period only.
Moreover, the estimated mean Vs-depth relationship (blue curve in
Fig. 9) represents a 1st-order estimation of the shear stiffness of SI li­
thology at shallow depth (less than 30 m). In contrast, at greater depth,
shear stiffness is constrained by the results of 1D numerical models only.
Currently, logistic impediments such as the presence of private proper­
ties and highly vegetated areas, together with strict regulations, do not
allow to perform an extensive campaign of boreholes reaching the en­
gineering bedrock. However, assessing local seismic amplifications in
the Castelnuovo area requires developing 2D or 3D numerical models
that must be sufficiently constrained with geotechnical and geophysical
surveys, to provide a more detailed picture of the bedrock shape and the
soil linear and nonlinear dynamic properties at a smaller scale with
respect to that provided in our study. Such an aspect is fundamental
since basin geometry strongly affects the reflection of seismic waves and,
consequently, their amplitude and frequency content. However, our
analysis proved that the availability of in-situ geological and geotech­
nical data (e.g., deep boreholes and geophysical measurements) and its
joint interpretation is fundamental to assess the dynamic properties of
soils and the local seismic site amplification (Bajaj and Anbazhagan,
2019; Chandran and Anbazhagan, 2017).
Indeed, our 1st-order results provide an updated picture of the sub­
soil beneath the Castelnuovo hill that substantially differs from previous
studies We show for the first time that the observed HVSR frequency
peaks are associated with an impedance contrast at considerable depth
(210 m) at the lithological passage between clayey silts (SI) and car­
bonate breccias (BR). Such an impendence contrast was barely taken to
account or considered shallower, i.e., less than 150 m below the Cas­
telnuovo hill, in previous studies (Lanzo et al., 2011a; Sica et al., 2014;
Landolfi, 2013; Evangelista et al., 2016). Moreover, the CN1 and CN2
boreholes (Fig. 4) and the interpolated resonant period map (Fig. 8a)
show that the SI lithology tapers to the east-southeast direction to
approximately 50 m (Fig. 10a), while the BR roof height increases in the
same direction. In contrast, in previous studies, the SI thickness was
assumed increasing to more than 100 m to the southwest direction, with
the engineering bedrock height decreasing in the same direction (Lanzo
et al., 2011a; Sica et al., 2014; Landolfi, 2013; Evangelista et al., 2016).
Therefore, the performed analyses and the geo-lithological profiles in
Fig. 10 provide an updated basis for the implementation of 2D numerical
models and the calculation of Castelnuovo hill’s amplification effects,
which is mandatory for estimating the contribution of stratigraphic
topographic effects. Moreover, the SI lithology shows resonant fre­
quencies ranging between 0.7 and 3.0 Hz. The latter represents the
typical resonant frequencies of ordinary buildings in civil engineering;
therefore, possible double resonance effects could be expected during an
earthquake, thus greatly amplifying seismic waves (Tallini et al., 2020).
6. Conclusions
This study provided for the first time the results of a joint analysis
between geophysical measurements and deep boreholes reaching the
engineering bedrock for the Castelnuovo area. The results, which are
summarized in the two orthogonal cross-sections in Fig. 10, indicate that
resonance effects occur in the frequency range of 0.7–3.0 Hz due to the
presence of a velocity contrast related to the stratigraphic boundary
between the clayey silts of the San Nicandro Formation (SI) and the
underlying the breccias (BR), whose depth and shape are different than
hypothesized up to now. Such an impedance contrast is deemed as the
main factor for local amplification with respect to the topographic
effect.
This study could be denoted as a milestone for assessing the seismic
M. Spadi et al.
hazard of the Castelnuovo village and demonstrates the need for
multidisciplinary in-situ geological investigations to study seismic site
amplification.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
The deep borehole CN1 was funded by the following institutions,
which are warmly thanked for their support: Dipartimento di Ingeg­
neria, Edile-Architettura e Ambientale, Università dell’Aquila (Italy);
Dipartimento di Scienze, Università di Roma Tre (Italy); Istituto di
Geologia Ambientale e Geoingegneria, CNR (Italy); Ufficio Speciale per
la Ricostruzione dei Comuni Cratere (USRC), Fossa (L’Aquila, Italy).
Giorgio Pipponzi and USRC are thanked for the local logistic assistance.
We also would like to thank Luca Maria Puzzilli for the stimulating
discussion on the down hole tests.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2021.106506.
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