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Baishuihe Landslide is a large active landslide that threatens shipping transportation in the Three Gorges Reservoir (China). A manual monitoring system has been active since 2003. However, after the realization of some intervention works in 2018-2019, new automatic instruments providing continuous data on displacements, rainfall, reservoir water level, and groundwater table were installed. The data recorded by the new system show that these works led to an effective stabilization improvement since the present displacement rate is lower than that detected before interventions. However, the relevance of the Three Gorges basin and the potential hazard of a possible collapse requires a reliable forecast of the landslide evolution in a time scale from a few hours to a few days. To this aim, a two steps procedure is here proposed. In the first step, after a preliminary preprocessing-denoising of data, carried out by means of Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT), a Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT) procedure is used to provide scalograms of the time series of three quantities, e.g., landslide displacement rate, rainfall and the difference of water level between the piezometer and reservoir water level. In the second step, to evaluate the relationships among the velocity trend and the other significant quantities and obtain a reliable velocity forecast, the images given by binding together two or three scalograms of the mentioned quantities were analyzed with a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) tool. Several trials with different combinations of input time series of 2 or 3 quantities were carried out in order to recognize the factors which mainly affect the current displacement evolution. The results show that, after the works, rainfall is an important factor inducing deformation acceleration. The hydrodynamic pressure induced by the difference between the ground water pressure and reservoir water level also plays a dominant role in accelerating the Baishuihe landslide. Furthermore, the coupling of rainfall and hydrodynamic pressure produces displacement velocities higher than what the quantities singularly do. These results provide valuable indications for optimizing the monitoring configuration on the landslide and obtaining velocity forecasts in a few hours/days.

A MATLAB toolbox, also compatible with GNU Octave, was developed in order to allow a user not necessarily expert in programming to calculate the strain rate field of an area by means of a procedure with a high level of automation starting from coordinate time series. The results can be used to investigate the crustal tectonic deformations of the studied area. These steps are implemented:time series download from a data repository, e.g. the Nevada Geodetic Laboratory (NGL), or another similar database (the download function can be easily edited to allow the use of input time series having different format); calculation of the station velocities by means of the Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) method, including modeling of offsets, outliers, noise and periodic components. The MLE modeling is carried out by using the external package Hector (Bos et al., 2013. J. Geod., 87, 351-360), automatically called by means of a specifically developed MATLAB function; estimation of Common Mode Error and, if necessary, its removal from time series of some stations and recalculation of the corresponding velocities. calculation of the strain rate field on a regular grid with the modified least squares method, in which a scale factor can be introduced to define the locality of the deformation analysis. Besides the strain rate field, the toolbox provides the corresponding uncertainty estimation and geometric evaluation of the significance of the results; visualization of the results for their interpretation for scientific purposes, including the map of principal strain and the contour plots of change in area (or dilatation), engineering shear normalized to the change in area, second invariant of the strain, prevailing eigenvalue, corresponding uncertainties and geometric significance. The toolbox, which is available free of charge to any interested user, is characterized by considerable flexibility, and can be easily adapted to different data sources.The toolbox was recently used in order to refine the rates of active crustal deformation in the upper plate of subduction zones in the specific case of the E-dipping West Crati fault (Calabria) and to evaluate the convergence rate in the Main Thrust Fault (also called Sicilian Basal Thrust) north to Hyblean Plateau (South-Eastern Sicily).

The topographic ruggedness index (TRI) is widely adopted for the analysis of digital elevation models, providing information on local surface spatial variability. In this work, the TRI is interpreted according to a geostatistical perspective, highlighting its main characteristics and drawbacks. TRI can be interpreted as an omnidirectional short-range spatial variability index, computed according to a pixel centered perspective. The simplicity and interpretability of the index, free from user-dependent selections, promoted its implementation in several software environments and its application in a wide set of case studies. However, the index has several drawbacks for its application in earth sciences, such as a strong dependency on local slope (it is basically an average adjacent neighbor slope algorithm) and the selection of different lag distances in the computation of spatial variability along the main directions and the diagonal ones. We propose a new metric radial roughness (RRI) in order to solve the main drawbacks of TRI but maintaining its main philosophy (i.e., pixel centered perspective and simplicity of the algorithm). The new index corrects for the differences in lag distances and resolves the dependency on trend using increments of order 2. The code of the index, implemented in R statistical language, and test data are provided with the paper (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7132160) to promote its implementation in other software environments.

Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) and drone-based structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry allowed the study of soil deformations due to blast-induced liquefaction during an experiment carried out on 4 June 2018. The research aimed at both evaluating the measurement quality and estimating the rammed aggregate piers (RAPs) effectiveness in mitigating the effects of soil liquefaction. These effects mainly consist of subsidence and deposits of ejected and extruded materials. The comparison between multitemporal 3D models provided surface variation maps and volume changes. In addition, classical topographical leveling allowed the measurement of subsurface vertical displacement along a specific cross section. The results pointed out a significant reduction, higher than 50% of soil deformation in areas improved by RAPs installation; moreover, the corresponding volume variations were no more than about 37% of those occurred in the not improved area. Finally, a critical comparison between remote sensing and leveling suggested that surface variation maps could underestimate the area lowering up to 15% in this kind of terrain.

The standard setting of a camera used in Infrared thermography (IRT) is based on the choice of the same values of emissivity and distance for all pixels of a thermal image even if the emissivity depends on the relative position of camera and observed surface. Often this is not a problem. However, the resulting temperature pattern could be inadequate if a body having a complex shape is observed from strongly constrained positions. In order to face this issue, a procedure aimed at providing a correct temperature pattern by using 3D information related to a point cloud is proposed together with its MATLAB implementation (COMAP3 toolbox). For each pixel of a thermal image, the relative position of camera and observed surface is estimated, leading to pixel-specific values of emissivity and distance. The temperature obtained in this way is also mapped onto the point cloud. The effectiveness of the procedure in recognizing areas characterized by peculiar thermal behavior is shown in the case of a historic cylindrical masonry bell tower (Caorle’s bell tower, Venice, Italy).

A procedure aimed at forecasting the velocity trend of a landslide for a period of some hours to one or two days is proposed here together with its MATLAB implementation. The method is based on continuous wavelet transform (CWT) and convolutional neural network (CNN) applied to rainfall and velocity time series provided by a real-time monitoring system. It is aimed at recognizing the conditions that induce a strong increase, or even a significant decrease, in the average velocity of the unstable slope. For each evaluation time, the rainfall and velocity scalograms related to the previous days (e.g., two weeks) are computed by means of CWT. A CNN recognizes the velocity trend defined in the training stage corresponds to these scalograms. In this way, forecasts about the start, persistence, and end of a critical event can be provided to the decision makers. An application of the toolbox to a landslide (Perarolo di Cadore landslide, Eastern Alps, Italy) is also briefly described to show how the parameters can be chosen in a real case and the corresponding performance.

Structure-from-motion (SfM) is currently used for geological-geomorphological purposes under the condition that the modeling is based either on several ground control points (GCPs) well distributed in the scene or on direct georeferencing (DG). In emergency conditions and in presence of active morphodynamic processes, it could be unfeasible to use GCPs or DG. A study aimed at evaluating the quality of the results achievable by means of completely free SfM modeling of images taken from a distance of some hundred meters is shown in this paper. It is based on an experiment with an artificial target and some surveys of a bedrock scarp, where resolution and precision are evaluated as empirical functions of distance and focal length, taking into account the issues related to the scale factor. The problems related to the recognition of localized surface changes by means of multitemporal surveys are also studied. The primary result is that the free approach can really be used in geomorphological and seismotectonical surveying carried out in emergency conditions.

In the engineering geology field increased attention has been posed in recent years to potential liquefaction mitigation interventions in susceptible sand formations. In silty sands this is a major challenge because, as the fines content increases, vibratory methods for densification become progressively less effective. An alternative mitigation technique can be the installation of Rammed Aggregate Pier® (RAP) columns that can increase the resistance of the soil, accounting for its lateral stress increase and for the stiffness increase from soil and RAP composite response. To investigate the influence of these factors on liquefaction resistance, full-scale blast tests were performed at a silty sand site in Bondeno (Ferrara, Italy) where liquefaction was observed after the 2012 Emilia-Romagna earthquake. A multidisciplinary team of forty researchers carried out devoted experimental activities aimed at better understanding the liquefaction process at the field scale and the effectiveness of the treatment using inter-related methods. Both natural and improved areas were investigated by in-situ tests and later subjected to controlled blasting. The blast tests were monitored with geotechnical and geophysical instrumentation, topographical surveying and geological analyses on the sand boils. Results showed the RAP effectiveness due to the improvement of soil properties within the liquefiable layer and a consequent reduction of the blast-induced liquefaction settlements, likely due to soil densification and increased lateral stress. The applied multidisciplinary approach adopted for the study allowed better understanding of the mechanism involved in the liquefaction mitigation intervention and provided a better overall evaluation of mitigation effectiveness.

Soil liquefaction due to an earthquake can lead to permanent soil deformation and reduction of load-bearing capacity that in turn could act on building stability. Since a quantitative evaluation of post-liquefaction settlements is often very difficult, field scale liquefaction tests, carried out under controlled conditions, such as blast tests, are used to perform a correct quantitative analysis of the liquefaction phenomena. Among the significant parameters related to a blast test, there are the geometric ones, i.e. the extension of the area affected by the blast-induced liquefaction and the corresponding vertical displacements. This article shows the results of a blast test carried out at a trial site located in Mirabello (Ferrara, Italy) from a remote-sensing perspective. Data provided by aerial Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry, supported by terrestrial laser scanning measurements, were used to evaluate the soil deformation that, in the specific case study, aided a geological/geotechnical interpretation of the blast test results. In general, the proposed method can be used to characterize areas affected by blast-induced liquefaction, including those cases where blasting is used as ground improvement technique aimed at mitigating the seismic hazard.

Propagation models can study the runout and deposit of potential flow-like landslides only if a reliable estimate of the shape and size of the volumes involved in the phenomenon is available. This aspect becomes critical when a collapse has not yet occurred and the estimation of the unstable volume is not uniquely predictable. This work proposes a strategy to overcome this problem, using two established analysis methods in sequence, first, a Strength Reduction Method (SRM)-based 3D FEM allows the estimate of the instable volume, then, this data becomes an input for a Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH)-based model. This strategy is applied to predict the possible evolution of Sant’Andrea landslide (North-Eastern Italian Alps). Such a complex landslide, which affects anhydrite–gypsum rocks and is strongly subject to rainfall triggering, can be considered as a prototype for the use of this procedure. In this case, the FEM–SRM model is adopted, which calibrates using mapping, monitoring, geophysical and geotechnical data to estimate the volume involved in the potential detachment. This volume is subsequently used as the input of the SPH model. In this second phase, a sensitivity analysis is also performed to complete the evaluation of the most reliable final soil deposits. The performed analyses allow a satisfactory prediction of the post-collapse landslide evolution, delivering a reliable estimate of the volumes involved in the collapse and a reliable forecast of the landslide runout.

A new method for measuring spatially dense surface displacements of a landslide at daily intervals and over a long period of time is here presented. The method allows the evaluation of displacements based on a digital image correlation technique applied to a temporal sequence of photos, daily captured by one or more fixed cameras. In comparison to other topographical method this new procedure has a lower accuracy, but provides distributed daily measurements, spatially very dense over the entire landslide area. The multi-view configuration also allows the reconstruction and the update of the 3D surface of the landslide. This work presents some preliminary results obtained by applying this innovative technique to a complex landslide located in the municipality of Perarolo di Cadore (NE Italy), also known as Sant’Andrea landslide. The landslide is characterized by active slow movements involving detrital deposits, about 30 m thick, overlying gypsum-anhydrite rocks. Its activity is strongly correlated to both heavy and long-lasting rain events and to its particular geological conditions. Recently, the alternating phases characterized by slow movements and significant accelerations led to a progressive enlargement of the affected area. Three cameras installed on a stable slope facing the landslide allow to record the intermittent activity and the peculiar behaviour of different parts of the slope. The displacements thus obtained are also compared with those deriving from conventional techniques. Finally, the accuracy of this new method is discussed.

A historical building is often a vulnerable system exposed to multiple natural and/or anthropic hazards. It seems to be the case of the 1000-year-old leaning bell tower of Caorle (Venice), whose leaning angle increased during the XX century up to 1.4°. The main interactions between this building and its environment were studied by means of a cost-effective approach based on soil stratigraphy and geomorphological data, geophysical measurements, surveying and historical information on the bell tower and the landscape. The results suggest a probable connection between tilt and overexploitation of water resources in the mid-XX century for agricultural use. In order to exclude other factors, the soil-structure resonant coupling and the effects of the bell ringing were also studied. The results highlight the importance of geoenvironmental sciences in Cultural Heritage preservation. Moreover, the proposed approach can be easily used in every similar context and could be further developed.

A feasibility plan for the exploitation of low enthalpy geothermal resources at regional scale requires a map of the ground thermal conductivity. Available information often comes from heterogeneous well log data related to boreholes drilled for various purposes (e.g. irrigation) and whose spatial distribution is suboptimal. Therefore, a suitable interpolation technique is necessary. An approach based on local evaluation of the mode of distribution of the subsoil geological species is proposed here. It provides a stratigraphy model, the equivalent ground thermal conductivity and the corresponding statistical/geometrical significance in the nodes of a regular grid. Besides a validation with synthetic data of the MATLAB/GNU Octave implementation of the method (GRIDWELL toolbox), the results of its application to the data from Apulia's plain areas are shown here.

A seismic sequence that included a moment magnitude M W = 5.9 earthquake struck three regions of Northern Italy (Emilia Romagna, Veneto and Lombardy) in May–June 2012. The sequence caused significant damage to several historical buildings and in some cases caused complete structural collapse. Cracks appeared in the belfry and cusp of the 69 m high, ∼3° leaning bell tower of Ficarolo (Rovigo). A project aimed at studying the geometry of the tower, possible local seismic amplification and soil-structure interaction began in early 2013 before the earthquake. The data were provided by terrestrial laser scanning, low-cost operational modal analysis and geophysical measurements. The repetition of the surveys during and after the seismic sequence, which was augmented by thermal imaging measurements, allowed an evaluation of the changes caused by the earthquake. In addition to an evaluation of the damage, the data allowed the development of a method based on fast and relatively low-cost measurements that provide useful information for cultural heritage management purposes. The results highlighted that the surveys can be carried out during a seismic emergency and that preventive measures can be carried out under reasonable time and budget constraints in high seismic hazard areas.

Rock cliff monitoring to evaluate related rockfall hazard requires a deep knowledge of the geometry and kinematics of the rock mass and a real-time survey of some key features. If a sedimentary rock system has sloping discontinuity planes, an open joint could become a potential sliding surface and its conditions must be monitored. It is the case of the Passo della Morte landslide (Carnic Alps, Northeastern Italy), where sub-vertical joints exist. Remote sensing techniques such as terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) and infrared thermography (IRT) allow a fast and efficient contactless geometrical and geomechanical examination of a rock mass. Therefore, they can be used to recognize those joints that require monitoring with on-site instrumentation such as extensometers and/or inclinometers, or also acoustic emission sensors, aiding the arrangement of monitoring systems which are generally quite expensive to install. Repeated IRT surveys would provide useful information about the evolution of unstable slopes, thus suggesting how the on-site monitoring system could be improved. Moreover, data gathered by TLS and IRT can be directly used in landslide hazard assessment. In the test site, an open joint was recognized together with a fair joint that could change in the next future. The results were validated by means of extensometer data.

Determining the suitability of a local area at a regional or local scale for the geothermal application of low enthalpy systems requires the knowledge of rock thermal conductivity values to evaluate the possibility of low-enthalpy heat exchange. A digital cartographic tool is also needed to synthesize the thermal properties of the underground. This tool should be easily accessible and upgradeable and thus suitable for territorial planning and environmental control. In order to address these key issues, a methodological approach was developed within the framework of the national VIGOR Project, dedicated to evaluating the geothermal potential in southern Italy. In this paper the region of Calabria was selected as a case study. Around 70 samples that were representative of the main geological formations were collected from all over the area. Thermal property tests were carried out both in dry and wet conditions, using a thermal device in accordance with the modified transient plane source method. The thermal conductivity values were then compared with data from the international literature. In order to consider the influence of the entire stratigraphic sequence on the thermal conductivity parameters, a geostatistical analysis of the available lithostratigraphic data was performed using the MATLAB toolbox Modalstrata, specially developed for this purpose. A comprehensive geothermal subsurface characterization of Calabria was thus obtained. © 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

The romanesque-byzantine style, 1000 year old leaning bell tower of Caorle (Venice Province, Italy) is a unique masonry structure, characterized by single and double lancet windows harmonically distributed on a cylinder-shaped shaft surmounted by a conic cusp. A terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) survey was carried out in 2011 and some analyses were performed on the resulting point cloud to provide the following: bell tower leaning angle, wall inclination/tapering and radius, local deviation from circular shape, and local curvature. Emphasis was placed on the changes of these quantities with elevation. In order to perform these analyses, a MATLAB/Octave toolbox was developed and is available as supplementary material of this paper. In this way, a reliable picture of the current geometry of the bell tower was obtained. In particular, a correlation between leaning angle (average value 1.4° towards East-South-East) and some surface deformations and damage (bulges, brick displacements or also material loss) was found. These results are useful for cultural heritage preservation purposes.

Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) and structure-from-motion photogrammetry (SfM) can both provide dense and accurate point clouds. Therefore, they can be used to perform a morphological analysis of the façades of a masonry building, which relies on evaluation of the differences between the point cloud and a reference regular surface fitted to it. To compare TLS and SfM performance in morphological analysis, multimodal surveys were carried out on the square cross-section, 48-m-high Garisenda Tower in Bologna, Italy (reference surface: plane), and the circle crosssection, 42-m-high Caorle's leaning bell tower in Venice, Italy (reference surface:moving cylinder). The results show that the TLS- and SfM-based morphologies are qualitatively the same, and the relative differences are lower than 10%-20% under the condition that the viewpoint positions (VPs) are optimal. Also, the overall geometries are correctly described by both the techniques. The main conclusion is that, if no particular constraints exist (e.g., unavoidable suboptimal VPs, night surveys are needed, or trees hide the surface), TLS and SfM have similar performance in morphological analysis.

SUMMARY The monitoring of crustal motions in Northern Victoria Land (NVL) of Antarctica by means of episodic GPS stations (EGPSs) provides an accurate and dense (∼50-km spaced) velocity field. The data, gathered starting in Austral summer 1999, derive from a series of benchmarks belonging to the Victoria Land Network for DEFormation control (VLNDEF) geodetic network. The velocity uncertainties are checked on the basis of length and returning time of the episodic surveys, to obtain a meaningful strain rate field by means of a least-square computation where the contribution of a GPS station is weighted by the inverse square of its velocity error. The study shows that the NVL is characterized by a complex kinematics and that, although three subregions with different prevailing deformational behaviour can be recognized, the single blocks cannot be resolved because too few stations exist. Only features having 150–200 km size at least can be recognized. Moreover, it is demonstrated that an appropriate data processing of EGPS data can lead to an accurate evaluation of the strain rate field even in a harsh environment like Antarctica.

– The Omeonga ring structure (D.R. Congo) shows a remarkable drainage pattern encircling an area up to 45 km wide and encompassing a central smoothed relief 20 km wide. This inner circular ridge is elevated about 70 m above the ring depression corresponding to the bed of the Unia River, which flows between the inner ridge and an outer irregular ridge. Landsat 7 ETM and ASTER DEM show that the structural characteristics resemble those of several wide impact structures known on Earth. Other geological modes of origin that could produce ring structures, such as magmatic activity, salt diapirism, and karst dissolution have been considered. However, after evaluating the regional stratigraphy, the distribution of volcanism, and morphometry, these processes seem to be rather unlikely. If of impact origin, the age of the Omeonga structure can be constrained to the Late Cretaceous-Cenozoic according to the youngest units in which the ring structure was formed.

The Cinque Torri group (Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy) is an articulated system of unstable carbonatic rock monoliths located in a very important tourism area and therefore characterized by a significant risk. The instability phenomena involved represent an example of lateral spreading developed over a larger deep seated gravitational slope deformation (DSGSD) area. After the recent fall of a monolith of more than 10000m3, a scientific study was initiated to monitor the more unstable sectors and to characterize the past movements as a fundamental tool for predicting future movements and hazard assessment. To achieve greater insight on the ongoing lateral spreading process, a method for a quantitative analysis of rotational movements associated with the lateral spreading has been developed, applied and validated. The method is based on: i) detailed geometrical characterization of the area by means of laser scanner techniques; ii) recognition of the discontinuity sets and definition of a reference frame for each set, iii) correlation between the obtained reference frames related to a specific sector and a stable external reference frame, and iv) determination of the 3D rotations in terms of Euler angles to describe the present settlement of the Cinque Torri system with respect to the surrounding stable areas. In this way, significant information on the processes involved in the fragmentation and spreading of a former dolomitic plateau into different rock cliffs has been gained. The method is suitable to be applied to similar case studies. © 2010 Elsevier B.V.

A method conceived for automatic recognition of mass loss of concrete using data acquired by terrestrial laser scanner is presented here. The method is based on computation of mean and Gaussian curvatures of the surface and on piecewise comparison of the corresponding distributions, since these distributions strongly change if an area is affected by damage. This contactless damage recognition system, which could be applied together with other NDT techniques to provide a complete picture of the health of the observed structure, has been successfully applied to a concrete bridge. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Artificial targets are generally used in terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) practice for data georeferencing. This is because they are well recognized and modelled from the point cloud and their positions can be contemporarily measured by topographical techniques. The accuracy of target identification directly influences the georeferencing quality. In particular, retro-reflective materials can cause anomalies in range measurement due to the too high amplitude of the returned pulse. If the received pulse intensity exceeds the limits of the sensor dynamic range, the receiver saturates, producing a truncated pulse preventing the correct time-of-flight computation. A series of experiments was performed in order to test the performances of a specific instrument (Optech ILRIS 3D) for the acquisition of artificial targets made of retro-reflective material, resulting in very high reflectance. Dealing with ranges lower than about 300 m, two cases were clearly observed: the wrong distance measurement of points over high reflecting surfaces and the presence of haloes around these surfaces. Neglecting these phenomena has serious implications and can lead to wrong georeferencing. Experiments were executed and data was analysed, providing a qualitative and semi-quantitative phenomenon description. Finally, the design of a target that can be easily recognized and correctly modelled was proposed.

Terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) and interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) allow the acquisition of data on an observed surface with high spatial sampling rate. The data provided by TLS observation of a landslide ground surface can be used to generate a very detailed digital model of this surface, and multitemporal observations with TLS or continuous or multitemporal observation with InSAR can provide a reliable displacement map. In order to acquire useful information about the analogies, differences, and capabilities, as well as limitations of these techniques, a joint experimentation of TLS and InSAR was performed over two years in various sites in the Italian Alps. The results have indicated that these techniques can provide high-quality data, can be very useful in the monitoring intended for the mitigation of hydrogeological risk in a wide range of cases, and must be supported by a topographical georeferenced network.

Assessment and mitigation of the risk induced by landslide activation need an appropriate phenomenon investigation, to obtain useful information about the failure processes. The first step is the complete kinematics characterization of the landslide ground surface, by evaluating the involved displacement and deformation patterns. A dense displacement field can be obtained from comparison of a series of multi-temporal observations performed by means of terrestrial laser scanning. Subsequently, the strain field can be computed from displacement vectors. In this paper, a modified least square technique is employed to compute the strain on the nodes of a regular grid (2D approach) or on the points of a digital terrain model (3D approach). Such a computation takes into account the displacements, their spatial distribution, as well as the measurement and modelling errors. A scale factor is introduced in order to emphasize the contributions of the experimental points on the basis of their distance from each computation point, and to recognize possible scale-depending behaviours. This method has been implemented in Matlab and applied on two landslides located in the northeastern Italian Alps (Lamosano and Perarolo di Cadore). The experiments show that different kinematics can be recognized, and the presence and influence of eventual discontinuities can be revealed. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) allows the generation of a detailed model of a landslide surface. In this way, when two or more georeferenced models obtained by multi-temporal scans are available, the landslide displacement field can be computed. Nevertheless, such a computation is a relatively complex task because the recognition of correspondences among the multi-temporal models is required. The Iterative Closest Point (ICP) algorithm allows the alignment of two 3D objects having a common part by iterative shape matching. A new method for the automatic calculation of a landslide displacement field is presented here. It is based on a piecewise application of the ICP algorithm and is made possible by the robustness of this algorithm against noise and small morphological modifications. After a series of numerical experimentations, this method was successfully applied to two test sites located in the North-Eastern Italian Alps affected by high-risk landslides of the slump type (Perarolo di Cadore and Lamosano) with very different observational conditions.

An empirical method aimed at generating maps of potential of geothermal energy exchange for shallow vertical closed-loop systems is proposed here. The method uses both geological and technological information. In particular, the ground parameters that mainly influence the heat transfer in borehole heat exchangers, the energetic parameters driving efficient operations of geothermal systems and heating and cooling requirements of a typical residential building are taken into account. Spatial modeling is carried out in a Geographic Information System leading to an effective and easy-to-use digital cartographic tool. An application of the method to four regions of southern Italy is also shown. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Tectonic pseudotachylytes might be used to constrain earthquake source parameters, such as dynamic shear stress resistance, average dynamic friction and slip-weakening distance. Estimation of dynamic shear stress resistance and dynamic friction from field studies is based on the assumption that the volume of melt produced during coseismic slip is proportional to the frictional work converted to heat on the fault surface. Conditions conducive to a realistic estimate of dynamic shear resistance are: (i) the presence of large outcrop exposures that allow for estimation of the volume of pseudotachylyte; (ii) the presence of structural markers offset by faults in order to relate the displacement accommodated by the fault with the volume of melt produced; (iii) data that provide an estimate of the initial melt temperature; and (iv) determination of host-rock temperature and pressure conditions that may have existed during seismic faulting. An independent indication that steady-state friction in the presence of melts might be achieved during coseismic slip arises from the dependence of the fractal dimension of the fault profile (intersection of the fault surface with the outcrop surface) with displacement. This relation could also indicate the slip-weakening distance (Hirose, T., Shimamoto, T., 2003. Fractal dimension of molten surfaces as a possible parameter to infer the slip-weakening distance of faults from natural pseudotachylytes. Journal of Structural Geology 25, 1569-1574). The above conditions are all satisfied in the case of the Gole Larghe Fault Zone, which consists of hundreds subparallel strike-slip faults that cut tonalites of the Adamello batholith (Italy). The thickness of pseudotachylyte-bearing faults increases with displacement. From displacement/thickness ratios and energy balance calculations, we determined the dynamic shear resistance for several pseudotachylyte-bearing faults. In the same faults, the fractal dimension of the fault profile increases from 1.0 to 1.16 with displacement. This was also observed in experiments where steady-state friction in the presence of melt was achieved (Hirose, T., Shimamoto, T., 2003. Fractal dimension of molten surfaces as a possible parameter to infer the slip-weakening distance of faults from natural pseudotachylytes. Journal of Structural Geology 25, 1569-1574). However, we will show that the estimate of the dynamic shear stress resistance, average dynamic friction and slip-weakening distance in the studied faults is limited by the uncertainties to attribute the measured displacement to a single seismic rupture. Since many pseudotachylytes in the upper seismogenic crust overprint preexisting cataclasites, it is suggested that future field and experimental work should be addressed to determine microstructural indicators (i.e. evolution of cataclastic fabric with displacement) within cataclasites, which might constrain the contribution of the cataclastic, pre-pseudotachylyte displacement to the total displacement accommodated by the fault. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Infrared thermography (IRT) can be used in remote recognition of potential weakening features of a rock cliff like shallow holes, high fracturing, moisture or material inhomogeneities, providing useful information for the corresponding rock mass geo-engineering characterization. A method aimed at such a recognition is proposed here together with its MATLAB implementation (IRTROCK package). It is based on the acquisition of a series of IRT images during the night-time cooling of a rock mass and on the search for possible anomalous thermal transients. The IRT alone is unable to completely characterize a rock mass; a meaningful interpretation of the results requires a geological on-contact survey or other on-contact or contactless techniques. Nevertheless, the results obtained in a portion of the cliff, where a detailed study with other techniques has been carried out, can be advantageously extended to the whole cliff. Moreover, the IRT measurements can be easily and safety repeated over time to evaluate possible changes that affect the studied rock mass. The effectiveness of the proposed approach has been verified in two test sites. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.

A novel procedure for estimating the geothermal energy exchanged by a unit volume was tested in northern Sicily (Italy), where public well data for depicting the complex geological setting were insufficient. An airborne electromagnetic survey was carried out in 2011, providing a 3D cell distribution of resistivity values. The integrated analysis of geological and resistivity data was used to identify six Litho-Electrical Units and to build a 3D geological model. This model was integrated with laboratory thermal conductivity measurements on rock samples, and was used to characterize the heat exchange at depths of up to 200 m, which in turn can be exploited for planning and designing geothermal heating and cooling plants using GSHP (Ground Source Heat Pump).