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Increasing demand for freshwater requires the identification of additional and less-conventional water resources. Amongst these, offshore freshened groundwater is considered a new opportunity to face increasing water demand and has been studied in different parts of the world. Here we focus on the north-eastern Adriatic Sea, where offshore aquifers could be present as a continuation of onshore aquifers. Geophysical data, especially offshore seismic data, as well as onshore and offshore well data were integrated and interpreted to characterize the hydrogeological setting via the interpretation of seismo-stratigraphic sequences. Two areas located in the proximity of the Tagliamento and Isonzo deltas were studied. Well and seismic data suggest that Quaternary sediments, extending from onshore to offshore areas, represent the most promising from an offshore freshwater resources point of view. Firstly, onshore well data confirm the presence of freshwater aquifer systems in proximity to the coastline, supporting the hypothesis of their continuation offshore. Secondly, during the glacial periods, a drop in sea level (about -120 m with respect to today during the Last Glacial Maximum ), provided the total emergence of the northern Adriatic Sea, that represented a fluvial plain, allowing the storage of freshwater. Moreover, a lower sea level position could lead to a higher groundwater gradients towards offshore areas. On the contrary, during the interglacial ones, the sea level was some meters higher than the present one (about +8 m during the last transgression in the Middle/Late Pleistocene), with mainly starved conditions. During the deglaciation phases, the fluvial drainage fed by melting glaciers produced the deposition of sediment above the plain. Below these sediments, the several kilometres thick pre-Quaternary carbonate and terrigenous sequences seem to host mainly salty waters.

Conventional multichannel surveys provide good images in 2D and 3D of the Earth in depth, which are successfully used for the oil and gas industries. However, their cost and environmental impact make them rarely affordable for engineering applications, especially for offshore infrastructures. In this case, monochannel systems, such as Boomers, having cables that are a few-meters long, provide time-domain images that are useful but miss relevant lithological information for engineers, such as the P-wave velocity of shallow layers. In this paper, we present a tomographic approach that exploits multiple reflections, in addition to primaries and direct arrivals, which work for monochannel surveys with a short offset. It can detect lateral variations of velocity and thickness of the first layer under the sea floor. Two complementary algorithms are compared: a pure tomographic inversion, and a tuning exploiting the classical Dix formula; the first one is more precise, while the second is more robust with respect to noise. A two-step inversion with incidence-angle parametrization performs slightly better than a single-step algorithm based on the direct traveltime inversion. We validate the method by synthetic and real data examples.

Lago Argentino hosts a series of calving glaciers originating from the Southern Patagonian Icefield, the largest temperate ice cap of the southern hemisphere. Brazo Rico and Brazo Sur are two basins located in the southern part of Lago Argentino, where a series of high-resolution seismic profiles have allowed reconstruction of its depositional setting and sedimentary architecture, and to produce the following maps: top of the acoustic basement, top of the glacial sequence, and thickness of the glacio-lacustrine deposits. Data reveal the role of basement highs in the complex dynamic behavior of the two main glaciers, Perito Moreno and Frías glaciers, which fluctuated along Brazo Rico and Brazo Sur since the end of the Last Glacial Maximum. Their advances and retreats are testified by the presence of several moraine fronts buried beneath a generally undisturbed, glacio-lacustrine and lacustrine sequence, which records the depositional history of the southern arms of Lago Argentino. Fil: Lozano, Jorge Gabriel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Donda, Federica. Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale; Italia Fil: Bran, Donaldo Mauricio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Lodolo, Emanuele. Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale; Italia Fil: Baradello, Luca. Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale; Italia Fil: Romeo, Roberto. Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale; Italia Fil: Vilas, Juan Francisco A.. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Grossi, Maurizio. Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale; Italia Fil: Tassone, Alejandro Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina

The outer Fuegian fold and thrust belt is the deformed sector of the Austral-Magallanes Basin, which underwent a contractional phase since the Late Cretaceous and a strike-slip phase during the Neogene. The area hosts two Neogene basins (Yehuin and Chepelmut) which have been mainly developed by the influence of wrench deformation, and were subsequently modified by glacial activity of the Ewan and Fuego glacier lobes of the Fagnano palaeoglacier. Geophysical surveys using Electrical Resistivity Tomography, onland shallow seismic surveys, and magnetometry, have been combined with outcrop analysis and deep seismic lines to recognize both shallow and intermediate deep structures related to the lacustrine basins. Four sets of faults with different deformation history were involved in the basin genesis. Comparison with the Deseado Fault Zone indicates similarities of the structural features between the two zones. The stress field interpreted as responsible for the origin of the studied basins is analogous to the one in the Deseado valley, located in the western Tierra del Fuego. Therefore, a transcurrent fault zone, here named Yehuin–Chepelmut Fault Zone, is proposed as part of the diffuse boundary between South America and Scotia plates.

Following the large 1982 Ancona landslide, which affected a densely populated district with many man-made infrastructures, a big effort was made by the scientific community to study the area and a great amount of geophysical and geotechnical data were acquired. The region is part of the external domain of Central Apennine resulted by Neogene compressive deformations. The tectonic processes have resulted in instabilities along the entire central Adriatic coasts of Italy, marked today by large-scale gravitational phenomena. An early Pleistocene regional uplift formed a slope subject to glacioeustatic sea-level oscillations, with erosion and water infiltration, favouring instability and movements under the action of gravitational driving forces. Sliding surface formation and roto-translational displacements have occurred until the recent reactivations of earth-flows and chaotic mounds at the slope break in correspondence with the formation of the Peri-Adriatic basin. In this paper, we present images of seismic sections obtained from the processing of two sea-land reflection profiles and offshore very high-resolution prospecting. Our paper intends to reinforce the importance of a multi-disciplinary approach integrating geophysical data to geological, morphological and engineering methods. The seismic survey of the two sea-land sections considered a joint land–sea acquisition to image the subsurface in the transitional zone. Composite sections were obtained from the processing of differently recorded sub-datasets, which depended on the type of land and marine sources and sensors in combination with the unique frequency content, source strength and noise, such as the propagation of surface-waves or air-gun bubbles. The properly acquired and processed data yielded post-stack migrated depth converted seismic sections, reflecting interfaces down to approximately 1400 m depth, where the top of Messinian evaporites has been encountered. The final sections reveal the deep structural settings and the importance of the still active anti-Apennine transfer faults.The offshore Boomer high-resolution profiles show only the near sea-bottom sequences. These fluvio-deltaic Plio-Quaternary deposits represent the final filling phase of the foreland basins, exposed to sub-aerial erosion during the last glacial period and to submersion during the subsequent sea-level rise of approximately 120 m.The final sections reveal the deep structural settings and the importance of the still active anti-Apennine transfer faults.

The Port of Trieste is an international hub for land and sea trade with the dynamic markets of central and eastern Europe. Thanks to its deep natural draft (about 18 m), the modern high‐capacity vessels can moor to the piers. In view of the foreseen increase in maritime traffic, this harbour is undergoing modernization in order to improve the commercial traffic capability. In this expansion plan, the container Trieste Marine Terminal, Pier VII, is seeking an extension by about 200 m. In support of this feasibility study, multidisciplinary data acquisition was conducted in order to characterize the seabed, the sub‐bottom sediments and the bedrock (flysch formation) in front of the Trieste Marine Terminal. The acquisition of high‐resolution swath bathymetry, side‐scan sonar and magnetometer data allowed a detailed analysis of the seabed conditions from an environmental and safety perspective. High‐resolution seismic reflection data enabled us to characterize the Plio‐Quaternary soft sediments and the underlying bedrock. A static underwater refraction survey was performed using hydrophone array deployed on the sea bottom to obtain seismic velocities and to achieve a reliable time‐to‐depth conversion of reflection seismic data by first‐arrival tomographic inversion. In addition to geophysical investigations, 11 offshore boreholes were drilled for detailed logging. In situ standard penetration tests were performed on core samples with the use of a pocket penetrometer and pocket vane in order to obtain uniaxial compressive strength, undrained shear strength and undrained cohesion values, and assess the cohesive soils. During drilling, 17 undisturbed samples and 12 semi‐disturbed samples were extracted to perform laboratory tests for the identification of the principal geotechnical parameters. The goal was to obtain a reliable geological/geotechnical model in front of the Trieste Marine Terminal – from the seabed to the bedrock. Below the seafloor, a sequence of about 20–30 m thickness, containing Plio‐Quaternary soft sediments, overlies the flysch, which locally presents alteration with rocks of reduced quality. The geophysical–geotechnical integrated approach allowed us to identify and map the top of the bedrock and provided valuable information for planning the pier extension project.

The processing of Chirp data is limited by the usual recording of the signal envelope, which enhances its immediate visibility but prevents applying methods based on wave equations. This is normally not the case for Boomer data. However, both systems are monochannel instruments, which cannot estimate properly the propagation velocity of the signal in the rocks. In this paper, we present two theorems: the first one links the Chirp or Boomer source spectrum with an expected amplitude decay curve; the second one defines conditions for the deconvolution stability of the enveloped Boomer signal when the full waveform of the source signal is known. In this way, we can jointly process and integrate heterogeneous surveys including both data types. We validated the proposed algorithms by applying them to synthetic and real data. The presented tools can improve the image resolution and the characterization of geological formations in marine surveys by reflectivity anomalies, which are distorted by standard equalization methods.

We present a high-resolution swath bathymetric and backscatter map of the entire sector of the Marine Reserve Area (MRA) of the Asinara Island, along with a geological and sediment thickness map derived from the interpretation of a large set of high-resolution seismic profiles, and an airborne-derived hyperspectral image of the Asinara Island. Acquired data show that most of the eastern marine sector of the Asinara Island is characterized by quite gentle bathymetric gradients, whereas the western coastline appears to be very indented, with an articulated and rough morphology of the seafloor, which deepens sharply towards the open sea. The maps presented in this study at the 1:50.000 scale do not only provide the first, high-resolution bathymetry of the MRA of the Asinara Island but also may furnish the base for the creation of a benthic habitat map and a more comprehensive maritime spatial planning of this protected area.

We present the results of a geophysical study carried out in the Isonzo Plain (NE of Italy), where the Paleogene External Dinarides and the Neogene eastern Southern Alps merge. We aim to provide imaging on the geological and tectonic setting in the area of convergence of the two chains. To this purpose multichannel seismic and geo-electrical profiles were acquired. Seismic processing and tomographic inversion of the first arrivals of multichannel seismic data were performed, allowing us to define geometries and velocities of the buried structures.Our data indicate the occurrence of a deformed Dinaric foredeep due to the Paleogene south-west migration of the External Dinaric chain and to the Neogene tectonic activity of the S-verging eastern South-Alpine chain. In addition, Plio-Quaternary transpressional fault systems produced structural highs such as the rocky outcrop of the Farra Hills rising from the plain. Plio-Quaternary tectonic activity displaced the late Miocene - Pliocene erosive surface at the top of the terrigenous sediment that fills the foredeep. The imaging of the buried structures provide a possible correlation with those outcropping in the Collio Hills and Karst Plateau.

Chirp technology is an acoustic tool for imaging the shallow seabed with a high resolution, used for investigations of modern to Quaternary sedimentary structures and processes and more applied goals, such as hazard surveys for drilling, archeology, geology or engineering fields. In this paper, we present new methods that improve such imaging. During the standard acquisition, the Chirp waveforms are converted into analytic signals and only their envelope is preserved and interpreted, because the highly oscillating signal is otherwise difficult to be identified visually. Doing so, however, the phase information is lost, and the final processing is limited mainly to simple time-varying gain recovery or filtering. We present a work flow including a derivative step to transform the enveloped signal into a seismic-like waveform. In this way, we can apply processing tools as FX deconvolution and migration to improve the signal/noise ratio and reduce diffractions. This method allows reviving standard and legacy Chirp data where the full-waveform information is missing.

The Maltese Islands (central Mediterranean Sea) are intersected by two normal fault systems associated with continental rifting to the south. Because of a lack of evidence for offshore displacement and insignificant historical seismicity, the systems have been considered to be inactive. Here we integrate aerial and marine geological, geophysical and geochemical data to demonstrate that: (i) the majority of faults offshore the Maltese Islands underwent extensional to transtensional deformation during the last 20 ka, (ii) active degassing of CH4 and CO2 occurs via these faults. The gases migrate through Miocene carbonate bedrock and the overlying Plio-Pleistocene sedimentary layers to generate pockmarks at the muddy seafloor and rise through the water column into the atmosphere. We infer that the offshore faults systems are permeable and that they were active recently and simultaneously. The latter can be explained by a transtensional system involving two right-stepping, right-lateral NW-SE trending faults, either binding a pull-apart basin between the islands of Malta and Gozo or associated with minor connecting antitethic structures. Such a configuration may be responsible for the generation or reactivation of faults onshore and offshore the Maltese Islands, and fits into the modern divergent strain-stress regime inferred from geodetic data., peer-reviewed

We carried out new geological, morphotectonic, geophysical and paleoseismological investigations on the Meduno Thrust that belongs to the Pliocene-Quaternary front of the eastern Southern Alps in Friuli (NE Italy). The study area is located in the Carnic Prealps, where a series of alluvial terraces, linked to both climatic and tectonic pulses characterises the lower reach of the Meduna Valley. In correspondence of the oblique ramp of the Meduno Thrust, the Late Pleistocene Rivalunga terrace shows a set of scarps perpendicular to the Meduno valley, often modified by human activity. In order to reconstruct the tectonic setting of the area and identify the location for digging paleoseismological trenches, integrated geophysical investigations including electrical resistivity tomography, seismic refraction and reflection, ground penetrating radar and surface wave analyses (HVSR, ReMi and MASW), were carried out across the scarps of the Rivalunga terrace. Geophysical surveys pinpointed that in correspondence of the oblique ramp, stress is accommodated by a transpressive thrust system involving all the seismo-stratigraphic horizons apart from the ploughed soil. Trenching illustrated the Meduno Thrust movements during Late Pleistocene-Holocene. Trenches exhibited both shear planes and extrados fracturing, showing deformed alluvial and colluvial units. 14C datings of the colluvial units show that the most recent fault movements occurred after 1360 CE and 1670 CE. The age of the deformed stratigraphic units compared with the earthquakes listed in current catalogues, suggests that the 1776 earthquake (Mw 5.8, Io = 8–9 MCS) could represent the last seismic event linked to the Meduno thrust activity. This study provided new quantitative constraints improving seismic hazard assessment for Carnic prealpine area.

Summary High-density multicomponent acquisition is perceived as the holy grail of land seismic, however, 3C is rarely considered when surveys are planned mainly because of the cost and bulkiness of 3C nodes and also the lack of land processing examples that could justify such spent, especially when it can be directed towards more proven benefits like increased trace density. Ironically, the availability and affordability of 3C data play a crucial role in developing the processing technology that could promote the acquisition of more 3C land surveys. The recent evolution in onshore nodal technology has brought to the market a variety of nodes of different sizes, shapes, and sensor types, some are small and light enough that even if combined in a 3C configuration remain smaller and lighter than a purpose-built 3C node. Acquiring a 1C, 2C or 3C survey with the same node’s inventory could be very attractive and could incite more users to attempt a 3C acquisition. In this paper, we demonstrate how piezoelectric nodes can be used in a 3C combination by comparing them to established geophone 3C sensors in a 2d S-wave survey. We also discuss the benefits and inconveniences of a such approach in land acquisition.

The shallow P velocity provides relevant information for offshore engineers, in planning pipelines, piers, and platforms. Standard multichannel surveys trailing long cables provide good estimates but may require stopping other ongoing operations or may affect the environment. Monochannel surveys by Boomer systems involve a very short cable, so those drawbacks are minimized; however, this comes at the cost of loss of information for estimating the P velocity of shallow layers. In this paper, we present a new method exploiting multiple reflections for characterizing the seafloor. After validation of the algorithm by a synthetic example, we tested this approach in a marine survey acquired by a Boomer system at the Gulf of Trieste (Italy).

Perito Moreno is the most famous calving glacier of the South Patagonia Icefield, the largest temperate glacier system of the Southern Hemisphere. Unlike most of the glaciers in the region that have strongly retreated in recent decades, the position of Perito Moreno glacier front remained relatively unchanged in the last century. However, earliest photographic documents show that, at the end of the nineteenth century, the front was ca. 800 m behind the current position. There is no reliable information about the positions of the Perito Moreno front in earlier times. Here we show evidence of two subaqueous moraine systems both in the Canal de Los Témpanos and in the Brazo Rico, the two arms of Lago Argentino along which Perito Moreno glacier has flowed over time. These moraines, identified for the first time in the Canal de Los Témpanos from bathymetric and high-resolution seismic profiles, mark the position of the largest glacier advance, tentatively correlated with the moraines of the “Herminita advance” identified and dated onland. We interpret these bedforms as the evidence of the most pronounced advance of Perito Moreno glacier during the mid-Holocene cooling event that characterized this sector of the Southern Hemisphere. This study highlights the importance of subaqueous glacial bedforms, representing decisive records of the glacial history and palaeoclimate, which could help unveiling the origin of the different behavior of glaciers like Perito Moreno that in a warming climate are relatively stable. Fil: Lodolo, Emanuele. Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografa e di Geofsica Sperimentale ; Italia Fil: Donda, Federica. Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografa e di Geofsica Sperimentale ; Italia Fil: Lozano, Jorge Gabriel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Baradello, Luca. Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografa e di Geofsica Sperimentale ; Italia Fil: Romeo, Roberto. Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografa e di Geofsica Sperimentale; Italia Fil: Bran, Donaldo Mauricio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Tassone, Alejandro Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina

The role of applied geophysics for the new scenario of the increasing global urbanization is going to grow day by day. In this scenario a detailed knowledge of the geological subsoil and its iteration with urban infrastructures became a fundamental issue for urban planning. A novel sub-discipline, called Urban Geophysics (Lapenna, 2017) , has recently been developing in the field of geophysics for analyzing limits and potentialities of well-known geophysical techniques in urban and industrialized areas. The application of some geophysical methods allows the recognition of geological structures from near surface down to more several hundred meters. The urban environment, characterized by a difficult logistic and a high level of noise, has a strong impact on the applicability of the geophysical prospecting methods and on the data quality.This paper presents the results obtained by Deep Electrical Resistivity Tomography (DERT) and P-wave seismic reflection surveys performed in the city of Ferrara, which is interested in the management of geothermal resources and in the mitigation of seismic risk (CLARA-“Cloud Platform and smart underground imaging for natural risk assessment” Project funded by Italian MIUR). Along the eastern flank of the city walls, DERT and Reflection Seismic profiles were carried out in order to improve the geological information of the urban context.DERT applications are not very common and there are only few published examples. It consists to inject direct current (square wave) into the ground, depending on the arrangement of the input points and the electrical resistivity of the subsoil, the shape of the electric field that is measured at the surface. The peculiarity of the DERT is the use of large electrode distances (>200 m) and long profiles (>3000 m) in order to reach large investigation depths (>300 m).Seismic reflection investigations offer a powerful non‐invasive tool suitable for mapping the subsurface geological framework from the very near‐surface to hundreds of metres below surface. Recently several seismic surveys was performed in urban environment by using frequency-controlled vibroseis sources both in P- and SH-wave.Along the eastern flank of the city walls, a DERT (5500m long) and a reflection seismic (2500m acquired by a MiniVib source in P-wave configuration) profiles were carried out in order to improve the geological information of the urban context. The joint interpretation of DERT and seismic data allowed to reconstruct the 'local' stratigraphic-depositional evolution until a depth of about 1 km, and to highlight the occurrence of a sin-depositional Quaternary tectonic tilting associated to the growth of a fault-propagation fold.

Seismic microzonation represents a basic tool for prevention activity planning and land management. An extensive and detailed microzonation study was performed with reference to the territory of the Municipality of Cavezzo, damaged during the seismic sequence hitting Emilia-Romagna Region, Northern Italy, in 2012. In this paper, we discuss the work carried out to characterize the spatial variability of ground motion amplification due to local soil conditions in the municipality area. An inter- and multi-disciplinary approach is presented, involving geotechnical engineers, geophysicists, geologists and seismologists from different institutions, to thoroughly characterize the territory using complementary techniques with different level of resolution and confidence. A considerable amount of geomorphological, geological, hydrogeological, seismological, geotechnical and geophysical investigations was collected and processed for the purpose. A GIS-based (Geographic Information System) platform was initially setup to manage the gathered data, which now includes the results of about 1000 geotechnical and geophysical tests. Such an extended dataset was then used as a primary constraint for the creation of a comprehensive pseudo-3D geotechnical and seismo-stratigraphic model of the territory, consisting of a dense grid of one-dimensional vertical profiles to depict the variability of the soil properties over the area. The model was finally used as input for linear-equivalent ground response analysis. For the calculation of the amplification factors, special emphasis was given to the treatment and propagation of the uncertainties of the model parameters, whose different realizations have been accounted through a logic tree approach.

We performed a geophysical survey in Mirabello, a village of Emilia Romagna Region of Northern Italy, to study the soil affected by the ML 5.9 earthquake of 2012, specifically the formation of surface ruptures by sand ejection due to the liquefaction of shallow subsurface layers. The investigation was carried out using ground penetrating radar and seismic reflection/refraction techniques. This work confirms the importance of electromagnetic waves to map the shallow subsurface extent of fractures and liquefied sand bodies, while the high-resolution seismic reflection profile allowed us to map the fractures at depth. The result obtained by tomographic inversion of first arrivals of seismic data has been compared with a ground penetrating radar section acquired in the same place, furnishing complementary information for the interpretation of the section.

El lago Yehuin, una cuenca elongada de rumbo ONO-ESE localizada en la faja plegada y corrida externa de los Andes Fueguinos, ocupa una depresión compartimentada originada a lo largo de un segmento del sistema de fallas sinistrales del lago Deseado. Este trabajo describe un primer relevamiento geofísico llevado a cabo en el lago. Los datos de sísmica monocanal de alta resolución, integrados con información geológica de los alrededores del lago Yehuin, permitieron: (i) producir un mapa de la batimetría completa del lago, (ii) reconstruir la superficie del basamento del lago, y (iii) analizar la geometría, distribución y espesor del relleno sedimentario. Se reconocieron dos subcuencas dentro del lago Yehuin: una subcuenca oeste de 7,5 km de largo, con una profundidad máxima de 118 m; una subcuenca este de 7,2 km de largo y una profundidad máxima de 80 m. Ambas subcuencas están limitadas por un conjunto de fallas normales que cortan a una serie de corrimientos de vergencia NE. Se identificaron tres unidades sismo-estratigráficas en el registro sísmico: (1) una unidad inferior con geometría acuñada interpretada como depósitos de remoción en masa; (2) una unidad intermedia gruesa (de hasta 120 m) de origen glaciolacustre e irregularmente distribuida en la cuenca del lago; (3) una unidad superior lacustre delgada (

Lago Chepelmut is a relatively small lake in size, of ellipsoidal shape, located in the outer fold-and-thrust belt of the Fuegian Andes (southernmost South America). High-resolution single-channel seismic profiles, integrated with geological information in the surrounding area, have allowed to reconstruct for the first time a bathymetric map of the lake and the architecture, distribution and thickness of the sedimentary cover. Two main seismic units were identified in the seismic records: (i) a Lower Unit of glacial nature, likely associated to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), and irregularly distributed through the basin, and (ii) an Upper Unit of lacustrine origin which drapes the entire basin. Submerged moraine deposits within the lake were also found from seismic data, and correlated with moraine arcs widespread distributed in the surroundings of the basin. These morphologies represent the recessional deposits left by the Ewan glacier lobe, one of the easternmost fronts of the Tierra del Fuego glaciers during the LGM. The lacustrine sedimentary record shows that the lake level was not constant through the recent history of the lake. Moreover, data analysis has shown that there is also an important structural component that has conditioned the evolution of the basin, in addition to that linked to glacial activity. Fil: Lozano, Jorge Gabriel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Tassone, Alejandro Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Bran, Donaldo Mauricio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Lodolo, Emanuele. Istituto Nazionale Di Oceanografia E Di Geofisica Sperimentale; Fil: Menichetti, Marco. Università di Urbino; Italia Fil: Cerredo, Maria Elena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Esteban, Federico Damián. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Ormazabal, Juan Pablo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Isola, José Ignacio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Baradello, Luca. Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale; Italia Fil: Vilas, Juan Francisco A.. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina

The Sicilian Channel is a broad and shallow shelf which is geologically part of the African Plate. Its NW sector (the Adventure Plateau), where water depths rarely exceed 100 m, is punctuated by several kilometre-sized morphological highs. These elevations, formed by both sedimentary and volcanic rocks, emerged around middle Holocene time or earlier when they constituted a large archipelago. High-resolution single-channel and multichannel seismic reflection profiles, along with stratigraphic and lithological information derived from exploration wells and rock samplings, are analysed to derive the shallow and deep structural setting of these banks and identify their geological nature. The sedimentary banks (Talbot, Ante-Talbot, Panope, Nereo and Pantelleria Vecchia), presently located at water depths 8–40 m, are composed of Miocene rocks severely deformed by a late Miocene compressional phase which produced the external sector of the Sicilian–Maghrebian thrust belt. Tortonian-aged rock samples from the Pantelleria Vecchia Bank represent patch reefs that have mostly formed on structural highs. Sedimentary analogies suggest that other sedimentary banks of the Adventure Plateau may have the same origin. Galatea, Anfitrite and Tetide represent submarine volcanic edifices emplaced on major extensional faults formed during early Pliocene – Quaternary continental rifting of the Sicilian Channel. The present-day morphology of the banks is the result of repeated phases of subaerial exposure and drowning, especially since the Last Glacial Maximum.

The rise in sea level following the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) radically altered pre-existing geography, pushing back the former shorelines. The effect of this eustatic change was particularly intense and dramatic in flat lands and shelves, such as the Sicilian Channel. High-resolution bathymetric maps and Chirp seismic profiles analyzed in this study show that the Sicilian Channel, now lying at depths rarely exceeding 150 m, has emerged several times during its geological history. The last emergence was during the Early Holocene, when kilometre-sized islands punctuated the north-western sector of the Sicilian Channel, the Adventure Plateau, forming a broad archipelago. Many of these islands, now located in water ranging in depth from − 10 to − 40 m, are composed of highly deformed Neogene sedimentary rocks (Talbot, Ante-Talbot, Nereo, and Pantelleria Vecchia banks), while others represent submarine Pleistocene volcanic edifices (Galatea, Anfitrite and Tetide banks). Sedimentary cover in all of these banks is virtually absent. High-resolution seismic profiles allowed the identification of post-LGM morphological markers associated with the marine transgression, some of which are characterized by melt water-pulses, as demonstrated by the presence of specific and distinct erosional features. Combining swath bathymetric data with the seismic profiles, we have generated two palaeogeographic maps of the former Adventure Archipelago at two specific time frames: (1) at the end of the Younger Dryas stadial (11,500 yr B.P., corresponding to a former sea level of − 60 m), and (2) at the end of the melt-water pulse 1B (11,200 yr B.P., corresponding to a former sea level of − 42 m). Maps clearly show that in just 300 years the geography of the archipelago has changed dramatically, so much so that some islands have disappeared and some have decreased by more than 80% of their pre-Younger Dryas size.

Summary In this work we present an application of cluster analysis on seismic and electrical data with the aim to identify the important structures present in the investigated area. To define the clusters we use the cross-plot representation of sesmic velocity vs. resistivity, obtained from the travel time tomography and the Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) respectively. The seismic and electrical data were acquired in four 2D lines. The studied area belongs to the Quaternary front of the eastern Southern Alps in Northeastern Italy, characterized by the presence of a tectonic actvity which caused deformation of the Upper Pleistocene — Holocene deposits. The applied method allowed us to separate the zones with similar seismic and electrical properties to better distinguish the different structures buried in the investigated area. The results point out a discontinuity in the shallow structures, which testifies the presence of an important fault, assumed to exist in this area.

We provide a model for the genesis of Holocene coralligenous buildups occurring in the northwestern Adriatic Sea offshore Venice at 17-24 m depth. High-resolution geophysical surveys and underwater SCUBA diving reconnaissance revealed meandering shaped morphologies underneath bio-concretionned rocky buildups. These morphologies are inferred to have been inherited from Pleistocene fluvial systems reactivated as tidal channels during the post-Last Glacial Maximum transgression, when the study area was a lagoon protected by a sandy barrier. The lithification of the sandy fossil channel-levee systems is estimated to have occurred at ca. 7 cal. ka BP, likely due to the interaction between marine and less saline fluids related to onshore freshwater discharge at sea through a sealed water-table. The carbonate-cemented sandy layers served as nucleus for subsequent coralligenous buildups growth., Contiene material complementario: consultar en https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-01483-z#Sec5, Centro de Investigaciones Geológicas

A 3D active and passive seismic survey was carried over an aquifer in Italy. We used 1-component vertical receiv ers in a fine areal g rid of 100x100 m. Furthermore, two orthogonal linear profiles were acquired with 3-component receivers, recording the signal of a directional vibrator in the x, y and z direction, so getting a 9-component wave field. The data allow studying the elastic propagation effects o f seismic waves in the aquifer, getting independent measurements of direct P, SH and SV arrivals. The elastic parameters they provide allow exploiting the Rayleigh wave velocities obtained by passive seismic for aquifer monitoring. © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of WDSA 2014.

In the framework of WAter Re-BOrn Project a large pond in Mereto (upper Friuli plain) was chosen as artificial recharge test site. Several geophysical investigations (GPR, Electrical Resistivity Tomography and High Resolution Seismic) were carried out to study and to characterize the vadose zone of this large infiltration basin. These geophysical integrated methods supplied us many information to characterize the vadose zone and the unconfined aquifer in the study area. The geophysical information greatly reduces the hydrogeological knowledge gaps and was used to improve the three-dimensional Finite Element numerical model to predict the effect of the artificial recharge.

Within the central Mediterranean, the northwestern sector of the Sicily Channel is the unique area where two independent tectonic processes can be analyzed: the building of the Sicilian–Maghrebian Chain occurred in Late Miocene and the continental lithospheric rifting of the northern African margin occurred since Early Pliocene. These two geodynamic processes generated a peculiar structural style that is largely recognizable in the Adventure Plateau. This plateau is the shallowest part of the Sicily Channel, where water depths do not generally exceed 150 m. It hosts several areas of geomorphic relief, which in some cases rise up to less than 20 m beneath sea-level. A series of submarine magmatic manifestations occur in this area, mainly associated with the extensional phase which produced the rift-related depressions of Pantelleria, Malta and Linosa. Seismic-stratigraphic and structural analyses, based on a large set of multichannel seismic reflection profiles and well information acquired mostly for commercial purposes in the 1970s and 1980s, have allowed us to reconstruct the Triassic-Quaternary sedimentary succession of the Adventure Plateau and define its structural setting. A broad lithological distinction can be made between the successions ranging from Triassic to Paleogene, predominantly carbonate, and the successions ranging from Miocene to Quaternary, predominantly siliciclastic. Three main structural belts have been identified within the Adventure Plateau: (1) the northern belt, affected during Late Miocene time by ESE-verging thrusts belonging to the External Thrust System orogenic domain, which represents the lowermost structural level of the Sicilian–Maghrebian Orogen; (2) the Apenninic–Maghrebian domain of the Sicilian–Maghrebian Orogen, which occupies the northwestern sector of the Adventure Plateau, and that is overthrusted on the External Thrust System orogenic domain during the Late Miocene; (3) the extensional belt of the southwestern sector of the Adventure Plateau, affected by broad NW-trending, high-angle normal faults associated with the Early Pliocene continental rifting phase. The eastern boundary of the Adventure Plateau corresponds to a broadly N–S trending lithospheric transfer zone separating two sectors of the Sicily Channel characterized by a different tectonic evolution.

Vibroseis is a source used commonly for inland seismic exploration. This non-destructive source is often used in urban areas with strong environmental noise. The main goal of seismic data processing is to increase the signal/noise ratio where a determinant step is deconvolution. Vibroseis seismic data do not meet the basic minimum-phase assumption for the application of spiking and predictive deconvolution, therefore various techniques, such as phase shift, are applied to the data, to be able to successfully perform deconvolution of vibroseis data. This work analyzes the application of deconvolution techniques before and after cross-correlation on a real data set acquired for high resolution prospection of deep aquifers. In particular, we compare pre-correlation spiking and predictive deconvolution with Wiener filtering and with post-correlation time variant spectral whitening deconvolution. The main result is that at small offsets, post cross-correlation spectral whitening deconvolution and pre-correlation spiking deconvolution yield comparable results, while for large offsets the best result is obtained by applying a pre-cross-correlation predictive deconvolution.

In this study the potential of combining high-resolution hydraulic tomographic and geophysical tomographic measurements to define site-specific relationships between geophysical and hydraulic parameters was investigated. We exploit the high-spatial resolution of hydraulic and geophysical tomographic images to define a representative and reliable site-specific relationship, if it exists, over an area, where geophysical and hydraulic tests are performed. The parameters involved in this study were: seismic P-wave velocity derived from seismic tomography; resistivity and electrical conductivity derived from electrical tomography (ERT); diffusivity, hydraulic conductivity and specific storage derived from hydraulic tomography. We derived a site-specific correlation function between the parameters P-wave velocity and diffusivity that shows the highest correlation of all hydraulic and geophysical parameter combinations. The transformation of the P-wave velocity field into a diffusivity field using the estimated site-specific correlation function allowed us to increase the significance of hydraulic tomographic as well as seismic tomographic measurements with respect to the spatial diffusivity distribution in the near subsurface.