The survey and mapping of sand-boil landforms related to the Emilia 2012 earthquakes: Preliminary results

After a large earthquake, a lot of coseismic phenomena can occur in the field, and the spatial distribution is very important to understand the fault geometry. In this framework, the application of terrestrial photogrammetry is a less expensive and more rapid method to map the micro-morphology of sand volcanoes, compared to (terrestrial/aerial) laser scanning. The centimetric DEMs obtained can be processed and correlated with other datasets later, to create a complete geodatabase of coseismic features. The 3D reconstruction of sand boils and cracks can be of great interest for geomorphological research, as well as for the documentation of coseismic features. A detailed 3D database of landforms that are so ephemeral can also provide a more useful comparison with paleo-forms that are now buried by sediments.