Alessandro La Rosa

Verified

Alessandro verified their affiliation via an institutional email.

Learn more

Verified

Alessandro verified their affiliation via an institutional email.

Learn more

• PhD
• PostDoc Position at University of Pisa

p>During the evolution of continental rift systems, extension is thought to progressively focus in-rift to the future breakup boundary while faults along the rift margins progressively deactivate. However, observational constraints on how strain is partitioned between rift axis and rift margins are still lacking. The Afar rift records the latest st...

Studying the mechanisms of interaction between rift segments is key to understanding the kinematics of plate boundaries in continental rifts. However, the spatial and temporal evolution of deformation at rift linkage zones is rarely observed directly. Here, we combine InSAR data spanning 2005–2010 and 2014–2019 from ENVISAT and Sentinel‐1 satellite...

At mature magma‐rich continental rifts, extension focuses along discrete axial segments where magmatism and diking are important in accommodating plate divergence. However, the role of magma in influencing the deformation at rift–rift offsets is still unclear as direct observations are rare. Here, we exploited high‐resolution Pléiades‐1 tri‐stereo...

In magma‐rich rifts, normal faulting is commonly thought to be induced by dike intrusions. However, whether fault slip occurs purely tectonically is unclear. An earthquake sequence starting with a Mw 5.5 earthquake occurred in December 2022 in northern Afar, a continental rift near breakup. InSAR measurements show that seismicity was caused by norm...

Decades of studies at divergent plate margins have revealed networks of magmatic sills at the crust-mantle boundary. However, a lack of direct observations of deep magma motion limits our understanding of magma inflow from the mantle into the lower crust and the mechanism of sill formation. Here, satellite geodesy reveals rift-scale deformation cau...

Plain Language Summary The continents on Earth move away from each other forming a rift valley. It is commonly accepted that the rift valley forms from fracturing of the Earth, forming geological faults which make a low lying downfaulted rift valley. The fracturing and faulting cause the rift to get wider through time. However, many rift valleys su...

Plain Language Summary Rifts are places where tectonic plates move away from each other. They normally start as short, isolated features, and then grow and connect together to eventually form oceans. Central Afar in East Africa is a great location to study how these rifts form and grow by connecting with other rifts. In this area, the Red Sea (RS)...

The failure of underground cavities and the formation of sinkholes is a major risk at both active and dismissed mining areas. However, while ground deformation related to most active mines is constantly monitored today, the ground instabilities around historical and dismissed mining areas often remain disregarded. Here, we combined a multidisciplin...

Rift-Rift-Rift triple junctions are regions where three plates interact, generating complex networks of variably oriented faults. While the geometry of the fault networks is easily constrained from their surface expression, what remains unclear is how the kinematics of faults and their interactions vary spatially, and how these relate to the unusua...

We used teleseismic receiver function analysis to image the crustal structure beneath 24 broadband seismic stations densely deployed along two profiles traversing different structural units across the western Afar margin. Our high-resolution receiver function results image pronounced spatial variations in the crustal structure along the profiles an...

Extensional plate boundaries are segmented by offsets that transfer extension between the ends of adjacent portions of the rift by linkage zones ranging in width from a few tens of km to several hundreds of km. However, the kinematics of linkage zones is poorly constrained as direct observations are difficult to make. Here we combine InSAR, seismic...

Sinkhole collapse is a major hazard causing substantial social and economic losses. However, the surface deformations and sinkhole evolution are rarely recorded, as these sites are known mainly after a collapse, making the assessment of sinkhole-related hazard challenging. Furthermore, more than 40 % of the sinkholes of Italy are in seismically haz...

Sinkhole collapse is a major hazard causing substantial social and economic losses. However, the surface deformations and sinkhole evolution are rarely recorded, as these sites are known mainly after a collapse, making the assessment of sinkholes-related hazard challenging. Furthermore, 40 % of the sinkholes of Italy are in seismically hazardous zo...