Fabio Villani

• PhD
• Researcher at Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia

In the Eastern Alps, the indentation of the Adriatic promontory since the Cenozoic affected the kinematics of separate crustal domains bounded by faults that accommodate lateral extrusion processes and differential shortening. Deciphering the pattern of crustal stresses in the orogen interior is challenging, due to the lack of in situ stress measur...

The island of Malta (central Mediterranean) is dissected by several WSW-trending fault-line valleys related to Miocene-Pliocene extensional tectonics. Some valleys host remnants of alluvial deposits that could provide information on possible Quaternary faulting, but the thickness of these deposits and their subsurface extent is poorly constrained....

This study employs a multimethod approach to investigate the sediment distribution in two pocket beaches, Ramla Beach and Mellieha S Beach, in Malta. Both study sites were digitally reconstructed using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry. For each case, an ERT and a dense network of ambient seismic noise measurements processed through a ho...

We present the first high-resolution ultrashallow seismic image of a normal fault segment that ruptured the surface during the Mw 6.5 2016 Norcia earthquake (central Italy). This is the only fault, in the entire activated 25 km-long system, cutting a thick succession of Quaternary deposits, with an associated 3-m-high cumulative scarp. A 190-m-long...

At Mt. Etna (Italy), volcano‐tectonic earthquakes produce impressive surface faulting despite their moderate magnitude (M < 5.5), with historically well‐documented ruptures featuring end‐to‐end lengths up to 6–7 km. The 26 December 2018, Mw 5.0 earthquake represents the strongest event of the last 70 years, with ground ruptures extending for 7.5 km...

In recent decades, geological modeling has significantly evolved, relying on the growing potential of hardware and software to manage and integrate vast datasets of 2D-3D geophysical underground data. Therefore, digitization and integration with other forms of data can often improve understanding of geological systems, even when using so-called vin...

The footwall of the surface rupturing Paganica normal fault, the source of the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake (Mw 6.1) in the Central Apennines (Italy), was investigated using integrated geological and geomorphological approaches. The aim was to constrain the active tectonics by studying the Raiale River that orthogonally crosscuts the fault trace, where...

We present the first seismic reflection images of the Paganica and Bazzano basins, two tectonic basins developed in the hanging wall of the Paganica‐San Demetrio Fault System, the causative fault of the 2009 Mw 6.1 L'Aquila earthquake, Italy. Five high‐resolution seismic profiles were acquired along a main, 7 km long transect cutting across the str...

The Vettore–Bove normal fault system in central Italy ruptured during the 2016 MW 6.5 Norcia earthquake causing extensive surface faulting. At the Pian Grande di Castelluccio hanging wall basin, along the southern section of the fault ruptured during the MW 6.5 mainshock, we performed a high‐resolution seismic reflection/refraction experiment aimed...

We investigated the late Quaternary throw distribution of the main normal fault that ruptured during the Mw 6.52016 earthquake in central Italy by means of a high-resolution structure-from-motion (SfM)-derived Digital Surface Model (DSM). We focused on a key area along the Cordone del Vettore fault (CDV), which is part of the Vettore-Bove fault sys...

We provide the first 3‐D resistivity image of the Pian Grande di Castelluccio basin, the main Quaternary depocenter in the hangingwall of the Mt.Vettore–Mt. Bove normal fault system (VBFS), responsible for the October 30, 2016 Mw 6.5 Norcia earthquake (central Italy). The subsurface structure of the basin is poorly known, and its relation with the...

The RETRACE-3D project (centRal italy EarThquakes integRAted Crustal model) focused on the revision of all the available geological and geophysical data in the area interested by the 2016-2018 seismic sequence of central Italy, with the final aim to reconstruct a reliable and consistent 3D geological model of that area. It is based on a collaborati...

We provide a database of the surface ruptures produced by the 26 December 2018 Mw 4.9 earthquake that struck the eastern flank of Mt. Etna volcano in Sicily (southern Italy). Despite its relatively small magnitude, this shallow earthquake caused about 8 km of surface faulting, along the trace of the NNW-trending active Fiandaca Fault. Detailed fiel...

The Mw 6.1 (6 April 2009) L’Aquila (Italy) earthquake occurred in one of the most seismically active areas of central Italy and was preceded by a three-month-long foreshock period. Thanks to recordings by a regional permanent network, we derive for the first time P- and S-wave velocity tomographic models of a major fault prone to an imminent main s...

We present a 1:10,000 scale map of the coseismic surface ruptures following the 26 December 2018 Mw 4.9 earthquake that struck the eastern flank of Mt. Etna volcano (southern Italy). Detailed rupture mapping is based on extensive field surveys in the epicentral region. Despite the small size of the event, we were able to document surface faulting f...

The 26 December 2018 Mw 4.9 earthquake occurred at shallow depth (<1 km) on the eastern flank of Mount Etna and it was the strongest seismic event to hit this volcanic area during the past seventy years. The earthquake caused severe damage up to VIII degree EMS [Quest WG, 2019] and impressive surface faulting effects along the Fiandaca Fault (FF),...

We integrate paleoseismic data sets along the Mt. Vettore‐Mt. Bove normal fault system rupturing at the surface in the 30 October 2016 Norcia earthquake. Through the analysis of new trenches from this work and a review of the preexisting data, we correlate events among trench sites along antithetic and synthetic fault splays. We recognize seven M 6...

La sequenza sismica Amatrice-Visso-Norcia (AVN s.s. nel seguito) include il terremoto più forte avvenuto negli ultimi 30 anni in Italia ed è caratterizzata da molteplici eventi di magnitudo superiore a 5.0. La sequenza sismica è iniziata il 24 agosto 2016 con due terremoti di Mw 6.0 e Mw 5.4 nella zona di Amatrice (RI) ed è proseguita con altri due...

Nel primo quadrimestre 2018 si sono verificati in Italia cinque eventi di magnitudo superiore o uguale a 4.0, di cui nessuno di magnitudo superiore a 5.0. Due di essi, avvenuti il 4 (MW 4.0) e il 10 aprile (MW 4.6), hanno interessato la zona della sequenza dell’Italia centrale, in provincia di Macerata. Un terremoto di magnitudo MW 4.3 è avvenuto i...

Nel secondo quadrimestre 2018 si sono verificati in Italia cinque eventi di magnitudo superiore o uguale a 4.0, di cui uno di magnitudo superiore a 5.0. Tre di essi, avvenuti il 14 (MW 4.6) e il 16 agosto (MW 5.1 e MW 4.4), hanno interessato la provincia di Campobasso, ad una profondità di circa 20 km. Due terremoti profondi, avvenuti il 14 luglio...

Nel secondo quadrimestre 2017si sono verificati cinqueeventi di magnitudo superioreo uguale a 4.0,dei quali nessuno di magnitudo superiore a 5.0. Uno di questi, avvenuto il 21 agosto,pur essendo di magnitudo Md=4.0 (Mw=3.9) ha causato gravi danni nell’isola di Ischia.L’evento più forte del quadrimestre è un terremotoprofondo (ipocentro a profondità...

Nel terzoquadrimestre 2017si sono verificati dueeventi di magnitudo superioreo uguale a 4.0,dei qualinessuno di magnitudo superiore a 5.0. L’evento più forte,verificatosi il 19 novembre in provincia di Parma,è stato dimagnitudo MW=4.4eparametri ipocentralicon coordinate geografiche (44.66N,10.03E)eprofondità di22 km. Unsolo evento di magnitudo MW=4...

We present the first high-quality catalog of early aftershocks of the three mainshocks of the 2016 central Italy Amatrice-Visso-Norcia normal faulting sequence. We located 10,574 manually picked aftershocks with a robust probabilistic, non-linear method achieving a significant improvement in the solution accuracy and magnitude completeness with res...

An Mw 6.1, devastating earthquake, on April 6, 2009, struck the Middle Aterno Valley (Abruzzi Apennines, Italy) due to the activation of a poorly known normal fault system. Structural analysis of the fault population and investigation of the relationships with the Quaternary continental deposits through integrated field and laboratory techniques we...

In the original version of the Data Descriptor the surname of author Anne Socquet was misspelled. This has now been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the Data Descriptor. Some authors were also not appropriately associated with their affiliations in the HTML version, due to formatting errors made by the publisher. This has now been correcte...

La sequenza sismica Amatrice-Visso-Norcia (AVN s.s. nel seguito) include il terremoto più forte avvenuto negli ultimi 30 anni in Italia ed è caratterizzata da molteplici eventi di magnitudo superiore a 5.0. La sequenza sismica è iniziata il 24 agosto 2016 con due terremoti di Mw 6.0 e Mw 5.4 nella zona di Amatrice (RI) ed è proseguita con altri due...

The Pian Grande di Castelluccio (PGC) basin is the main Quaternary depocenter of the Mt. Vettore‐Mt. Bove normal fault system (VBFS), responsible for the 30 October 2016 Mw 6.5 Norcia earthquake (central Italy). Coseismic surface faulting through the basin attests the occurrence of active splays of the seismogenic master fault; thus, we explore the...

La sequenza sismica Amatrice-Visso-Norcia (AVN.s.s nel seguito) include il terremoto più forte avvenuto negli ultimi 30 anni in Italia. La sequenza sismica è iniziata il 24 agosto 2016 con due terremoti di Mw 6.0 e Mw 5.4 che hanno provocato ingenti danni e 294 morti; questi eventi sono stati seguiti da migliaia di aftershocks. Altri due terremoti...

I parametri dei terremoti registrati dalla Rete Sismica Nazionale Italiana, localizzati nella sala di monitoraggio di Roma, sono immediatamente disponibili sul web alla pagina http://cnt.rm.ingv.it/ e nell’Italian Seismological Instrumental and parametricData-base (ISIDe working group (2016) version 1.0, DOI: 10.13127/ISIDe). Gli analisti del Bolle...

The RETRACE-3D (centRal italy EarThquakes integRAted Crustal model) Project has been launched to build a new 3D geological model of the area struck by the 2016-2018 Central Italy seismic sequence, blending together in a synergic way the multi-disciplinary skills of a large community of researchers and experts of several research institutes (CNR-IGA...

The Valle Umbra is a NW-SE 20 km long and 10 km wide Quaternary alluvial basin located in the internal sector of the active extensional tectonic Apennine chain, central Italy. This area historically suffered major earthquakes such as in 1832 (ME=6.3; I0=X) and 1854 (Me=5.6; I=VIII), both localized in the valley. It was marginally affected by the se...

Key Points We analyze the surface ruptures of the 30 October 2016 M w 6.5 Norcia normal‐faulting earthquake in central Italy The heterogeneity of surface slip, with peaks up to 2.10 m, is controlled by the coseismic rupture process at depth The scaling properties and the complexity of surface slip reveal processes of fault segmentation and strain l...

We conducted paleoseismic studies along the Montereale fault system (MFS - central Italy). The MFS shows geomorphological evidence of Late Quaternary activity and falls within the highest seismic hazard zone of central Apennines, between the epicentral areas of two recent earthquake sequences: 2009 L’Aquila and 2016-2017 central Italy. We excavated...

The Amatrice-Visso-Norcia seismic sequence is the most important of the last 30 years in Italy. The seismic sequence started on 24 August, 2016 and still is ongoing in central Apennines. At the end of February 2017 more than 57,000 events were located, 80,000 events up to the end of September 2017 (Fig. 1). The mainshocks of the sequence occurred o...

We provide a database of the coseismic geological surface effects following the Mw 6.5 Norcia earthquake that hit central Italy on 30 October 2016. This was one of the strongest seismic events to occur in Europe in the past thirty years, causing complex surface ruptures over an area of >400 km2. The database originated from the collaboration of sev...

We present a 1:25,000 scale map of the coseismic surface ruptures following the 30 October 2016 M w 6.5 Norcia normal-faulting earthquake, central Italy. Detailed rupture mapping is based on almost 11,000 oblique photographs taken from helicopter flights, that has been verified and integrated with field data (>7000 measurements). Thanks to the comm...

We study the October 30th 2016 Norcia earthquake (MW 6.5) to retrieve the rupture history by jointly inverting seismograms and coseismic GPS displacements obtained by dense local networks. The adopted fault geometry consists of a main normal fault striking N155°and dipping 47° belonging to the Mt. Vettore-Mt. Bove fault system (VBFS) and a secondar...

The Victoria Lines Fault (island of Malta) is a >15 km-long and N260°-striking segmented normal fault-system, which is probably inactive since the late Pliocene. In the westernmost part, the Fomm Ir-Rih segment displays comparable geologic throw and escarpment height (~150–170 m), moreover its hangingwall hosts thin patches of Middle Pleistocene cl...

This paper follows a previous issue of Miscellanea INGV [Emergeo Working Group, 2017] dedicated to the seisms-geological effects produced by the 24 August 2016 Amatrice earthquake. In this work, we present a collection of pictures showing the geological effects produced on either the natural or the built environment by the late October 2016 Visso a...

This paper follows a previous issue of Miscellanea INGV [Emergeo Working Group, 2017] dedicated to the seisms-geological effects produced by the 24 August 2016 Amatrice earthquake. In this work, we present a collection of pictures showing the geological effects produced on either the natural or the built environment by the late October 2016 Visso a...

Soil liquefaction can result in significant settlement and reduction of load-bearing capacity. Moreover, the generation of pore pressure during an earthquake and its post-seismic dissipation can generate permanent deformations and settlements. The quantitative evaluation of post-liquefaction settlements is of extreme importance for engineering purp...

We report the results of a shallow electrical resistivity investigation performed across a normal fault that ruptured the surface displacing with average ~ 0.05 m vertical offset alluvial fan deposits (< 23 kyr old) within an intermontane fault-bounded basin following the 30 October 2016 Mw 6.5 earthquake in central Italy. We adopted a multi-scale...

On 24 August 2016, a Mw 6.0 normal-faulting earthquake struck central Italy, causing about 300 fatalities and heavy damage. A geological survey collected the coseismic effects observed at the surface in order to evaluate two competing hypotheses about their nature: surface faulting versus gravitational deformation. We find that the most significant...

We applied a joint survey approach integrating time domain electromagnetic soundings and single-station ambient vibration surveys in the Middle Aterno Valley (MAV), an intermontane basin in central Italy and the locus of the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake. By imaging the buried interface between the infilling deposits and the top of the pre-Quaternary be...

Alle 18.55 UTC del 16 gennaio 2016 è stato registrato dalla Rete Sismica Nazionale1 (RSN, http://doi.org/10.13127/SD/X0FXNH7QFY) dell’Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) un terremoto di magnitudo locale (M ) 4.1 (magnitudo momento M 4.3) ben risentito in gran parte delle province di Campobasso e di Isernia e in alcune zone delle p...

Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and magnetometric surveys are extensively used for environmental investigations of uncontrolled landfills, where the presence of waste with potential contaminants and metal objects requires a detailed characterization and monitoring of their subsurface location. Capacitively-coupled resistivity (CCR) measurem...

We present a 2-D subsurface image of the Paganica Fault from a high-resolution refraction tomography and detailed geological investigation carried out across part of the north-western segment of the 20 km-long Paganica – San Demetrio fault-system, and which was responsible of the 6 April 2009 Mw 6.1 L’Aquila earthquake (central Italy). We acquired...

Since the beginning of the ongoing Amatrice seismic sequence on August 24, 2016, initiated by a Mw 6.0 normal faulting earthquake, the EMERGEO Working Group (an INGV team devoted to earthquake aftermath geological survey) investigated coseismic effects on the natural environment. Up to now, we surveyed about 750 km2 and collected more than 3200 geo...

We performed geophysical investigations in the northwestern sector of the island of Malta to reconstruct velocity-depth models and provide shear-wave velocity profiles. We have chosen two sites, one located in Rabat (Malta) and another in the Golden Bay area. We used both active (seismic and electrical 2D-tomography, Multichanel Analysis of Surface...

The poster resumes the results of high-resolution seismic reflection profiling across Bazzano and Paganica Basin and across the shallow segments of the Paganica-S. Demetrio Fault, which has been indicated as the causative fault of the 6th April 2009 (Mw 6.3) earthquake. The seismic data were collected along four dense wide-aperture profiles, that r...

On August 24, 2016 (01:36 GMT) a Mw 6.0 normal faulting earthquake struck central Italy causing nearly 300 casualties and severe damage in several historical towns (Amatrice, Arquata del Tronto, Accumoli, Pescara del Tronto among others). Since the beginning of the seismic sequence on August 24, 2016, the National Seismic Network run by INGV locali...

Three 2-D Deep Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) transects, up to 6.36 km-long, were obtained across the Paganica-San Demetrio Basin, bounded by the 2009 L'Aquila Mw 6.1 normal-faulting earthquake causative fault (central Italy). The investigations allowed defining for the first time the shallow subsurface basin structure. The resistivity ima...

InSAR images showed that the 2009 Mw=6.1 normal faulting L'Aquila earthquake (Abruzzi region, central Italy) produced a maximum co-seismic subsidence of ca. 24 cm in the epicentral area. We report new results about the stratigraphic architecture of this area by means of the integration of geophysical and stratigraphic data from a new 151 m deep bor...

This 2 days-long field trip aims at exploring field evidence of active tectonics, paleoseismology and Quaternary geology in the Fucino and L’Aquila intermountain basins and adjacent areas, within the inner sector of Central Apennines, characterized by extensional tectonics since at least 3 Ma. Each basin is the result of repeated strong earthquakes...

The Piano di Pezza fault is the central section of the 35km long L’Aquila-Celano active normal fault-system in the central Apennines of Italy. Although palaeoseismic data document high Holocene vertical slip rates (∼1mm yr−1) and a remarkable seismogenic potential of this fault, its subsurface setting and Pleistocene cumulative displacement are sti...

An extensive geological, geotechnical and geophysical investigation was performed in L’Aquila city centre to restore Palazzo Centi, a historical building, damaged by the April 6, 2009 L’Aquila earthquake. This site investigation consisted of punctual and linear tests that allowed to define a detailed 3D model of the subsoil, irregularly affected by...

The Piano di Pezza fault is the north-westernmost segment of the >20 km long Ovindoli-Pezza active normal fault-system (central Italy). Although existing paleoseismic data document high vertical Holocene slip rates (~1 mm/yr) and a remarkable seismogenic potential of this fault, its subsurface setting and Pleistocene cumulative displacement are sti...

Poster presentation

Heki [2011] and Heki and Enomoto [2013] claimed that anomalous, yet similar, increases of ionospheric Total Electron Content (TEC) started ~40 minutes prior to the 2011 Tohoku-Oki, as well as before other Mw>8 earthquakes. The authors concluded that the reported TEC anomalies were likely related to the pending earthquakes, suggesting also that TEC...

Imaging the three-dimensional architecture of the Middle Aterno basin (2009 L'Aquila earthquake, Central Italy) using ground TDEM and seismic noise surveys: preliminary results Abstract: We present preliminary results from a multidisciplinary geophysical approach applied to the imaging of the three-dimensional architecture of the Middle Aterno basi...

The normal fault-system responsible of the 2009 Mw 6.1 L'Aquila earthquake (Paganica- San Demetrio fault-system) comprises several narrow, fault-parallel valleys of controversial origin. We investigated a key section of the southeastern portion of this fault network along the small Verupola Valley. In order to characterize its nature and possible t...

The surface rupturing 2009 L’Aquila earthquake evidenced the limited knowledge of active faults in the Middle Aterno Valley area. Gaps in detailed mapping of Quaternary deposits and tectonic landforms did not trigger researches on active faults, but after the tragic event. We present a morphotectonic study of geometry and evolution of the activated...

We present a new 1:25,000-scale geological map of the Middle Aterno Valley basin, the epicenter of the 2009 L'Aquila MW 6.1 earthquake. This earthquake highlighted the incomplete understanding of the geology of the area, in particular the Quaternary continental deposits and active tectonics, which caused the Paganica fault system to be ignored by r...

Seismic hazards in extensional regions are mostly posed by high-angle normal faults and deep hanging-wall basins that can promote significant ground motion amplifications. Characterized by strong lateral velocity variations, these structures represent challenging targets for seismic exploration. In this paper, we show that pre-stack depth migration...

In this paper we present the geological effects induced by the 2012 Emilia seismic sequence in the Po Plain. Extensive liquefaction phenomena were observed over an area of �1200 km2 following the 20 May, ML 5.9 and 29 May, ML 5.8 mainshocks; both occurred on about E–W trending, S dipping blind thrust faults. We collected the coseismic geological ev...

We present a collection of pictures of the coseismic secondary geological effects produced on the environment by the 2012 Emilia seismic sequence in northern Italy. The May-June 2012 sequence struck a broad area located in the Po Plain region, causing 26 deaths and hundreds of injured, 15.000 homeless, severe damage of historical centres and indust...

We present a collection of pictures of the coseismic secondary geological effects produced on the environment by the 2012 Emilia seismic sequence in northern Italy. The May-June 2012 sequence struck a broad area located in the Po Plain region, causing 26 deaths and hundreds of injured, 15.000 homeless, severe damage of historical centres and indust...

We present a collection of pictures of the coseismic secondary geological effects produced on the environment by the 2012 Emilia seismic sequence in northern Italy. The May-June 2012 sequence struck a broad area located in the Po Plain region, causing 26 deaths and hundreds of injured, 15.000 homeless, severe damage of historical centres and indust...