Franz Livio

• Ph.D.
• Professor (Associate) at University of Insubria

We present the first paleoseismological results along the Fiandaca Fault, the source of the 26 December 2018, Mw 4.9 Fleri earthquake. We excavated two exploratory trenches along the coseismic surface ruptures at the Collegio Fiandaca site. Analysis of trench walls allow identifying, besides the 2018 event, two historical surface faulting events. T...

Damage induced by the 2016-2017 seismic sequence to building and infrastructural heritage in Central Italy was locally associated with the major evidence of surface faulting. This confirmed the relevant impact that surface faulting processes can have in urbanized areas and amplified the need to consider them in reconstruction planning, promoting Se...

In view of the ever-increasing global energy demands and the imperative for sustainability in extraction methods, this article surveys subsidence monitoring systems applied to oil and gas fields located in offshore areas. Subsidence is an issue that can harm infrastructure, whether onshore or especially offshore, so it must be carefully monitored t...

This study explores the seismotectonics of Kachchh in western India, a region with a low-to-moderate strain rate and a history of significant earthquakes, notably the 1819, Mw 7.8 Allah Bund, and the 2001, Mw 7.6 Bhuj. Despite its substantial seismic risk, comprehensive studies on Kachchh’s seismogenic sources are scarce. This is attributed to the...

We delve into the transition between the Paleozoic Variscan cycle and the Meso-Cenozoic Alpine supercontinent cycle, both of which have played a pivotal role in shaping the central European-Mediterranean plate's architecture. Our focus is on the European western Southern Alps (Varese Area, N Italy), where we documented the tectonic events occurred...

Ultra-high pressure (UHP) units sample the deepest portion of a subduction zone that returned to the surface, escaping their fate of disappearing deep into the mantle. Several mechanisms have been proposed for the exhumation of UHP units in collisional orogens but the topic remains still controversial and poorly understood. The models invoked for t...

In the period of October–December 2019, the Cotabato–Davao del Sur region (Philippines) was hit by a seismic sequence comprising four earthquakes with magnitude MW > 6.0 (EQ1-4; max magnitude MW 6.8). The earthquakes triggered widespread environmental effects, including landslides and liquefaction features. We documented such effects by means of fi...

Heavy rainfall is a major factor for landslide triggering. Here, we present an inventory of 47,523 landslides triggered by two precipitation episodes that occurred in May 2023 in the Emilia-Romagna and conterminous regions (Italy). The landslides are manually mapped from a visual interpretation of satellite images and are mainly triggered by the se...

Low-deformation regions are characterized by long earthquake recurrence intervals. Here, it is fundamental to extend back the record of past events as much as possible to properly assess seismic hazards. Evidence from single sites or proxies may be not compelling, whereas we obtain a more substantial picture from the integration of paleo- and arche...

In Central Italy, the damage induced by the 2016-2017 seismic sequence to the building andinfrastructural heritage and the need to consider the surface fault rupture hazard in thereconstruction process incentivized Seismic Microzonation studies focused on capable faults.The presence of capable faults, that produced dislocation of the ground surface...

Earthquake Environmental Effects (EEEs) are macroseismic data that can be effectively integrated in the evaluation of past seismicity, and to depict possible scenarios of earthquake-induced effects. EEEs are particularly effective in the setting of the Mt. Etna volcano, where seismic events cause extensive surface faulting, typically strictly relat...

The Western Alps are one of the most studied exhumed subduction-accretionary complexes worldwide. Ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphism has been documented there since the 1980s. We now report the first discovery of coesite in the meta-ophiolitic suite of the Monviso Massif, corresponding to the fourth UHP unit defined on the Western Alps. Previous...

Low-deforming regions are characterized by long earthquake recurrence intervals; thus, it is fundamental to extend back as much as possible the record of past events. Evidence from single sites or proxies may be not compelling, whereas a more substantial picture may be obtained from the integration of paleo- and archaeo-seismic evidence at multiple...

Surface faulting is a common phenomenon for crustal earthquakes and is an important source of localized hazard to buildings and infrastructure. Nevertheless, not all earthquakes of a given magnitude generate surface faulting. To correctly assess the hazard posed by surface fault displacement, it is critical to use reliable regressions of the likeli...

In the period of October – December 2019, the Cotabato – Davao del Sur region (Philippines) was hit by a seismic sequence comprising four earthquakes with magnitude M W > 6.0 (EQ1-4; max magnitude M W 6.8). The earthquakes triggered widespread environmental effects, including landslides and liquefaction features. We documented such effects by means...

Surface faulting is a common phenomenon of crustal earthquakes and is an important source of localized danger to buildings and infrastructure, such as hospitals and nuclear power plants. Therefore, the study of this impactful phenomenon is very relevant. However, not all earthquakes generate surface faulting, even considering a "threshold magnitude...

Fault creep along the lower eastern flank of Mt. Etna volcano has been documented since the end of the 19th century and significantly contributes to the surface faulting hazard in the area. On 29 October 2002, during a seismic swarm related to dyke intrusions, two earthquakes caused extensive damage and surface faulting in an area between the Santa...

Scenari di ricostruzione delle interazioni uomo-ambiente-clima in Lombardia (N-Italia) dal Paleolitico medio all’età del Ferro Characterising key issues in human–environment interactions in Lombardy (N-Italy) from the Middle Paleolithic to the Iron Age. - This contribution aims to provide an updated and concise overview of the main events and devel...

Characterising key issues in human–environment interactions in Lombardy (N-Italy) from the Middle Paleolithic to the Iron Age. - This contribution aims to provide an updated and concise overview of the main events and developments characterising the interaction between human communities and their environment in Lombardy (Northern Italy) between the...

We developed a high-resolution magnetochronology of the Pleistocene stratigraphy of the Monte Netto hillock, a tectonically uplifted structure in the Po Plain of northern Italy. Our data allowed reconstructing the depositional age of the sequence and assessing rates of deformation and rock uplift of the neotectonic structure, thus providing constra...

Surface faulting is a common phenomenon for crustal earthquakes and is an important source of localized hazard for buildings and infrastructures. The assessment of this hazard is based on empirical datasets. The reference dataset was created almost 30 years ago (Wells and Coppersmith, 1993); we believe it is now timely an update of the dataset and...

Fault creep along the eastern flank of Mt. Etna volcano has been documented since the end of the 19th century and significantly contributes to the surface faulting hazard in the area. On 29 October 2002, during a seismic swarm related to dyke intrusions, two earthquakes caused extensive damage and surface faulting along the eastern flank of the vol...

The Western Alps are one of the most studied exhumed subduction-accretionary complexes worldwide. Ultra-high pressure (UHP) metamorphism has been documented therein since the 1980’s. We now report the first discovery of coesite in the meta-ophiolitic suite of the Monviso Massif, corresponding to the fourth UHP unit defined on the Western Alps. Prev...

Surface faulting is a common phenomenon for crustal earthquakes and is an important source of localized hazard for buildings and infrastructures. The assessment of this hazard is based on empirical datasets. The reference dataset was created almost 30 years ago (Wells and Coppersmith, 1993); we believe it is now timely an update of the dataset and...

The first occurrence of ultra-high-pressure (UHP) metamorphism in the Western Alps was documented by Chopin in 1984 (Chopin, 1984) with the discovery of coesite in the southern Dora Maira massif. Since then, just one additional UHP terrain was discovered until the end of the 90's. In recent times, new occurrences of coesite have been reported in di...

This work reconstructs the evolution of a source-to-sink system in a transpressional setting from compositional changes within its deep-water clastic offshoots. Field-based clast counts on 10 conglomerate beds of three transects, combined with petrographical and mineralogical (XRD) analyses on 14 samples, have been used to integrate the already-exi...

Fault creep along the eastern flank of Mt. Etna has been documented since the end of the 19th century (Rasà et al., 1996; Azzaro et al., 2012) and significantly contributes to the surface faulting hazard in the area. On 8 February 2022, an episodic aseismic creep occurred along the Scalo Pennisi Fault (ITHACA Working Group, 2019) close to the Santa...

We investigated the Mt. Peron niche area of the Masiere di Vedana rock avalanche (BL), one of the major mass movements that affected the Eastern Southern Alps in historical times. So far, a geomechanical characterization and a stability analysis of the niche area, where potential rockfall sources are present, are lacking. The Mt. Peron niche area i...

Triggering mechanisms and causative processes of deep-seated gravitational slope deformations (DSGSD) in Alpine and high mountain areas include, among others, post-glacial de-buttressing, earthquake-induced ground shaking, or co-seismic surface faulting. Distinguishing between climatic or tectonically driven factors is challenging since faults and...

The Environmental Seismic Intensity scale (ESI-07), published 15 years ago under the umbrella of INQUA (In-ternational Union for Quaternary Research), is solely based on earthquake effects on the natural environment. ESI-07 provides complementary information with respect to other macroseismic scales, in particular those stemming from the original M...

On December 26, 2018 (2:19 UTC), during a volcanic eruption on the Mt. Etna eastern flank (Sicily, southern Italy), the largest instrumental earthquake ever recorded in the volcano ruptured the Fiandaca Fault, with epicenter between Fleri and Pennisi villages (hypocenter at ca. 300 m a. s. l., Mw 4.9). This was the mainshock of an earthquake swarm...

We make use of own geological mapping, interpretations of seismic reflection profiles and deep geophysical data to build a lithospheric-scale cross-section across the European Western Southern Alps (Varese area) and to model a progressive restoration from the end of Mesozoic rifting to present-day. Early phases of Alpine orogeny were characterized...

The analysis of geochemical markers is a known valid tool to explore the water sources and understand the main factors affecting natural water quality, which are known issues of interest in environmental science. This study reports the application of geochemical markers to characterize and understand the recharge areas of the multi-layer urban aqui...

Earthquake Environmental Effects (EEEs) such as surface faulting, landslides, liquefaction and tsunamis are widely distributed following strong seismic events and may account for a significant part of the overall damage. Here, we investigate EEEs generated by two earthquakes with different source parameters, both occurring along the Mexican subduct...

The Dec. 26, 2018, Fleri earthquake is the strongest seismic event recorded on the Etna volcano in the instrumental era. It was the mainshock of a seismic crisis which accompanied an eruption on the eastern flank at the end of December 2018. We collected and mapped the earthquake environmental effects (EEEs) starting from the morning after the main...

Coseismic surface faulting is a significant source of hazard for critical plants and distributive infrastructure; it may occur either on the principal fault or as distributed rupture on nearby faults. Hazard assessment for distributed faulting is based on empirical relations which, in the case of normal faults, were derived almost 15 years ago usin...

Fast and cost-effective techniques for hydrogeological modeling are of broad interest for water resources exploitation, especially in remote settings, where hydrogeological measurements are difficult to perform. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV)-based techniques are potentially useful for these aims, but their application is still limited. In this stu...

Como historic centre, located at the SW branch of Lake Como (northern Italy), is prone to subside because of a thick sequence of late Pleistocene to Holocene glacio-lacustrine, palustrine and alluvial sediments in the subsoil. After the 1950s, the combination of natural causes and anthropogenic activities amplified subsidence-induced differential s...

Interpretation of confidential and public data was carried out in this study focusing on the structural setting and seismic stratigraphy of both foreland basin deposits and underlying shallow water carbonates of the foreland plate. Our structural interpretation, supported by accurate depth conversion of the seismic data and 2D restoration, reveals...

Coseismic surface faulting is a significant source of hazard for critical plants and distributive infrastructures; it may occur either on the primary fault, or as distributed rupture on nearby faults. Hazard assessment for distributed faulting is based on empirical relations which, in the case of normal faults, were derived almost 15 years ago on a...

Landslides are a critical process in landscape evolution and may pose a serious threat to people and infrastructure. In the last decades, a growing interest in such phenomena has developed in the Alps, where narrow valleys are increasingly inhabited, and landslides have caused several casualties. Understanding the driving factors, triggers, evoluti...

On December 26, 2018, a Mw 4.9 earthquake hits the eastern flank of Mount Etna volcano (Sicily). The epicenter is located between the Fleri and Pennisi villages, and focal depth is estimated at 0.3 km (http://cnt.rm.ingv.it/event/21285011). This earthquake is part of a seismic sequence begun on December 23, 2018 and a concurrent phase of volcanic e...

The Dead Sea Fault (DSF) is a plate‐boundary where large earthquakes are expected, but there is a lack of such events in the instrumental era. Sequences of earthquakes along the DSF are documented by historical evidence, one of the most devastating occurred in the mid‐eighth century CE. Here we describe site‐specific archaeoseismological observatio...

Natural and anthropogenic subsidence such as that in the Como urban area (northern Italy) can cause significant damage to structures and infrastructure, and expose the city's lakefront to an increasing risk of inundation from Lake Como. This phenomenon affecting the Como basin has been studied by several researchers, and the major drivers of subsid...

Earthquakes produce effects on the built and natural environment, the severity of which decays with distance from the epicenter. Empirical relations describing the intensity attenuation with distance are fundamental for seismic hazard assessment and for deriving parameters for preinstrumental events. Seismic intensity is usually assigned based on d...

We address the modeling of spatial distribution of coseismic landslides, based on an empirical approach applied to both recent and historical well-documented events. We analyze a dataset of 11 historical and recent normal faulting earthquakes in the Italian Central Apennines. Firstly, making use of a kernel density estimator approach, we calculated...

Potentially toxic elements (PTEs, i.e., Cd, Ni, Cr) and their source apportionment in waters are of major environmental concern. Different approaches can be used to evaluate PTEs sources in environment, but single-way approaches are often limited and can easily fail. PTEs sources apportionment should include the evaluation of geochemical background...

The Dead Sea Fault (DSF) is a plate-boundary where large earthquakes are expected and largely 17 overdue. Complex sequences of earthquakes along the DSF are documented by historical 18 evidence, one of the most devastating being in the mid-8 th century CE. Nevertheless, the related 19 seismogenic sources are still debated. Here we describe site-spe...

On December 26, 2018, the largest instrumental earthquake ever recorded in Mt. Etna (Sicily, southern Italy) shook the eastern flank of the volcano, with epicenter near the Fleri village along the right-lateral Fiandaca Fault (focal depth less than 1 km, Mw 4.9). The mainshock was accompanied by widespread surface faulting. We surveyed and mapped t...

Strong (M 6 - 7) to large (M 7 – 8) earthquakes are capable to produce surface faulting both along the primary fault and distributed faults. The availability of modern technologies clearly highlighted the complexity of surface faulting associated with recent earthquakes worldwide, providing a dataset with unprecedented detail. Surface faulting and...

The Estimation of the relative intensity of different cold periods occurring during the Late Quaternary is a difficult task, particularly in non-glaciated mountain landscapes and where high- to medium-resolution archives for proxy data are lacking. In this paper, we study a Holocene polycyclic soil sequence in the central Alps (Val Cavargna, Northe...

We performed a review of a representative data set on coseismic surface deformation, derived from both interferometric synthetic aperture radar imaging and from a traditional field survey of surface faulting. This analysis indicates a minimum threshold value of M w 5.4–5.5 for earthquake-induced ground deformation and faulting, with an inherently l...

Fortunati rinvenimenti archeologici degli ultimi decenni hanno permesso di individuare le aree portuali nella Como romana. Essi costituiscono fondamentali vincoli geografici, che consentono di capire dove si trovasse l’interfaccia tra lago e costa, cosı` come i resti archeologici riferibili a edifici coevi indicano i luoghi in cui vi era la terrafe...

The fabric of reverse fault zones close to the surface is usually partitioned in between a narrow discrete rupture zone and a more distributed one, where folding is predominant. This makes quite challenging the adoption of proper setbacks in surface rupture hazard studies for critical facilities or microzoning. Some of the parameters controlling fa...

The geodynamic evolution of the Western (Ivrea – Verbano Zone) and Central (Orobic Alps) part of the South Alpine thrust system have been subjected to deep investigations through years to unravel the deformation and kinematic history of this part of the Alpine Chain (e.g. Brack et al., 2010; D’Adda et al., 2010; Zanchetta et al., 2011; Schmid et al...

We provide a dataset of the landslides induced by the 2016 Pedernales megathrust earthquake, Ecuador (Mw 7.8, focal depth of 20 km) and compare their spatial distribution with mapped bedrock lithology, horizontal peak ground acceleration (PGA-h) and the macroseismic intensity based on earthquake-induced environmental effects (ESI-07). We studied 19...

Una diferencia sistemática es encontrada en este estudio, en la intensidad del terremoto evaluada entre ESI-07 y las escalas tradicionales, y en la intensidad de atenuación con la distancia. Una comparación de nuestro conjunto de datos, con los datos macrosísmicos de seis terremotos de subducciones grandes e instrumentales, ocurridos entre Ecuador...

The September 8, 2017, Mw 8.2 earthquake with epicenter in the Gulf of Tehuantepec offshore, 133 km Southwest of Pijijiapan, Oaxaca, Mexico, generated considerable environmental effects in a vast region including central-southern Mexico and Guatemala. Immediately after the event, we carried out field reconnaissance surveys of the geological phenome...

The December 26, 2018, Mw 4.9, Fleri earthquake, is the among the largest shallow (H=1 km; INGV) seismic event instrumentally recorded on Mt. Etna volcano. On Dec 26 morning we started mapping surface faulting and other coseismic ground effects along the NNW-trending, right-lateral Fiandaca Fault. Heavy damage affected the localities of Fleri (Zaff...

The December 26, 2018, Mw 4.9, Fleri earthquake, is the among the largest shallow (H=1 km; INGV) seismic event instrumentally recorded on Mt. Etna volcano. On Dec 26 morning we started mapping surface faulting and other coseismic ground effects along the NNW-trending, right-lateral Fiandaca Fault. Heavy damage affected the localities of Fleri (Zaff...

The Permian volcanism is represented in Italy by different volcanic/volcaniclastic sequences presently spread from the Alps to the Sardinia Island. This work focuses on a volcanic suite cropping out nearby the town of Varese (Northern Italy-Southern Alps). For the first time, a detailed stratigraphic fieldwork reveals the geometrical relationship e...

A deeply investigated issue in Earth sciences is the role of inherited structures in controlling later tectonic, sedi-mentary and magmatic processes and their mutual temporal and spatial superposition in continental fold and thrust belts. This is particularly true for long-lived structures, that acted actively or passively during diverse tectonic p...

3D restoration is an effective tool in complex tectonic settings (e.g., salt or polyphase tectonics) where a 2D approach is not fully informative or where material moves out of the main tectonic transport plane. Following assumptions on balancing constraints, deformation kinematics and boundary conditions, an effective 3D restoration allows to insp...

Starting on the day after the mainshock, we mapped in the field and compiled all the available observations on earthquake environmental effects (EEEs) caused by the Mw 7.8 subduction earthquake that hit the coastal region of Ecuador on 16 April 2016 (Pedernales earthquake). These effects include: i) permanent ground deformation, ii) open cracks, ii...

Starting on the day after the mainshock, we mapped in the field and compiled all the available observations on earthquake environmental effects (EEEs) caused by the Mw 7.8 subduction earthquake that hit the coastal region of Ecuador on 16 April 2016 (Pedernales earthquake). These effects include: i) permanent ground deformation, ii) open cracks, ii...

Large continental earthquakes necessarily involve failure of multiple faults or segments. But these same critically-stressed systems sometimes fail in drawn-out sequences of smaller earthquakes over days or years instead. These two modes of failure have vastly different implications for seismic hazard and it is not known why fault systems sometimes...

Upper Pleistocene (MIS 4-2) loess sequences occur in most of continental Europe and in Northern Italy along the Po Plain Loess Basin. Loess is distributed along the flanks of the Po Plain and was deposited on glacial deposits, fluvial terraces, uplifted isolated hills, karst plateaus, slopes and basins of secondary valleys. Loess bodies are general...

ESI 2007 scale attenuation in the extensional tectonic environment Apennines of Italy

Moderate to strong earthquakes (i.e., Mw > ~6.0) commonly produce a complex network of ground ruptures, which are responsible for significant damage. Distributed faulting can affect wide areas (tenths of square kilometers), and expected displacement can be estimated through a probabilistic approach, considering distance from the primary fault and e...

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...

Potentially toxic elements (i.e., PTEs, e.g., Ni, Cr, Co, Cu) are a major concern for environmental quality and human health, and soils derived from ultramaphic bedrock are a main natural source of these elements. For a good comprehension of the chemical availability and possible dissolution of these elements in areas with high natural background c...

Bending moment normal faults (BMF) form during outer-arc extension of a folding layer. These faults, observed in contractional and extensional tectonic environments, can represent the only tectonic features potentially available for paleoseismological investigations (i.e., trenching) in order to date the movement of deeper structures. Yet, the reli...

L’elevata vulnerabilità derivante dalla notevole densità di popolazione, dalla concentrazione di strutture industriali, e dal ritardo nell’applicazione delle normative antisismiche, elevano il rischio sismico in Pianura Padana è ad uno fra i più alti di tutto il territorio nazionale.Il settore del Garda che va dalla pianura bresciana alla fascia pe...

The reliable evaluation of historical earthquakes is pivotal for seismic hazard assessment, and macroseismic observations are the only data available for the estimation of location and magnitude of historical events. Seismic parameters for pre-instrumental earthquakes included in the Italian catalogue (CPTI15, Rovida et al., 2016) are estimated on...

A Mw 8.2 intraslab earthquake hit the whole Chiapas region and the southern part of the Oaxaca state in Mexico, on September 7, 2017 at 23h49 PM local time (nucleation depth 58 km). The rupture length of this mainshock was of 200-220 km, corresponding to the coastal sector from Salina Cruz to the Pijijiapan village. The focal mechanism obtained by...

Groundwater flow paths modeling is a powerful tool for hydrogeological science and water resources management, especially in high mountain areas, where water supply present high seasonality and low accessibility. Thus, although these settings are normally well supplied with precipitation and groundwater recharge, the water exploitation may represen...

Coseismic ground effects and ESI-07 intensity of the 2016 Mw 7.8 Pedernales Earthquake): Maximum intensities of VII to X ESI-07 have been assigned by the 2016 Mw 7.8 Pedernales earthquake (Ecuador), from measurements of earthquake environmental effects (EEE) in the whole Manabí province and the southern part of the Esmeraldas coastal region. Coseis...

Maximum intensities of VII to X ESI-07 have been assigned by the 2016 Mw 7.8 Pedernales earthquake (Ecuador), from measurements of earthquake environmental effects (EEE) in the whole Manabí province and the southern part of the Esmeraldas coastal region. Coseismic coastal uplift (primary effects), liquefaction and sand boils, ground cracks, lateral...