Gianluca Bianchi Fasani

• PhD
• ENEA at ENEA

This short note focuses on the review of some selected large slope instabilities, such as massive rock slope failures, that occurred in slopes well representative of widespread morpho-structural settings in the central Apennines (Italy). The analyses of such case histories highlight (a) the role of inherited geological and morpho-structural feature...

Five cases of Quaternary rock avalanches detached from carbonate mountain ridges in the Central Apennines are presented. Due to the large amount of rock masses involved, the width of accumulation and detachment areas and the damming in the host environment, the analysed rock avalanches can be considered as catastrophic rock slope failures, sporadic...

The Palatine Hill is among the main archaeological sites of Roman antiquity. Today, this place requires continuous care for its safeguarding and conservation. Among the main problems, slope instabilities threaten the southwestern border of the hill flanked by the Velabrum Valley, as also testified by historical documents. The upper part of the inve...

The paper reports the preliminary stage of a study on the evolution of the Velaber Minus valley and of its interaction with the slope instabilities on the Palatine western slope. The Palatine hill is among the historical hills of the Ancient Rome, as it hosts remnants of Republican temples, Imperial palaces and Archaic ruins. First the geological e...

Large areas of Rome (Italy) are prone to sudden ground collapse because of the degradation of a cavity network related to the long-lasting underground quarrying activity of volcanic Pleistocene deposits. In recent years, the municipality authorities have promoted scientific research in the field of engineering geology to locate these underground vo...

The paper focuses on the description of a landslide event occurred along the Gran Sasso d'Italia Massif (Central Apennines, Italy) and on the interpretation of the possible causes that determined some unusual secondary effects occurred at the base of the slope. The study was carried out by coupling the results of field surveys with the processing o...

This paper focuses on monitoring activities carried out by the CERI Research Centre, which in the last few years was tasked to establish monitoring networks, designed also to support land-slide-related risk management. Two main case histories are hereby highlighted as they refer to sites where it was possible to test innovative monitoring approache...

This chapter describes a rockfall that occurred at Corno Grande, the highest peak in the Apennines, in Italy on August 22, 2006. A limestone block with an estimated volume of about 30,000 m 3 fell from the sub-vertical northeast slope of Corno Grande. Although relatively small, the rockfall covered a large area (ca. 35,000 m 2) with debris and gene...

In this study we analyze the relationship between urban development and slope instability along the western edge of the Palatine Hill. This area was occupied since the founding of Rome in the VIII cen. BC until the Roman Empire period. Based on a detailed historical reconstruction, multi-step numerical modelling was performed. This illustrates the...

Geological Heritage, landscape evolution, row materials, rock slope instability, Palatino, Rome.

There are many abandoned underground mines beneath the city of Rome, created in the Pleistocene pyroclastic deposits over thousands of years. These pose a serious public safety risk hence the study was undertaken to better assess the stability of the underground workings. The Villa de Sanctis public park was selected as a suitable test site, as in...

Evidence of deep-seated gravitational slope deformations (DSGSD) and of large prehistoric landslides is fairly widespread within the Central Apennines (Italy). These gravityinduced processes accompanied the intense Plio-Quaternary uplift phases that affected the mountain chain. In this study a multidisciplinary approach has been adopted in order to...

This study addresses the influence of landslide dams on surface water drainage and groundwater flow. In the study area of Scanno Lake and Sagittario River (Central Italy), a limestone rockslide-avalanche formed a lake, which has an outlet that is occasionally active, showing infiltration into the rockslide dam. Several springs are present at the la...

New detailed data about the morphology of the submerged slopes of Lake Albano (Rome, Italy) have been collected by a sonar multibeam survey financed by the Italian Department of Civil Protection. These data allow for investigation of the subaqueous slope dynamics of the lake, which partially fills a volcanic depression, and the elucidation of the r...

In this paper are presented the results of integrated investigations aimed at building a reference geological model for the seismic microzonation of Celano municipality (Central Italy). The study area is located along the northern rim of the Fucino basin, which is an intermontane half-graben filled by thick Plio-Quaternary alluvial and lacustrine d...

The Lettopalena rock avalanche occurred about 4.8 kyr BP along the SE slope of the Maiella massif, in the easternmost sector of the central Apenninic chain. The massive rock slope failure involved about 30 x 106m3 volume of well-bedded Eocene and Miocene limestone and marly-limestone, which slid onto the Aventino river valley. A comprehensive study...

Detailed geological and geomorphological surveys carried out in the Pizzone area (Molise, Italy) (fig. 1) have highlighted the importance of gravity-induced phenomena, mainly consisting of rock fall, for the evolution of the local landforms. The village of Pizzone is located in the Northern Molise sector of the Apennines within a complex geological...

Relationships between tectonic framework and gravity-driven phenomena have been investigated in an area of the Central Apennines (Italy) characterised by high relief. The north–south, half-dome shaped Maiella anticline lies in the easternmost part of the Apennine fold-and-thrust belt. Its backlimb is bordered by the Caramanico Fault, a normal fault...

This paper describes the Quaternary Campo di Giove (CDG) rock avalanche which occurred along the western edge of the Maiella Massif in the central part of the Apennines, Italy. The aim of this work is to contribute to the present debate about the nature of large-sized, Quaternary debris deposits of the central Apennines that have been controversial...

In order to explain the long life span of the Scanno rockslide-avalanche dammed lake (Central Italy), whose age of impoundment is older than 2,300 years, and to get indications about its present and future stability conditions, it was assumed of fundamental importance to build a representative geological model aimed at defining (i) the geometry of...