Lorenzo Petracchini

Italian National Research Council | CNR · Institute of Environmental Geology and Geoengineering IGAG

The Po Plain (Italy) is one of the most densely populated and productive regions of Europe, characterized by a flourishing economy (also linked to strategic subsurface resources) and several world cultural and natural heritage sites. The coupling of social-economic interests with geological hazards (i.e., seismic, subsidence and flooding hazards) i...

This study investigates crustal accretion processes along the northern stretch of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) between the Charlie Gibbs (52°-53°N) and Bight (57°N) transforms. These long-lived transform systems, active for more than 40 Ma, bound a ~ 550 km-long MAR segment influenced to the South by the Azores and to the North by the Iceland man...

A two-dimensional basin and petroleum system modeling approach was applied to the Burano-Bolognano petroleum system (Central Italy) to constrain some factors (position, lateral extension and maturity of the source rock, the role of fractures and faults in hydrocarbon migration) which influenced its structural evolution and the related migration pat...

The Albanides thrust belt is associated with the ENE-ward subduction of the Adriatic lithosphere facing the Peri-Adriatic Basin, a foredeep filled with a Neogene-Quaternary sedimentary sequence more than 6 km thick. This basin segment is anomalously deep, compared to the adjacent foredeeps, dominated by Neogene strata deposited at a rate of circa 0...

Oceanic crust is formed by melt derived from the mantle at oceanic spreading centers. A small amount of melting initiates at about 150-300 km depths in the presence of volatiles (CO2, H2O)1–3, but the extensive dry melting commences at 60-70 km depths due to the upwelling of the mantle as two diverging plates move apart4,5. However, how these melts...

Picturing the distribution of stress, in term of magnitude and orientation, during the development of a fold-and-thrusts belt is key for many fundamental and applied purposes, e.g., crustal rheology, orogen dynamics, fluid dynamics and prediction of reservoir properties. Specific meso-and micro-structures observed in fold-and-thrust belts and relat...

This study integrates field, geochronological and geochemical data to constrain fluid circulation in the damage and core zone of the seismogenic Monte Morrone Fault System (MMFS), central Apennines (Italy). Faulting along the MMFS evolved from a diffuse deformation at the damage zone towards progressive localisation of a narrower fault core and, fi...

The first increments of contraction-related deformation in foreland basins are recorded by networks of meso- and micro-structures (faults, fractures, stylolites). We present a recent paleopiezometric method consisting in the inversion of the roughness of stylolites (SRIT, [1]) , pressure-dissolution figures frequently observed in carbonate rocks. T...

Les premiers incréments de la déformation liée à la contraction dans les bassins d’avant-pays sont enregistrés par des réseaux de méso- et micro-structures (failles, fractures, stylolites). Nous présentons ici une méthode récente paléopiézométrique consistant en l’inversion de la rugosité des stylolites, figures de pression-dissolution fréquemment...

Seismological data recorded in the Ionian Sea by a network of seven Ocean Bottom Seismometers (OBSs) during the 2017-2018 SEISMOFAULTS experiment provides a close-up view of seismogenic structures that are potential sources of medium-high magnitude earthquakes. The high-quality signal-to-noise ratio waveforms are observed for earthquakes at differe...

This study aims at assessing the deformation processes affecting an area NW of the city of Ravenna (northern Italy), caused by groundwater withdrawal activities. In-situ data, geologic and structural maps, piezometric measurements, underground water withdrawal volumes, and satellite C-band SAR data were used to jointly exploit two different techniq...

Young and tectonically active chains like the Central Apennines (Italy) are featured by high structural complexity as a result of the overprint of subsequent deformational stages, making interpretation of seismotectonics challenging. The Central Apennines are characterized by the stacking of tectono-sedimentary units organized in thrust sheets. How...

Unravelling the burial-deformation history of sedimentary rocks is prerequisite information to understand the regional tectonic, sedimentary, thermal, and fluid-flow evolution of foreland basins. Nevertheless, the timing and duration of fold-related deformation-including layer-parallel shortening (LPS)-related to fold growth, are difficult to estim...

Unravelling the burial-deformation history of sedimentary rocks is prerequisite information to understand the regional tectonic, sedimentary, thermal, and fluid-flow evolution of foreland basins. We use a combination of microstructural analysis, stylolites paleopiezometry, and paleofluid geochemistry to reconstruct the burial-deformation history of...

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...

The characterization and comprehension of buried reservoirs receive remarkable benefits from detailed studies of outcropping analogues which help to define the architecture of the buried sedimentary units and their petrophysical features. In particular, modern 3D techniques of geological data analysis can better constrain the geological mapping pro...

The Charlie Gibbs offsetting by ~ 340 km the Mid Atlantic Ridge (MAR) axis at 52°-53° N is one of the main transform systems of the North Atlantic. Located between long mid-ocean ridge segments influenced from the south by the Azores and from the north by the Iceland mantle plumes, this transform system has been active since the early phases of Nor...

The Adria microplate is the foreland of the oppositely verging Apennines and Alps or Dinarides fold‐thrust belts associated to the related subduction zones. Along its western margin, the Adria plate hosts the active Northern Apennines accretionary prism, which is buried under the Adriatic Sea and the Po Plain. The interpretation of seismic reflecti...

The SEISMOFAULTS project (www.seismofaults.it) was set up in 2016 with the general plan of exploring the seismicity of marine areas using deep seafloor observatories. The activity of the first two years (Seismofaults 2017 and 2018) consisted of the installation of a geophysical-geochemical temporary monitoring network over the Ionian Sea floor. Ele...

The Ionian Sea in southern Italy is at the center of active interaction and convergence between the Eurasian and African–Adriatic plates in the Mediterranean. This area is seismically active with instrumentally and/or historically recorded Mw>7.0 earthquakes, and it is affected by recently discovered long strike-slip faults across the active Calabr...

We tested synthetic seismic reflection modelling along a seismic line (CROP-18A) in the geothermal field at Larderello (Italy). This seismic line is characterized by a discontinuous but locally very bright seismic marker, named K-horizon, which has been associated with various geological processes, including the presence of fluids at supercritical...

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 aim of this work is to reproduce a metre-scale facies heterogeneity 3D model of the Chattian Porto Badisco Calcarenite carbonate ramp outcropping in the Salento Peninsula (southern Italy). However, in shallow-water carbonate systems, capturing metre-scale facies heterogeneity in three-dimensional models remains controversial due to the possibil...

A seismological and geochemical experiment, also accompanied by a detailed bathymetric survey, is now ongoing in the Ionian Sea from May 2017. Eight Ocean Bottom Seismometers and Hydrophones (OBS/H) and two modules for geochemical monitoring (CH4, CO2 and O) were deployed on the sea bottom (www.seismofaults.it).

In the frame of the Integrated Method for Advanced Geothermal Exploration (IMAGE) Project, a reliable exploration and resource assessment workflow was implemented on the basis of an integrated and multidisciplinary approach. Our study addressed to a better understanding of the thermal structure of the deepest part of the Larderello geothermal field...

The Cingoli arcuate anticline is part of the Apennines fold-thrust belt in Italy. The anticline involves sedimentary carbonate strata generally affected by syn-thrusting contractional structures such as bed-normal pressure solution seams, folds, and reverse faults. An exception is constituted by an outcrop in the anticline hinge, where sub-horizont...

In 1904 the first electricity production from geothermal resources took place in Larderello (Italy) inaugurating the geothermal exploration activity worldwide. After over one century, the peri-Tyrrhenian regions of Tuscany and Latium (Central Italy) has still a relevant unexploited geothermal potential. According to the Italian Ministry of Economic...

Pressure solution seams (PSSs) are frequent features in carbonate rocks undergoing tectonic shortening. In particular, pervasive, anticline-axis-parallel, bed-normal PSSs are known to develop during layer-parallel-shortening of (marly) carbonate rocks in fold-thrust belts. These pressure solution features can impact subsequent fracture development,...

Two sets of thrust compactive shear bands and one set of dip-slip compactive shear bands with, in places, associated slip surfaces have been recognized for the first time in a peculiar high-porosity grainstones of the Calcare Massiccio Fm., a Lower Jurassic platform limestone deformed during the development of the late Messinian Cingoli anticline o...

The northern‐western side of the Majella Mountain, Central Italy is well known for the occurrences of bitumen since the ancient Roman times. These bitumen occurrences are often found within Oligo‐Miocene carbonate ramp deposits belonging to the so‐called Bolognano Formation. The abundance of bitumen within both matrix and fracture porosity, mainly...

Thrust fault-related folds in carbonate rocks are characterized by deformation accommodated by different kinds of structures, such as joints, faults, pressure solution seams (PSSs), and deformation bands, which may form at various stages during the folding process. Defining the distribution, orientation, and the type of fold-related structures and...

A characterization of medium enthalpy geothermal resources has been carried out in the Southern Apennines “Guardia Lombardi” site (Campania Region, Italy) within the framework of the Vigor Project. Due to the intense hydrocarbon exploration carried out in Italy since the ‘50, a wide public dataset of well data and seismic reflection profiles is ava...

The Cingoli anticline is a late Messinian thrust-related fold that developed along the northern Apennines front (Italy). This anticline represents a potential analog of reservoirs located in the nearby Po Plain and Adriatic Sea areas. The folded rock multilayer of the Cingoli anticline includes a heterogeneous, MesozoiceCenozoic, marine succession,...

Within the framework of the VIGOR project, a characterization of medium enthalpy geothermal resources have been carried out in the Campania region (southern Italy), with a focus on the "Guardia dei Lombardi" area (province of Avellino). The VIGOR project began on the basis of an agreement between the Ministry of Economic Development and the Italian...

(this is the full text of the Abstract published by AAPG) Characterization of fracture patterns and quantification of their attributes are crucial in hydrocarbon exploration and production, particularly in the case of carbonate reservoirs. Understanding fracture arrays and evaluating the related contribution to rock permeability is also essential f...

Naturally fractured carbonate reservoirs represent important deep saline aquifers in Italy, and can contribute to address two pressing issues for modern society: underground storage of methane for energy security and underground storage of CO2 to help mitigating climate change. The reservoirs most commonly considered for CO2 and methane storage ar...

INTRODUCTION Storage of CO2 and methane in deep saline aquifers is a promising strategy to respectively address mitigation of climate change and energy security regarding additional natural gas demand during cold weather. These themes are attracting growing interest within both scientific and industrial communities. The reservoirs most commonly con...

A revision of the available seismic reflection survey in the off-shore part of the northern Latium (central Italy) has been accomplished to better understand the deep structural setting of this area. Previous works performed in the last twenty years have compared the on-shore outcrops of cretaceous flyschoid and Plio-Pleistocene marine sedimentary...

The top of the Carbonate Reservoir found by the Matilde-1 well has been mapped on the basis of the public domain Zone "E" reconnaissance 2D reflection seismic profiles.