Sara Amoroso

• PhD
• Professor (Assistant) at University of Chieti-Pescara

During the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake (MW = 6.1), the Chieti courthouse was partially damaged by the ground shaking. To better understand the reasons why the damage affected essentially the southern portion of the structure, a study on local seismic response effects was carried out. The historical center of Chieti is located on the top of a hill (330...

It is recognised that site effects have a great impact on seismic ground motion characteristics and this can lead to higher structural damage. Lisbon has a moderate to high seismic risk due to its historical seismicity, socioeconomic importance and dense urbanisation. Furthermore, its geological setting is characterised by a complex lithostratigrap...

It is recognised that site effects have a great impact on seismic ground motion characteristics and this can lead to higher structural damage. Lisbon has a moderate to high seismic risk due to its historical seismicity, socioeconomic importance and dense urbanisation. Furthermore, its geological setting is characterised by a complex lithostratigrap...

Lisbon’s historical seismicity, socioeconomic importance and population density contribute to a moderate to high seismic risk. The geological setting of the city includes cases of inclined layers, interbedding sedimentary rock layers in soil deposits, sand and clay layers in the same geological unit, leading to cases of shear wave velocity inversio...

The Medusa SDMT is the last-generation, fully automated version of the seismic dilatometer (SDMT). An extensive in situ testing campaign with the Medusa SDMT was carried out in June 2022 in different soil types at four well-known benchmark test sites in Norway, part of the Geo-Test Sites (NGTS) research infrastructure managed by the Norwegian Geote...

The 2016 Amatrice Earthquake was one of the most catastrophic seismic events in Central Italy. Due to its high magnitude (Mw 6.0), it has involved four regions (Lazio, Umbria, Abruzzo, and Marche) inducing severe damages, collapses, and, unfortunately, hundreds of casualties. The paper focuses on the seismic response of Amatrice town which is locat...

The use of “simplified procedures” for the study of lateral spreading could be misleading, and it is debatable whether or not lateral spreading case histories should be included in liquefaction triggering databases. In this context, the 2010-2011 Canterbury Earthquake Sequence (CES) provides several examples of liquefaction and lateral spreading, a...

The Medusa DMT is the newest fully automated version of the flat dilatometer popularly used in soil investigation. The Medusa DMT can operate autonomously without the traditional control unit, the gas tank and the pneumatic cable which is an advantage for offshore testing. The seismic version (Medusa SDMT) incorporates additional sensors for measur...

Con questo volume, che fa parte della collana BookMS Manuali (download dal sito www. centromicrozonazionesismica.it), intendiamo raccogliere, organizzare e mettere in condivisione i principali elementi e insegnamentitratti dall'intensa attività svolta in questi ultimi due anni. In particolare, sono riportate indicazioni utili alle attività di racco...

Frequently, deep foundations extend through potentially liquefiable sand layers near the ground surface and bear on more competent layers at depth. When liquefaction occurs, the skin friction in the liquefied layer would be expected to decrease to some negligible value, but as the liquefiable layer settles, negative skin friction could potentially...

The Medusa SDMT is the fully automated version of the seismic dilatometer (SDMT). An extensive in situ testing campaign with the Medusa SDMT was carried out in June 2022 in different soil types at four benchmark test sites in Norway, part of the Geo-Test Sites research infrastructure managed by the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute. The experimental...

We report composition, grain size, and rheological data related to the mud emitted as a consequence of the maximum moment magnitude (Mw max = 6.5) on 30 October 2016, commonly referred to as the Norcia earthquake (central Italy), and on the activity of pre-existent mud volcanoes affected by the central Italy seismic sequence started on 24 August 20...

Earthquakes and related coseismic effects at the surface, such as liquefaction and lateral spreading, can impact humans due to the resulting economic or social disruptions (e.g. slope and foundation failures, flotation of buried structures, etc.). In this respect, the 2020 Petrinja Mw6.4 earthquake (Croatia) provided many examples of liquefaction a...

In this paper we describe an advanced database for the site characterization of seismic stations, named “CRISP—Caratterizzazione della RIsposta sismica dei Siti Permanenti della rete sismica” ( http://crisp.ingv.it , quoted with https://doi.org/10.13127/crisp ), designed for the Italian National Seismic Network (Rete Sismica Nazionale, RSN, operate...

The paper deals with the mechanical properties of lacustrine silts and clays filling most of the Sulmona basin. The characterization of these sediments to a depth higher than 500 m is a crucial step for the Seismic Microzonation of the area and it has been addressed by a multidisciplinary approach including geological analysis, active and passive g...

According to previously available research and seismic microzonation studies a large area of the Guayaquil (Ecuador, South America) sits on estuarine deltaic deposits which consist of weak and highly compressible clays with diatoms. The nature of these fine-grained deposits may determine difficulties in a proper estimation of the soil properties. I...

Even though liquefaction in gravelly soil is well documented in many earthquakes since 1891, most of the “simplified procedures” and national buildings codes still consider only sandy soil liquefaction in seismic hazard assessment. In this study, 109 sites of gravel liquefaction related to 27 historical earthquakes from 1891 to 2020 are reported, w...

This paper presents a comprehensive geological and geotechnical study of the whole area affected by liquefaction following the 2012 Emilia earthquakes, including all the available information from the field reconnaissance surveys, in situ tests, and laboratory analyses. The compilation was performed at 120 liquefied sites to verify and validate the...

Liquefaction assessment has primarily been performed using in situ penetration testing, but this practice has become problematic for gravelly soils. For example, standard penetration test (SPT)- or cone penetration test (CPT)-based correlations can become unreliable owing to interference with large gravel particles, while the Becker Penetration Tes...

Anthropogenic modifications of the landscape (e.g. urbanization, deforestation and agricultural activities) act as geomorphic processes, producing fast changes and instabilities, which often lead to landslides along hillslopes and floodings in low-lands. Anthropogenic modifications have increased with the progress of civilization; therefore, coupli...

La fotogrammetria Structure-from-Motion (SfM) si basa su algoritmi che permettono, in modo automatico e rapido, di individuare una quantità elevata di punti omologhi tra le immagini acquisite durante il rilievo. L’individuazione di tali punti consente di realizzare l’allineamento delle immagini e quindi la calibrazione esterna ed interna delle foto...

Following the 2012 Emilia-Romagna seismic sequence, widespread liquefaction of silty sands was observed, providing the opportunity to enhance our knowledge of the influence of fines content on seismic hazard and mitigation works. This paper presents the results of a thorough geotechnical investigation performed in connection with full-scale control...

On 29 December 2020, a shallow earthquake of magnitude Mw 6.4 struck northern Croatia, near the town of Petrinja, more than 24 hours after a strong foreshock (Ml 5). We formed a reconnaissance team of European geologists and engineers, from Croatia, Slovenia, France, Italy and Greece, rapidly deployed in the field to map the evidence of coseismic e...

Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) and drone-based structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry allowed the study of soil deformations due to blast-induced liquefaction during an experiment carried out on 4 June 2018. The research aimed at both evaluating the measurement quality and estimating the rammed aggregate piers (RAPs) effectiveness in mitigati...

A geophysical database was created where all the results of available geophysical tests carried out in Lisbon were compiled. These results include shear wave velocity values (VS) from cross-hole, down-hole, and surface wave tests, such as MASW (Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves). For each geological formation, it was performed a linear regress...

The role of in situ tests in numerical analyses of deep excavations is investigated. The construction of a metro station in Barcelona required a deep excavation in a densely built urban area. Geological conditions were complex and challenging, involving soft alluvial materials below groundwater level. A comprehensive instrumentation system allowed...

The 29 December 2020, Mw 6.4 Petrinja earthquake nucleated at a depth of~10 km in the Sisak-Moslavina County in northern Croatia,~6 km WSW of the Petrinja town. Focal mechanisms, aftershocks distribution, and preliminary Sentinel-1 InSAR interferogram suggest that the NW-SE right-lateral strike-slip Pokupsko-Petrinja fault was the source of this ev...

The investigation of soil response to dynamic loads is necessary to predict site-specific seismic hazard. This paper presents the results of cyclic and dynamic laboratory tests carried out after the 2016–2017 Central Italy Earthquake sequence, within the framework of the seismic microzonation studies of the most damaged municipalities in the area....

The small strain stiffness modulus G0 is not directly applicable to evaluate deformation in most practical engineering problems, and therefore non-linear soil behaviour curves were developed in terms of Young modulus E or shear modulus G. These curves were successfully obtained for sedimentary soils, while for residual soils the experience and the...

Numerous sand boils were generated in the alluvial plain at the mouth of the Rio Briceño valley (Ecuador) during the Mw 7.8 earthquake of April 2016. The area is characterized by a series of raised marine terraces formed as a consequence of the rapid tectonic coastal uplift during the Quaternary. Boreholes and geotechnical investigations were carri...

The Fucino lacustrine basin in central Italy is a large flat area mostly devoted to agriculture, with urbanization along the perimeter of the ancient lake. In 1915 a strong earthquake struck the area (Mw 7.0), producing large damages and geological effects, including surface faulting, ground failures and liquefaction. A channel excavated in the lac...

The dynamic cone penetration test (DPT) developed in China has been correlated with liquefaction resistance of gravelly soils based on field performance data from the Mw7.9 Wenchuan earthquake. With a diameter of 74 mm, DPT would be less sensitive to gravel size particles than the SPT or CPT and could be a viable assessment tool depending on gravel...

A new seismic dilatometer (SPDMT) has been developed to combine the measurements of the flat dilatometer (DMT) geotechnical parameters with both P- and S- waves velocities. This new SPDMT is composed of the traditional mechanical DMT and four sensors for measuring the body waves velocities placed above the DMT blade. This SPDMT device is presented...

In Portugal, particularly in the greater Lisbon area, there are widespread alluvial sandy deposits, which need to be carefully assessed in terms of liquefaction susceptibility and risk zonation. For this purpose, a pilot site has been set up, as part of the European H2020 LIQUEFACT project. An extensive database of geological and geotechnical repor...

In the engineering geology field increased attention has been posed in recent years to potential liquefaction mitigation interventions in susceptible sand formations. In silty sands this is a major challenge because, as the fines content increases, vibratory methods for densification become progressively less effective. An alternative mitigation te...

In August 2016, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck Central Italy, starting a devastating seismic sequence, aggravated by other two events of magnitude 5.9 and 6.5, respectively. After the first mainshock, four Italian institutions installed a dense temporary network of 50 seismic stations in an area of 260 km2. The network was registered in the Inte...

An accurate measurement of dynamic soil properties is essential to predict the nonlinear soil behavior under seismic loading conditions. This paper presents a database of cyclic and dynamic laboratory tests carried out after the 2016-2017 Central Italy Earthquake sequence, as part of the seismic microzonation studies in the area. The database consi...

The composition and texture of liquefied sands represent an important tool for the recognition of buried source layers and for a better understanding of earthquake-induced liquefaction mechanisms. The earthquake-simulating field experiment (blast test) carried out in 2016 in fluvial sediments of the Emilia plain induced subsurface liquefaction and...

Questo studio analizza la suscettibilità a liquefazione di terreni a grana fina prodotta da fenomeni sismoindotti, nel bacino del Fucino. Esso era il terzo lago d’Italia per estensione fino alla seconda metà del XIX secolo, prima del suo prosciugamento per scopi agricoli. Il Fucino è anche l’area epicentrale del grande terremoto del 13 gennaio 1915...

The paper explores the application of conventional (DMT) and seismic (SDMT) dilatometer tests to an important case of deep excavation design. The work presents finite-element analyses simulating a deep excavation close to Barcelona (Spain). A thick layer of soft interbedded sandy and silty soils made characterization based on laboratory testing ver...

The Santa Maria di Collemaggio Basilica is an important cultural heritage site and exemplifies Romanesque-Gothic art in the Abruzzo region (central Italy). Erected in the second half of the XII century, the Basilica was severely damaged during the April 6, 2009 L’Aquila earthquake (MW 6.1). In particular, the area of the transept collapsed causing...

A blast-induced liquefaction test was conducted in the surroundings of Mirabello (NE Italy), where extensive liquefaction phenomena were observed after the 2012 Emilia earthquake. This experiment is the first blast-induced liquefaction test carried out in Italy. Several geophysical investigations were performed at the site to define initial soil co...

Calibration chambers are frequently used to verify, adapt, or both verify and adapt empirical relations between different state variables and in situ test results. Virtual calibration chambers (VCC) built with 3D discrete element models may be used to extend and partially substitute costly physical testing series. VCC are used here to explore the m...

This article illustrates the use of the seismic dilatometer test (SDMT) in combination with the piezocone test (CPTu) to monitor the effects of ground improvement by different techniques at seven test sites in Christchurch, New Zealand. The results of SDMTs carried out in treated soils and in adjacent natural soils are compared in order to assess t...

Soil liquefaction due to an earthquake can lead to permanent soil deformation and reduction of load-bearing capacity that in turn could act on building stability. Since a quantitative evaluation of post-liquefaction settlements is often very difficult, field scale liquefaction tests, carried out under controlled conditions, such as blast tests, are...

Residual soils resulting from weathering processes cannot be well modelled by the classical theories of Soils Mechanics, creating several difficulties on the interpretation of in-situ test results and in the consequent ge-otechnical design. In fact, the presence of a cementation structure generates an extra strength component ma-terialized by the p...

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...

In this study, we analyse the susceptibility to liquefaction of the Pozzone site, which is located on the northern side of the Fucino lacustrine basin in central Italy. In 1915, this region was struck by a M 7.0 earthquake, which produced widespread coseismic surface effects that were interpreted to be liquefaction-related. However, the interpretat...

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...

The Amphiteatrum Flavium in Rome (Italy) is one of the most known monument in the world. With the aim of understand the seismic response of the area where the Amphiteatrum Flavium is build and investigate possible soil-structure interactions, we performed a seismic experiment in 2014, based on ambient vibration (AMV) recordings. The measurements we...

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...

This paper illustrates the site characterization for evaluating local ground motion amplifications at two sites in the urban area of L’Aquila, performed for the reconstruction of buildings damaged by the April 6, 2009 earthquake. The paper is focused on the comparison between results obtained from site investigations carried out at the building sca...

On August 24, 2016, at 01:36 UTC a MW 6.0 earthquake struck an extensive area of the Central Apennines (Italy) between the towns of Norcia and Amatrice. Due to the mainshock magnitude and the widespread damaging level of buildings in the epicentral area, the Emersito task force has been mobilized by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologi...