Intermediate-field hydrogeological response induced by L'Aquila earthquake: the Acque Albule hydrothermal system (Central Italy)

Francesco La Vigna(1), Valentina Carucci(2), Isadora Mariani(1), Liliana Minelli(3), Fiorenzo Pascale(1), Massimo Mattei(1), Roberto Mazza(1) & Marco Tallini(2)
(1) Università degli Studi RomaTRE - Dip. Scienze Geologiche, Largo S. Leonardo Murialdo, 1 - 00146 Roma. Corr. author: Tel. 0657338060; Fax 0657338201; email: lavigna@uniroma3.it (2) Dipartimento di Ingegneria delle Strutture, delle Acque e del Terreno, Università degli Studi dell'Aquila - Via Giovanni Gronchi, 18 - Nucleo industriale di Pile - 67100 L'Aquila. (3) Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia - Via di Vigna Murata, 605 - 00143 Roma.

The intermediate-field hydrological response to the 6th April 2009 L'Aquila earthquake (Mw 6.3) has been studied using groundwater level data that were recorded by six piezometers in the Acque Albule Basin (Tivoli travertine quarry area) and in the Cornicolani Mountains (Pozzo del Merro shaft). The hydrogeological setting of the Tivoli area is characterised by two superimposed aquifers: a deep aquifer in carbonate and a shallow aquifer in travertine. At the time of the L'Aquila earthquake, the groundwater level at five piezometers located in the travertine quarry area began to decrease, while the water level slightly increased in the Pozzo del Merro karst lake that is located in the carbonate aquifer. To explain these variations, a possible conceptual model is proposed that assumes that ground-water-level variations are caused by a change in aquifer permeability principally due to the dynamic stress associated with the passing of the earthquake's seismic waves.

Earthquake hydrology, groundwater level changes, dynamic stress, Central Italy.