Geological and geo-structural characterization of the Montemurro area (Southern Italy) inferred from audiomagnetotelluric survey

Abstract

This paper presents the results obtained by an audio-magnetotelluric (AMT) survey carried out crossing the western sector of Montemurro village (Southern Italy) affected by an intense hydrogeological instability. The AMT investigation was aimed to settle the question concerning the possible prosecution toward SE of the Eastern Agri Fault System whose surficial evidences could be blinded by extensive landslides phenomena and by anthropization of the territory. The AMT profile was oriented in NE-SW direction, orthogonal to the main geological structures of the investigated area. It crossed longitudinally the area affected by instability. The AMT model provides new insights on already known faults (i.e. Montemurro Faults) and imaged their in-depth immersion thus answering to still open geological question in the investigated areas. Furthermore, the high resolution of the model allowed the imaging of the boundaries, in terms of resistivity contrast, between material affected/unaffected by the sliding dynamics or characterized by an higher water content. The results provide new knowledge about the geological and geoelectrical structures in the area. They will be fully integrated with the results of the on-going research activities in the area and will represent an additional step for the multiscale and multiparametrical characterization of the Agri Valley geological setting.