3D seismostratigraphic fine-scale subsoil model of L'Aquila (central Italy) for evaluating the local seismic effects

For L‘Aquila, a regional administrative town, which was strongly affected by the well-known April 6, 2009 Mw 6.3 near-source earthquake (Chiarabba et al., 2009), we propose a detailed database integrating geological, geophysical, geotechnical, and borehole data. It serves as input for setting up the detailed 3D seismostratigraphic subsoil model for evaluating the local seismic effects of L’Aquila about 60 km2-wide area. The database was constructed with QGIS (ver. 3.36) software and a first version of the 3D geological-geophysical model by using Petrel software by SchlumbergerTM, where a data-supported minimum convergent interpolation method was applied (Livani et al., 2022). More than 1300 shallow boreholes, about 50 deep boreholes, several seismic reflection profiles and gravimetric maps were loaded to create a complete database constraining the geo-lithological characteristics of the studied area. To delimit the outcropping boundaries between the different Plio-Quaternary alluvial-slope units and the Meso-Cenozoic top-bedrock surface, we utilized the map by Nocentini et al. (2017). Moreover, we reorganized the various geological formations reported by Nocentini et al. (2017) into seven classes to perform a classification based on the geophysical properties (Macerola et al., 2019). The approach presented in this study integrates various analyses, enabling the construction at fine scale of a realistic 3D subsoil model on the best available data. The novel feature for L’Aquila area is not merely the result of interpolation but is based on data-supported reconstruction.