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The aim of this study was to provide a contribution to seismic hazard assessment of the Salento Peninsula (Apulia, southern Italy). It is well known that this area was struck by the February 20, 1743, earthquake ( I 0  = IX and M w  = 7.1), the strongest seismic event of Salento, that caused the most severe damage in the towns of Nardò (Lecce) and Francavilla Fontana (Brindisi), in the Ionian Islands (Greece) and in the western coast of Albania. It was also widely felt in the western coast of Greece, in Malta Islands, in southern Italy and in some localities of central and northern Italy. Moreover, the area of the Salento Peninsula has also been hit by several low-energy and a few high-energy earthquakes over the last centuries; the instrumental recent seismicity is mainly concentrated in the western sector of the peninsula and in the Otranto Channel. The Salento area has also experienced destructive seismicity of neighboring regions in Italy (the Gargano Promontory in northern Apulia, the Southern Apennines chain, the Calabrian Arc) and in the Balkan Peninsula (Greece and Albania). Accordingly, a critical analysis of several documentary and historical sources, as well as of the geologic–geomorphologic ground effects due to the strong 1743 Salento earthquake, has been carried out by the authors in this paper; the final purpose has been to re-evaluate the 1743 MCS macroseismic intensities and to provide a list of newly classified localities according to the ESI-07 scale on the base of recognized Earthquake Environmental Effects. The result is a quite different damage scenario due to this earthquake that could raise the seismic potential currently recognized for the Salento area, and consequently upgrade the seismic hazard classification of the Salento. Indeed it is important to remind that currently, despite the intense earthquake activity recorded not only in the Otranto Channel, but especially in Greece and Albania, this area is classified in the least dangerous category of the Seismic Classification of the Italian territory (IV category).

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 common efforts of the Open EMERGEO Working Group (130 people, 25 research institutions and universities from Europe), we were able to document a complex surface faulting pattern with a dominant strike of N135°-160° (SW-dipping) and a subordinate strike of N320°-345° (NE-dipping) along about 28 km of the active Mt. Vettore-Mt. Bove fault system. Geometric and kinematic characteristics of the rupture were observed and recorded along closely spaced, parallel or subparallel, overlapping or step-like synthetic and antithetic fault splays of the activated fault systems, comprising a total surface rupture length of approximately 46 km when all ruptures were considered.

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 several European teams (Open EMERGEO Working Group; about 130 researchers) coordinated by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia. The observations were collected by performing detailed field surveys in the epicentral region in order to describe the geometry and kinematics of surface faulting, and subsequently of landslides and other secondary coseismic effects. The resulting database consists of homogeneous georeferenced records identifying 7323 observation points, each of which contains 18 numeric and string fields of relevant information. This database will impact future earthquake studies focused on modelling of the seismic processes in active extensional settings, updating probabilistic estimates of slip distribution, and assessing the hazard of surface faulting.

In this paper we present the geological effects induced by the 2012 Emilia seismic sequence in the Po Plain. Extensive liquefaction phenomena were observed over an area of ~ 1200 km2 following the 20 May, ML 5.9 and 29 May, ML 5.8 mainshocks; both occurred on about E–W trending, S dipping blind thrust faults. We collected the coseismic geological evidence through field and aerial surveys, reports from local people and Web-based survey. On the basis of their morphologic and structural characteristics, we grouped the 1362 effects surveyed into three main categories: liquefaction (485), fractures with liquefaction (768), and fractures (109). We show that the quite uneven distribution of liquefaction effects, which appear concentrated and aligned, is mostly controlled by the presence of paleo-riverbeds, out-flow channels and fans of the main rivers crossing the area; these terrains are characterised by the pervasive presence of sandy layers in the uppermost 5 m, a local feature that, along with the presence of a high water table, greatly favours liquefaction. We also find that the maximum distance of observed liquefaction from the earthquake epicentre is ~ 30 km, in agreement with the regional empirical relations available for the Italian Peninsula. Finally, we observe that the contour of the liquefaction observations has an elongated shape almost coinciding with the aftershock area, the InSAR deformation area, and the I ≥ 6 EMS area. This observation confirms the control of the earthquake source on the liquefaction distribution, and provides useful hints in the characterisation of the seismogenic source responsible for historical and pre-historical liquefactions.

In the original version of the Data Descriptor the surname of author Anne Socquet was misspelled. This has now been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the Data Descriptor. Some authors were also not appropriately associated with their affiliations in the HTML version, due to formatting errors made by the publisher. This has now been corrected in the HTML version of the Data Descriptor, the affiliations in the PDF were correct from the time of publication.

The aim of this project is the design development of floating wind turbine systems, which enable the economic generation of electricity from wind power in sea protected locations (as for ex. inside harbour areas or behind breakwaters). The factors, which favour locating wind turbines in semioffshore conditions, are the availability of higher wind speed and the less severe environmental and social constraints of such areas. However, this offshore choice entails some major disadvantages such as high capital costs for foundations, submarine or highly protected cables for connection to land electric grids and high running and maintenance costs. The current design attempts to provide a new technical approach that improves the l

Wind Turbine installations on breakwaters have recently begun to supply electricity for harbour services on the North European coasts (Belgium, The Netherlands, Denmark), where such developments are favoured by good wind regimes, site availability, and government policies promoting renewable energy. Similar WTG installations may be promoted on the Mediterranean, where land space is even more restricted but harbour and offshore areas are in some ways more suitable. Breakwaters up to 2 km long, free of heavy harbour services, are ideal sites for clusters incorporating tens of units, with spacing of 4 or 5 rotor diameters, with inexpensive supporting foundations. Medium size units, already well developed and commercially sound, would be preferred, though some corrosion problems associated with a marine environment would require particular attention. There are about 100 major harbours unevenly distributed along the Mediterranean coasts, the higher number being in the northern countries. The wind regimes are better in the North African harbours, where the annual mean wind velocity is 5-7m/s compared with 5-6 for Southern Europe, but these have shorter breakwaters. The total breakwater length available in Mediterranean harbours is 100 to 300 km, with an installation potential of 200-300 MW to produce about 400-500 GWh/year. All breakwater arrays could be grid connected through the local harbour services. The cost per kWh should be 7-10 cents ECU (8-1.3 cents US). Environmental problems such as visual impact, noise and electromagnetic interference are not expected to be significant, but the authorisation procedure for WTG siting would need to be clarified.

A comprehensive treatment of seismic risk requires a reliable seismic hazard assessment. For this purpose, authors propose here the application of a synthetic damage-constrained parameter (named as HSM) which establishes, in three chosen vibration period ranges of engineering interest, an absolute ranking of seismic hazard. It includes the regional seismic hazard and the amplification due to the geological and geophysical setting of such areas of the Italian territory where the results of seismic microzonation studies are available. The purpose behind the application of this new parameter is providing new elements for effective implementation of seismic risk prevention and mitigation policies. In particular, a methodology is defined for individuating the thresholds values of the HSM parameter that classify the territory according to an increasing hazard scale, coupling with a theoretical expected average damage. In order to enhance the robustness of this methodology, a tempt of validation using experimental data is described in Appendix 1. The aforementioned scale of representation is applied on the dataset of the seismic microzonation studies conducted in 137 municipalities in Central Italy after the Mw 6.0 earthquake of 24 August 2016, providing for these centers realistic estimates of the overall seismic hazard. As future perspectives, it is shown how the inclusion of this parameter in urban planning and seismic design may help reaching different outcomes. In particular, in this paper it is discussed the effective contribution of HSM at: (i) helping decision makers to highlight priority intervention areas; (ii) defining best practices for existing structures, such as specific response studies, where higher overall seismic hazard values are expected.

A 1:5,000 scale geological map and 31 geological cross-sections are presented for the surroundings of Amatrice village (central Apennines, Italy), epicentral area of the first damaging earthquake of the 2016-2017 seismic sequence. This detailed geological dataset focuses on: (i) the extent, the thickness, and the internal stratigraphic architecture of the Quaternary continental deposits; (ii) the bedding and the thickness of the Miocene substratum; and (iii) the spatial distribution of the main fault systems. The provided dataset would update the available regional geological maps in deciphering the syn-to-post-orogenic history of the Amatrice Basin. Eventually, the accuracy of the geological mapping would represent a basic tool for interpreting and integrating the multidisciplinary dataset deriving from post-seismic activities.