Tracing the seismic history of Sant’Agata del Mugello (Italy, Tuscany) through a cross-disciplinary approach

Abstract

Historical seismicity is mainly defined from historical sources which are not always available. Yet historical buildings are an unique opportunity to record and study effects of past earthquakes at a given place. An innovative methodology is defined to improve knowledge of local historical seismicity. Such a methodology is based on an interdisciplinary approach combining : analysis of historical sources, stratigraphic analysis and structural analysis of an historical building. The church of Sant'Agata del Mugello (Italy, Tuscany) is considered as a case of study. The stratigraphic analysis is performed by identifying the repairs using the RECAP methodology. 80 repairs units using 13 building techniques are identified in the church. The identified repairs are associated with unknown events, earthquakes or routine reconstructions. When post-earthquake reconstructions are found, damage mechanisms are associated with them. 13 constructive phases of the church have been traced combining stratigraphic analysis and historical sources. A proto-church was built before 948 A.D. and is nowadays below the current one. The first phase of the current church appears between the 9 th and the 12 th century. A significant event of unknown origin occurred during the 12 th century which probably led to an important collapse and then a significant reconstruction of the church. The church is then deeply affected by the 1542 seismic event (epicentral macroseismic intensity 9, deduced magnitude 6.02) which resulted in the collapse of the upper part of the bell tower and the two lateral chapels as well as the overturning of the front wall and of the two lateral walls of the nave. The 1611 seismic event (epicentral macroseismic intensity 7, deduced magnitude 5.1) damaged the upper part of the bell tower as described in historical records. In spite of the confirmed occurrence of seismic events in the area from the middle of the 17 th century and the beginning of the 20 th century, no information relating seismic damage of the church has been found in historical records nor in the startigraphic analysis. The most important earthquake which struck the area on June 19th, 1919, produced only some small cracks in the church (magnitude 6.38).

Seismic Microzonation of the Pompeii Archaeological Park (Southern Italy): Local Seismic Amplification Factors

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Paléosismologie lacustre et géophysique appliquées au lac d'Iznik (Turquie) : contribution à l'étude de la branche médiane de la Faille Nord-Anatolienne

“…Several methods try to refine long-term behaviours of fault to improve seismic hazard models. Among them, archeoseismological studies can span over several millenniums, as this method is based on archaeological remains (e.g., Benjelloun et al, 2020;Montabert et al, 2020;Combey et al, 2021), while paleoseismology (trenches and sediment cores) extent over thousands of years depending on the sedimentation rate of the studied area (Galli et al, 2008;Drab et al, 2012;Hubert-Ferrari et al, 2020). On-fault studies such as trenching provide direct evidence for fault displacement in the case of surface ruptures (e.g., Kumar et al, 2006;Rockwell et Ben-Zion, 2007;Klinger et al, 2015.…”

Monumental Inca remains and past seismic disasters: A relational database to support archaeoseismological investigations and cultural heritage preservation in the Andes

“…Indeed, the large-scale registration of Earthquake Archaeological Effects (EAE -Rodríguez-Pascua et al, 2011), the use of remote sensing tools (Lidar, photogrammetry -Forlin et al, 2018;Yerli et al, 2010) as well as the construction of seismic deformation simulation thanks to 3D models (Hinzen et al, 2013;Hinzen and Montabert, 2017;Pecchioli et al, 2018) constitute important steps towards monitoring strategies of archaeological remains. Addressing the impact of past earthquakes on cultural heritage has turned into an emerging priority, particularly in the Mediterranean area (Marchetti et al, 2017;Montabert et al, 2020;Remondino and Rizzi, 2010). However, in South America and across the High Andes, research is still at its early stage (Aguilar et al, 2015;Briceño et al, 2018;Noel et al, 2019).…”