Advances in Geosciences www.adv-geosci.net 1680-7340 1680-7359 24 Near surface geophysics for the study and the management of historical resources: past, present and future (EGU Session 2009) 2010 10.5194/adgeo-24-15-2010 http://www.adv-geosci.net/24/15/2010/ http://www.adv-geosci.net/24/15/2010/adgeo-24-15-2010.html http://www.adv-geosci.net/24/15/2010/adgeo-24-15-2010.pdf 15 21 2010-03-09 Georadar investigations to detect cavities in a historical town damaged by an earthquake of the past F. T. Gizzi f.gizzi@ibam.cnr.it A. Loperte A. Satriani V. Lapenna N. Masini M. Proto Istituto per i Beni Archeologici e Monumentali (IBAM)-CNR- Potenza, Italia Istituto per le Metodologie di Analisi Ambientale (IMAA)-CNR- Potenza, Italia This paper aims to highlight the use of the georadar as a useful prospecting technique to identify the areal density and the geometrical features of the grottoes placed in a historical town characterised by high seismic hazard. <br><br> The town considered here is Rionero in Vulture (Southern Italy) that was hit by several historical earthquakes, among which the 1930 Irpinia earthquake (Me=6.7, Is=VIII MCS). <br><br> For this event a damage map was already available from a previous study (Gizzi and Masini, 2006). This map shows that some sectors of the town suffered higher damage. One factor causing the uneven distribution of the effects is considered to be the presence of grottoes. <br><br> To strengthen this work hypothesis it was necessary to in-depth investigate the subsoil of Rionero in Vulture. 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