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Study of landslides at the archaeological site of Abakainon necropolis (NE Sicily) by geomorphological and geophysical investigations

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Abstract

This paper reports on the investigation of the old landslide body on which the necropolis of Abakainon, an Italian archaeological site, was built about 2400 years ago. This site is located in a geologically complex area of northeastern Sicily, where active tectonics has strongly modified the morphological landscape, as testified by the meandering path of watercourses, widespread presence of paleosurfaces, and deviations of crest line. Previous studies have hypothesized that the necropolis, suddenly destroyed by a catastrophic event in historical times, could have been built on an old landslide body. This represents the starting point of this paper, focused on geomorphological analysis and geophysical surveys, which allowed discovering peculiar elements in support of the landslide theory. In particular, the elaboration of a Digital Terrain Model allowed locating the main morphostructural elements, thus highlighting how the occurrence of landslides in the study area is strongly linked to recent tectonics. Passive seismic surveys, carried out through the acquisition of ambient noise, allowed detecting the presence of impedance contrasts, which were associated to peculiar features, such as the landslide body itself. Moreover, local strong directional effects testify the presence of faults, affecting even the necropolis area. Such results, further corroborated by the outcomes of an electrical resistivity survey, lay the foundations for interesting consideration on the possible cause of the destruction of this site, probably related to the occurrence of a historical earthquake in the first century AD.

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Acknowledgements

Passive seismic surveys were carried out using the instruments belonging to the Applied Geophysical Laboratory (scientific responsible S. Imposa) of the Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Catania. The authors wish to thank Sigeo Drilling Srl and Dr. Carmelo Ferla for their friendly support during the Electrical Resistivity Tomography, along with the Editor and the anonymous Reviewers who handled this paper during the revision stage.

Funding

This work was funded by the Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Catania, in the frame of “Piano Triennale della Ricerca (2017–2020),” research scientific responsible Giovanna Pappalardo.

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  1. Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Catania, Corso Italia 57, Catania, Italy

    G. Pappalardo, S. Imposa, M. S. Barbano, S. Grassi & S. Mineo

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Pappalardo, G., Imposa, S., Barbano, M.S. et al. Study of landslides at the archaeological site of Abakainon necropolis (NE Sicily) by geomorphological and geophysical investigations. Landslides 15, 1279–1297 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-018-0951-y

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