Analysis of Thermally Induced Strain Effects on a Jointed Rock Mass through Microseismic Monitoring at the Acuto Field Laboratory (Italy)

Abstract

The study of the deformation of rock masses in response to near-surface thermal stresses is nowadays considered crucial in the field of geological risk mitigation. The superposition of heating and cooling cycles can influence the mechanical behavior of rock masses by inducing inelastic deformations that can trigger shallow slope instabilities, such as rockfalls and rock topples. This study reports the main outcomes obtained from the analysis of 20 month long microseismic monitoring at the Acuto field laboratory (Central Italy), where an integrated geotechnical and geophysical monitoring system has been operating since 2015. A preliminary event classification was performed through the analysis of time- and frequency-domain characteristic features of the extracted waveforms. Furthermore, the evolution of the local microseismicity was explored as a function of environmental factors (i.e., rock and air temperature, thermal gradients and ranges, and rainfalls) to highlight potential correlations. The here presented results highlight nontrivial insights into the role played by continuous near-surface temperature fluctuations and extreme thermal transients in influencing the stability of rock masses. In particular, the comparison of monitoring periods characterized by the most intense microseismic activity highlights a peculiar distribution of microseismicity during the heating and cooling phases of the rock mass in relation to different environmental conditions. These behaviors can be interpreted as the consequence of different driving mechanisms at the base of local failures.