Abstract
Abstract. The Emilia earthquake of 2012 (Italy) stimulated a controversial debate concerning the possibility that the event could have been induced or triggered by underground fluids production. The public discussion led the Italian Government to issue a protocol of guidelines for the monitoring of microseismic activity, ground deformation and reservoir pore pressure. The guidelines will be put into operation as soon as practicable when licensing is being considered, and all data provided by mining operators must be made available to the relevant Authorities. The implementation of an outreach and communication program to local residents and administrative authorities is prescribed, so that the civil and scientific community at large can gain confidence that operations are being managed optimally.
Highlights
After the well-known “Emilia” seismic sequence of May 2012 (Pizzi and Scisciani, 2012), located in the densely populated Emilia-Romagna Region (Italy), causing 27 casualties and relevant damages to buildings and industrial infrastructures, doubts have been raised on the possibility that the above seismic sequence could have been induced or triggered by underground fluids production or injection.The area under investigation is well known for the large number of oil and gas fields, discovered since the early 1950’s
In order to ensure the effectiveness and transparency of the activities, it is planned the construction of a dedicated website of the Ministry for Economic Development (MISE), with a special area containing specific sections for individual fields and leases, dedicated to the dissemination of information on existing and ongoing activities and data acquired during the monitoring
The Cavone Monitoring Laboratory originated from an “Agreement” between MISE Ministry, Emilia-Romagna Regional Government, oil company “Società Padana Energia”, and Assomineraria to set up a pioneering center for research, monitoring and dissemination of local data
Summary
After the well-known “Emilia” seismic sequence of May 2012 (Pizzi and Scisciani, 2012), located in the densely populated Emilia-Romagna Region (Italy), causing 27 casualties and relevant damages to buildings and industrial infrastructures, doubts have been raised on the possibility that the above seismic sequence could have been induced or triggered by underground fluids production or injection. Macini et al.: Land subsidence, seismicity and pore pressure monitoring: oil and gas fields in Italy tivity have produced sufficient stress change to generate an “induced” seismic event While it cannot constitute proof, the current state of knowledge and all the processed and interpreted information does not allow the ruling out of the possibility that the actions involved in hydrocarbon exploitation in the oilfield may have contributed to “trigger” the Emilia seismic activity” (author’s italics). Existing and future hydrocarbon and geothermal activities must be supported by high technology monitoring networks aimed to study the time evolution of the three essential aspects: microseismic activity, ground deformation and pore pressure These should be put into operation as soon as practicable when licensing is being considered. This paper details and illustrates the above guidelines, and analyzes the preliminary results of experimental monitoring activities performed at selected pilot test sites
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