Seismic prospecting of a slope affected by deep-seated gravitational slope deformation: the Lago Sackung, Calabria, Italy

Abstract

In this study seismic reflection and refraction were used to study the Sackung of Lago (Calabria, Italy). The seismic track is roughly 1200 m long. Seismic-reflection analysis has seldom been used to study mass movements; structurally landslides tend to be extremely complex, and the landslide body is not a good medium for seismic waves, because of dispersion and noise. However, through the use of recent sophisticated software, it has become possible for seismic reflection to obtain good results. In this case study, a package called Seistrex 3 was used. By means of static and topographic corrections, enhanced by filtering and migration, a seismic profile with good resolution of the geometry of layers and faults to depths of 100–400 m was obtained. This study shows that seismic reflection is more useful than seismic refraction for examining the internal structure of a landslide.