SisGARDA project
Offshore HR seismic survey in Lake Garda
Lake Garda is one of the most interesting basins in the Southern Alps, both for its peculiar lymnological characteristics (it has one of the longest full circulation periods among pre-alpine lakes) and – that’s our point 😉 – because there are several active faults running along its bottom.
That’s why we here planned an offshore seismic reflection survey campaign.
Several strong historic earthquakes heavily hit this area, including the deadly Christmas Eve, 1222 (Io IX MCS) and Jan, 3rd, 1117 event, near Verona, to the South. Recent studies highlighted the occurrence of large landlsides in the region north of the lake, possible earthquake-triggered. The recognition of primary faulting at the bottom and/or the mapping of widespread earthquake-induced landslides could ba a major step forward in the knowledge of the seismic landscape of this region, similarly to what has been already done north of the Alpine Chain.
We worked for three days in collaboration with Luca Gasperini (CNR ISMAR) and INGV and we used, for the first time in Europe, an innovative low-frequency bubble gun source, by Falmouth Scientific, Inc.
Preliminarily results are really promising! stay tuned for further updates.
A nice panorama on the cliffs and abrasion platforms of the Lake Garda. We will work in this embayment, near the Salò town 
…before starting a contemplative break staring at the damages induced by the 2004 earthquake (Ml 5.2) 
the LF bubble gun… BANG! 
…and his designer: Dr. Fred Hegg, from Falmouth Scientific Inc. 
here is the bubble gun in water 
The boat gently made available by the Italian Coast Guard… 
…and here we go! 
some problems may arise. here a cable disconnected and we “gently” pulled the bubble gun to plug in the cable again 
Prof. Alessandro Michetti is planning new surveys with the Coast Guard Commander Ilaria Zamarian 
Luca Gasperini is briefing on the preliminar results of this campaign in a press conference
Finally, following Murphy’s Law, the weather was almost unkind toward our plans. Here is an evidence-based report by Francesca Ferrario on what we found during those days! 😉