Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Environmental Earth Sciences (2018) 77:118 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-018-7319-4 ORIGINAL ARTICLE First assessment of the local seismic amplifcation susceptibility of the Isernia Province (Molise Region, Southern Italy) by the integration of geological and geomorphological studies related to the frst level seismic microzonation project Pietro Patrizio Ciro Aucelli 1  · Gianluigi Di Paola 2  · Ettore Valente 2  · Vincenzo Amato 2  · Vito Bracone 2  · Massimo Cesarano 3  · Giuseppe Di Capua 4  · Vittoria Scorpio 5  · Andrea Capalbo 2  · Gerardo Pappone 1  · Fabio Ravera 2  · Carmen Maria Rosskopf 2 Received: 16 June 2017 / Accepted: 30 January 2018 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract This paper presents the results of the geological and geomorphological investigation carried out during the frst level seismic microzonation project in the Isernia Province territory. The study area falls in one of the most seismically active areas of the Apennine chain and it has been struck, in historical times, by destructive earthquakes that caused several causalities and difuse damages to the buildings. The analysis points out the occurrence of geological features that can determine possible site amplifcation phenomena related to areas with extensive outcrops of thick continental deposits or to unstable areas (both covering about 48% of the investigated areas). The latter are sometimes combined with geomorphological features such as scarps, isolated peaks, and ridges that are also responsible for possible site amplifcation. In addition, a susceptibility to local seismic amplifcation index has been introduced which highlights that more than 64% of the investigated area, along with a signifcant percentage of buildings, fall within the highest categories of susceptibility to local seismic amplifcation. Keywords Seismic microzonation · Susceptibility to local seismic amplifcation · GIS analysis · Site efects · Southern Italy Introduction The Italian territory has been afected, in historical times, by strong seismic activity mainly concentrated along the Apen- nine chain axis (DISS Working Group 2015; Rovida et al. 2016). In the last decades, several earthquakes with magni- tude around six have caused both difuse damages to build- ings and infrastructures and thousands causalities. The more destructive events are, according to Rovida et al. (2016), the Mw = 6.81, 1980 Irpinia earthquake (Bernard and Zollo 1989; Amato and Selvaggi 1993; Ascione et al. 2013), the Mw = 5.97, 1997 Umbria earthquake (Amato et al. 1998; Calamita et al. 2000), the Mw = 5.74, 2002 San Giuliano di Puglia earthquake (Casciello et al. 2004; Pappone et al. 2011), the Mw = 6.29, 2009 L’Aquila earthquake (Chiar- abba et al. 2009; Martelli et al. 2012), the Mw = 6.09, 2012 Emilia earthquake (Galli et al. 2012; Tertulliani et al. 2012), and the intense and prolonged seismic sequences that are striking the central Apennines since August 24, 2016, with two main shocks occurred on August 24, 2016 (Mw = 6.0) and October 30, 2016 (Mw = 6.5) (Emergeo Working Group 2016; Michele et al. 2016). Such events have determined the development of a new scientifc approach to the seis- mic risk analysis based on an accurate seismic classifca- tion useful for a better urban planning (Grasso and Maugeri 2009; Compagnoni et al. 2011; Lanzo et al. 2011; Moscatelli et al. 2015). In addition, these seismic events also enhanced a strong correlation between damage distribution and site * Ettore Valente ettore.valente@unimol.it 1 Department of Science and Technology, University of Naples “Parthenope”, Naples, Italy 2 Department of Biosciences and Territory, University of Molise, Pesche, Italy 3 Institute of Environmental Geology and Geoengineering, IGAG-CNR, Rome, Italy 4 INGV, Rome, Italy 5 Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy