Research area: Geology - Paleontology
Coordinators: Cesare Perotti, Giovanni Toscani, Niccolò Menegoni
ERC sectors: PE10_5 Geology, tectonics, volcanology
Rock fracturing
The research activity focuses on the geological understanding of brittle deformations in rocks (faults and fractures) in various geological settings (e.g., clastic, carbonate and crystalline rocks, shallow and deep crustal environments) and for different purposes (e.g., structural geology, hydrogeology, geo-engineering, georesources). The research is conducted in a multidisciplinary manner, combining traditional rock mechanics and geomechanical analyses with innovative scientific techniques such as photogrammetry, Digital Outcrop Models, analogue modeling (e.g., sandbox), and numerical modeling (e.g., Finite Element Method).
Among the various national and international collaborations are: Istituto Regionale per la Protezione Idrogeologica (IRPI-CNR Torino, Italy), IFP Energies nouvelles (IFPEN, France), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST, Saudi Arabia), Montanuniversität Leoben (Austria), Université de Lausanne (Switzerland), Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR, Germany); Italferr (Gruppo Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, Italy);
Perozzo, M., Menegoni, N., Foletti, M., Poggi, E., Benedetti, G., Carretta, N., ... & Maino, M. (2024). Evaluation of an innovative, open-source and quantitative approach for the kinematic analysis of rock slopes based on UAV based Digital Outcrop Model: A case study from a railway tunnel portal (Finale Ligure, Italy). Engineering Geology, 340, 107670. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2024.107670
Panara, Y., Menegoni, N., Finkbeiner, T., Zühlke, R., & Vahrenkamp, V. (2024). High-resolution analysis of 3D fracture networks from Digital Outcrop Models, correlation to plate-tectonic events and calibration of subsurface models (Jurassic, Arabian Plate). Marine and Petroleum Geology, 167, 106998. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2024.106998
Menegoni, N., Manna, L., Maino, M., & Perotti, C. (2024). Finite element analysis of early deformations of carbonate platforms driven by differential compaction of basinal unit. Basin Research, 36(5), e12903. https://doi.org/10.1111/bre.12903
Menegoni, N., Panara, Y., Greenwood, A., Mariani, D., Zanetti, A., & Hetényi, G. (2024). Fracture network characterisation of the Balmuccia peridotite using drone-based photogrammetry, implications for active-seismic site survey for scientific drilling. Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrmge.2024.03.012
Manna, L., Perozzo, M., Menegoni, N., Tamburelli, S., Crispini, L., Federico, L., ... & Maino, M. (2023). Anatomy of a km-scale fault zone controlling the Oligo-Miocene bending of the Ligurian Alps (NW Italy): integration of field and 3D high-resolution digital outcrop model data. Swiss Journal of Geosciences, 116(1), 15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s00015-023-00444-1
Menegoni, N., Giordan, D., Inama, R., & Perotti, C. (2023). DICE: An open-source MATLAB application for quantification and parametrization of digital outcrop model-based fracture datasets. Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, 15(5), 1090-1110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrmge.2022.09.011
Fedorik, J., Delaunay, A., Losi, G., Panara, Y., Menegoni, N., Afifi, A. M., ... & Kunnummal, N. (2023). Structure and fracture characterization of the Jizan group: implications for subsurface CO2 basalt mineralization. Frontiers in Earth Science, 10, 946532. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.946532
Thiele, S. T., Bnoulkacem, Z., Lorenz, S., Bordenave, A., Menegoni, N., Madriz, Y., ... & Kenter, J. (2021). Mineralogical mapping with accurately corrected shortwave infrared hyperspectral data acquired obliquely from UAVs. Remote Sensing, 14(1), 5. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14010005
Menegoni, N., Giordan, D., & Perotti, C. (2021). An Open-Source Algorithm for 3D ROck Slope Kinematic Analysis (ROKA). Applied Sciences, 11(4), 1698 https://doi.org/10.3390/app11041698
Inama, R., Menegoni, N., & Perotti, C. (2020). Syndepositional fractures and architecture of the lastoni di formin carbonate platform: Insights from virtual outcrop models and field studies. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 121, 104606 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2020.104606
Menegoni, N., Giordan, D., Perotti, C., & Tannant, D. D. (2019). Detection and geometric characterization of rock mass discontinuities using a 3D high-resolution digital outcrop model generated from RPAS imagery–Ormea rock slope, Italy. Engineering geology, 252, 145-163 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2019.02.028
Menegoni, N., Meisina, C., Perotti, C., & Crozi, M. (2018). Analysis by UAV digital photogrammetry of folds and related fractures in the Monte Antola Flysch Formation (Ponte Organasco, Italy). Geosciences, 8(8), 299. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences8080299