Cansiglio Karst Plateau: 10 Years of Geodetic–Hydrological Observations in Seismically Active Northeast Italy

Abstract

Ten years’ geodetic observations (2006–2016) in a natural cave of the Cansiglio Plateau (Bus de la Genziana), a limestone karstic area in northeastern Italy, are discussed. The area is of medium–high seismic risk: a strong earthquake in 1936 below the plateau (M_m = 6.2) and the 1976 disastrous Friuli earthquake (M_m = 6.5) are recent events. At the foothills of the karstic massif, three springs emerge, with average flow from 5 to 10 m³/s, and which are the sources of a river. The tiltmeter station is set in a natural cavity that is part of a karstic system. From March 2013, a multiparametric logger (temperature, stage, electrical conductivity) was installed in the siphon at the bottom of the cave to discover the underground hydrodynamics. The tilt records include signals induced by hydrologic and tectonic effects. The tiltmeter signals have a clear correlation to the rainfall, the discharge series of the river and the data recorded by multiparametric loggers. Additionally, the data of a permanent GPS station located on the southern slopes of the Cansiglio Massif (CANV) show also a clear correspondence with the river level. The fast water infiltration into the epikarst, closely related to daily rainfall, is distinguished in the tilt records from the characteristic time evolution of the karstic springs, which have an impulsive level increase with successive exponential decay. It demonstrates the usefulness of geodetic measurements to reveal the hydrological response of the karst. One outcome of the work is that the tiltmeters can be used as proxies for the presence of flow channels and the pressure that builds up due to the water flow. With 10 years of data, a new multidisciplinary frontier was opened between the geodetic studies and the karstic hydrogeology to obtain a more complete geologic description of the karst plateau.