The INSIEME seismic network: A research infrastructure for studying induced seismicity in the High Agri Valley (southern Italy)

Abstract

The High Agri Valley is a tectonically active area in southern Italy characterized by high seismic hazard related to fault systems capable of generating up to M D 7 earthquakes (i.e. The 1857 Mw D 7 Basilicata earthquake). In addition to the natural seismicity, two different clusters of induced microseismicity were recognized to be caused by industrial operations carried out in the area: (1) the water loading and unloading operations in the Pertusillo artificial reservoir and (2) the wastewater disposal at the Costa Molina 2 injection well. The twofold nature of the recorded seismicity in the High Agri Valley makes it an ideal study area to deepen the understanding of driving processes of both natural and anthropogenic earthquakes and to improve the current methodologies for the discrimination between natural and induced seismic events by collecting high-quality seismic data. Here we present the dataset gathered by the INSIEME seismic network that was installed in the High Agri Valley within the SIR-MIUR research project INSIEME (INduced Seismicity in Italy: Estimation, Monitoring, and sEismic risk mitigation). The seismic network was planned with the aim to study the two induced seismicity clusters and to collect a full range of open-access data to be shared with the whole scientific community. The seismic network is composed of eight stations deployed in an area of 17km×11km around the two clusters of induced microearthquakes, and it is equipped with triaxial weak-motion broadband sensors placed at different depths down to 50 m. It allows us to detect induced microearthquakes, local and regional earthquakes, and teleseismic events from continuous data streams transmitted in real time to the CNR-IMAA Data Centre. The network has been registered at the International Federation of Digital Seismograph Networks (FDSN) with code 3F. Data collected until the end of the INSIEME project (23 March 2019) are already released with open-access policy through the FDSN web services and are available from IRIS DMC (https://doi.org/10.7914/SN/3F-2016; Stabile and INSIEME Team, 2016). Data collected after the project will be available with the permanent network code VD (https://doi.org/10.7914/SN/VD, CNR IMAA Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, 2019) as part of the High Agri Valley geophysical Observatory (HAVO), a multi-parametric network managed by the CNR-IMAA research institute.