MOLE: A multidisciplinary observatory and laboratory of experiments in central Italy

Abstract

One of the main conclusions of the workshop was that drilling through the Alto Tiberina Fault will provide information on crustal stress and fluid pressures. It will also allow us to do the following: (I) sample fault zone materials to measure their physical ppropperties; (II) install down-hole fluids; and (III) better understand the fault zone structure of a normal fault dipping at ∼15°-20°, of which the seismogenic potential is unknown. Taken together, these studies will directly address many of the key questions related to the LANF paradox with particular regard to the understanding of the local stress field within the fault zone and the role of fluids in this process. While the main goals of the MOLE project are to improve the understanding of the mechanical and physico-chemical behavior of LANFs, the impact of the project is certainly broader. The collected data and direct observations will provide a step toward more realistic models of earthquake nucleation and strain localization within fault zones. Laboratory experiments on rock friction with real and fresh fault zone materials can provide important constraints on fault friction and dynamic fault weakening processes. In general MOLE will become a natural laboratory for monitoring and modeling the geophysical and geochemical processes controlling normal faulting in an active tectonic setting.