28121 - Geophysics of Environmental Risks

Learning outcomes

During the course, students learn to use some geophysical techniques useful to study environmental problems, in particular resistivity methods.
At the end of the course, the students know the methodologies to evaluate the seismic risk for a certain area, and to elaborate a plan for the prevention and mitigation of seismic disaster.

Course contents

Introduction: environmental problems amenable to solution by geophysical means.

Resistivity surveys: electrical resistivity of earth material, theory of current flow in the ground, field procedures and selection of electrode array, instruments, interpretation of resistivity data, environmental applications.

The seismic risk: the earthquake, the plate tectonics, the seismicity in Italy, the seismic hazard estimates, the fake news, the scientific citizenship.

Readings/Bibliography

H. R. Burger, A. F. Sheehan, C. H. Jones, Introduction to Applied Geophysics, Cambridge University Press, 2023.

W. Lowrie, A. Fichtner, Fundamentals of Geophysics (3rd edition), Cambridge University Press, 2020

Teaching methods

Lectures, educational movies, cooperative learning, field and computer labs.

Assessment methods

Oral exam consists of the presentation and the discussion of laboratory works and field measurements. The presentation should include suggestion of best practices, strategies, guidelines to prevent and mitigate environmental disaster.
The presentation will be judged on the basis of fluency, appropriate vocabulary use, organization and structure of the material presented, content/information, and comprehension.

Teaching tools

Power-point presentations, educational movies.

 

Students who need compensatory tools for reasons related to disabilities or specific learning disorders (SLD) can directly contact the Service for Students with Disabilities (disabilita@unibo.it) and the Service for Students with learning disabilities (dsa@unibo.it) to agree on the adoption of the most appropriate measures.

Office hours

See the website of Antonello Piombo