The research activities on earthquake mechanics of shallow- and intermediate-depth earthquakes aim at determining the conditions that control the nucleation, propagation and arrest of seismic ruptures and at understanding the geology and physics of natural and human-induced earthquakes (energy budgets, deformation mechanisms, etc.).

These studies also aim to understand the seismic cycle (relationships between "brittle" deformation in the upper crust and "ductile" deformation in the lower crust; interactions between fluids, rocks and seismicity; etc.) and include research activities with applications to the safe exploitation of underground reservoirs dedicated to CO2 storage or for medium- and high-enthalpy geothermal energy.

In collaboration with seismologists and other personnel of the Department of Geosciences, the scientific approach includes:

• (1) field studies aimed at the quantitative description of the architecture of seismogenic faults,
• (2) experimental studies to reproduce in the laboratory the deformation conditions typical of the seismic cycle also in the presence of hot and pressurized fluids
• (3) microstructural, mineralogical and geochemical studies for the identification of deformation processes operating during the seismic cycle.

Professors coordinating and developing projects related to this research pathway: Giulio Di Toro, Michele Fondriest, Rodrigo Alfonso Gomila Olmos De Aguilera, Matteo Massironi, Giorgio Pennacchioni, Giacomo Pozzi, Telemaco Tesei