This paper presents the results of an experiment aiming to measure the vibrational frequencies of the main structures of the medieval church of San Domenico (Matera, southern Italy) and relate them to the mechanical properties of geological stratigraphy and construction materials. Vibrational frequencies are measured by means of the ground-based radar inteferometry technique using a Ku-band radar. Time series of ground-based radar data are processed to measure displacements and vibration frequencies of the church structures. Data collected by a seismic triaxal station for the measurement of the H/V ratio are also processed to compare with radar-based frequencies measurements, providing information about the main vibration frequency ranges of the church structures and, more important, disentangle the site and structure vibration frequencies.

The geomorphological evolution of the Pliocene-Quaternary Auletta basin, a wide fault-bounded depression of the southern Apennines axial zone, Italy, was reconstructed using both DEM-based morphometric analysis and classical morphotectonic investigations. Morphotectonic analyses have been integrated with geological, structural and paleomagnetic data in order to reconstruct the Quaternary evolution of the area. The Auletta basin coincides with the lower valley of the Tanagro River and is filled by Pliocene to Pleistocene marine and continental sediments. The strike of the basin is N120-130 degrees, according to the main fault systems of the area. Long-term landscape evolution results from interaction and feedback of geomorphic stages with the morphogenesis of erosional land surfaces alternating with tectonic pulses in which also block-tectonic rotation occurred. The ages of the morphological de-activation of such terraced surfaces have been roughly defined on the grounds of their morpho-stratigraphic relationships with Pliocene and Quaternary deposits, and better constrained by radiometric dating. Tectonic tilting has been established from morphological relationships between rotated blocks related to the activity of the Alburni fault line and the several generations of erosional and depositional land surfaces. The stratigraphic, structural, paleomagnetic and geomorphological data presented here suggest that the studied basin appears to have a more complex tectonic evolution than an extensional graben. Transtensional tectonics along NW-SE striking, listric faults of the Alburni margin system created the depression since Pliocene times, whereas extensional tectonics plays a key role in the middle to late Pleistocene morphotectonic evolution of the basin. This work demonstrates the usefulness of an integrated analysis in order to extract information on tectonic activity and landscape evolution in the Auletta basin, as an example for other study areas.

Viene qui presentata una metodologia d'approccio basata sull'uso di dati di tipo Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) nella risoluzione di problemi legati all'evoluzione geomorfologica di aree di catena ad elevata mobilità tettonica quaternaria. L'ampia area campione prescelta per tale scopo è rappresentata dal bacino intermontano di Auletta, una depressione tettonica bordata da scarpate di linea di faglia a sviluppo decakilometrico e andamento N120-130°, colmata da sedimenti marino-transizionali e continentali di età compresa tra il Pliocene medio ed il Pleistocene medio. Le informazioni estratte dai dati topografici SRTM (elevazione, slope e aspect) sono state utilizzate, unitamente ai dati dell'analisi morfostrutturale tradizionale, per la comprensione dell'evoluzione del rilievo e per definire in tal senso il ruolo delle grandi strutture perimetrali. L'elaborazione dei dati ha inoltre facilitato il calcolo del tasso di erosione sul medio-lungo termine, grazie alla diffusa presenza di marker del sollevamento quaternario come le superfici erosionali sospese.