Intermediate-field hydrogeological response induced by L’Aquila earthquake: the Acque Albule hydrothermal system (Central Italy)

""The intermediate-field hydrological response to the 6th April 2009 L’Aquila earthquake (Mw 6.3) has been studied using groundwater. level data that were recorded by six piezometers in the Acque Albule Basin (Tivoli travertine quarry area) and in the Cornicolani Mountains. (Pozzo del Merro shaft). The hydrogeological setting of the. Tivoli area is characterised by two superimposed aquifers: a deep aquifer in carbonate and a shallow aquifer in travertine. At the time of the L’Aquila earthquake, the groundwater level at five piezometers located in the travertine quarry area began to decrease, while the. water level slightly increased in the Pozzo del Merro karst lake that is located in the carbonate aquifer. To explain these variations, a possible conceptual model is proposed that assumes that ground -. water-level variations are caused by a change in aquifer permeability principally due to the dynamic stress associated with the passing of. the earthquake’s seismic waves.""