Reply to ‘Comment on “Petrographic features influencing basic geotechnical parameters of carbonate soft rocks from Apulia (southern Italy)” [Eng. Geol. 233: 76–97]’

Aiming to investigate the implications of the rock-fabric on some basic geotechnical parameters, the paper by Festa, Fiore, Luisi, Miccoli, and Spalluto (2018) mostly focused on the compositional, textural, and diagenetic aspects of the carbonate soft rocks from Apulia (southern Italy). So, further geotechnical considerations are always welcome for a more comprehensive discussion about the soft rocks' mechanical behavior of concern. With this perspective, the comment by G.F. Andriani (Andriani, 2021) to the paper by Festa et al. (2018) includes some geotechnical considerations and new data (albeit from a couple of samples) for the general discussion on the mechanical behavior of soft rocks from Apulia, although representing neither comments nor criticisms. In this comment, for some criticisms, the reply can be easily found in Festa et al. (2018); for other criticisms, they give us a chance to clarify some topics that were not discussed in depth before. According to the comment by Andriani (2021), the main criticisms that need replies include (i) improbable degree of saturation exceeding 100%, (ii) unlikely closed porosity, (iii) weakness of the dataset and scarcity of data, and (iv) insignificance of the uniaxial compressive strength vs. both imbibition and permeability coefficients. Therefore, the replies to these criticisms are assessed in the following sections: 2. the comment regarding degree of saturation; 3. the comment regarding porosity; 4. the comment regarding dataset; and 5. the comment regarding uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) vs. Imbibition and Permeability Coefficients. Finally, the replies to Andriani (2021) criticism regarding the lack of accurate comparative analysis have been disputed in 3 The comment regarding porosity, 4 The comment regarding dataset.