The hidden world of artificial cavities in the hydrographic district of the Southern Apennines of Italy: findings, architectural variability and risk assessment

The present paper presents the preliminary results of a study project launched on the territory of one of the largest hydrographic districts in Italy, the Hydrographic District of Southern Apennine (Autorità di Bacino Distrettuale dell’Appennino Meridionale), in southern Italy, in collaboration with the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department at the University of Bari Aldo Moro and the Engineering Department of the University of Campania L. Vanvitelli. The objective of the research is the acquisition of all available information on the presence of cavities of anthropic origin in the subsoil of the District territory, in order to provide guidelines for the analysis and characterization of artificial cavities. An accurate research was conducted of all the documentary sources that provided information on the presence of cavities. The great heterogeneity of the data acquired made it necessary to identify a homogenization and cataloging system to be connected to the classification provided by the National Commission on Artificial Cavities of the Italian Speleological Society, and which takes into account the construction typologies and those structural elements susceptible to trigger phenomena of sinkholes. Since the municipalities included in the District are 1632, a “top-down” approach was chosen for the identification of the presence of possible anthropic cavities, starting from the analysis of the Lithological Map of Italy and selecting those lithologies potentially affected by mining activities. This has reduced the number of administrative areas to check. Although the work is still preliminary, it will constitute a single document in Italy and will allow for the definition of procedures for preliminary evaluation of the stability conditions of artificial cavities.