Modelling Cover-Collapse Sinkholes That Appeared after the M6.2 Petrinja Earthquake in Croatia Using Electrical Resistivity Tomography Data

Franjo Šumanovac () and Želimir Pekaš
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Franjo Šumanovac: Faculty of Mining, Geology and Petroleum Engineering, University of Zagreb, Pierottijeva 6, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Želimir Pekaš: Hrvatske Vode (Croatian Waters), Ulica Grada Vukovara 220, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 2, 1-22

Abstract: After the destructive earthquake in Petrinja measuring M6.2 occurred on 29 December 2020, which was followed by a series of foreshocks and aftershocks in the area of the rural settlements in Mečenčani and Borojevići, cover-collapse sinkholes suddenly appeared. The investigated area is located 20 km southeast of the epicentre. Some months later, more than 90 cover-collapse sinkholes appeared, jeopardising local infrastructure and residential buildings. The sinkholes appear in the area of covered karst, where there are clastic deposits 2–10 m thick on the fractured and weathered limestone bedrock. There are two geological models located in the investigated area: GM-1, where the base consists of clastic strata covering comprising Lithothamnium limestone, which in turn leads to the formation of underground cavities and cover-collapse sinkholes, and the GM-2, where the base comprises clay deposits without any cover-collapse sinkholes. These models can be effectively distinguished due to tomographic resistivity models; hence, numerous measurements were undertaken using two-dimensional electrical tomography in several phases. An estimate of the threat to infrastructural facilities was conducted, and the boundaries of the geological models were precisely determined according to which underground cavities and cover-collapse sinkholes did not develop. Tomographic measurements were also conducted over the largest cover-collapse sinkhole measuring 25 m in diameter and helped to more precisely define the entire hydrogeological model and the mechanisms involved in the formation of cover-collapse sinkholes.

Keywords: Petrinja earthquake; electrical tomography; carbonate bedrock; underground cavities; cover-collapse sinkholes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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