E. Cardarelli et R. De Nardis, Seismic refraction, isotropic anisotropic seismic tomography on an ancientmonument (Antonino and Faustina temple AD 141), GEOPHYS PR, 49(2), 2001, pp. 228-240
This paper describes the results of using geophysical techniques to investi
gate three columns of the Pronaos of the Antonino and Faustina temple (AD 1
41) in Rome, Italy; the columns are of cipollino marble which shows alterna
te sequences of mica and calcite beds. We applied seismic refraction using
traditional interpretation, and seismic transmission tomography. The compar
ison between the results of the refraction study and the 2D and 3D isotropi
c tomographic analyses suggested anisotropic characteristics for the marble
, and this prompted us to perform a further tomographic experiment, taking
into account these characteristics of the material. Assuming an elliptical
model, the main directions of anisotropy were detected. Two velocity fields
corresponding to the main directions of the anisotropy were measured and a
nomalies such as cracks and fractures were noted. The conjugate-gradient al
gorithm was used to invert the data. The results of the isotropic and aniso
tropic models were compared. The correlation between the methods highlighte
d the characteristics of the marble, i.e. anisotropy, depth of the weatheri
ng, fractures and small cracks. The results show that the material of the c
olumns is in reasonable condition, with the exception of a surface area 6 c
m to 15 cm deep that we estimate has been weathered for 2000 years, and tha
t has been particularly affected by pollution in the last century.