T41. Caves, mines and other underground spaces as field laboratories in environmental geology

Natural and artificial underground spaces represent some of the top challenging continental environments of the Planet. Despite many significant obstacles to overcome, underground voids are among the most important sources of information on the Earth's Critical Zones from a multidisciplinary perspective. These places have particular relevance in environmental geology researches as field laboratories both to understand the Earth's processes and the climatic changes, and to face several problems related to anthropic pressures and modification.
This session aims to provide a broad yet thorough review of updated investigations and innovative studies within caves, mines and other underground spaces that offer insights about the multiple processes of interest to environmental geology. These include contributions and case studies from basic and applied research to (1) knowledge of various geological phenomena that have repercussions on the subterranean environment and its associated risks (pollution, exceptional meteorological events, earthquakes, stability, health, etc.), (2) development of monitoring systems for environmental impact assessment and its mitigation strategies (traditional techniques and modern IT systems), and (3) exploration of criteria and integrate methods that provide cognitive elements for a sustainable use of these georesources.
This session is sponsored by the Sezione di Geologia Ambientale - SGI