Analysis by UAV Digital Photogrammetry of Folds and Related Fractures in the Monte Antola Flysch Formation (Ponte Organasco, Italy)

The deformation structures (folds and fractures) affecting Monte Antola flysch formation in the area of Ponte Organasco (Northern Apennines-Italy) were analyzed by Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Digital Photogrammetry (UAVDP). This technique allowed the realization of Digital Outcrop Models (DOMs) interpreted in a stereoscopic environment by collecting a large number of digital structural measures (strata, fractures and successively fold axes and axial planes). In particular, by UAVDP was possible to analyze the relationships between folds and fractures all along the study structures. The structural analysis revealed the presence of a series of NE-vergent folds characterized by a typical Apenninic trend and affected by four main sets of fractures. Fractures are always sub-orthogonal to the bedding, maintains constant angular relationships with the bedding and seems linked to the folding deformation. The study shows that the UAVDP technique can overcome the main limitations of field structural analysis such as the scarce presence and the inaccessibility (total or partial) of rock outcrops and allows for acquiring images of rock outcrops at a detailed scale from user-inaccessible positions and different points of view and analyze inaccessible parts of outcrops.