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GIULIO DI TORO

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Position

Professore Ordinario

Structure

Dipartimento di Geoscienze

Address

VIA G. GRADENIGO, 6 - PADOVA

Telephone

0498279105

E-mail

giulio.ditoro@unipd.it

Giulio Di Toro is a Full Professor of Structural Geology at the Department of Geosciences, University of Padua (DG-UNIPD) and a research associate at the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV-Rome). He was a Professor of Geology at the University of Manchester (Great Britain) from 2015 to 2017. In collaboration with geologists, seismologists, physicists, engineers, and young undergraduates, doctoral students, and postdoctoral fellows, to whom he owes so much, he sought to integrate, including through numerical modeling, observations of natural faults with experimental data to understand the physical and chemical processes active during the earthquake cycle and natural and human-induced earthquakes. Scientific results published in about 140 papers include the study and identification of fault lubrication processes during earthquakes, characterization of fault architecture and their evolution during the seismic cycle, etc. Technological achievements include the development and installation of the experimental apparatus SHIVA (at INGV's HP-HT laboratories in Rome), and ROSA-HYDROS (at DG-UNIPD laboratories) dedicated to the study of the seismic cycle, including in the presence of hot and pressurized fluids for applications to geothermal energy, and landslide mechanics. His research has been funded, by the University of Padua, the European Research Council Grants (Starting Grant USEMS and Consolidator Grant NOFEAR projects), the Italian Ministry of University and Research (PRIN 2022 projects), the Italian Department of Civil Defense and the Ca.Ri.Pa.Ro Foundation. He received the Arne Richter Medal (2008) from the European Geosciences Union and the Tartufari Prize for Geology (2010) from the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. He is a member of the Academia Europeae, the Accademia Galileiana and of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. Since April 2024 he has been vice-President of the Italian Geological Society. Before devoting himself to the study of earthquakes, he was a volleyball player and had the honor of playing for the Italian Team in the early 1990s.




Notices

Office hours

  • Monday from 14:30 to 15:30
    at Dipartimento di Geoscienze, Via Gradenigo 6, Padova

Teachings

Publications

Last 18 months
1. Murphy S., G. Di Toro, F. Romano, A. Scala, S. Lorito, E. Spagnuolo, S. Aretusini, G. Festa, A. Piatanesi, S. Nielsen, 2018. Tsunamigenic earthquake simulations using experimentally derived friction laws. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, vol. 486, pp. 155-165, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2018.01.011.
2. Ferré E.C., Meado A.L., Geissman J., Di Toro G., Spagnuolo E., Ueda T., Ashwal L.D., Deseta N., Andersen T.B., Filiberto J., Conder J.A., 2017, Earthquakes in the mantle? Insights from rock magnetism of pseudotachylytes. Journal of Geophysical Research. vol. 122 (11), 10.1002/2017JB014618, pp.1-17.
3. Vannucchi P., Spagnuolo E., Ujiie K., Aretusini S., Di Toro G., Nielsen S., Tsutsumi A., 2017. Past seismic slip-to-the-trench recorded in Central America megathrust. Nature Geoscience vol. 10, pp. 935-940, doi: 10.1038/s41561-017-0013-4.
4. Kuo L.-W., Di Felice F., Spagnuolo E., Di Toro G., Song S.-R., Aretusini S., Li H., Suppe J., Si J., Wen C.-Y., Fault gouge graphitization as evidence of past seismic slip. Geology vol. 45, pp. 979-982, doi:10.1130/G39295.1.
5. Smeraglia L., Bettucci A., Billi A., Carminati E., Cavallo A., Di Toro G., Natali M., Passeri D., Rossi M., Spagnuolo E., 2017. Microstructural evidence for seismic and aseismic slip along clay bearing, carbonate faults. Journal of Geophysical Research, 10.1002/2017JB014042, pp. 1-21.
6. Pischiutta M., Fondriest M., Demurtas M., Magnoni F., Di Toro G., Rovelli A., 2017. Structural control on the directional amplification of seismic noise (Campo Imperatore, central Italy). Earth and Planetary Science Letters, vol. 471, pp. 10-18.
7. Smeraglia L., Billi A., Carminati E., Cavallo A., Di Toro G., Spagnuolo E., Zorzi F., 2017. Ultra-thin clay layers facilitate seismic slip in carbonate rocks. Nature Scientific Reports, pp. 1-10, vol. 7: 664 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-017-00717-4.
8. Rempe M., Smith S., Mitchell T., Hirose T., Di Toro G., 2017. The effect of water on strain localization in calcite fault gouge sheared at seismic slip rates. Journal of Structural Geology, vol. 97, pp. 104-117.
9. Aretusini S., Spagnuolo E., Mittempergher S., Plumper O., Gualtieri A., Di Toro G., 2017. Production of nanoparticles during experimental deformation of smectites and implications for seismic slip. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, vol. 463, pp. 221-231.
10. Fondriest M., Doan M.-L., Aben F., Fusseis F., Mitchell T., Voorn M., Secco M., Di Toro G., 2017, Static versus dynamic fracturing in shallow carbonate fault zones. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, vol. 461, pp. 8-19 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2016.12.024.
11. Smith, S.A.F., Griffith, J.R., Fondriest, M., Di Toro, G., 2017. “Coseismic foliations” in gouge and cataclasite: experimental observations and consequences for interpreting the fault rock record. In: “Fault-zone Dynamic Processes: Evolution of Fault Properties During Seismic Rupture”, Eds. M. Thomas, T. Mitchell, H. Bath, Geophysical Monograph Series Vol. 227, (American Geophysical Union Special Volume, Washington D.C., USA), pp. 81-102.
12. Beeler, N., Di Toro, G., Nielsen, S., 2016. Earthquake source properties from pseudotachylite. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. 10.1785/0120150344.
13. Mitchell M. M., Toy V., Di Toro G., Renner J., Sibson R., 2016. Fault welding by pseudotachylyte formation. Geology, vol. 44, no. 12, pp. 1059–1062, doi: 10.1130/G38373.1.

Research Area

Earthquake mechanics and seismic faulting.
Rock mechanics.
Rock friction.
Fault rocks.
Experimental studies of induced seismicity.
Numerical modelling of seismic ruptures.