ABSTRACT
The town of Ragusa (Italy) is built on a calcarenite hill which, in the past, was exploited to mine rock to be used as construction material. The result of these extraction activities is represented by some underground quarries that can be now regarded as pieces of the local industrial archaeology heritage. Hypogeal structures are characterised by large empty volumes that may remarkably affect the seismic response of the site. This paper describes the results of a preliminary study of the site of Cava Gonfalone excavated in the marls and calcarenites of the upper Membro Irminio geological formation. The genesis of the tunnel system is first examined through the evolution of mining techniques during the whole period of quarrying activities and then site seismic response has been addressed through preliminary 2D dynamic analyses aimed to predict the acceleration field on top of the Cava roof.
