The role of slope instability on directional site effects observed at Fekruna Bay, Malta

Abstract

The Maltese Archipelago is situated in the Mediterranean Sea, about 290 km NE of Tunisia and 90 km South of Sicily. It consists of three major islands: Malta and Gozo, the southerly and northerly islands respectively, and Comino which lies in the Comino straits separating the two largest islands. In order to better preserve the historical heritage, landscapes, and coastal areas and to promote tourism activities it has been proposed that the archipelago might be considered as an open air laboratory. In this context multidisciplinary studies integrating geology, geotechnical earthquake engineering, geomorphology as well as history and archeology were undertaken in order to develop and test methodologies for the assessment of the relationship between physical environment and cultural heritage (e.g., Soldati et al., 2008). The paper focuses on an integrated study about geomorphology and seismic site response in the Fekruna bay, in the area of Xemxija (northen-eastern part of the Malta Island, Fig. 1).