Digitized Stratigraphic and Geophysical Logs From Deep Boreholes in the 2022 Mw 5.5 Fano-Pesaro Earthquake Region, Adriatic Sea, Italy

Abstract

A clean, well-organized and comprehensive dataset developed in accordance with the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable), provides a solid foundation for a new research initiative and supports open science. In this context, also legacy, deep boreholes data represent a valuable and unrepeatable source of geological and geophysical information to recover. This article presents the digitalization of legacy well documentation originally available only as scanned images, resulting in a dataset of 30 files, derived by an accurate digitalization workflow carried out on exploration boreholes documentation. The latter was collected across the offshore area between Pesaro-Fano in the Adriatic Sea, a region that has experienced significant seismic activity, including the 9 November 2022 Mw 5.5 Fano-Pesaro earthquake sequence. Such data were originally gathered as scanned images extracted from vintage raster files (PDF format), publicly available on the Italian ViDEPI Project website (www.videpi.com). Despite their findability and accessibility are straightforward, their interoperability and reusability are severely limited, due to variable image quality, non-editable contents and obsolete stratigraphic nomenclature. Such wells are named from northwest to southeast as follows: Boheme 01, Tamara 01, Pesaro Mare 03, Pesaro Mare 04, Malachite 01, Cornelia 01 and Elga 01. The digitalization was carried out at high fidelity with respect to the original data, reassessing the relevant well stratigraphy by taking into account all the handwritten comments found inside the original images. Only minor reinterpretations based on lithology, depositional environment and age, were made. Some local formation names were updated, aligned and thus correlated with modern and officially recognized regional stratigraphic units. The digitalization also includes spontaneous potential, resistivity and sonic logs of the Tamara 01 and Boheme 01 wells. Such digitized data were successively stored in open and standard formats (CSV and LAS). Nowadays, these datasets are freely accessible and carry substantial significance as a foundation of earthquake studies, for enhancing geological and geophysical models, depicting the stratigraphic, structural and geophysical characteristics of the study area. Notable potential use includes, among others, seismotectonic studies, gas and CO₂ storage, basinal analysis, stratigraphic and paleogeographic investigations within the region. Digitizing such legacy data reduces the risk of data loss, improves modernization and accessibility, supports interoperability and collaboration. It also enables easier quality control and facilitates future reuse, especially when integrated with other data sources such as seismic surveys, production data and reservoir models.