Stratigraphic reconstruction of the Cascina Giarrea well field: a strategic site for the supply of the Monferrato Aqueduct (central Piedmont plain, Italy)

The research regards the stratigraphic reconstruction of a wide area surrounding the well field of Cascina Giarrea, situated in the central Piedmont plain, near the confluence of the Dora Baltea River in the Po River. The well field (groundwater mean discharge of about 1 m3/s) constitutes the main water supply for the inhabitants of the Monferrato Hills. The new collected data report a particularly thick Villafranchian Succession in the Cascina Giarrea site, connected with the filling of a wide depression. This depression consists both in a foredeep basin, connected with the Padane Thrust Front that border the Monferrato Hills, and in the ancient incision of the Aosta Valley. This context creates a favorable condition for the occurrence of the well field, main supply of the aqueduct of the hilly Piedmont central sector.