Integrated Geophysical Approach to Characterize the Behaviour of a Fault Zone in Relation to Fluid Migration During CO₂ Geological Storage: the Case of the Matzaccara Fault in the Sulcis Coal Basin (Sardinia)

In February 2024, the European Union published its Industrial Carbon Management Strategy, setting ambitious goals for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), Carbon Cap-ture and Utilisation (CCU), and related technologies. Industrial decarbonisation will require a mix of solutions, CCUS, electrification, hydrogen and hydrogen-derived fuels, and energy efficiency, all dependent on affordable clean energy. Although carbon management technologies could contribute substantially to climate targets, their de-ployment has been slowed by technical barriers and public concerns. Sotacarbo created a research centre dedicated to developing and testing carbon capture, utilisation, and storage technologies. Within this framework, the new Sotacarbo Fault Laboratory (SFL) was designed to investigate gas migration in faults and to test monitoring systems ca-pable of detecting potential short- and long-term CO₂ leakages. This paper presents a preliminary study, including seismic full-waveform simulations for time-lapse surveys before and after CO₂ injection, and a suite of geophysical methods used to characterise the Matzaccara fault within the Eocene Sulcis Basin. The results of the application of integrated geophysical methods supported the selection of a safe and suitable injec-tion-well location and demonstrated the value of these methods for detailed fault characterisation in CCUS applications.