Publication Date:
2017-12-11
Description:
For any scientist working in seismotectonics, the Calabrian Arc represents the most challenging area of Italy.
Lying on top of a subduction zone, it is characterised by a complex geological structure largely inherited from
the early stages of the collision between the Africa and Eurasia plates. The current and extremely vigorous
seismogenic processes, although generated by a mechanism driven by the subduction, are no longer a direct
consequence of plate convergence.
About one fourth of the largest Italian earthquakes concentrates in a narrow strip of land (roughly
200x70 km) corresponding to the administrative region of Calabria. The present-day seismicity, both shallow
and deep, provides little help in detecting the most insidious seismogenic structures, nor does the available
record of GPS-detected strains.
In addition to its fierce seismicity, the Calabrian Arc also experiences uplift at rates that are the largest
in Italy, thus suggesting that active tectonic processes are faster here than elsewhere in the country.
Calabrian earthquakes are strong yet inherently elusive, and even the largest of those that have
occurred over the past two centuries do not appear to have caused unambiguous surface faulting. The
identified active structures are not sufficient to explain in full the historical seismicity record, suggesting that
some of the main seismogenic sources still lie unidentified, for instance in the offshore. As a result, the
seismogenic processes of Calabria have been the object of a lively debate at least over the past three decades.
In this work we propose to use the current geodynamic framework of the Calabrian Arc as a guidance
to resolve the ambiguities that concern the identification of the presumed known seismogenic sources, and to
identify those as yet totally unknown. Our proposed scheme is consistent with the location of the largest
earthquakes, the recent evolution of the regions affected by seismogenic faulting, and the predictions of
current evolutionary models of the crust overlying a W-dipping subduction zone.
Description:
Published
Description:
365-388
Description:
4IT. Banche dati
Description:
JCR Journal
Description:
open
Keywords:
Calabrian Arc
;
Calabrian earthquakes
;
Seismotectonics
;
Seismogenic sources
;
DISS database
;
04. Solid Earth::04.01. Earth Interior::04.01.02. Geological and geophysical evidences of deep processes
;
04. Solid Earth::04.04. Geology::04.04.01. Earthquake geology and paleoseismology
;
04. Solid Earth::04.04. Geology::04.04.03. Geomorphology
;
04. Solid Earth::04.07. Tectonophysics::04.07.06. Subduction related processes
;
04. Solid Earth::04.07. Tectonophysics::04.07.07. Tectonics
Repository Name:
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
Type:
article
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