Multi-scale properties of strike-slip faults corss-cutting the Pleistocene carbonate grainstones of Favignana Island (NW Sicily, Italy)

Active faults and inferred seismic sources in the San Vito lo Capo peninsula, Northwestern Sicily, Italy.

Two independent active faults, capable of generating medium-sized earthquakes in the San Vito lo Capo peninsula, northwestern Sicily (Italy) have been identified as a result of detailed field studies. In western Sicily, instrumental seismicity is low; in fact, except for the 1968 Belice earthquake (Ms = 5.4), historical records indicate that this area is relatively quiescent. Most of the seismicity is in the offshore sector of the Sicilian Maghrebian Chain, which is characterized by several medium- to low-magnitude events. The main shock of the 2002 Palermo seismic sequence (Mw = 5.9) represents the largest earthquake felt in the area in recent years. The deformation pattern characterizing …

Preliminary results of fault-related permeability structures associated in the Scicli-Ragusa fault, Hyblean Plateau, Sicily.

Preliminary results of a multi-scale structural analisys in an analogue carbonate reservoir (Hyblean Plateau, Sicily, Italy)

With the aim of studying the multi-scale fault architecture and permeability in hydrocarbon-rich porous carbonate rocks, we are currently involved in a project focused on the structural analysis of fractured and faulted platform-to-ramp carbonates cropping out in the Hyblean Plateau (Sicily, Italy). The Hyblean Plateau is part of the Maghrebian foreland and forms the northern portion of the African plate. The plateau is a NE-oriented structural high crosscut by a large-scale N10°-20°E oriented strike-slip fault system, named Scicli-Ragusa, which was affected by right-lateral kinematics during the Upper Miocene-Lower Pliocene. Some authors documented a recent activity of the Scicli-Ragusa fa…