Search results for "SEISMOLOGY"

Lithospheric P- and S-wave velocity models of the Sicilian area using WAM tomography: Procedure and assessments

2013

We present 3-D models of the P- and S-wave velocity distributions in the crust and uppermost mantle beneath Sicily, Calabria (Southern Italy), and surrounding submerged areas, obtained by tomographic inversion of traveltimes of regional body waves phases. Our method combines double-difference tomographic inversion with a post-processing procedure [Weighted Average Model method (WAM)]. This procedure was applied to a set of models consistent with the experimental data. We tested the ability of the WAM procedure to mitigate the uncertainty associated with the arbitrary nature of the many input parameters required for each inversion. The local reliability and resolution of the obtained models …

WALKING ALONG A CRUSTAL PROFILE ACROSS THE SICILY FOLD AND THRUST BELT

2013

An integrated approach to investigate the seismotectonics of northern Sicily and southern Tyrrhenian

2009

Abstract This paper deals with a comparison among recent structure and seismicity in the hinge zone between northern Sicily and southern Tyrrhenian, corresponding to both emerged and submerged northern portion of the Maghrebian chain. This hinge zone is part of a wider W–E trending right-lateral shear zone, mainly characterized by both a synthetic NW-SE/W–E oriented, and antithetic left-lateral N–S/NE-SW fault systems, which has been affecting the tectonic edifice, since the Pliocene. The inland structures have been mapped using aerial-photo interpretation, geological mapping and mesostructural analysis to reconstruct the stress regime in the study area. On the contrary, the offshore struct…

Examples of anthropogenic sinkholes in Sicily and comparison with similar phenomena in southern Italy

2013

A sinkhole, occurred in June 2011 and related to an underground quarry in the eastern sector of Marsala, is described in this paper as a case study (Figure 2). The site was selected for the availability of topographic data of the underground quarry, prior to the formation of the Abstract Anthropogenic sinkholes affect several built-up areas of Sicily (southern Italy) representing a great risk to people, buildings, and infrastructures. These phenomena are generally associated with the presence of ancient underground quarries for the extraction of calcarenite rock, used for building or ornamental materials. These quarries were poorly constructed and abandoned throughout history.

New evidence for the form and extent of the Pernicana Fault System (Mt. Etna) from structural and soil–gas surveying

1998

A multidisciplinary study based on structural and soil–gas surveys was carried out in order to investigate the relationship between soil CO2 degassing and the tectonic setting of the lower northeastern flank of Mt. Etna volcano. The results show that anomalous soil CO2 emissions occur mainly along faults trending WNW–ESE and also where these faults intersect the other main fault set (trending NE–SW) that displaces the study area. In particular, anomalies in CO2 degassing were revealed both along the Pernicana Fault and along another fault (Fiumefreddo Fault) which may represent the prolongation of the former towards the Ionian Sea coast. In the areas where these structures show evident surf…

2020

Abstract. New Zealand's Alpine Fault is a large, plate-bounding strike-slip fault, which ruptures in large (Mw>8) earthquakes. We conducted field and laboratory analyses of fault rocks to assess its fault zone architecture. Results reveal that the Alpine Fault Zone has a complex geometry, comprising an anastomosing network of multiple slip planes that have accommodated different amounts of displacement. This contrasts with the previous perception of the Alpine Fault Zone, which assumes a single principal slip zone accommodated all displacement. This interpretation is supported by results of drilling projects and geophysical investigations. Furthermore, observations presented here show th…

Bivergent extension in orogenic belts: The Menderes massif (southwestern Turkey)

1995

The central Menderes massif is characterized by an overall dome-shaped foliation pattern and a north-northeast-trending stretching lineation. The asymmetry of shear bands and quartz c-axis fabrics on either side of the structural dome demonstrate a top to the north-northeast shear sense in the northern part and a top to the south-southwest shear sense in the southern part of the submassif, i.e., a bivergent downdip movement. This suggests a symmetric collapse of the Alpine Menderes orogenic belt along two extensional shear zones. Conjugate shear bands and symmetric quartz c-axis fabrics in the east-trending transition zone demonstrate a coaxial deformation between the two extension domains.…

Numerical modelling of PT-paths related to rapid exhumation of high-pressure rocks from the crustal root in the Variscan Erzgebirge Dome (Saxony/Germ…

2002

Abstract The Bohemian Massif in the Central European Variscides contains many crustal slices with (ultra-)high-pressure rocks related to continent-continent collision. After closure of pre-existing oceans during the Devonian, excess crustal thickness was maintained for about 50 Ma until at around 340 Ma large volumes of high-pressure rocks from the crustal root were exhumed within a few million years. We relate this event to delamination and complete detachment of the lithospheric mantle, causing a crustal-scale isostatic instability. In the Erzgebirge dome, a model region in the northern part of the massif, an array of interrelated PTtd-paths with “decompression/cooling” and “decompression…

Deformation history of the Hengshan Complex: Implications for the tectonic evolution of the Trans-North China Orogen

2007

Abstract Structural analysis indicates that the Hengshan Complex underwent five distinct episodes of deformation (D1–D5). The D1 episode formed small isoclinal folds (F1), penetrative axial planar foliations (S1) and mineral stretching lineations (L1). D1 fabrics were reworked by following D2 deformation. Associated with D2 was the development of NW-verging asymmetric folds and accompanying thrust faults. Both D1 and D2 resulted from crustal thickening and coherent with prograde and peak metamorphism. D2 deformation was followed by transpressional dextral shearing (D3), including top-to-NW oblique-slip shearing and NNE–SSW dextral strike-slip shearing. Ongoing collision led to development o…

The evolution of a dynamic geological system: the support of a GIS for geochemical measurements at the fumarole field of Vulcano, Italy

1997

The island of Vulcano (Aeolian arc, Southern Italy) has displayed several periods of volcanic unrest since the end of the last eruption (1890). We report here results obtained from a long-term survey concerning variations of both the steam output and the exhaling surface area at the summit crater fumarolic field of La Fossa. The field measurements analysed in a Geographical Information System (GIS) show a highly dynamic volcanic system in which deep variations in the geochemistry and the temperature of the released fluids were accompanied by fluctuations in the mass output of steam and the topography of the crater field. The use of a GIS facilitated digitized reconstructions of maps of the …