scholarly journals Inferences on the source mechanisms of the 1930 Irpinia (Southern Italy) earthquake from simulations of the kinematic rupture process

2009 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Emolo ◽  
G. Iannaccone ◽  
A. Zollo ◽  
A. Gorini

We examine here a number of parameters that define the source of the earthquake that occurred on 23rd July 1930 in Southern Italy (in the Irpinia region). Starting from the source models proposed in different studies, we have simulated the acceleration field for each hypothesized model, and compared it with the macroseismic data. We then used the hybrid stochastic-deterministic technique proposed by Zollo et al. (1997) for the simulation of the ground motion associated with the rupture of an extended fault. The accelerations simulated for several sites were associated with the intensities using the empirical relationship proposed by Trifunac and Brady (1975), before being compared with the available data from the macroseismic catalogue. A good reproduction of the macroseismic field is provided by a normal fault striking in Apenninic direction (approximately NW-SE) and dipping 55° toward the SW.

1995 ◽  
Vol 38 (5-6) ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Berardi ◽  
A. Mendez ◽  
M. Mucciarelli ◽  
F. Pacor ◽  
G. Longhi ◽  
...  

This article describes the results of a ground motion modeling study of the 1915 Avezzano earthquake. The goal was to test assuinptions regarding the rupture process of this earthquake by attempting to model the damage to historical monuments and populated habitats during the earthquake. The methodology used combines stochastic and deterministic modeling techniques to synthesize strong ground motion, starting from a simple characterization of the earthquake source on an extended fault plane. The stochastic component of the methodology is used to simulate high-frequency ground motion oscillations. The envelopes of these synthetic waveforms, however, are simulated in a deterministic way based on the isochron formulation for the calculation of radiated seismic energy. Synthetic acceleration time histories representative of ground motion experienced at the towns of Avezzano, Celano, Ortucchio, and Sora are then analyzed in terms of the damage to historical buildings at these sites. The article also discusses how the same methodology can be adapted to efficiently evaluate various strong motion parameters such as duration and amplitude of ground shaking, at several hundreds of surface sites and as a function of rupture process. The usefulness of such a technique is illustrated through the inodeling of intensity data from the Avezzano earthquake. One of the most interesting results is that it is possible to distinguish between different rupture scenarios for the 1915 earthquake based on the goodness of fit of theoretical intensities to observed values.


2013 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Cubellis ◽  
Aldo Marturano

<p>Results of non-instrumental surveys carried out on recent and past seismicity at Vesuvius have been retaken in order to propose new analyses regarding source mechanisms and causative faults. We present the results of the October 9, 1999, earthquake, the most intense event since the 1944 eruption. The intensity was evaluated by utilizing integer values of the MCS Scale and the felt index as a continuous parameter. Values of magnitude and attenuation determinated by applying macroseismic models to data, and compared to instrumental ones, were utilized to assess the “size” of the historical Vesuvian earthquakes. A magnitude of M = 5.1±.3 was considered for the A.D. 62 earthquake, the largest one of the area that preceded the A.D. 79 famous eruption. By using the macroseismic field of October 9, 1999, the source mechanism of the earthquake was obtained, and synthetic isoseisms and causative fault of the A.D. 62 are also proposed.</p>


Author(s):  
V. Kouskouna ◽  
A. Ganas ◽  
M. Kleanthi ◽  
I. Kassaras ◽  
N. Sakellariou ◽  
...  

AbstractThis paper presents a joint analysis of instrumental and macroseismic data regarding the 19 July 2019, Greece Mw5.1 earthquake occurred west of Athens. This earthquake ruptured a blind, south-dipping normal fault, 23 km WNW of the center of Athens, while its relocated epicentre lies in close vicinity to the one of the 1999 Mw6.0 earthquake. The maximum macroseismic intensity of the 2019 mainshock reached IEMS98 = 7.5. Scarce damage and intensities up to 5–6 were reported in the epicentral area. Higher intensities were observed at larger distances, 12–15 km east and ESE of the epicentre, alongside the banks of Kifissos River, likely related to ground motion amplification due to soft alluvial formations. Similar selectivity of increased ground motions to the east of the epicentre with respect to other azimuths, also observed during the 1981 and 1999 earthquakes, supports eastward rupture directivity of the 2019 mainshock, an effect that is possibly common for the region’s fault system. Damping of seismic effects was observed east of Aegaleo Mountain, a structure suggested to impose a stopping phase in the time histories of the 1999 and 2019 earthquakes (Fig. A1).


Geosciences ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 503
Author(s):  
Lucia Nardone ◽  
Fabrizio Terenzio Gizzi ◽  
Rosalba Maresca

Cultural heritage represents our legacy with the past and our identity. However, to assure heritage can be passed on to future generations, it is required to put into the field knowledge as well as preventive and safeguard actions, especially for heritage located in seismic hazard-prone areas. With this in mind, the article deals with the analysis of ground response in the Avellino town (Campania, Southern Italy) and its correlation with the effects caused by the 23rd November 1980 Irpinia earthquake on the historical buildings. The aim is to get some clues about the earthquake damage cause-effect relationship. To estimate the ground motion response for Avellino, where strong-motion recordings are not available, we made use of the seismic hazard disaggregation. Then, we made extensive use of borehole data to build the lithological model so being able to assess the seismic ground response. Overall, results indicate that the complex subsoil layers influence the ground motion, particularly in the lowest period (0.1–0.5 s). The comparison with the observed damage of the selected historical buildings and the maximum acceleration expected indicates that the damage distribution cannot be explained by the surface geology effects alone.


Geophysics ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 81 (6) ◽  
pp. KS207-KS217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy D. Pesicek ◽  
Konrad Cieślik ◽  
Marc-André Lambert ◽  
Pedro Carrillo ◽  
Brad Birkelo

We have determined source mechanisms for nine high-quality microseismic events induced during hydraulic fracturing of the Montney Shale in Canada. Seismic data were recorded using a dense regularly spaced grid of sensors at the surface. The design and geometry of the survey are such that the recorded P-wave amplitudes essentially map the upper focal hemisphere, allowing the source mechanism to be interpreted directly from the data. Given the inherent difficulties of computing reliable moment tensors (MTs) from high-frequency microseismic data, the surface amplitude and polarity maps provide important additional confirmation of the source mechanisms. This is especially critical when interpreting non-shear source processes, which are notoriously susceptible to artifacts due to incomplete or inaccurate source modeling. We have found that most of the nine events contain significant non-double-couple (DC) components, as evident in the surface amplitude data and the resulting MT models. Furthermore, we found that source models that are constrained to be purely shear do not explain the data for most events. Thus, even though non-DC components of MTs can often be attributed to modeling artifacts, we argue that they are required by the data in some cases, and can be reliably computed and confidently interpreted under favorable conditions.


1995 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Tosi ◽  
V. De Rubeis ◽  
C. Gasparini

nterpretation of macroseismic data is hazardous, due to its qualitative nature. This, linked with errors in eval- uation,) and the variations of local intensity, makes it difficult to draw valid conclusions. This study presents a statistical method as the basis for distinguishing the diverse components that constitute a macroseismic field. The method is based on the polar transformation of the coordinate system and on the analysis of the fractal di- mension of the intensity values, exposed to the gradually increasing action of a two-dimensional filter. The fractal dimension is shown to be an ideaI parameter with which to measure out the filtering process in order to separate the local components from the regional trend. This method has been applied to two Italian events and to an earthquake which took pIace in the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).


1994 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Fah ◽  
G. F. Panza

Three applications of a numerical technique are illustrated to model realistically the seismic ground motion for complex two-dimensional structures. First we consider a sedimentary basin in the Friuli region, and we model strong motion records from an aftershock of the 1976 earthquake. Then we simulate the ground motion caused in Rome by the 1915, Fucino (Italy) earthquake, and we compare our modelling with the damage distribution observed in the town. Finally we deal with the interpretation of ground motion recorded in Mexico City, as a consequence of earthquakes in the Mexican subduction zone. The synthetic signals explain the major characteristics (relative amplitudes, spectral amplification, frequency content) of the considered seismograms, and the space distribution of the available macroseismic data. For the sedimentary basin in the Friuli area, parametric studies demonstrate the relevant sensitivity of the computed ground motion to small changes in the subsurface topography of the sedimentary basin, and in the velocity and quality factor of the sediments. The relative Arias Intensity, determined from our numerical simulation in Rome, is in very good agreoment with the distribution of damage observed during the Fucino earthquake. For epicentral distances in the range 50 km-100 km, the source location and not only the local soil conditions control the local effects. For Mexico City, the observed ground motion can be explained as resonance effects and as excitation of local surface waves, and the theoretical and the observed maximum spectral amplifications are very similar. In general, our numerical simulations estimate the maximum and average spectral amplification for specific sites, i.e. they are a very powerful tool for accurate micro-zonation


2008 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Giocoli ◽  
C. Magrì ◽  
P. Vannoli ◽  
S. Piscitelli ◽  
E. Rizzo ◽  
...  

Several Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) surveys have been carried out to study the subsurface structural and sedimentary settings of the upper Ufita River valley, and to evaluate their efficiency to distinguish the geological boundary between shallow Quaternary sedimentary deposits and clayey bedrock characterized by moderate resistivity contrast. Five shallow ERTs were carried out across a morphological scarp running at the foot of the northeastern slope of the valley. This valley shoulder is characterized by a set of triangular facets, that some authors associated to the presence of a SW-dipping normal fault. The geological studies allow us to interpret the shallow ERTs results obtaining a resistivity range for each Quaternary sedimentary deposit. The tomographies showed the geometrical relationships of alluvial and slope deposits, having a maximum thickness of 30-40 m, and the morphology of the bedrock. The resistivity range obtained for each sedimentary body has been used for calibrating the tomographic results of one 3560m-long deep ERT carried out across the deeper part of the intramountain depression with an investigation depth of about 170 m. The deep resistivity result highlighted the complex alluvial setting, characterized by alternating fine grained lacustrine deposits and coarser gravelly fluvial sediments.


Author(s):  
Percy Galvez ◽  
Anatoly Petukhin ◽  
Paul Somerville ◽  
Jean-Paul Ampuero ◽  
Ken Miyakoshi ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Realistic dynamic rupture modeling validated by observed earthquakes is necessary for estimating parameters that are poorly resolved by seismic source inversion, such as stress drop, rupture velocity, and slip rate function. Source inversions using forward dynamic modeling are increasingly used to obtain earthquake rupture models. In this study, to generate a large number of physically self-consistent rupture models, rupture process of which is consistent with the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of stress produced by previous earthquakes on the same fault, we use multicycle simulations under the rate and state (RS) friction law. We adopt a one-way coupling from multicycle simulations to dynamic rupture simulations; the quasidynamic solver QDYN is used to nucleate the seismic events and the spectral element dynamic solver SPECFEM3D to resolve their rupture process. To simulate realistic seismicity, with a wide range of magnitudes and irregular recurrence, several realizations of 2D-correlated heterogeneous random distributions of characteristic weakening distance (Dc) in RS friction are tested. Other important parameters are the normal stress, which controls the stress drop and rupture velocity during an earthquake, and the maximum value of Dc, which controls rupture velocity but not stress drop. We perform a parametric study on a vertical planar fault and generate a set of a hundred spontaneous rupture models in a wide magnitude range (Mw 5.5–7.4). We validate the rupture models by comparison of source scaling, ground motion (GM), and surface slip properties to observations. We compare the source-scaling relations between rupture area, average slip, and seismic moment of the modeled events with empirical ones derived from source inversions. Near-fault GMs are computed from the source models. Their peak ground velocities and peak ground accelerations agree well with the ground-motion prediction equation values. We also obtain good agreement of the surface fault displacements with observed values.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document