scholarly journals Defining a Mid-Holocene earthquake through speleoseismological and independent data: constraints for the outer Central Apennines (Italy) seismotectonic framework

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandra Di Domenica ◽  
Alberto Pizzi

Abstract. A speleoseismological study has been conducted in the Cavallone Cave, located in the easternmost carbonate sector of the Central Apennines (Maiella Massif), in a seismically active region interposed between the post-orogenic extensional domain, to the west, and the compressional one, to the east. The occurrence of active ''silent normal faults'', to the west, close to blind thrust, to the east, raises critical questions about the identification of the true seismogenic sources for this transitional zone. Large ceiling collapses, fractures, broken speleothems with new re-growing stalagmites on their top, preferential orientation of fallen stalagmites and absence of thin and long concretions have been observed in many portions of the conduit and may indicate that the cave suffered of sudden and catastrophic events likely linked to the occurrence of past strong earthquakes. Although controversies exist about the correlation between speleotectonic observations and quantitative modeling, speleotectonic studies, when corroborated by independent data collected outside caves, can play a fundamental role in discovering past earthquakes. Radiocarbon dating and, above all, the surprisingly correspondence with other coeval paleoseismological and geological data collected in surrounding areas outside the cave, provide important constraints for the individuation of a Mid-Holocene paleoearthquake around 4770 ± 30 yr BP and for the identification of the Sulmona normal fault as the most likely causative structure.

Solid Earth ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandra Di Domenica ◽  
Alberto Pizzi

Abstract. A speleoseismological study has been conducted in the Cavallone Cave, located in the easternmost carbonate sector of the Central Apennines (Maiella Massif), in a seismically active region interposed between the post-orogenic extensional domain, to the west, and the contractional one, to the east. The occurrence of active silent normal faults, to the west, close to blind thrusts, to the east, raises critical questions about the seismic hazard for this transitional zone. Large collapses of cave ceilings, fractures, broken speleothems with new re-growing stalagmites on their top, preferential orientation of fallen stalagmites and the absence of thin and long concretions have been observed in many portions of the karst conduit. This may indicate that the cave suffered sudden deformation events likely linked to the occurrence of past strong earthquakes. Radiocarbon dating and, above all, the robust correspondence with other coeval on-fault and off-fault geological data collected in surrounding areas outside the cave, provide important constraints for the individuation of a mid-Holocene paleoearthquake around 4.6–4.8 kyr BP. On the basis of the available paleoseismological data, possible seismogenic sources can be identified with the Sulmona normal fault and other active normal fault segments along its southern prosecution, which recorded synchronous strong paleoevents. Although the correlation between speleotectonic observations and quantitative modeling is disputed, studies on possible effects of earthquake on karstic landforms and features, when corroborated by independent data collected outside caves, can provide a useful contribution in discovering past earthquakes.


2001 ◽  
Vol 138 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
GEORGE E. WILLIAMS

The presence of alluvial fan deposits in the lower Neoproterozoic Torridon Group in northwest Scotland illuminates Torridonian basin development at the eastern Laurentian margin. The 450 m thick Cape Wrath Member of the Applecross Formation consists of alluvial fan conglomerate and arkose succeeded by more distal, braidplain feldspathic sandstone. Palaeocurrent data comprising >2650 measurements on trough cross-bedding are of low variability and show overall eastward flow. The projection upcurrent of regionally divergent flow directions for the lower part of the member indicates a fan of c. 50 km radius with its apex 30 km to the west near a basement (pre-Caledonian) normal fault with downthrow to the east beneath the north Minch Basin. Extensional tectonics controlled deposition of the Applecross Formation. Regional uplift, causing erosion of a youthful topography on the Lewisian Gneiss, was followed by the development of the Applecross extensional basin in two main stages. Uplift of a western source area by movement on basin-bounding normal faults occurred first in the north and caused pediplanation and alluvial fan deposition in the Cape Wrath area, with subsequent uplift of the source area for the main body of the Applecross Formation occurring further to the west and south along the line of the Minch Fault. The bulk of the Applecross Formation was derived from a weathered terrain of felsic crystalline and related supracrustal rocks reaching from the Outer Hebrides region westward for up to c. 250 km onto what are now the continental margins of the North Atlantic. The tectonic events may mark an early phase in the crustal extension that led ultimately to the opening of the Iapetus ocean.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriana Chinello ◽  
Michele Fondriest ◽  
Giulio Di Toro

<p>The Italian Central Apennines are one of the most seismically active areas in the Mediterranean (e.g., L’Aquila 2009, Mw 6.3 earthquake). The mainshocks and the aftershocks of these earthquake sequences propagate and often nucleate in fault zones cutting km-thick limestones and dolostones formations. An impressive feature of these faults is the presence, at their footwall, of few meters to hundreds of meters thick damage zones. However, the mechanism of formation of these damage zones and their role during (1) individual seismic ruptures (e.g., rupture arrest), (2) seismic sequences (e.g., aftershock evolution) and (3) seismic cycle (e.g., long term fault zone healing) are unknown. This limitation is also due to the lack of knowledge regarding the distribution, along strike and with depth, of damage with wall rock lithology, geometrical characteristics (fault length, inherited structures, etc.) and kinematic properties (cumulative displacement, strain rate, etc.) of the associated main faults.</p><p>Previous high-resolution field structural surveys were performed on the Vado di Corno Fault Zone, a segment of the ca. 20 km long Campo Imperatore normal fault system, which accommodated ~ 1500 m of vertical displacement (Fondriest et al., 2020). The damage zone was up to 400 m thick and dominated by intensely fractured (1-2 cm spaced joints) dolomitized limestones with the thickest volumes at fault oversteps and where the fault cuts through an older thrust zone. Here we describe two minor faults located in the same area (Central Apennines), but with shorter length along strike. They both strike NNW-SSE and accommodated a vertical displacement of ~300 m.</p><p>The Subequana Valley Fault is about 9 km long and consists of multiple segments disposed in an en-echelon array. The fault juxtaposes pelagic limestones at the footwall and quaternary deposits at the hanging wall. The damage zone is < 25 m  thick  and comprises fractured (1-2 cm spaced joints) limestones beds with decreasing fracture intensity moving away from the master fault. However, the damage zone thickness increases up to ∼100 m in proximity of subsidiary faults striking NNE-SSW. The latter could be reactivated inherited structures.</p><p>The Monte Capo di Serre Fault is about 8 km long and characterized by a sharp ultra-polished master fault surface which cuts locally dolomitized Jurassic platform limestones. The damage zone is up to 120 m thick and cut by 10-20 cm spaced joints, but it reaches an higher fracture intensity where is cut by subsidiary, possibly inherited, faults striking NNE-SSW.</p><p>Based on these preliminary observations, faults with similar displacement show comparable damage zone thicknesses. The most relevant damage zone thickness variations are related to geometrical complexities rather than changes in lithology (platform vs pelagic carbonates).  In particular, the largest values of damage zone thickness and fracture intensity occur at fault overstep or are associated to inherited structures. The latter, by acting as strong or weak barriers (sensu Das and Aki, 1977) during the propagation of seismic ruptures, have a key role in the formation of damage zones and the growth of normal faults.</p>


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Fernando Calamita ◽  
Paolo Pace ◽  
Vittorio Scisciani ◽  
Fabiana Properzi ◽  
Mirko Francioni

Abstract Several orogenic belts exhibit regional-scale anticlines characterized by prominent faults in their crestal/forelimb zone. These faults are also a common feature in the Neogene fold-and-thrust belt of the Apennines, where they have been contrastingly interpreted as younger-on-older thrust faults, large-scale strike-slip faults, and pre- or syn-thrusting normal faults. In this study, we analysed a NW–SE-trending fault (Montagna dei Fiori Fault) that affects the hinge-zone/forelimb of the Montagna dei Fiori Anticline. This fold is the outermost exposed contractional structure within the Pliocene–Quaternary antiformal stack of the outer Central Apennines. The integration of stratigraphic and structural data collected during a field geological survey enabled us to reconstruct a multiphase reactivation and deformation along the Montagna dei Fiori Fault. From the novel field data, a different interpretation for the evolution of the Montagna dei Fiori Fault is proposed. The fault originated as a Late Cretaceous – middle Miocene, NE-dipping, Dinaric up-thrust and was later reactivated, displaced and rotated during Pliocene Apennine thrusting and related folding, until assuming a present-day SW-dipping attitude with an apparent normal fault character. This newly proposed Dinaric origin of the Montagna dei Fiori structure is compared with an analogous subsurface example of a Palaeogene–Quaternary structure imaged by seismic reflection profile in the Adriatic foreland. The outcome of this combined field and subsurface investigation provides new elements to unravel the complex evolution of the Apennine thrust belt that developed at the expense of a previously deformed foreland, ahead of the advancing Dinaric chain.


2001 ◽  
Vol 138 (4) ◽  
pp. 471-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
GEORGE E. WILLIAMS

The presence of alluvial fan deposits in the lower Neoproterozoic Torridon Group in north-west Scotland illuminates Torridonian basin development at the eastern Laurentian margin. The 450 m thick Cape Wrath Member of the Applecross Formation consists of alluvial fan conglomerate and arkose succeeded by more distal, braidplain feldspathic sandstone. Palaeocurrent data comprising > 2650 measurements on trough cross-bedding are of low variability and show overall eastward flow. The projection upcurrent of regionally divergent flow directions for the lower part of the member indicates a fan of c. 50 km radius with its apex 30 km to the west near a basement (pre-Caledonian) normal fault with downthrow to the east beneath the north Minch Basin. Extensional tectonics controlled deposition of the Applecross Formation. Regional uplift, causing erosion of a youthful topography on the Lewisian Gneiss, was followed by the development of the Applecross extensional basin in two main stages. Uplift of a western source area by movement on basin-bounding normal faults occurred first in the north and caused pediplanation and alluvial fan deposition in the Cape Wrath area, with subsequent uplift of the source area for the main body of the Applecross Formation occurring further to the west and south along the line of the Minch Fault. The bulk of the Applecross Formation was derived from a weathered terrain of felsic crystalline and related supracrustal rocks reaching from the Outer Hebrides region westward for up to c. 250 km onto what are now the continental margins of the North Atlantic. The tectonic events may mark an early phase in the crustal extension that led ultimately to the opening of the Iapetus ocean.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabbi Simone ◽  
Stendardi Francesca ◽  
Capotorti Franco ◽  
Bigi Sabina ◽  
Ricci Valeria ◽  
...  

<p>We present the results of a detailed geological mapping project performed in the southernmost part of the Sibillini Mts., where the Sibillini Thrust (ST), one of the longest compressional structures of the Central Apennines, crops out. In the studied area the Meso-Cenozoic Umbria-Marche carbonate succession overthrusts the Messinian siliciclastic deposits of the adjacent Laga foredeep Basin. After the Messinian/Pliocene compressional tectonic phase, linked with the development of essentially W-dipping thrust systems, the E-verging Apennines accretionary wedge was affected by a Quaternary extensional tectonic phase during which SW-dipping normal fault systems developed. Among these normal faults, the Mt. Vettore extensional system (which includes the Castelluccio Plain fault (CPF) and the Mt. Vettoretto fault (MVF)) is one of the most important, being capable to produce destructive earthquakes (Mw 6.5 October 20, 2016). A long-lasting debate exists in literature concerning the cross-cutting relationships between the ST and the Mt. Vettore normal fault system: i.e., the thrust was alternatively considered as being nondisplaced by the normal faults or variously displaced with throws ranging between ~200 m and >2 km. Unfortunately, where normal faults should cut the thrust, a thick debris cover hides the tectonic structures and only speculative hypotheses can, thus, be done about this issue. In addition, important evidence of pre-thrusting extension is known in the area, that make difficult to discriminate the effective Quaternary activity of faults if the intersection with the compressional structures is not exposed. The aim of this study is to constrain the position of the ST under the debris cover and its relationship with the CPF and MVF, based on the following field data: i) thrust plane attitude; ii) position of the Laga Fm. outcrops, representing the footwall of the ST; iii) hanging wall anticline geometry; iv) geometry of normal faults and their recent activity; v) thickness of the Castelluccio Plain Quaternary infill at the hanging wall of the ST. The thrust position under the debris cover has been determined considering the variation of the hanging wall anticline geometry. In fact, where the Jurassic-Paleogene basinal formations crop out, the hanging wall anticline is well developed with vertical to overturned forelimb and fold axis essentially parallel to the thrust trend. This is crucial, because the occurrence in the field of an incomplete anticline (i.e., lacking the vertical to overturned forelimb) juxtaposed to the Laga Fm. (originally the footwall of the thrust) suggests the displacement of the anticline by a normal fault, allows us to infer the cross-cutting relationship between the tectonic lineaments and to estimate Quaternary normal fault throws. We conclude that the ST was displaced by the CPF with max throw ~250 m, which is consistent with the thickness of the Quaternary infill of the Castelluccio Plain. Both the CPF and the ST are in turn cut by the MVF (the youngest fault of the area, active in the 2016 earthquake) with a ~50 m throw, and is also inferred to partly reuse with negative inversion the ST plane where the plane geometry was favorable to extension.</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 110 (3) ◽  
pp. 1090-1100
Author(s):  
Ronia Andrews ◽  
Kusala Rajendran ◽  
N. Purnachandra Rao

ABSTRACT Oceanic plate seismicity is generally dominated by normal and strike-slip faulting associated with active spreading ridges and transform faults. Fossil structural fabrics inherited from spreading ridges also host earthquakes. The Indian Oceanic plate, considered quite active seismically, has hosted earthquakes both on its active and fossil fault systems. The 4 December 2015 Mw 7.1 normal-faulting earthquake, located ∼700  km south of the southeast Indian ridge in the southern Indian Ocean, is a rarity due to its location away from the ridge, lack of association with any mapped faults and its focal depth close to the 800°C isotherm. We present results of teleseismic body-wave inversion that suggest that the earthquake occurred on a north-northwest–south-southeast-striking normal fault at a depth of 34 km. The rupture propagated at 2.7  km/s with compact slip over an area of 48×48  km2 around the hypocenter. Our analysis of the background tectonics suggests that our chosen fault plane is in the same direction as the mapped normal faults on the eastern flanks of the Kerguelen plateau. We propose that these buried normal faults, possibly the relics of the ancient rifting might have been reactivated, leading to the 2015 midplate earthquake.


1983 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 813-829
Author(s):  
P. Yi-Fa Huang ◽  
N. N. Biswas

abstract This paper describes the characteristics of the Rampart seismic zone by means of the aftershock sequence of the Rampart earthquake (ML = 6.8) which occurred in central Alaska on 29 October 1968. The magnitudes of the aftershocks ranged from about 1.6 to 4.4 which yielded a b value of 0.96 ± 0.09. The locations of the aftershocks outline a NNE-SSW trending aftershock zone about 50 km long which coincides with the offset of the Kaltag fault from the Victoria Creek fault. The rupture zone dips steeply (≈80°) to the west and extends from the surface to a depth of about 10 km. Fault plane solutions for a group of selected aftershocks, which occurred over a period of 22 days after the main shock, show simultaneous occurrences of strike-slip and normal faults. A comparison of the trends in seismicity between the neighboring areas shows that the Rampart seismic zone lies outside the area of underthrusting of the lithospheric plate in southcentral and central Alaska. The seismic zone outlined by the aftershock sequence appears to represent the formation of an intraplate fracture caused by regional northwest compression.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 133
Author(s):  
Janiar Ningrum ◽  
Jamalludin Jamalludin ◽  
Izzun Nafiah ◽  
Ferry Maurist Sitorus ◽  
Ferlistya Pratita Rari ◽  
...  

The plan to relocate the Indonesian capital as set out in the 2020-2024 National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN) to East Kalimantan Province will start in 2024. During the process, the government also plans to move central civil servants to the new capital. The planned relocation of the capital city impacts all central civil servants located in DKI Jakarta and surrounding areas. This research used secondary data sources as a basis for population and employment projections. From the results obtained, West Java's population will continue to grow during the growth rate decline. The relocation plan will directly impact the West Java population, but the effect tends to be less significant given the small number of central civil servants located in west java compared to West Java's population as a whole. The relocation plan will impact social environment conditions, economic activity, and the environment in surrounding areas.


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