Earthquake fault-plane solutions and patterns of seismicity within the Umbria Region, Italy

In this paper we present a review of the seismotectonic features (an analysis of earthquake focal mechanisms and the distribution of seismicity) of the Northern Apennines, Umbria Region (Italy) in the area between Sansepolcro and Norcia. For this analysis, we used Centroid Moment Tensor (CMT) data for earthquakes with magnitude M>5.0 and data computed by implementing the standard CMT algorithm to compute Regional Centroid Moment Tensor (RCMT) estimates for moderate-magnitude earthquakes (4.

NEW MOHO MAP OF ITALY

In complex tectonics regions, seismological, geophysical, and geodynamic modeling require accurate definition of the Moho geometry. Various active and passive seismic experiments performed in the central Mediterranean region revealed local information on the Moho depth, in some cases used to produce interpolated maps. In this paper, we present a new and original map of the 3-D Moho geometry obtained by integrating selected high-quality controlled source seismic and teleseismic receiver function data. The very small cell size makes the retrieved model suitable for detailed regional studies, crustal corrections in teleseismic tomography, advanced 3-D ray tracing in regional earthquake location, and local earthquake tomography. Our results show the geometry of three different Moho interfaces: the European, Adriatic-Ionian, and Tyrrhenian. The three distinct Moho are fashioned following the Alpine and Apennines subduction, collision, and back-arc spreading and show medium- to high-frequency topographic undulations reflecting the complexity of the geodynamic evolution

Multi-segment rupture of the 2016 Amatrice-Visso-Norcia seismic sequence (central Italy) constrained by the first high-quality catalog of Early Aftershocks

We present the first high-quality catalog of early aftershocks of the three mainshocks of the 2016 central Italy Amatrice-Visso-Norcia normal faulting sequence. We located 10,574 manually picked aftershocks with a robust probabilistic, non-linear method achieving a significant improvement in the solution accuracy and magnitude completeness with respect to previous studies. Aftershock distribution and relocated mainshocks give insight into the complex architecture of major causative and subsidiary faults, thus providing crucial constraints on multi-segment rupture models. We document reactivation and kinematic inversion of a WNW-dipping listric structure, referable to the inherited Mts Sibillini Thrust (MST) that controlled segmentation of the causative normal faults. Spatial partitioning of aftershocks evidences that the MST lateral ramp had a dual control on rupture propagation, behaving as a barrier for the Amatrice and Visso mainshocks, and later as an asperity for the Norcia mainshock. We hypothesize that the Visso mainshock re-activated also the deep part of an optimally oriented preexisting thrust. Aftershock patterns reveal that the Amatrice Mw5.4 aftershock and the Norcia mainshock ruptured two distinct antithetic faults 3-4 km apart. Therefore, our results suggest to consider both the MST cross structure and the subsidiary antithetic fault in the finite-fault source modelling of the Norcia earthquake.Published69214T. Sismicità dell'ItaliaJCR Journa

Passive seismology and deep structure in central Italy

n the last decade temporary teleseismic transects have become a powerful tool for investigating the crustal and upper mantle structure. In order to gain a clearer picture of the lithosphere-asthenosphere structure in peninsular Italy, between 1994 and 1996, we have deployed three teleseismic transects in northern, central, and southern Apennines, in the framework of the project GeoModAp (European Community contract EV5V-CT94–0464). Some hundreds of teleseisms were recorded at each deployment which lasted between 3 and 4 months. Although many analyses are still in progress, the availability of this high quality data allowed us to refine tomographic images of the lithosphere-asthenosphere structure with an improved resolution in the northern and central Apennines, and to study the deformation of the upper mantle looking at seismic anisotropy through shear-wave splitting analysis. Also, a study of the depth and geometry of the Moho through the receiver function technique is in progress. Tomographic results from the northernmost 1994 and the central 1995 teleseismic experiments confirm that a high-velocity anomaly (HVA) does exist in the upper 200–250 km and is confined to the northern Apenninic arc. This HVA, already interpreted as a fragment of subducted lithosphere is better defined by the new temporary data, compared to previous works, based only on data from permanent stations. No clear high-velocity anomalies are detected in the upper 250 km below the central Apennines, suggesting either a slab window due to a detachment below southern peninsular Italy, or a thinner, perhaps continental slab of Adriatic lithosphere not detectable by standard tomography. We found clear evidence of seismic anisotropy in the uppermost mantle, related to the main tectonic processes which affected the studied regions, either NE–SW compressional deformation of the lithosphere beneath the mountain belt, or arc-parallel asthenospheric flow (both giving NW–SE fast polarization direction), and successive extensional deformation ( E–W trending) in the back-arc basin of northern Tyrrhenian and Tuscany. Preliminary results of receiver function studies in the northern Apennines show that the Moho depth is well defined in the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic regions while its geometry underneath the mountain belt is not yet well constrained, due to the observed high complexity.Published479-4934T. Sismicità dell'ItaliaJCR Journa

Defective proteasome biogenesis into skin fibroblasts isolated from Rett syndrome subjects with {MeCP}2 non-sense mutations

Rett Syndrome (RTT) is a rare X-linked neurodevelopmental disorder which affects about 1: 10000 live births. In >95% of subjects RTT is caused by a mutation in Methyl-CpG binding protein-2 (MECP2) gene, which encodes for a transcription regulator with pleiotropic genetic/epigenetic activities. The molecular mechanisms underscoring the phenotypic alteration of RTT are largely unknown and this has impaired the development of therapeutic approaches to alleviate signs and symptoms during disease progression. A defective proteasome biogenesis into two skin primary fibroblasts isolated from RTT subjects harbouring non-sense (early-truncating) MeCP2 mutations (i.e., R190fs and R255X) is herewith reported. Proteasome is the proteolytic machinery of Ubiquitin Proteasome System (UPS), a pathway of overwhelming relevance for post-mitotic cells metabolism. Molecular, transcription and proteomic analyses indicate that MeCP2 mutations down-regulate the expression of one proteasome subunit, α7, and of two chaperones, PAC1 and PAC2, which bind each other in the earliest step of proteasome biogenesis. Furthermore, this molecular alteration recapitulates in neuron-like SH-SY5Y cells upon silencing of MeCP2 expression, envisaging a general significance of this transcription regulator in proteasome biogenesis

Catalogo completo della sequenza sismica di Amatrice-Visso-Norcia (Italia centrale, Bollettino Sismico Italiano 2016-2018)

In questo lavoro presentiamo il catalogo completo delle localizzazioni dei terremoti appartenenti alla più importante sequenza sismica avvenuta in Italia negli ultimi 30 anni, ovvero la sequenza sismica di Amatrice-Visso-Norcia (AVN) iniziata il 24 Agosto del 2016 in Appennino centrale. Si tratta di 102582 eventi sismici registrati dalle 129 stazioni della Rete Sismica Nazionale (RSN, http://doi.org/10.13127/SD/X0FXNH7QFY) e della rete temporanea installata nella regione epicentrale (Moretti et al., 2016), dal 14 agosto 2016 al 31 agosto 2018 e analizzati manualmente dagli analisti del Bollettino Sismico Italiano (BSI, http://cnt.rm.ingv.it/bsi). Le fasi P ed S e le ampiezze di questi terremoti, stimate in tempo reale nella sala di sorveglianza dell’Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) di Roma, sono state successivamente riviste in dettaglio, per tutti gli eventi di M≽ 2.3, con l’intento di aumentare la qualità dei parametri di localizzazione e della stima della magnitudo. Gli analisti hanno inoltre inserito le fasi P ed S osservate a quelle stazioni che il sistema di acquisizione non aveva eventualmente incluso nelle soluzioni automatiche in real-time. Per i primi mesi della sequenza l'analisi ha riguardato anche l’integrazione delle registrazioni di 9 stazioni temporanee standalone che non entravano automaticamente nelle localizzazioni della sala sismica; per i giorni nei quali si sono verificati gli eventi di M≽ 5.5 la revisione è stata particolarmente accurata anche per eventi di magnitudo inferiore a 2.3 (Improta et al. 2019) Il dataset così costruito consiste in 25496 terremoti rivisti dagli analisti del bollettino (versione 1000) e 77426 eventi elaborati dai turnisti in sala sismica (versione 100). Le 1705987 fasi P che ne sono derivate, e le 1271757 fasi S, sono disponibili nel database ISIDe (DOI: 10.13127/ISIDe). Tutte le letture dei tempi di arrivo sono state utilizzate per localizzare gli ipocentri della sequenza utilizzando il codice di inversione non lineare NonLinLoc (NLL, Lomax et al., 2001): l’utilizzo di questa tecnica ha migliorato, rispetto ai lavori precedenti, la stima dei parametri ipocentrali fornendo delle soluzioni più robuste ai fini della ricostruzione sismotettonica dell’area interessata dalla sequenza sismica AVN. Rispetto ai dati forniti in tempo reale dal personale in servizio di sorveglianza sismica dell’INGV, questo nuovo catalogo presenta un notevole miglioramento in termini di omogeneità della stima della ML, almeno nel range definito dalla soglia inferiore di revisione pari a ML≽ 2.3. Questa maggiore omogeneità del catalogo permetterà ulteriori analisi per la stima della Mc (Magnitudo di completezza). Inoltre, all’interno del catalogo sono presenti 75 terremoti con ML≽4.0: per 47 di questi eventi sismici abbiamo calcolato il meccanismo focale a partire dalle prime polarità utilizzando il codice FPFIT (Reasenberg and Oppenheimer, 1985). Un catalogo di questo tipo, di alta qualità, basato quindi su un imponente numero di fasi e ampiezze riviste manualmente, ha una particolare importanza e può essere un valido riferimento per l’applicazione per esempio di tecniche di detection basate sulla crosscorrelazione di registrazioni di terremoti templates, per la validazione di cataloghi composti da letture automatiche dei tempi di arrivo, o anche per l’ottimizzazione di algoritmi di picking automatici. La qualità delle localizzazioni dei mainshocks e degli aftershocks della sequenza sismica AVN diventa fondamentale per capire l'analisi dell'evoluzione spazio-temporale della sismicità, anche di bassa magnitudo, e le complesse geometrie delle faglie attivate durante la sequenza sismica, contestualmente alle relazioni tra esse esistenti.PublishedRoma - Italia4IT. Banche dat

Turning the rumor of the May 11, 2011, earthquake prediction in Rome, Italy, into an information day on earthquake hazard

A devastating earthquake was predicted to hit Rome on May 11, 2011. This prediction was never officially released, but it grew on the internet and was amplified by the media. It was erroneously ascribed to Raffaele Bendandi, an Italian self-taught natural scientist who studied planetary motions and related them to earthquakes. Indeed, around May 11, 2011, there was a planetary alignment, and this fed the credibility of the earthquake prediction. During the months preceding May 2011, the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) was overwhelmed with requests for information about this prediction, by the inhabitants of Rome and by tourists. Given the echo of this earthquake prediction, on May 11, 2011, the INGV decided to organize an Open Day at its headquarters in Rome, to inform the public about Italian seismicity and earthquake physics. The Open Day was preceded by a press conference two days before, to talk with journalists about this prediction, and to present the Open Day. During this 'Day', 13 new videos were also posted on our YouTube/INGVterremoti channel to explain earthquake processes and hazards, and to provide periodic updates on seismicity in Italy from the seismicity monitoring room. On May 11, 2011, the INGV headquarters was peacefully invaded by over 3,000 visitors, from 10:00 am to 9:00 pm: families, students with and without teachers, civil protection groups, and many journalists. This initiative that was built up in a few weeks has had very large feedback, and was a great opportunity to talk with journalists and people about earthquake prediction, and more in general about the seismic risk in Italy

Bollettino Sismico Italiano: Analisys of Early Aftershocks of the 2016 MW 6.0 Amatrice, MW 5.9 Visso and MW 6.5 Norcia earthquakes in Central Italy

The Amatrice-Visso-Norcia seismic sequence is the most important of the last 30 years in Italy. The seismic sequence started on 24 August, 2016 and still is ongoing in central Apennines. At the end of February 2017 more than 57,000 events were located, 80,000 events up to the end of September 2017 (Fig. 1). The mainshocks of the sequence occurred on 24 August 2016 (Mw 6.0 and Mw 5.4), 26 October 2016 (Mw 5.4 and Mw 5.9), 30 October 2016 (Mw 6.5), 18 January 2017 (four earthquakes Mw≥ 5.0). In this seismic sequence, all the waveforms recorded by temporary stations deployed by the SISMIKO emergency group (stations T12**; Moretti et al., 2016) where available in real- time at the surveillance room of INGV. Because of the high level of seismicity and the dense seismic network installed in the region, more than 150 events per day were located at the end of February 2017; still 60 events per day were located up to the end of August 2017.The Amatrice-Visso-Norcia is the most important seismic sequence since 2015, the time when the analysis procedures of the BSI group (Bollettino Sismico Italiano) were revised (Nardi et al., 2015). BSI is now available every four months on the web: bulletins contain revised earthquakes (location and magnitude) with ML≥ 1.5, quasi-real time revision of ML≥ 3.5 earthquakes and phase arrivals from waveforms recorded on seismic stations available from the European Integrated Data Archive (EIDA), (Mazza et al., 2012). These last procedures allow the integration of signals from temporary seismic stations (Moretti et al., 2014) installed by the emergency group SISMIKO (Moretti and Sismiko working group, 2016), even when they are not in real time transmission, if they are rapidly archived in EIDA, together with real time signals from the seismic stations of the permanent INGV network. The analysis strategy of the BSI group for the Amatrice -Visso - Norcia seismic sequence (AVN.s.s in the following) was to select the earthquakes located in the box with min/max latitude: 42.2/43.2 - and min/max longitude: 12.4/14.1 to prepare a special volume of BSI on the seismic sequence.PublishedTrieste, Italy1SR. TERREMOTI - Servizi e ricerca per la Societ

Analisi Del Bollettino Sismico Italiano A Seguito Del Terremoto Di Amatrice Mw 6.0 (24 Agosto 2016, Italia Centrale)

La sequenza sismica che ha seguito il terremoto di magnitudo momento MW= 6.0 di Amatrice del 24 agosto 2016 è la prima sequenza rilevante che avviene da quando, all’inizio del 2015, le modalità di analisi del Bollettino Sismico Italiano (BSI) sono state aggiornate (Nardi et al., 2015). Queste modalità prevedono la pubblicazione del BSI ogni quattro mesi, la revisione solo degli eventi con ML≥ 1.5, la revisione rapida degli eventi con ML≥ 3.5 e l’integrazione all’interno del BSI di tutte le stazioni i cui dati sono archiviati nello European Integrated Data Archive (EIDA). Quest’ultima procedura permette di integrare nel BSI anche le stazioni temporanee (Moretti et al., 2014) installate dal gruppo di emergenza SISMIKO (Sismiko working group, 2016), le cui registrazioni vengono archiviate, in tempi brevi, in EIDA (Mazza et al., 2012) insieme alle stazioni trasmesse in real-time. I quadrimestri del BSI 2015 e il primo del 2016 sono attualmente disponibili (http://cnt.rm.ingv.it/bsi) in formato QuakeML; tale formato contiene le localizzazioni con la stima degli errori, le magnitudo (MW, ML, Md), le letture delle fasi P ed S e i Time Domain Moment Tensor (TDMT). Sono stati inoltre sviluppati alcuni webservices (http://webservices.rm.ingv.it/ws_fdsn.php) per facilitare la lettura dei QuakeML e per rendere il bollettino fruibile alla comunità scientifica. Il terremoto di MW 6.0, avvenuto nella notte del 24 agosto 2016, alle ore 01:36 UTC, nell’area al confine tra l’Umbria, il Lazio, l’Abruzzo e le Marche, ha dato inizio a una sequenza sismica che al 23 settembre 2016 contava circa 11000 eventi.PublishedLecce, Italy4IT. Banche dat