Studi di tomografia locale per la definizione della struttura crostale e subcrostale del Friuli e del Veneto Orientale

English: CRUSTAL AND SUB-CRUSTAL STRUCTURE OF FRIULI AND VENETO REGIONS DERIVED FROM LOCAL EARTHQUAKE TOMOGRAPHY The Friuli region is one of the most hazardous area in Italy. Numerous earthquakes have shaken and damaged the region both in historical (1348, 1551) and recent times (1928, 1976). The most recent big earthquake, the M = 6.4 event in 1976, was the reason for starting an intensive study of the area from the geological and geophysical points of view but probably the main consequence of the earthquake was the establishment of a regional seismometric network to monitor the seismic activity in the Friuli enlarged area. West to Friuli is the Veneto region: it is characterized by a seismicity of lower energy but that still deserves a certain care, in particular in the Alpago and Cansiglio sectors where earthquakes of magnitude greater than 5.5 occurred in 1873 and 1936. With the aim to investigate the crustal (and possibly sub-crustal) structures of these regions, a local earthquake tomography has been carried out using data recorded in the period 1995-2002 by the Friuli - Venezia Giulia seismometric network. The obtained tomographic images add only a few details to the knowledge of the area, and resembles already published results, even if the current tomography is able to give images for deeper layers (down to 15 km). In practice, there is a good agreement between the surficial tomographic reconstruction and the shallow geology and it is confirmed the existence of a body with velocity 6.2-6.4 km/s deepening eastwards down to 12-15 km. Since this limit corresponds to the resolving power of the data, no interpretation can be done on whether this body has much deeper roots or not. One main evidence of the joint displaying of occurrence of events and velocity recostructions is that seismicity is strictly associated with, and probably dependent from, this body. Since it would be very important to extend the resolving power to deeper layers, a new tomography is planned for a larger area. In fact, deeper events may be considered when the studied area is larger and, since the rays of these events travel for longer distances, they consequently illuminate deeper layers. In this way some limits of the present tomographic runs could be overcome. Italian: Il Friuli è una delle zone a maggior pericolosità sismica del territorio nazionale. Numerosi terremoti hanno causato gravi distruzioni, infatti, nella regione sia in epoca storica (nel 1348 e nel 1511) sia recentemente (nel 1928 e nel 1976). Il terremoto del 1976, di magnitudo 6.4, ha dato l’avvio a tutta una serie di studi di carattere geologico e geofisico. Tra le iniziative più importanti va ricordata l’installazione delle rete sismometrica regionale. Contigua al Friuli si trova la regione del Veneto, di sismicità sicuramente minore di quella friulana, ma degna di attenzione specialmente nel suo settore orientale (Alpago, Cansiglio) in quanto nel 1873 e nel 1936 la violenza dei sismi superò la magnitudo 5,5. Allo scopo di indagare sulle strutture crostali (e possibilmente sub-crostali) è stata condotta una tomografia sismica con terremoti locali utilizzando un nutrito insieme di dati registrati dalla rete sismometrica regionale nel periodo 1995-2002 in un’area estesa intorno al confine tra Veneto e Friuli - Venezia Giulia, dove molti autori ipotizzano una struttura sismogenetica di svincolo trasversale alle strutture alpine contrapponendosi a quelli che invece propongono continuità nello stile tettonicosismogenetico. I risultati ottenuti aggiungono solo pochi dettagli alle immagini topografiche ottenute da altri lavori, ed in particolare essi sono relativi a profondità maggiori rispetto a quelle indagate nel passato. In pratica, viene confermata la buona coerenza tra immagini topografiche superficiali e le strutture geologiche e la presenza di un corpo con velocità dell’ordine di 6,2-6,4 km/s che, inclinato verso est, si estende fino a 12-15 km di profondità. Purtroppo questo valore coincide con il limite della risoluzione tomografica, e lascia aperta la questione sulla reale estensione in profondità della struttura individuata. Ciò che risulta particolarmente evidente è che la struttura, che è stata interpretata come un cuneo legato all’accorciamento crostale associato con le fasi alpine, è responsabile della sismicità dell’area, o comunque strettamente legata ad essa. Da un punto di vista strettamente metodologico, i risultati mostrano i limiti della inversione tomografica legati alla geometria degli eventi e soprattutto dalla scarsa profondità degli stessi. Malgrado non possa essere considerata soluzione definitiva al problema, la estensione della area da indagare potrebbe parzialmente migliorare le immagini topografiche inserendo terremoti più lontani (e quindi con raggi che si approfondiscono di più) avendo cura di definire la geometria ottimale di inversione

The 1511 Eastern Alps earthquakes: a critical update and comparison of existing macroseismic datasets

International audienceThree earthquakes condition the seismic hazard estimates of the Eastern Alps: the 1348 "Villach", the 1511 "Idrija", and the 1976 Gemona events. Only the last one can be well documented, while doubts remain for location and size of the other two. New documents have been found about the 1511 quake that, together with a complete revision of the information already available, offer some new indications on the location and size of the event

Earthquake rupture forecasts for the mps19 seismic hazard model of Italy

In recent years, new approaches for developing earthquake rupture forecasts (ERFs) have been proposed to be used as an input for probabilistic seismic hazard assessment (PSHA). Zone-based approaches with seismicity rates derived from earthquake catalogs are commonly used in many countries as the standard for national seismic hazard models. In Italy, a single zone-based ERF is currently the basis for the official seismic hazard model. In this contribution, we present eleven new ERFs, including five zone-based, two smoothed seismicity-based, two fault-based, and two geodetic-based, used for a new PSH model in Italy. The ERFs were tested against observed seismicity and were subject to an elicitation procedure by a panel of PSHA experts to verify the scientific robustness and consistency of the forecasts with respect to the observations. Tests and elicitation were finalized to weight the ERFs. The results show a good response to the new inputs to observed seismicity in the last few centuries. The entire approach was a first attempt to build a community-based set of ERFs for an Italian PSHA model. The project involved a large number of seismic hazard practitioners, with their knowledge and experience, and the development of different models to capture and explore a large range of epistemic uncertainties in building ERFs, and represents an important step forward for the new national seismic hazard model

Improved 2-D attenuation analysis for Northern Italy using a merged dataset from selected regional seismic networks

International audienceA merged, high-quality waveform dataset from different seismic networks has been used to improve our understanding of lateral seismic attenuation for Northern Italy. In a previous study on the same region, Morasca et al. (Bull Seismol Soc Am 98:1936-1946, 2008) were able to resolve only a small area due to limited data coverage. For this reason, the interpretation of the attenuation anomalies was difficult given the complexity of the region and the poor resolution of the available data. In order to better understand the lateral changes in the crustal structure and thickness of this region, we selected 770 earthquakes recorded by 54 stations for a total of almost 16,000 waveforms derived from seismic networks operating totally or partially in Northern Italy. Direct S-wave and coda attenuation images were obtained using an amplitude ratio technique that eliminates source terms from the formulation. Both direct and early-coda amplitudes are used as input for the inversions, and the results are compared. Results were obtained for various frequency bands ranging between 0.3 and 25.0 Hz and in all cases show significant improvement with respect to the previous study since the resolved area has been extended and more crossing paths have been used to image smaller scale anomalies. Quality-factor estimates are consistent with the regional tectonic structure exhibiting a general trend of low attenuation under the Po Plain basin and higher values for the Western Alps and Northern Apennines. The interpretation of the results for the Eastern Alps is not simple, possibly because our resolution for this area is still not adequate to resolve small-scale structures

Clinical Effectiveness of Budesonide/Formoterol Fumarate Easyhaler(A (R)) for Patients with Poorly Controlled Obstructive Airway Disease: a Real-World Study of Patient-Reported Outcomes

The effectiveness of inhaled therapies can be influenced by many factors, including the type of inhaler, which may have clinical implications. We report a real-world, multicenter, open-label, non-randomized, non-interventional study conducted by 200 pulmonologists across 200 centers in Hungary. The effectiveness of budesonide/formoterol inhalation therapy in daily clinical practice, delivered via the Bufomix Easyhaler(A (R)), was evaluated in patients with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma-COPD overlap (ACO). Effectiveness was assessed after 12 weeks of treatment by spirometry, the Asthma Control Test, mini-Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire, COPD Assessment Test and modified Medical Research Council dyspnea scale. Patient satisfaction with the Bufomix Easyhaler(A (R)) and physicians' assessments (ease of use and time taken to learn the technique) were also assessed. A total of 1498 patients with obstructive airway disease were evaluated (asthma: n = 621; COPD: n = 778; ACO: n = 99), of whom 455 (30.4%) were newly diagnosed inhaler-na 0.002) were reported after 12 weeks of Bufomix Easyhaler(A (R)) use. Improvements were observed in both inhaler-na 90.0% of physicians described the Bufomix Easyhaler(A (R)) as easy to teach; 73.8% and 98.9% of patients learned the technique within 5 and 10 min of teaching, respectively. Twelve weeks' treatment with the Bufomix Easyhaler(A (R)) resulted in significant improvements in disease control and quality of life. The Bufomix Easyhaler(A (R)) was considered easy to use, and most patients were satisfied with the inhaler. Results confirm the real-world effectiveness of the Bufomix Easyhaler(A (R)) in the treatment of adult outpatients with obstructive airway disease. Orion Corp., Orion Pharma