The Pollino region and the whole Calabria-Lucania border are known for the absence of destructive (M>6) historical earthquakes. This lack of historical seismicity is noticeable in the analysis of Southern Apennines and Calabria earthquake history (Rovida et al., 2011). At the same time, paleoseismological studies found evidence for significant active faulting (Cinti et al., 1997; Michetti et al., 1997) pointing to the Pollino area as a seismic gap. Instrumental seismicity in the region is characterized by the occurrence of seismic sequences, one of the most significant in
the last decades is the Mercure seismic sequence, Mw 5.6 in September 1998 (Brozzetti et al., 2008). For this reason, the sequence started in 2010 raised a big concern in the population and local
authorities. INGV is following the evolution of the sequence since its beginning, in March 2010, increasing the seismic monitoring and planning several activities and projects. The area was proposed by INGV to DPC (Dipartimento di Protezione Civile nazionale) for inclusion in the
projects to be carried out in the present INGV-DPC agreement. This project has just started and will try to provide better constraints to the active tectonics and fault identification of the region. In this
paper we describe what INGV is doing to understand better the tectonics of the region using microseismicity, and try to offer some cue to the discussion about the seismogenic faults in the area.Published5-92T. Tettonica attivaN/A or not JCRope

Amato, A.

Cecere, G.

Chiarabba, C.

De Gori, P.

Di Bona, M.

Gervasi, A.

Govoni, A.

Lucente, F. P.

Margheriti, L.

Mele, F.

Scognamiglio, L.

Selvaggi, G.

Tinti, E.

English

Earth-prints

SEISMIC ACTIVITY IN THE POLLINO REGION (BASILICATA-CALABRIA BORDER)
A. Amato1, G. Cecere1, C. Chiarabba1,  P. De Gori1,  M. Di Bona1,  A. Gervasi1,  A. Govoni1,2,  
F.P. Lucente1,  L. Margheriti1, F. Mele1,   M. Moretti1, L. Scognamiglio1, G. Selvaggi1 and E. Tinti1
1 Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Centro Nazionale Terremoti
2 Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale
Introduction. The Pollino region and the whole Calabria-Lucania border are known for the
absence of destructive (M>6) historical earthquakes. This lack of historical seismicity is noticeable
in the analysis of Southern Apennines and Calabria earthquake history (Rovida et al., 2011).  At the
same time, paleoseismological studies found evidence for significant active faulting (Cinti et al.,
1997; Michetti et al., 1997) pointing to the Pollino area as a seismic gap. Instrumental seismicity in
the region is characterized by the occurrence of seismic sequences, one of the most significant in
the last decades is the Mercure seismic sequence, Mw 5.6 in September 1998 (Brozzetti et al.,
2008). For this reason, the sequence started in 2010 raised a big concern in the population and local
authorities. INGV is following the evolution of the sequence since its beginning, in March 2010,
increasing the seismic monitoring and planning several activities and projects. The area was
proposed by INGV to DPC (Dipartimento di Protezione Civile nazionale) for inclusion in the
projects to be carried out in the present INGV-DPC agreement. This project has just started and will
try to provide better constraints to the active tectonics and fault identification of the region. In this
paper we describe what INGV is doing to understand better the tectonics of the region using
microseismicity, and try to offer some cue to the discussion about the seismogenic faults in the area.
Historical earthquakes. Earthquakes reported in the historical catalogues for this area are not
very strong. For this reason, in the 1984 seismic hazard map of Italy and even in the proposal of
1998, the region had hazard values lower than the northern and the southern areas. However, the
more recent seismic zonation ZS9 (Meletti et al., 2008) and the 2003-2004 seismic hazard map
identifies the whole Lucania-Calabria Apennines as a homogeneous region capable of large
earthquakes and hence with high seismic hazard (http://zonesismiche.mi.ingv.it).  
The Parametric Catalogue of Italian earthquakes (CPTI11, Rovida et al., 2011), shows very well
the lack of strong earthquakes in the region, contrary to the southern Apennines and the Calabria
area. In the former, there is clear evidence of large earthquakes in the Campania-Basilicata area,
mainly the M~7 earthquake in 1857. To the south, several strong earthquakes hit the Sila region and
5
GNGTS 2012 SESSIONE 1.1
Event date and time latitude longitude depth Ml
2012-09-14 03:50:11.000 39.896 16.019 7.6 3.7
2012-09-07 12:40:51.000 39.877 16.028 8.5 3.4
2012-09-01 14:02:45.000 39.887 16.004 7.8 3.4
2012-08-26 15:44:38.000 39.877 16.206 6.8 3.0
2012-08-19 17:45:08.000 39.875 16.005 5.0 3.7
2012-05-28 01:32:10.000 39.906 16.094 8.0 3.2
2012-05-28 01:06:27.000 39.859 16.118 3.0 4.3
2011-12-24 20:17:50.360 39.920 16.023 8.1 3.3
2011-12-02 21:25:38.240 39.910 15.997 8.0 3.2
2011-12-01 14:01:20.020 39.933 15.998 9.9 3.3
2011-11-23 14:12:33.590 39.912 16.019 7.5 3.6
2010-11-09 08:43:19.890 40.048 15.934 10.4 3.7
2010-03-25 17:30:17.900 40.028 15.857 7.8 3.2
Tab.1 - Earthquakes in the Pollino region with magnitude larger than 3.
the whole Calabrian territory and coasts. Around the Basilicata-Calabria border, a few earthquakes
with magnitude probably less than 6 affected the area, including one in 1708 and the Mw5.6
“Mercure” event in 1998 (Brozzetti et al., 2008). 
Recent seismic activity. Starting from the beginning of 2010 the Pollino area has been affected
by intense seismic activity (April 2010, October 2010, November 2011 February 2012, May 2012
and September 2012) interspersed with periods of relative quiescence. At the time we write
(September 23) there are still several earthquakes each day located by the national seismic network.
In the two last year we recorded about 2,000 earthquakes in the area (Iside,
http://iside.rm.ingv.it; Mele et al. 2011), but only 13 with magnitude (ML) larger than 3 (Fig. 1, Tab.
1). 
In the following we briefly describe the efforts of INGV in improving the seismic  monitoring
of the area in the last year and the trends of the seismicity recorded. As known, all the data recorded
by the improved national seismic network and processed, both during real time analysis and revised
bulletins, are available to the public and the scientific community on iside.rm.ingv.it.
The seismic monitoring of the area in the last year. After the increasing of seismic moment
release in November 2011 the  Centro Nazionale Terremoti of INGV, in collaboration with the
Dipartimento di Fisica dell’Università della Calabria improved the seismic monitoring network in
the Pollino region to lower the detection threshold of the network and to improve the hypocentral
locations of small earthquakes. One permanent station of the Italian seismic network was installed
to the south (CET) and three real time (UMTS transmission) temporary stations were deployed (Fig.
2): T0711,T0712 and  T0715. The T0711 was moved to T0716 after one month for transmission
problems in the former site. At the end of May 2012, after the occurrence of the ML 4.3 event, two
other temporary stations transmitting in real time to the INGV monitoring room were deployed :
T0701 and T0702 (Fig. 2).  
The 2011-2012 seismicity. The strongest event in the Pollino region during the last year
occurred on May 28th 2012 with ML 4.3 and a moment tensor solution indicating extensional
faulting on NNW trending planes (Fig. 2); very similar time domain moment tensors (TDMT) were
evaluated for the 23 November 2011, the 19 August 2012 and the 14 September 2012 events. All
these focal mechanisms identify a crustal extension in the NE-SW direction with fault planes having
NNW-SSE strikes (see http://cnt.rm.ingv.it/tdmt.html).
6
GNGTS 2012 SESSIONE 1.1
Fig. 1 - a) Number
of events with
magnitude (ML)
equal to or larger
than 2 in the
Pollino area since
January 2010; b)
Cumulated moment
release in the same
region and in the
same period.
The hypocentral locations shown in Fig. 2 are obtained starting from the arrival times of the
INGV monitoring room and bulletin, and were relocated using the HypoDD location code
(Waldhauser and Ellsworth, 2000). The hypocenters are mostly located between 2 and 10 km depth,
7
GNGTS 2012 SESSIONE 1.1
Fig. 2 - a)  Map of the seismic network  and of the seismic sequence in the Pollino region. Black triangles are the
seismic stations; colored circles represent the seismicity; the line is the trace of the vertical section below; b) Vertical
cross-section showing the trend of hypocenters at depth (see the text). c) Lower right: Moment tensor solution for
the largest event recorded in the last year. Moment tensor solution parameters are: Strike=159 ; 335 - Rake =-87 ; -
93 - Dip =45 ; 45 - Depth = 3km - Mo =3.33e+22 - Mw =4.3.
and show two main clusters: a western one, which includes most of the seismicity, shows a NNW-
SSE elongation and in vertical cross section depicts a fault plane dipping toward WSW, with a hint
of listric geometry. The eastern cluster of seismicity does not clearly identify a fault plane in map
view and in cross section. However, it is relevant that the ML 4.3 event is located in this eastern
cluster and its moment tensor solution (Fig. 2) shows a NNW-SSE normal fault as well. 
Active faults. The geometry depicted by the microseismicity and shown in Fig. 2 can help to
identify major active faults. This is particularly important in areas where no large earthquakes have
been recorded instrumentally, nor are reported in historical catalogues. We have seen that the trend
of the relocated seismicity and the fault plane solutions identified by the TDMT’s are consistent
with normal faults trending ~N20W and dipping at about 45° to the SW. No inference can be done
at the moment about the relationship between the two clusters, but hypocentral distribution and focal
mechanisms suggest that they are characterized by similar geometry and kinematics.
Comparing these data with the seismogenic sources reported in the DISS (DISS Working Group,
2010; Basili et al., 2008) we find that none of the proposed faults fits well the geometry suggested
by the microearthquakes (Fig. 3). According to DISS, a major fault structure to the north is the
“Rimendiello-Mormanno” fault system, constrained by geological data. The trend of this composite
source is roughly consistent with the trend of the recent seismicity but the dip is to the northeast.
More to the south, the Pollino source (Castrovillari fault according to Cinti et al., 1997) has a
comparable trend (N20W) and a western dip, as the 2010-2012 seismicity, but its northern edge of
the Castrovillari fault corresponds with the southernmost epicenters (Fig. 5). Lastly, the Piana
Perretti fault (Brozzetti et al., 2009) could be connected to the microseismicity at depth, but its trend
is rotated by about 30°- 40° CCW with respect to the recent seismicity trend.  
References
Basili R., G. Valensise, P. Vannoli, P. Burrato, U. Fracassi, S. Mariano, M.M. Tiberti, E. Boschi (2008), The Database of
Individual Seismogenic Sources (DISS), version 3: summarizing 20 years of research on Italy’s earthquake geology,
Tectonophysics, doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2007.04.014
Brozzetti F., G. Lavecchia, G. Mancini, G. Milana, M. Cardinali (2008). Analysis of the 9 September 1998 Mw 5.6 Mercure
earthquake sequence (Southern Apennines, Italy): A multidisciplinary approach, Tectonophysics,
DOI:10.1016/j.tecto.2008.12.007
Cinti F.R., Cucci L., Pantosti D., D’addezio G. & Meghraoui M., (1997) “A major seismogenic fault in a “”silent area””: the
8
GNGTS 2012 SESSIONE 1.1
Fig. 3 - Comparison between recent seismicity (2010-2012) and seismogenic sources in the DISS database.
Castrovillari fault (southern Apennines, Italy).” Geophys. J. Int., 130, 595-605.
DISS Working Group (2010). Database of Individual Seismogenic Sources (DISS), Version 3.1.1: A compilation of potential
sources for earthquakes larger than M 5.5 in Italy and surrounding areas. http://diss.rm.ingv.it/diss/, © INGV 2010 -
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia - All rights reserved.
Mele, F., A. Basili, A. Bono, V. Lauciani, A. Mandiello, C. Marcocci, S. Mazza, S. Pintore, M. Quintiliani, L. Scognamiglio
e G. Selvaggi (2011). La base di dati ISIDe: stato attuale e possibili sviluppi, in Cattaneo M. e Moretti M., eds. Riassunti
estesi I° Workshop Tecnico “Monitoraggio sismico del territorio nazionale: stato dell’arte e sviluppo delle reti di
monitoraggio sismico” Roma 20 | 21 dicembre 2010. Miscellanea INGV, N°10; 128-130. ISSN 2039-6651.
Meletti, C., F. Galadini, G. Valensise, M. Stucchi, R. Basili, S. Barba, G. Vannucci, E. Boschi (2008). A seismic source zone
model for the seismic hazard assessment of the Italian territory. Tectonophysics, 450 (2008) 85–108,
doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2008.01.003
Michetti, A., L. Ferreli, L. Serva, E. Vittori, Geological evidence for strong historical earthquake in an  aseismic region: the
Pollino case (southern Italy), J. Geodynamics, 24, 67-86, 1997. 
Rovida, A., R. Camassi, P. Gasperini e M. Stucchi (a cura di), 2011. CPTI11, la versione 2011 del Catalogo Parametrico dei
Terremoti Italiani. Milano, Bologna, http://emidius.mi.ingv.it/CPTI
Waldhauser F. and W.L. Ellsworth, A double-difference earthquake location algorithm: Method and application to the
northern Hayward fault, Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., 90, 1353-1368, 2000.
NEW MORPHOTECTONIC CONSTRAINTS ON THE ACTIVE FAULT SYSTEM OF MONTE
MARZANO (SOUTHERN APENNINES)
A. Ascione, S. Mazzoli, N. Santangelo and E. Valente
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Napoli Federico II
Introduction. The aim of this study is that of investigating, by means of morphotectonic
analysis, active fault zones in the Monte Marzano area. The study area is located in the axial portion
of the southern Apennines mountain belt (Fig. 1) and falls within the epicentral area of some of the
strongest historical earthquakes of southern Italy, i.e. those with intensity I ≥ X MCS that occurred
in 989, 1694, 1930, 1962 and 1980 (e.g., Porfido et al., 2002; Pondrelli et al., 2006; Locati et al.,
2011). In the last 30 years, a large amount of studies have provided constraints to seismicity and
tectonics active in the epicentral area of the 23 November 1980, Ms=6.9 Irpinia earthquake, the
strongest and most destructive (I0=X MCS) seismic event of the last decennia in southern Italy. By
such studies, it appears that both the earthquake complexity, and the historical and present-day
seismicity, represent the response to a complex active tectonics scenario, and suggest the existence
of an active graben-like structure defined by at least two antithetic major faults. However, still
debated and, in some instances, controversial, are the pattern, distribution and localization of active
structures, with major implications on both cumulative deformation rates and related hazard.
Detailed analysis of the topography of the Monte Marzano massif and surrounding area, based
on interpretation of 1:25,000 and 1:5,000 maps and of a detailed DTM, integrated by morpho-
stratigraphical reconstructions and by age constraints on the Quaternary deposits, allowed us to
identify normal faults active during the late Quaternary, and to unravel the faulting chronology.
Geological framework. The study area is dominated by the Monte Marzano morphostructural
high, with a maximum elevation of 1579 m (Fig. 2). The Monte Marzano massif is composed of a
more than 2000 m thick pile of slope facies limestones and dolostones, spanning in age from the
Late Triassic to the Early Miocene (ISPRA, 2011). The carbonates of the Monte Marzano massif,
as well as the platform facies ones forming the backbone of the Monti Picentini and Monti Alburni
massifs (located to the W and S of Monte Marzano, respectively), and of minor ridges interposed
between the different massifs, are related to the so-called Apennine Platform unit (Fig. 1). The
carbonate unit is tectonically underlain by the Lagonegro Basin strata (cropping out to the N of
Monte Marzano), and tectonically overlain by the so-called Parasicilide unit, which represents the
deformed distal portion of the Apulian continental palaeomargin (Ciarcia et al., 2009). The thrust
pile, represented by the Parasicilide unit, the Apennine Platform carbonates, and the Lagonegro
Basin strata (e.g., Mazzoli et al., 2008, and references therein) is unconformably overlain by Late
Miocene wedge-top basin deposits (sandstones and conglomerates of the Castelvetere Fm.) and
9
GNGTS 2012 SESSIONE 1.1


Seismic activity in the Pollino region (Basilicata-Calabria border)

https://www.earth-prints.org/bitstream/2122/9894/1/amato%20et%20al%202012.pdf

Seismic activity in the Pollino region (Basilicata-Calabria border)

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Earth-prints