Description: During the winter 2012, from 20 January to 4 February, the German oceanographic FS METEOR cruise (M86/3) took place in the central-southern Adriatic Sea in the frame of “Adria LithosPHere InvestigAtion” (ALPHA [Kopp et al., 2013]). The primary goal of the project was high-resolution tomographic imaging of the crust and lithospheric mantle underneath the southern Adriatic Sea, the Apulia eastern margin and the external zone of the Dinaric thrust-belt by collecting offshore-onshore seismic data along three multi-fold wide-aperture profiles. The definition of reliable velocity models of the Adriatic lithosphere was considered crucial for a better understanding of the structure, fragmentation, geodynamic evolution, and seismotectonics of the Adria-Apulia microplates. The ALPHA Project was coordinated by Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Germany (GEOMAR), former Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences (German: Leibniz-Institut für Meereswissenschaften, IFM-GEOMAR) and conducted in close cooperation with different European institutions of Germany, Albania, Croatia, Italy and Montenegro. The Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica Vulcanologia (INGV) participated by deploying land stations along two transects in the Apulia and Gargano Promontory to extend westwards the seismic profiles. The primary goal was to record shallow-to-deep seismic phases travelling along the transition between the Adriatic basin and the Apulia foreland. In this paper we present the field work related to the two Italian onshore transects, the recorded data, and the processing flow developed to highlight crustal and mantle refractions and wide-angle reflections.

Description: How fast, and how foreseeable, is magma ascent is one of the most compelling and unanswered issues of volcanology. The velocity of the magma upwelling depends on the local conditions of the volcanic conduit and rheology of the magma. During magma emplacement in the shallow crust, transient variations of physical properties underneath active volcanoes are expected and in a few cases observed. The predictability of such changes strongly depends on how fast this process is, compared to our ability to handle geophysical data and consistently resolve transient anomalies in the physical properties of the medium. Mount Etna (Italy) is a perfect natural laboratory to investigate such issues, due to the almost continuous magmatic activity and the high quality of seismologic and geodetic data. Here we show, for the first time, that seismic attenuation of local earthquakes strongly increases due to the emplacement of magma within the crust, forecasting an incipient eruption at Mount Etna.

Description: In the years between 2010 and 2015 in the Apennines-Calabrian arc boundary, in the Pollino massif, a long seismic sequence took place. The area is subject to Northeast- Southwest extension, which results in a complex system of normal faults striking Northwest-Southeast, nearly parallel to the Apenninic mountain range. The seismic sequence includes more than 6000 earthquakes in the Pollino region, the maximum magnitude recorded is Ml=5.0 and it happened in October 25th 2012 after about two years of ongoing activity; the peculiar temporal evolution of the seismic sequence allows us to catalogue it as a swarm. Here we describe the main seismological characteristics of this seismic sequence and characterise the fracture field of the region. We analyse thousands of seismograms, deriving accurate locations crust velocity model and anisotropic parameters in the crust. These parameters yield clues and insights that may help understanding the physical mechanisms behind the seismic swarm. Since the late 60s-early 70s era seismologists started developing theories that included variations of the elastic properties of the Earth crust and the state of stress and its evolution prior to the occurrence of a large earthquake. Among the others the theory of the dilatancy: when a rock is subject to stress, the rock grains are shifted generating microcracks, thus the rock itself increases its volume. Inside the fractured rock, fluid saturation and pore pressure play an important role in earthquake nucleation, by modulating the effective stress. Thus, measuring the variations of wave speed and of anisotropic parameter in time can be highly informative on how the stress leading to a major fault failure builds up. We systematically look at seismic-wave propagation properties to possibly reveal short-term variations in the elastic properties of the Earth crust. In active fault areas, tectonic stress variation influences fracture field orientation and fluid migration processes, whose evolution over time can be monitored through the measurement of the anisotropic parameters. We analysed waveforms recorded at permanent and temporary stations hold by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia.

Description: Published

Description: 104° Congresso Nazionale della Società Italiana di Fisica - Università della Calabria - dal 17 al 21 settembre 2018

Description: 2T. Deformazione crostale attiva

Description: Rising magma, dike intrusions, and flank collapse are observed at many volcanoes worldwide, but how they interact is still poorly documented. Extensive synthetic aperture radar interferometry and continuous global positioning system observations captured a sharp dike intrusion at Mount Etna, Italy, during the 2018 paroxysm that triggered a vigorous seaward sliding of the eastern flank connected with brittle failure and deep magmatic resourcing. We propose a feedback process between flank acceleration and magma intrusion that derives from the interaction between the long- and short-term deformation of the volcano. The flank sliding acts as a valve that modulates the emplacement and eruption of magma within the shallow system. Rapid flank acceleration could potentially evolve into sudden collapses and seismic release at shallow depth. In turn, flank slip events could act as a sentinel for changes in magma depth and paroxysmal eruptions at Mount Etna.

Description: Published

Description: 1077–1082

Description: 5V. Processi eruttivi e post-eruttivi

Description: JCR Journal

Description: Questo rapporto tecnico descrive le attività svolte da SISMIKO [Moretti et al., 2012; 2016a; 2016b; Pondrelli et al., 2016] in occasione della sequenza sismica che ha interessato l’area in provincia di Campobasso tra i comuni di Montecilfone, Guardialfiera e Larino a partire dal 14 agosto 2018 e che ha visto nel terremoto di magnitudo ML 5.2 (MW 5.1) del 16 agosto 2018 (18:19 UTC), ben risentito in un’ampia area che comprende molte regioni dell’Italia centro meridionale, l’evento più significativo della sequenza. SISMIKO è uno dei gruppi operativi dell’Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) per la gestione delle emergenze sismiche [Pondrelli et al., 2016], e come per ogni terremoto con magnitudo superiore a 5.0, ovvero alla soglia prevista nella vigente Convenzione tra l’INGV e il Dipartimento della Protezione Civile (DPC), a seguito del terremoto del 16 agosto 2018 (ML 5.2) ha predisposto un intervento volto al miglioramento del monitoraggio sismico dell’area interessata. L’integrazione di stazioni sismiche temporanee nella geometria della Rete Sismica Nazionale (RSN [Michelini et al., 2016; INGV Seismological Data Centre]), consente infatti un miglioramento nella individuazione dei terremoti e un perfezionamento del calcolo dei parametri ipocentrali, soprattutto della profondità che è strettamente connessa alla distanza media tra le stazioni sismiche. L’intervento principale è stato svolto nella giornata del 17 agosto [SISMIKO working group, 2018], ma nelle due settimane successive i siti allestiti sono stati più volte visitati e il giorno 30 si è proceduto con l’integrazione di ulteriori 2 stazioni, portando a 5 i punti di acquisizione della rete temporanea. La rete sismica è stata operativa per circa 2 mesi. I dati sono stati trasmessi in tempo reale al centro di acquisizione dati della rete mobile presso la sede di Roma di SISMIKO e al contempo integrati nel sistema di sorveglianza sismica INGV [Michelini et al., 2016] per essere utilizzati nelle localizzazioni e nei prodotti scientifici forniti in tempo reale. On 16 August 2018 at 18:19:04 UTC an earthquake with magnitude ML 5.2 (MW 5.1) occurred in the Molise region. The earthquake was felt in a large area including many regions of Central and Southern Italy. The seismologists on duty in the 24H seismic monitoring room of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) located the event in the province of Campobasso, 4 km south­east of Montecilfone and at a preliminary depth of 9 km. The same area was affected two days before by a MW 4.6 event (August 14 at 23.48 Italian time1). Following the MW 5.1 event and the associated aftershock sequence, the SISMIKO Operational Group was activated [Moretti et al., 2012; 2016a; 2016b; Pondrelli et al., 2016] for the installation of temporary seismic stations to integrate the permanent stations of the National Seismic Network (RSN [Michelini et al., 2016; INGV Seismological Data Centre]) deployed in the region.

Description: Published

Description: 1-32

Description: 2SR TERREMOTI - Gestione delle emergenze sismiche e da maremoto

Description: N/A or not JCR

Description: We study the crustal velocity changes occurred at the restart of produced water injection at a well in the Val d'Agri oil field in January–February 2015 using seismic noise cross-correlation analysis. We observe that the relative velocity variations fit well with the hydrometric level of the nearby Agri river, which may be interpreted as a proxy of the total water storage in the shallow aquifers of the Val d'Agri valley. We then remove from the relative velocity trend the contribution of hydrological variations and observe a decrease in relative velocity of ≈ 0.08% starting seven days after the injection restart. In order to investigate if this decreasing could be due to the water injection restart, we compute the medium diffusivity from its delay time and average station-well distance. We found diffusivity values in the range 1–5 m2/s, compatible with the observed delay time of the small-magnitude (ML ≤ 1.8) induced seismicity occurrences, triggered by the first injection tests in June 2006 and with the hydraulic properties of the hydrocarbon reservoir. Our results show that water storage variations can not be neglected in noise-based monitoring, and they can hide the smaller effects due to produced water injection.

Description: Published

Description: 626720

Description: 7T. Variazioni delle caratteristiche crostali e "precursori"

Description: JCR Journal

Description: Magmatic intrusions, eruptions and flank collapses are frequent processes of volcano dynamics, inter-connected at different space and time scales. The December 2018 recrudescent episode at Mt. Etna is an exemplary case where a sudden intrusive event culminated with a short eruption, intense seismicity and a shallow large strike-slip earthquake at the edge of the eastern sliding flank. Here, we show that high resolution velocity models and transient changes of VP and VP/VS resolve the magma intrusion through a dyke and local stress increase at the base of the unstable flank, inducing the collapse. Episodic brittle faulting occurs at the edge of the sliding sector, locally contributed by high fluid pressure. The feedback between magma ascent, stress changes and flank collapse is driving the volcano dynamics, with processes ranging from long term to transient episodes.

Description: Published

Description: 6373

Description: 7T. Variazioni delle caratteristiche crostali e precursori sismici

Description: JCR Journal

Description: Fluid overpressure is a primary mechanism behind fault interaction and earthquakes triggering. The Apennines section within the young Alpine mobile belt is a key locus to investigate the interplay between fluids and faults. Here, seismicity develops along the extending mountain belt and the key role of fluids has been invoked in past large earthquake sequences. In this study, we use seismological data to get improved images of the Apennines normal faulting system, trying to catch evidences for the involvement of fluids in the preparatory phase of large earthquakes. We observe that extension preferentially reutilizes inherited fragments of faults which were assembled during the Mio‐Pliocene contraction, with steep segments that floor on a regional‐scale gently east dipping plane. We find evidences for wide volumes of overpressured fluids at the base of the seismogenic layer, which are connected to the activation of the recent large earthquakes. The recognition of fluids compartments with overpressuring and diffusion molding seismicity is a key to understand faulting processes and possibly develop forecasts scenarios.

Description: Published

Description: e2019TC006014

Description: 1T. Struttura della Terra

Description: JCR Journal

Description: In the years between 2011 and 2014, at the edge between the Apennines collapsing chain and the subducting Calabrian arc, intense seismic swarms occurred in the Pollino mountain belt. In this key region, 〈2.5mm/yr of NE-trending extension is accommodated on an intricate network of normal faults, having almost the same direction as the mountain belt. The long-lasting seismic release consisted of different swarm episodes, where the strongest event coinciding with a ML 5.0 shock occurred in October 2012. This latter comes after a ML four nucleated in May 2012 and followed by aseismic slip episodes. In this study, we present accurate relocations for ∼6,000 earthquakes and shear-wave splitting analysis for ∼22,600 event-station pairs. The seismicity distribution delineates two main clusters around the major shocks: in the north-western area, where the ML 5.0 occurred, the hypocenters are localized in a ball-shaped volume of seismicity without defining any planar distribution, whilst in the eastern area, where the ML 4.3 nucleates, the hypocenters define several faults of a complex system of thrusts and back-thrusts. This different behavior is also imaged by the anisotropic parameters results: a strong variability of fast directions is observed in the western sector, while stable orientations are visible in the eastern cluster. This tectonic system possibly formed as a positive flower structure but as of today, it accommodates stress on normal faults. The deep structure imaged by refined locations is overall consistent with the complex fault system recently mapped at the surface and with patterns of crustal anisotropy depicting fractures alignment at depth. The possible reactivation of inherited structures supports the important role of the Pollino fault as a composite wrench fault system along which, in the lower Pleistocene, the southward retreat of the ionian slab was accommodated; in this contest, the inversion of the faults kinematics indicates a probable southward shift of the slab edge. This interpretation may help to comprehend the physical mechanisms behind the seismic swarms of the region and defining the seismic hazard of the Pollino range: nowadays a region of high seismic hazard although no strong earthquakes are present in the historical record.

Description: Published

Description: 618293

Description: 2T. Deformazione crostale attiva

Description: JCR Journal

Description: Magmatism, uplift and extension diffusely take place along collisional belts. Even though links between mantle dynamics and shallow deformation are becoming more evident, there is still poor understanding of how deep and surface processes are connected. In this work, we present new observations on the structure of the uppermost mantle beneath the Apennines belt. Receiver functions and seismic tomography consistently define a broad zone in the shallow mantle beneath the mountain belt where the shear wave velocities are lower than about 5% and the Vp/Vs ratio is higher than 3% than the reference values for these depths. We interpret these anomalies as a pronounced mantle upwelling with accumulation of melts at the crust-mantle interface, on top of which extensional seismicity responds to the crustal bending. The melted region extends from the Tyrrhenian side to the central part of the belt, with upraise of fluids within the crust favored by the current extension concentrated in the Apennines mountain range. More in general, mantle upwelling, following detachment of continental lithosphere, is a likely cause for elevated topography, magmatism and extension in post-collisional belts.

Description: Published

Description: 19760

Description: 1T. Struttura della Terra

Description: JCR Journal