L'Aquila (Central Italy) Earthquakes: The Predecessors of the April 6, 2009 Event

Tertulliani, Andrea; Rossi, Antonio; Cucci, Luigi; Vecchi, M.

doi:10.1785/gssrl.80.6.1008

Cited by 50 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…There is still a large debate on the location and geometry of the seismogenic sources of these events which are still not unambiguously identified. Tertulliani et al [2009], basing on both analogies in the distribution of the intensities and in the areas of the strongest effects produced by the shock, propose that the 1461 event may have occurred on the same fault responsible for the 2009 main shock, the Paganica-San Demetrio segment, identified by Bagnaia et al [1992]. More recently, Cinti et al [2011], performed paleoseismological investigations at four sites across the Paganica fault recognizing 5 surface faulting earthquakes (including the L'Aquila event of 2009) in the four trenches.…”

Section: Seismicity and Tectonic Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The anatomy of the 2009 L'Aquila normal fault system (central Italy) imaged by high resolution foreshock and aftershock locations

et al. 2011

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[1] On 6 April (01:32 UTC) 2009 a M W 6.1 normal faulting earthquake struck the axial area of the Abruzzo region in central Italy. We study the geometry of fault segments using high resolution foreshock and aftershock locations. Two main SW dipping segments, the L'Aquila and Campotosto faults, forming an en echelon system 40 km long (NW trending). The 16 km long L'Aquila fault shows a planar geometry with constant dip (∼48°) through the entire upper crust down to 10 km depth. The Campotosto fault activated by three events with 5.0 ≤ M W ≤ 5.2 shows a striking listric geometry, composed by planar segments with different dips along depth rather than a smoothly curving single fault surface. The investigation of the spatiotemporal evolution of foreshock activity within the crustal volume where the subsequent L'Aquila main shock nucleated allows us to image the progressive activation of the main fault plane. From the beginning of 2009 the foreshocks activated the deepest portion of the fault until a week before the main shock, when the largest foreshock (M W 4.0) triggered a minor antithetic segment. Seismicity jumped back to the main plane a few hours before the main shock. Secondary synthetic and antithetic fault segments are present both on the hanging and footwall of the system. The stress tensor obtained by inverting focal mechanisms of the largest events reveals a NE trending extension and the majority of the aftershocks are kinematically consistent. Deviations from the dominant extensional strain pattern are observed for those earthquakes activating minor structures.

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Section: Seismicity and Tectonic Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The anatomy of the 2009 L'Aquila normal fault system (central Italy) imaged by high resolution foreshock and aftershock locations

et al. 2011

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“…Based on the historical record the town has suffered intensity IX or higher at least three times in the past (in 1349 AD, 1461 AD, and 1703 AD, INGV-DBM04 2004, Tertulliani et al, 2009). The 1703 (M W ∼ 6.7) event was part of a seismic sequence that struck the area.…”

Section: Historical Record and Seismic Hazard Of L'aquilamentioning

confidence: 99%

Deformation pattern of the 6 and 7 April 2009, MW=6.3 and MW=5.6 earthquakes in L'Aquila (Central Italy) revealed by ground and space based observations

Papanikolaou

Foumelis

Parcharidis

et al. 2010

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. The deformation pattern of the 6 and 7 April 2009 MW=6.3 and MW=5.6 earthquakes in L'Aquila is revealed by DInSAR analysis and compared with earthquake environmental effects. The DInSAR predicted fault surface ruptures coincide with localities where surface ruptures have been observed in the field, confirming that the ruptures observed near Paganica village are indeed primary. These ruptures are almost one order of magnitude lower than the ruptures that have been produced by other major surrounding faults in the past. These faults have not been activated during the 2009 event, but have the capacity to generate significantly stronger events. DInSAR analysis shows that 66% (or 305 km2) of the area deformed has been subsided whereas the remaining 34% (or 155 km2) has been uplifted. A footwall uplift versus hangingwall subsidence ratio of about 1/3 is extracted from the mainshock. The maximum subsidence (25 cm) was recorded about 4.5 km away from the primary surface ruptures and about 9 km away from the epicentre. In the immediate hangingwall, subsidence did not exceeded 15 cm, showing that the maximum subsidence is not recorded near the ruptured fault trace, but closer to the hangingwall centre. The deformation pattern is asymmetrical expanding significantly towards the southeast. A part of this asymmetry can be attributed to the contribution of the 7 April event in the deformation field.

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“…The Middle Aterno Valley is located in a densely populated region in the Abruzzi Apennines (central Italy) that was repeatedly struck by strong earthquakes (Rovida et al, 2011;Tertulliani, 2009) and is well-known as it contains the epicentral area of the M W 6.1 April 6, 2009 L'Aquila earthquake that caused heavy damage and resulted in 309 fatalities and thousands of injured (Chiarabba et al, 2009;Herrmann, Malagnini, & Munafò, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quaternary geology of the Middle Aterno Valley, 2009 L'Aquila earthquake area (Abruzzi Apennines, Italy)

et al. 2014

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We present a new 1:25,000-scale geological map of the Middle Aterno Valley basin, the epicenter of the 2009 L'Aquila M W 6.1 earthquake. This earthquake highlighted the incomplete understanding of the geology of the area, in particular the Quaternary continental deposits and active tectonics, which caused the Paganica fault system to be ignored by researchers.The map, utilizing airborne LiDAR analysis and traditional field survey approaches, is the first example in Italy (and one of the few in Europe) that integrates high-resolution topography in active tectonic studies. With unprecedented detail and precision on the spatial distribution of deposits, the map of the geomorphic and tectonic features provides new insight for the reconstruction of the Quaternary basin evolution and estimation of long-term deformation rates for the the Paganica fault system. Detailed fault mapping of Quaternary deposits represents an essential input for seismic hazard assessment and surface faulting hazard evaluation.

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L'Aquila (Central Italy) Earthquakes: The Predecessors of the April 6, 2009 Event

Cited by 50 publications

References 11 publications

The anatomy of the 2009 L'Aquila normal fault system (central Italy) imaged by high resolution foreshock and aftershock locations

The anatomy of the 2009 L'Aquila normal fault system (central Italy) imaged by high resolution foreshock and aftershock locations

Deformation pattern of the 6 and 7 April 2009, <i>M</i><sub>W</sub>=6.3 and <i>M</i><sub>W</sub>=5.6 earthquakes in L'Aquila (Central Italy) revealed by ground and space based observations

Quaternary geology of the Middle Aterno Valley, 2009 L'Aquila earthquake area (Abruzzi Apennines, Italy)

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L'Aquila (Central Italy) Earthquakes: The Predecessors of the April 6, 2009 Event

Cited by 50 publications

References 11 publications

The anatomy of the 2009 L'Aquila normal fault system (central Italy) imaged by high resolution foreshock and aftershock locations

The anatomy of the 2009 L'Aquila normal fault system (central Italy) imaged by high resolution foreshock and aftershock locations

Deformation pattern of the 6 and 7 April 2009, &lt;i&gt;M&lt;/i&gt;&lt;sub&gt;W&lt;/sub&gt;=6.3 and &lt;i&gt;M&lt;/i&gt;&lt;sub&gt;W&lt;/sub&gt;=5.6 earthquakes in L'Aquila (Central Italy) revealed by ground and space based observations

Quaternary geology of the Middle Aterno Valley, 2009 L'Aquila earthquake area (Abruzzi Apennines, Italy)

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Deformation pattern of the 6 and 7 April 2009, <i>M</i><sub>W</sub>=6.3 and <i>M</i><sub>W</sub>=5.6 earthquakes in L'Aquila (Central Italy) revealed by ground and space based observations