scholarly journals The May-June 2012 Ferrara Arc earthquakes (northern Italy): structural control of the spatial evolution of the seismic sequence and of the surface pattern of coseismic fractures

2012 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Giusy Lavecchia ◽  
Rita de Nardis ◽  
Daniele Cirillo ◽  
Francesco Brozzetti ◽  
Paolo Boncio
Keyword(s):  
Structural Control ◽  
Moment Tensor ◽  
Italian Literature ◽  
Northern Italy ◽  
Surface Pattern ◽  
Spatial Evolution ◽  
Seismic Sequence ◽  
Ongoing Activity ◽  
Centroid Moment Tensor ◽  
Thrust System

The Ferrara 2012 seismic sequence was characterized by two main compressional events, which occurred on May 20 and 29, 2012, with Mw 6.1 and Mw 6.0, respectively (quick Regional Centroid Moment Tensor [RCMT] at http://autorcmt.bo.ingv.it/quicks.html). These events were followed by five events with Mw >5.0 (two on May 20 and three on May 29, 2012) and by hundreds of events of lower magnitudes distributed along a WNW-ESE-elongated area of ca. 500 km2 (ISIDe database at http://iside.rm.ingv.it/ iside/standard/index.jsp.). The ongoing activity of the northward-verging fold-and-thrust structures of the Ferrara-Romagna Arc (Figure 1A) and the eastward-verging Coastal Adriatic Arc (referred to as the Outer Thrust System [OTS] in Lavecchia et al. 2003) has been a debated topic in the Italian literature. […]

scholarly journals Quick regional centroid moment tensor solutions for the Emilia 2012 (northern Italy) seismic sequence

2012 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Pondrelli ◽  
Simone Salimbeni ◽  
Paolo Perfetti ◽  
Peter Danecek
Keyword(s):  
Moment Tensor ◽  
Mediterranean Area ◽  
Northern Italy ◽  
Seismic Sequence ◽  
Centroid Moment Tensor ◽  
Strong Earthquakes ◽  
Magnitude Range ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Centroid Moment Tensor Solutions

<p>In May 2012, a seismic sequence struck the Emilia region (northern Italy). The mainshock, of Ml 5.9, occurred on May 20, 2012, at 02:03 UTC. This was preceded by a smaller Ml 4.1 foreshock some hours before (23:13 UTC on May 19, 2012) and followed by more than 2,500 earthquakes in the magnitude range from Ml 0.7 to 5.2. In addition, on May 29, 2012, three further strong earthquakes occurred, all with magnitude Ml ≥5.2: a Ml 5.8 earthquake in the morning (07:00 UTC), followed by two events within just 5 min of each other, one at 10:55 UTC (Ml 5.3) and the second at 11:00 UTC (Ml 5.2). For all of the Ml ≥4.0 earthquakes in Italy and for all of the Ml ≥4.5 in the Mediterranean area, an automatic procedure for the computation of a regional centroid moment tensor (RCMT) is triggered by an email alert. Within 1 h of the event, a manually revised quick RCMT (QRCMT) can be published on the website if the solution is considered stable. In particular, for the Emilia seismic sequence, 13 QRCMTs were determined and for three of them, those with M &gt;5.5, the automatically computed QRCMTs fitted the criteria for publication without manual revision. Using this seismic sequence as a test, we can then identify the magnitude threshold for automatic publication of our QRCMTs.</p>

The Global Importance of Continental Seismic Sequences

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Walters ◽  
Tim Craig ◽  
Laura Gregory ◽  
Russell Azad Khan
Keyword(s):  
Structural Control ◽  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Moment Tensor ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Relative Number ◽  
Strike Slip ◽  
Normal Faults ◽  
Centroid Moment Tensor ◽  
Multiple Faults ◽  
Seismic Sequences

&lt;p&gt;Large continental earthquakes necessarily involve cascading rupture of multiple faults or segments (e.g. El Mayor-Cucapah 2010). But these same critically-stressed systems sometimes rupture in drawn-out sequences of smaller earthquakes over days or years (e.g. Central Italy 2016), instead of in a single large event. Due to the similarity in the initial conditions of both scenarios, seismic sequences may be considered as &amp;#8216;failed&amp;#8217; multi-segment earthquakes, whereby cascading rupture is prematurely halted before all available slip deficit is released.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;These two modes of strain-release have vastly different implications for seismic hazard. Recent work on the 2016 Central Italy earthquake sequence, which is the first seismic sequence to be studied with modern high-quality geodetic and seismological datasets, showed that complexity in fault structure appeared to exercise a dual control on both the timing and sizes of events throughout this sequence. However, it is unclear if this structural control is common for all continental seismic sequences, how important seismic sequences are for the global seismic moment budget, and how this contribution to moment budget may vary between different tectonic regions.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Here we select shallow crustal continental earthquakes from the Global Centroid Moment Tensor catalog, and identify seismic sequences as agglomerates of clustered pairs of earthquakes where the summed moment (M&lt;sub&gt;0&lt;/sub&gt;) of all aftershocks is greater than 50% of the M&lt;sub&gt;0&lt;/sub&gt; of the first event in the sequence. We analyse the relative number of seismic sequences compared to other earthquakes for normal, reverse, and strike-slip faulting regions, and also calculate the relative M&lt;sub&gt;0&lt;/sub&gt; release of seismic sequences and other earthquakes in these three regimes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We find that although seismic sequences are equally common by number in all continental tectonic regimes, seismic sequences account for a much higher proportion of M&lt;sub&gt;0&lt;/sub&gt; release for normal faults (~20%) than for reverse faults (~10%), with strike-slip faults intermediate between these two end-members. We also find that the proportion of M&lt;sub&gt;0&lt;/sub&gt; release in seismic sequences is higher for events that occur in regions characterised by a diversity of different earthquake types (e.g. both reverse and strike-slip faulting) than for events that occur in regions characterised by a single earthquake type (e.g. strike-slip faulting only). Together these findings imply that complexity of fault network is an important factor in controlling the occurrence of large-M&lt;sub&gt;0&lt;/sub&gt; seismic sequences, and that &amp;#8216;failed&amp;#8217; multi-segment earthquakes and therefore large-M&lt;sub&gt;0&lt;/sub&gt; seismic sequences are more likely to occur in regions with complex fault networks.&lt;/p&gt;

scholarly journals The Italian Seismic Bulletin: strategies, revised pickings and locations of the central Italy seismic sequence

2016 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Marchetti ◽  
Maria Grazia Ciaccio ◽  
Anna Nardi ◽  
Andrea Bono ◽  
Francesco Mariano Mele ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Focal Mechanism ◽  
Main Shock ◽  
Moment Tensor ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Seismic Sequence ◽  
Centroid Moment Tensor ◽  
Moment Tensors ◽  
Emergency Group ◽  
First Motion ◽  
New Procedures

<p>The central Italy seismic sequence, started with the Mw = 6.0 Amatrice earthquake on August 24th 2016, is the first significant one after the Italian Seismic Bulletin (BSI) changed its analysis strategies in 2015. These new strategies consist on the release of the BSI every four months, the review of the events with ML ≥ 1.5 and the priority on the review of events with ML ≥ 3.5. Furthermore, in the last year we improved the bulletin tools and made possible the analysis of all the stations whose data are stored in the European Integrated Data Archive (EIDA). The new procedures and software utilities allowed, during the first month of 2016 emergency, to integrate, in the Bulletin, the temporary stations installed by the emergency group SISMIKO, both in real–time transmission and in stand-alone recording. In the early days of the sequence many of the BSI analysts were engaged in the monitoring room shifts, nevertheless at the end of August all events occurred in those days with ML ≥ 4 were analyzed; the largest event recovered and localized is a ML = 4.5 event immediately following the main shock. In September 2016, 83 events with ML ≥ 3.5 were analyzed and re-checked, the number of pickings greatly improved. The focal mechanism of the main shock was evaluated using first motion polarities, and compared with the available Time Domain Moment Tensors and Regional Centroid Moment Tensor. The first eight hours of the day on August 24th, the most critical for the INGV surveillance room, were carefully analyzed: the number of located events increased from 133 to 408. The magnitude of completeness, after the analysis of the BSI, has dropped significantly from about 3.5 to 2.7. The mainshock focal mechanism and the relative locations of the first 8 hours’ aftershocks give clues on the initial fault activation. The seismic sequence in November 2016 is still ongoing; it included a mainshock of Mw = 6.5 on October 30th and 3 events of magnitude greater than 5.0 one on August 24th and two on October 26th.</p>

scholarly journals Instrumental seismicity of the Amatrice earthquake epicentral area: a review 

2016 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Grazia Ciaccio
Keyword(s):  
Moment Tensor ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Central Area ◽  
Seismic Sequence ◽  
Centroid Moment Tensor ◽  
Fault Plane Solutions ◽  
Small Magnitude ◽  
Epicentral Area ◽  
Seismic Sequences ◽  
Seismogenic Structures

<p><em>This study presents a review of the instrumental seismicity of the Norcia-Amatrice area (central Italy) where a still on-going seismic sequence started on August 24th 2016 with a Mw6.0 earthquake.</em></p><p><em>The review is based on the analysis of the </em><em>seismic catalogs 1981-2016, the CMT (Centroid Moment Tensor) solutions and the TDMT (Time Domain Moment Tensor) solutions, dividing the area into three regions based on the main seismic sequences preceding the Amatrice 2016 mainshock.</em><em></em></p><p><em>The seismicity of this region is characterized by different types of activity: single events, minor sequences and swarms with hypocenters within the upper 15 km of the crust. </em><em>Small-magnitude seismic sequences on March 2007 with maximum Mw3.9, and one earthquake on March 2012, Mw37, not followed by significant seismicity, affected the area east of the Norcia, close to the Mw 5.4 aftershock of the Amatrice 2016 sequence. In the central area, near Accumoli, and in the southern sector close to Amatrice, minor seismic sequences occurred on February 2014 Ml3.5 and on November 2013 Mw3.7 respectively.</em><em></em></p><p><em>We integrated hypocentral locations and fault plane solutions to give a first look at the main features of the instrumental seismicity compared to the present seismic sequence in order to relate the seismicity patterns to seismogenic structures of this area of the central Italy.</em><em></em></p>

scholarly journals Toward Robust and Routine Determination of Mw for Small Earthquakes: Application to the 2020 Mw 5.7 Magna, Utah, Seismic Sequence

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Holt ◽  
Katherine M. Whidden ◽  
Keith D. Koper ◽  
Kristine L. Pankow ◽  
Kevin Mayeda ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spectral Methods ◽  
Moment Tensor ◽  
Coda Wave ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Seismic Sequence ◽  
Wave Method ◽  
Direct Wave ◽  
Main Requirement ◽  
Relationship Of

Abstract To better characterize seismic hazard, particularly, for induced seismicity, there is an increasing interest in methods to estimate moment magnitude (Mw) for small earthquakes. Mw is generally preferred over other magnitude types, but, it is difficult to estimate Mw for earthquakes with local magnitude (ML) &lt;3–3.5, using conventional moment tensor (MT) inversion. The 2020 Mww 5.7 Magna, Utah, seismic sequence provides an opportunity to illustrate and evaluate the value of spectral methods for this purpose. Starting with a high-quality seismic catalog of 2103 earthquakes (ML&lt;5.6), we estimate Mw using two independent spectral methods—one based on direct waves, yielding Mw,direct, and the other based on coda waves, yielding Mw,coda. For the direct-wave method, we present a non-parametric (NP) inversion scheme that solves for apparent geometrical spreading, G(R), and site effects (S), similar to other NP procedures that have been used to calibrate regional ML scales. The NP inversion is constrained using Mws derived from MTs for nine events in the Magna sequence. We recover statistically robust and physically reasonable G(R) and S and compute Mw,direct for 635 Magna earthquakes down to ML 0.7. For the coda-wave method, we consider two separate calibration schemes involving previous MT solutions and compute Mw,coda for 311 earthquakes down to ML 1.0. For 280 of the events that were processed with both methods—Mw,direct and Mw,coda—are strongly correlated (r = 0.98), with a mean difference of only 0.05. We compare Mw,direct and Mw,coda with ML and find reasonably good agreement for ML&lt;3.6 with the theoretically predicted relationship of Mw=(2/3)ML+C, in which C is a regional constant. Our results imply that seismic network operators can use spectral-based Mw estimates to replace ML estimates for events with ML≥1.0, and possibly smaller. The main requirement is the existence of a small number of MT solutions for calibration purposes.

scholarly journals Technologies and new approaches used by the INGV EMERGEO Working Group for real-time data sourcing and processing during the Emilia Romagna (northern Italy) 2012 earthquake sequence

2012 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuliana Alessio ◽  
Laura Alfonsi ◽  
Carlo Alberto Brunori ◽  
Pierfrancesco Burrato ◽  
Giuseppe Casula ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Event ◽  
Main Shock ◽  
Northern Italy ◽  
Earthquake Activity ◽  
Seismic Sequence ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Broad Area ◽  
Epicentral Area ◽  
Po Plain ◽  
Real Time Data

<p>On May 20, 2012, a Ml 5.9 seismic event hit the Emilia Po Plain, triggering intense earthquake activity along a broad area of the Po Plain across the provinces of Modena, Ferrara, Rovigo and Mantova (Figure 1). Nine days later, on May 29, 2012, a Ml 5.8 event occurred roughly 10 km to the SW of the first main shock. These events caused widespread damage and resulted in 26 victims. The aftershock area extended over more than 50 km and was elongated in the WNW-ESE direction, and it included five major aftershocks with 5.1 ≤Ml ≤5.3, and more than 2000 minor events (Figure 1). In general, the seismic sequence was confined to the upper 10 km of the crust. Minor seismicity with depths ranging from 10 km to 30 km extended towards the southern sector of the epicentral area (ISIDe, http://iside.rm.ingv.it/). […]</p><br />

scholarly journals The first month of the 2016 central Italy seismic sequence: fast determination of time domain moment tensors and finite fault model analysis of the ML 5.4 aftershock

2016 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Scognamiglio ◽  
Elisa Tinti ◽  
Matteo Quintiliani
Keyword(s):  
Time Domain ◽  
Moment Tensor ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Model Analysis ◽  
Fault Model ◽  
Normal Faults ◽  
Seismic Sequence ◽  
Moment Tensors ◽  
Finite Fault ◽  
Finite Fault Model

<p>We present the revised Time Domain Moment Tensor (TDMT) catalogue for earthquakes with M_L larger than 3.6 of the first month of the ongoing Amatrice seismic sequence (August 24th - September 25th). Most of the retrieved focal mechanisms show NNW–SSE striking normal faults in agreement with the main NE-SW extensional deformation of Central Apennines. We also report a preliminary finite fault model analysis performed on the larger aftershock of this period of the sequence (M_w 5.4) and discuss the obtained results in the framework of aftershocks distribution.</p>

scholarly journals Searching for the effects of the May-June 2012 Emilia seismic sequence (northern Italy): medium-depth deformation structures at the periphery of the epicentral area

2012 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Borgatti ◽  
Antonio Edoardo Bracci ◽  
Stefano Cremonini ◽  
Giovanni Martinelli
Keyword(s):  
Ground Level ◽  
Northern Italy ◽  
Seismic Sequence ◽  
Surface Phenomena ◽  
Po River ◽  
Epicentral Area ◽  
Ground Fissures ◽  
Groundwater Levels ◽  
Geological Surveys ◽  
Emilia Romagna Region

<p>In 2012, a seismic sequence occurred in the lowlands of the Emilia-Romagna Region (northern Italy), between the borders of the Modena, Ferrara and Bologna Provinces. It consisted of seven mainshocks (5.9 &gt; Ml &gt; 5) that were recorded between May 20 and 29, 2012 [INGV 2012a] and 2,200 minor earthquakes [INGV 2012b]. An interferometric analysis [Bignami et al. 2012, Salvi et al. 2012, this volume] highlighted three main deformation areas, each of which was 12 km wide (from S to N) and 10 km to 20 km long in an ESE-WNW to E-W direction, thus affecting an area of about 600 km2 (Figure 1). Field and aerial geological surveys recorded numerous surficial effects, such as: (i) sediment liquefaction [Crespellani et al. 2012]; (ii) localized ground fissures resembling surficial faulting [Fioravante and Giretti 2012] (Figure 2); (iii) groundwater levels rising up to 400 cm above the local ground level in phreatic wells during the mainshocks (lower values were observed in confined aquifers); and (iv) dormancy of previously known sinkholes [Borgatti et al. 2010, Cremonini 2010a, and references therein]. Some of the observed surface phenomena were previously recorded as coseismic effects during the earthquakes of Ferrara (1570) and Argenta (1624) [Boschi et al. 1995, Galli 2000], together with the early rising of the water level of the Po River in the Stellata section. […]</p>

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