The 2009 L'Aquila seismic sequence (Central Italy): fault system geometry and kinematics
Abstract
On April 6 (01:32 UTC) 2009 a destructive MW 6.3 earthquake struck the Abruzzi region in Central Italy, causing nearly 300 deaths, 40.000 homeless, and strong damage to the cultural heritage of the L'Aquila city and its province. Two strong earthquakes hit the area in historical times (e.g. the 1461 and 1703 events), but the main fault that drives the extension in this portion of the Apennines was unknown. The ground surveys carried out after the earthquake find ambiguous evidence of surface faulting. We use aftershocks distribution to investigate the geometry of the activated fault system and to report on spatio-temporal seismicity pattern and kinematics of the whole seismic sequence. Seismic data were recorded at both permanent stations of the Centralized Italian National Seismic Network managed by the INGV and 45 temporary stations installed in the epicentral area. To manage such a large amount of earthquakes, we implemented a semi-automatic procedure able to identify local earthquakes and to provide consistently weighted P- and S-wave arrival times. We show that this procedure yields consistent earthquake detection and high-quality arrival times data for hundreds of events per day. The accurate location for thousands of aftershocks defines a complex, 40 km long, NW-trending normal fault system, with seismicity nucleating within the upper 12 km of the crust. We show the geometry of two major SW-dipping normal faults that form a right lateral en-echelon system. The main fault activated by the 6th of April earthquake is 20 km-long, NW-trending and about 50° SW-dipping and is located below the city of L'Aquila. To the north, we find a second fault, activated on the 9th of April by a MW 5.4 earthquake, that is about 12-km-long and shows a dip angle of about 40° with hypocenters mainly located in the 6 to 10 km depth range.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2009
- Bibcode:
- 2009AGUFM.U12A..04V
- Keywords:
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- 7230 SEISMOLOGY / Seismicity and tectonics;
- 7294 SEISMOLOGY / Seismic instruments and networks