Crustal Structure and Moho Geometry around the Alto Tiberina Fault (Northern Apennines) from Receiver Functions

The Alto Tiberina Fault (ATF) is an unique example of active low angle normal fault (dip ≈ 15°), detected in the Northern Apennines from the interpretation of passive and active seismic data. This NW-SE striking structure has been mapped for a about 50 km along dip and is thought to have accumulated a total of 2 km of displacement in the last 2 Ma. In the last years, a dense, high resolution seismic network has been deployed in the area surrounding the ATF, with the aim of better understanding the physical mechanisms of earthquakes nucleation of such geological feature and assessing the potentially associated seismic hazard. In this context, a good knowledge of the elastic properties of rocks at depth is the starting points for building accurate and consistent physical models of ATF's style of deformation. We carried out a teleseismic receiver functions (RF) study on the 42 broadband seismic stations, using about 800 events from teleseismic distances, recorded from January 2010 to December 2011. We selected an average of about 70 high S/N ratio RFs per station, achieving a good azimuthal coverage for most of the stations. We separated the isotropic and the anisotropic component of the RF data-set through the harmonic decomposition. For each station, we performed a Monte Carlo inversion (using a reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm) of the isotropic component of the RF data-set, obtaining 1-D Vs profiles from the surface to 60km depth. This kind of inversion does not suffer of the problems related to the choice of a particular starting model, and has the advantage of inferring the degree of complexity (i.e. the number of layers) of the resulting model, directly from the data themselves. Preliminary results show an increasing level of structural complexity moving from west to east across the target area. A clear and shallow (~25 km) Moho is observed from the velocity profiles in the westernmost part of the region. Along the easternmost part, crustal velocity structures in correspondence of the highest peaks of the mountain chain reflects the continental subduction of the Adriatic lower crust under the Northern Apennines. In the central part of the target area, the presence of multiple interfaces and a very-low Vs in the subcrustal mantle make the crust-mantle transition more difficult to recognize. The final results will help in constraining crustal structures and rocks properties in the ATF area, providing a new piece of information in the more general comprehension of the physical processes acting in this unique natural laboratory.