Seismotectonic investigations in the inner Cottian Alps (Italian Western Alps):

Abstract

This work integrates the results of recent geological–structural studies with new seismological data for the inner Cottian Alps to investigate the connection between faults and seismicity. The major post-metamorphic tectonic feature of this sector is represented by a N–S structure, named Lis–Trana Deformation Zone (LTZ). Since the Late Oligocene, this structure accommodated right-lateral (Late Oligocene–Early Miocene) and subsequently normal (post-Early Miocene) displacements. In the Pleistocene, the activity of the LTZ seems to have caused the development of lacustrine basins inside the valleys that drain this sector of Western Alps. The present-day seismicity joins the northern part of the LTZ and, southwards, other minor sub-parallel structures. In transversal cross-section hypocentres highlight steep surfaces. Focal mechanisms calculated along this structure show both extensional and strike–slip solutions, mostly with one roughly N–S striking nodal plane. Both sub-horizontal (with NE–SW to ENE–WSW trend) and steeply dipping P axes with N–S to NW–SE sub-horizontal T axes are observed. Even if clear evidence of Quaternary tectonic activity in the area is missing, on the basis of the available seismological and geological data we propose that in the inner Northern Cottian Alps the present-day seismic activity may be connected to the LTZ, interpreted as minor sub-parallel fault strand of the Canavese Line. The kinematics of this structure is consistent with the focal mechanisms calculated in this area. Structural and seismological data indicate that LTZ is active under a bulk dextral–transtensive regime since the late Oligocene in the inner Cottian Alps, in agreement with the data published for the adjacent domain of the chain.