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Esestime, Paolo
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Esestime, Paolo
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- PublicationOpen AccessThe Bortoluzzi Mud Volcano (Ionian Sea, Italy) and its potential for tracking the seismic cycle of active faults(2019)
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;; ;; ; ; ; ;; ;; ; ;; ; ; ; ;The Ionian Sea in southern Italy is at the center of active interaction and convergence between the Eurasian and African–Adriatic plates in the Mediterranean. This area is seismically active with instrumentally and/or historically recorded Mw > 7:0 earthquakes, and it is affected by recently discovered long strike-slip faults across the active Calabrian accretionary wedge. Many mud volcanoes occur on top of the wedge. A recently discovered one (called the Bortoluzzi Mud Volcano or BMV) was surveyed during the Seismofaults 2017 cruise (May 2017). Bathymetric backscatter surveys, seismic reflection profiles, geochemical and earthquake data, and a gravity core are used here to geologically, geochemically, and geophysically characterize this structure. The BMV is a circular feature ' 22m high and ' 1100m in diameter with steep slopes (up to a dip of 22 ). It sits atop the Calabrian accretionary wedge and a system of flowerlike oblique-slip faults that are probably seismically active as demonstrated by earthquake hypocentral and focal data. Geochemistry of water samples from the seawater column on top of the BMV shows a significant contamination of the bottom waters from saline (evaporite-type) CH4-dominated crustalderived fluids similar to the fluids collected from a mud volcano located on the Calabria mainland over the same accretionary wedge. These results attest to the occurrence of open crustal pathways for fluids through the BMV down to at least the Messinian evaporites at about 3000 m. This evidence is also substantiated by helium isotope ratios and by comparison and contrast with different geochemical data from three seawater columns located over other active faults in the Ionian Sea area. One conclusion is that the BMV may be useful for tracking the seismic cycle of active faults through geochemical monitoring. Due to the widespread diffusion of mud volcanoes in seismically active settings, this study contributes to indicating a future path for the use of mud volcanoes in the monitoring and mitigation of natural hazards.793 70 - PublicationRestrictedActive faulting in the Maiella massif (central Apennines, Italy)(2010)
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;Pizzi, A.; Università degli studi di Chieti "G. d'Annunzio" ;Falcucci, E.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Roma1, Roma, Italia ;Gori, S.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Roma1, Roma, Italia ;Galadini, F.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Roma1, Roma, Italia ;Messina, P.; CNR-IGAG ;Di Vincenzo, M.; Università degli studi di Chieti "G. d'Annunzio" ;Esestime, P.; Università degli studi di Chieti "G. d'Annunzio" ;Giaccio, B.; CNR-IGAG ;Pomposo, G.; Università degli studi di Chieti "G. d'Annunzio" ;Sposato, A.; CNR-IGAG; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; The Maiella Massif is the outermost carbonate anticline of the central Apennines, and it is considered as the epicentral area of two major historical earthquakes: the 1706 (Maw = 6.60) and 1933 (Maw = 5.7) events. Geological and geomorphological surveys have defined the geometry and kinematics of the Late Pleistocene-Holocene faults in the Maiella area. These faults show mainly normal kinematics and are organised as a complex dextral en-echelon fault system. The north-eastern fault (the Palena fault) trends N110°-120° and cuts the southern sector of the Maiella Massif transversally, displacing debris deposits that have been radiocarbon dated to 36,300 ±1,300 yr BP. The southwestern fault affects the western slope of Mt. Porrara and is composed of three NNW-SS-oriented en-echelon segments, placing the Mesozoic-Cenozoic carbonate bedrock in contact with Late Pleistocene continental deposits. These normal faults of the Maiella area represent the eastern-most extensional structures of the chain. Geomorphic evidence suggests that the onset of the fault activity probably occurred more recently than along other central Apennine Quaternary faults. This supports the traditional view of an outward (eastward) propagating extensional deformation during the Pliocene-Quaternary. Moreover, the evidence of re-use of pre-existing faults in the cases investigated indicates that this migration of the extensional domain generally occurs through the reactivation of faults inherited from previous tectonic phases, the geometry for which is consistent with the present (N)NE-(S)SW direction of extension. Moreover, the structural framework appears to have been conditioned by the NNE-SSW crustal Ortona-Roccamonfina Line, the present expression of which is seen in a complex dextral oblique fault zone of Late Pliocene age (i.e., the Sangro-Volturno thrust zone). Finally, the integration of our field structural data with the subsurface data available for the on-shore Periadriatic area have allowed the identification of a more external zone (Apulian foreland) that is deformed by lateral and extensional active structures, and an inner zone east of the Maiella Massif that is affected only by the most recent buried thrusts of the chain. This evidence suggests no kinematic interactions at the upper crustal level between the active oblique faulting of the Apulian foreland and the extensional structures of the Apennine chain.244 39