Seismic Evidence of an Early Afterslip During the 2012 Sequence in Emilia (Italy)

Abstract

Earthquake interaction and stress change on nearby faults by afterslip, static and dynamic triggering play an important role in the activation of major events. We apply a matched filter technique to augment the detected events in the time window between the two main shocks of 20 (Mw 6.1) and 29 (Mw 6.0) May 2012, during the Emilia seismic sequence (Italy). From 1,727 well-located templates, we increase the number of detections to 7,616 lowering the completeness magnitude of approximately 0.6 degrees. This greater detail allows evidencing migrations of seismic events from the nucleation point of the first shock to the second. The seismicity pattern suggests a transient aseismic slip acting immediately after the shallow first event, weakening and loading the volume around the deep nucleation point of the 29 May 2012 Mw6.0 earthquake. Repeating earthquakes are also found between the two main-shocks. The released cumulative slip, estimated from the earliest repeating earthquake amounts to approximately 27 cm at a depth of about 7 km within the first 5 hours after the 20 May Mw6.1. Migrations and repeaters could represent the fingerprint of an early afterslip triggered by the first mainshock.