First evidences of fast creeping on a long-lasting quiescent earthquake normal-fault in the Mediterranean

Abstract

A key issue in our understanding of the earthquake cycle and seismic hazard is the behaviour of an active fault during the interseismic phase. Locked and creeping faults represent two end-members of mechanical behaviours that are given two extreme rupturing hazard levels, that is, high and low, respectively. Geophysical and space geodetic analyses are carried out over the Pollino Range, an extensional environment within the Africa–Eurasia plate boundary, to disclose the behaviour of the long-lasting quiescent Castrovillari normal fault. Fault trenching evidenced at least four large earthquakes (6.5–7.0 M w ) in the past and an elapsed time of 1200 yr since the last event. Inversion of Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar and Global Positioning System over a decade shows fast creeping at all depths of the fault plane. The velocity-strengthening creeping zone reaches maximum rates 20 mm yr −1 against an average rate of about 3–9 mm yr −1 . It limits the southern-weakening locked part of the fault. An essential condition for the generation of a large earthquake on the Castrovillari fault, as has occurred in the past, is a rupture through the velocity-strengthening zone. The Castrovillari fault yields the best evidence for being both a strong and weak fault during its earthquake cycle. Creeping at rates faster than its tectonically driven ones, it must thus consist of a mix of unstable and conditionally stable patches ready to sustain a sizeable earthquake. Quantifying and mapping the slip rate over the fault plane is important because they influence fault moment budget estimate and helps to constrain constitutive laws of fault zones. Aseismic slip also redistributes stress in the crust, thereby affecting the locations of future earthquakes.