Palano, Mimmo

Late Quaternary crustal uplift is well recognized in northeast Sicily, southern Italy, a region also prone to damaging earthquakes such as the 1908 “Messina” earthquake (Mw 7.1), the deadliest seismic event reported within the Italian Earthquake Catalogue. Yet it is still understudied if, within the Milazzo Peninsula, crustal uplift rates are varying spatially and temporally and whether they may be either influenced by (i) local upper-plate faulting activity or (ii) deep geodynamic processes. To investigate the long-term crustal vertical movements in northeast Sicily, we have mapped a flight of Middle-Late Pleistocene marine terraces within the Milazzo Peninsula and in its southern area and refined their chronology, using a synchronous correlation approach driven by published age controls. This has allowed a new calculation of the associated crustal uplift rates, along a north–south oriented coastal-parallel transect within the investigated area. Our results show a decreasing uplift rate from south to north across the Milazzo Peninsula and beyond, and that the associated rates of uplift have been constant through the Late Quaternary. This spatially varying yet temporally constant vertical deformation helps to constrain the amount of uplift, allowing us to explore which is the driving mechanism(s), proposing a few related scenarios. We discuss our results in terms of tectonic implications and emphasize the importance of using appropriate approaches, as such applying a synchronous correlation method, to refine chronologies of undated palaeoshorelines when used for tectonic investigations.

Post-emplacement dynamics of lava flows is governed by several factors such as poroelastic deformation of the substrate; gravity-induced repacking and rearrangement of the vesicle-bearing fluid lava and other void spaces by superposed flows; lava densification processes; viscoelastic strain relaxation of the ground caused by the lava load; thermal cooling and contraction of the solid lava; and discrete motion of surface blocks. Here we investigate postemplacement lava flow dynamics at the Mt. Etna volcano, and we infer on the possible causes by exploiting optical and radar satellite data. Synthetic aperture radar data from Sentinel-1 satellite mission provided high-resolution horizontal and vertical displacement rates and displacement time series of the lava flows emplaced on the Mt. Etna volcano summit from January 2016 to July 2021. Sentinel-2 multispectral data allowed to identify the lava flows boundaries emplaced during the December 2018 and May 2019 paroxysms. Finally, high resolution COSMO-SkyMed radar data allowed to account for the topographic changes generated by the lava emplacement by means of stereo radargrammetry technique. Such an unprecedented dataset provided a full picture of the lava flow dynamics, whose kinematics is governed lava cooling, which in turn produce thermal contraction of the lava body and viscous compaction of the underlying substrate. Both phenomena act at different periods, being the thermal contraction predominant for recent lava flows. Downslope sliding is also invoked, especially for recent lava flows emplaced on high slope areas.

The Calabrian Orogenic Arc (COA) is affected by active extensional and strike-slip tectonics as documented by the presence of N-S and NE-SW trending intra-montane basins bordered by faults, whose slip has caused many destructive earthquakes during the last millennium. By focusing on the central sector of the COA (Sila Massif) through the analysis of new seismological and geodetic datasets, we observed some relevant differences (e.g., seismic activity and hypocentral depths, faulting style, geodetic strain, vertical rates) between its western and eastern sector. The transition between the two sectors occurs in the area of the Lakes Fault, a NW-SE striking and west-dipping fault indicated as the causative source of the 8 June 1638 M 6.8 earthquake. By modelling the available geodetic data, we inferred a dislocation plane whose geometry and kinematics (a prevalent dip-slip component coupled with minor left-lateral strike-slip) is compatible with the real fault reported in literature. This fault only accounts for a small amount of the deformation across northern COA and divides the seismically more active western sector from its eastern counterpart with appreciable geodetic strain and moderate seismicity. Results are encouraging and a similar approach can help in other regions where surface evidence of active faults are rare or non-existing and field geological investigations are hence difficult.

The fast individuation and modeling of faults responsible for large earthquakes are fundamental for understanding the evolution of potentially destructive seismic sequences. This is even more challenging in case of buried thrusts located in offshore areas, like those hosting the 9 November 2022 Ml 5.7 (Mw 5.5) and ML 5.2 earthquakes that nucleated along the Apennines compressional front, offshore the northern Adriatic Sea. Available on- and offshore (from hydrocarbon platforms) geodetic observations and seismological data provide robust constraints on the rupture of a 15 km long, ca. 24° SSW-dipping fault patch, consistent with seismic reflection data. Stress increase along unruptured portion of the activated thrust front suggests the potential activation of longer portions of the thrust with higher magnitude earthquake and larger surface faulting. This unpleasant scenario needs to be further investigated, also considering their tsunamigenic potential and possible impact on onshore and offshore human communities and infrastructures.

We present a preliminary comparison between satellite and terrestrial gravity and GNSS data collected in a twenty-year period (2002-2022) at Mt. Etna volcano, with the aim of investigating the capabilities of this integrated approach to study the dynamics of volcanic phenomena over time-scales of months to years. The terrestrial gravity data were collected through absolute and relative spring gravimeters in the framework of almost monthly campaigns. Instead, GNSS measurements are continuously collected for monitoring purposes. Regarding satellite data, we used the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) data and GRACE Follow-On L3 solutions, that can provide high-quality information about mass distribution at regional and global scales in a long-term interval. After being corrected for the known effects, reduced terrestrial gravity and GNSS height variations were compared with satellite data. The comparison reveals long-term correlations between the analyzed time series which could represent volcano-scale variations.

Volcano ground deformation is a tricky puzzle in which different phenomena contribute to the surface displacements with different spatial–temporal patterns. We documented some high variable deformation patterns in response to the different volcanic and seismic activities occurring at Mt. Etna through the January 2015–March 2021 period by exploiting an extensive dataset of GNSS and InSAR observations. The most spectacular pattern is the superfast seaward motion of the eastern flank. We also observed that rare flank motion reversal indicates that the short‐term contraction of the volcano occasionally overcomes the gravity‐controlled sliding of the eastern flank. Conversely, fast dike intrusion led to the acceleration of the sliding flank, which could potentially evolve into sudden collapses, fault creep, and seismic release, increasing the hazard. A better comprehension of these interactions can be of relevance for addressing short‐term scenarios, yielding a tentative forecasting of the quantity of magma accumulating within the plumbing system.

An accurate survey of old and new datasets allowed us to probe the nature and role of fluids in the seismogenic processes of the Apennines mountain range in Italy. New datasets include the 1985–2021 instrumented seismicity catalog, the computed seismogenic thickness, and geodetic velocities and strains, whereas data from the literature comprise focal mechanism solutions, CO2 release, Moho depth, tomographic seismic velocities, heat flow and Bouguer gravity anomalies. Most of the inspected datasets highlight differences between the western and eastern domains of the Apennines, while the transition zone is marked by high geodetic strain, prevailing uplift at the surface and high seismic release, and spatially corresponds with the overlapping Tyrrhenian and Adriatic Mohos. Published tomographic models suggest the presence of a large hot asthenospheric mantle wedge which intrudes beneath the western side of the Apennines and disappears at the southern tip of the southern Apennines. This wedge modulates the thermal structure and rheology of the overlying crust as well as the melting of carbonate-rich sediments of the subducting Adriatic lithosphere. As a result, CO2-rich fluids of mantle-origin have been recognized in association with the occurrence of destructive seismic sequences in the Apennines. The stretched western domain of the Apennines is characterized by a broad pattern of emissions from CO2-rich fluids that vanishes beneath the axial belt of the chain, where fluids are instead trapped within crustal overpressurized reservoirs, favoring their involvement in the evolution of destructive seismic sequences in that region. In the Apennines, areas with high mantle He are associated with different degrees of metasomatism of the mantle wedge from north to south. Beneath the chain, the thickness and permeability of the crust control the formation of overpressurized fluid zones at depth and the seismicity is favored by extensional faults that act as high permeability pathways. This multidisciplinary study aims to contribute to our understanding of the fluid-related mechanisms of earthquake preparation, nucleation and evolution encouraging a multiparametric monitoring system of different geophysical and geochemical observables that could lead the creation of a data-constrained and reliable conceptual model of the role of fluids in the preparatory phase of earthquakes in the Apennines.

We analyzed a set of 11 slow slip events occurred during the 2006–2016 period and affecting the GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) stations of the unstable flank of Mt. Etna volcano. Observed surface deformation for most of the detected slow slip events, concentrates on the south-eastern edge of the unstable flank while the slow slip events involving the north-eastern edge are less frequent. Such a pattern highlights the existence of two distinct families of events, involving two contiguous sectors of the unstable flank, which occasionally slip together in large slow slip events. The modelled slips also highlight that both contiguous sectors extend ~10–12 km offshore, on areas where active tectonic lineaments such as the ESE (northward of Catania Canyon) and the N102° (along the southern slope of the Riposto Ridge) ones have been recently discovered. Equivalent seismic moments of slow slip events occurred in the last ten years (corresponding to magnitudes in the range 5.4–5.9) are larger than those associated to seismic events observed in the last 200 years, suggesting that most of the deformation affecting the eastern flank occurs aseismically.

The geodetic dataset used in the research article entitled "Multi-technique geodetic detection of onshore and offshore subsidence along the Upper Adriatic Sea coasts"[1] is presented here. It consists of the outcomes of three different techniques, i.e. Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR), Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and topographic Levelling surveys. This dataset has been used for the estimation of onshore and offshore deformation in a mineral concession area located along the Upper Adriatic Sea coastal area (Italy), South-East of Ravenna city. InSAR data covers the period from 2002 to 2018, GNSS data from 1998 to 2018 and levelling data from 2002 to 2017.The different measurements have been cross-validated and referred to a common local reference system fixed in the urban area of Ravenna. This data collection will be very useful for deepening the analysis of any type of deformation in the Ravenna coastal area.

Seismic coupling helps define how large the earthquake potential of a region is, as well as the presence of asperities along plate zones. This work seeks to provide an improved picture of the seismic coupling for the Aegean-Anatolian region by taking advantage of extensive seismic and geodetic datasets. To estimate coupling, we compiled a series of by-products that are specific ingredients also for seismic hazard studies. With these by-products, we found that the seismogenic thickness is thinner (10–15 km) or thicker (20 to 30 km) to the east and to the west, respectively and even deeper along the Hellenic subduction zone. The b-value ranges between 0.9 and 1.1 for the entire area with high values concentrated at locations of Late Miocene to -recent volcanism whereas low b-values (<0.8) concentrate along most of the Northern Anatolian fault zone that may suggests stress accumulation. Seismic coupling is low (<35%) or intermediate (35% - 70%) in most of the area, while the Karliova triple junction, on a N-S-oriented belt along the boundary between western and central Anatolia, and the southeastern Peloponnese are fully coupled, suggesting a full seismic release of the entire deformation budget. An intermediate value of seismic coupling is observed for the eastern and central segments of the Northern and Eastern Anatolian Fault zones, for part of the Hellenic volcanic arc, the Kefalonia Transform Fault and the Corinth gulf active faults. Considering historical earthquake data, these intermediate coupling values indicate either aseismic deformation or catalog incompleteness. Furthermore, the time period since large magnitude earthquakes clearly raises the possibility of impending earthquakes on the Northern and Eastern Anatolian Fault zones. A broad seismic gap is evidenced along the Hellenic subduction zone, because of the reduced coupling and the absence of ~M8 earthquakes in the last 700 years, at least. We conclude that in most of the central Aegean Sea aseismic deformation prevails as suggested by the small value of coupling and the modest seismic release over the last millennium.