We provide a database of the coseismic geological surface effects following the Mw 6.5 Norcia earthquake that hit central Italy on 30 October 2016. This was one of the strongest seismic events to occur in Europe in the past thirty years, causing complex surface ruptures over an area of >400 km2. The database originated from the collaboration of several European teams (Open EMERGEO Working Group; about 130 researchers) coordinated by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia. The observations were collected by performing detailed field surveys in the epicentral region in order to describe the geometry and kinematics of surface faulting, and subsequently of landslides and other secondary coseismic effects. The resulting database consists of homogeneous georeferenced records identifying 7323 observation points, each of which contains 18 numeric and string fields of relevant information. This database will impact future earthquake studies focused on modelling of the seismic processes in active extensional settings, updating probabilistic estimates of slip distribution, and assessing the hazard of surface faulting.
The morphotectonic framework of the Central Apennines is given by faulted blocks bounded by normal faults, mostly trending NW-SE, NNW-SSE and NE-SW, which cut previous compressive structures. Such a structural setting is consistent with the focal mechanisms of the earthquakes which often occur in this area.In this paper, three lithologically different normal fault-generated mountain fronts are analysed in order to assess the relations between their geomorphic features and active tectonics. They border the Norcia depression (Sibillini Mts, Umbria), the Amatrice-Campotosto plateau (Laga Mts, Lazio) and the Fucino basin (Marsica Mts, Abruzzi).The Norcia depression is bounded by a N20"W trending normal fault to the east and by a parallel antithetic fault to the west. The main fault has a lo00 m throw and gives rise to a wide fault escarpment, characterized by: (1) sharp slope breaks due to low angle gravity faults; (2) important paleolandslides; and (3) several fault scarplets on the piedmont belt affecting Quaternary deposits.The Amatrice-Campotosto plateau is delimited by the western slope of Mt Gorzano which runs along a N20"W trending normal fault having a 1500 m throw. Minor parallel faults dislocate Quaternary landforms. Large-scale massmovements also occur here.The Fucino basin was struck by the 1915 Avezzano earthquake (I = XI MCS) which produced extensive surface faulting along two parallel NW trending normal fault escarpments on the eastern border of the basin. There is paleoseismic evidence including buried gravity graben in Late Glacial gravels and tectonic dipslip striations on Holocene calcitic crusts covering bedrock normal fault planes.These data suggest that active extensional tectonics plays a major role in the slope morphogenesis of the Central Apennines and they indicate the importance of geomorphic analysis in seismic zonation of this area.
[1] Using 3D terrestrial laser scan (TLS) technology, we have recorded postseismic deformation on and adjacent to the surface rupture formed during the 6th April 2009 L'Aquila normal faulting earthquake (Mw 6.3). Using surface modeling techniques and repeated surveys 8-124 days after the earthquake, we have produced a 4D dataset of postseismic deformation across a 3 × 65 m area at high horizontal spatial resolution. We detected millimetrescale movements partitioned between discrete surface rupture slip and development of a hangingwall syncline over 10's of meters. We interpret the results as the signal of shallow afterslip in the fault zone. We find 52% of the total postseismic hangingwall vertical motion occurs as deformation within 30 m of the surface rupture. The total postseismic vertical motions are approximately 50% that of the coseismic. We highlight the importance of quantifying partitioned postseismic contributions when applying empirical slip-magnitude datasets to infer palaeoearthquake magnitudes.
, a moderate earthquake (M w = 6.3; M l = 5.8) struck the Abruzzo region in central Italy, causing more than 300 fatalities and heavy damage to L'Aquila and surrounding villages. Coseismic surface effects have been thoroughly documented by timely field surveys as well as by remote sensing analyses of satellite images. The outstanding quality of geological, seismological, geodetic, and interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) information arguably represents the best ever data set made available immediately after a moderate seismic event. Based on this data set, we aim at testing the capability of coupled geological and InSAR data to map surface faulting patterns associated with moderate earthquakes. Coseismic ground ruptures have been mapped at a scale of 1:500 in the whole epicentral area. Traces of surface ruptures have been inferred from linear phase discontinuities identified in the interferogram. A very good agreement between the two methods resulted in the characterization of the main surface rupture along the Paganica fault. The same approach applied to ground ruptures hypothesized along other capable fault segments provided more questionable results. Thus, the combined field and InSAR approach appeared useful for detecting continuous surface ruptures exceeding 1 km in length and showing displacements greater than a few centimeters. These are the typical faulting parameters for moderate earthquakes (6.0 < M w < 6.5) in central Apennines. For continuous ground cracks shorter than a few hundred meters and/or that show displacements smaller than 1-2 cm, the described approach may be less helpful, most probably due to the limited resolution of the data.Citation: Guerrieri, L., et al. (2010), InSAR data as a field guide for mapping minor earthquake surface ruptures: Ground displacements along the Paganica Fault during the 6
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