<p>The TOMO-ETNA experiment was planned in order to obtain a detailed geological and structural model of the continental and oceanic crust beneath Mt. Etna volcano and northeastern Sicily up to the Aeolian Islands (southern Italy), by integrating data from active and passive refraction and reflection seismic methodologies, magnetic and gravity surveys. This paper focuses on the marine activities performed within the experiment, which have been carried out in the Ionian and Tyrrhenian Seas, during three multidisciplinary oceanographic cruises, involving three research vessels (“Sarmiento de Gamboa”, “Galatea” and “Aegaeo”) belonging to different countries and institutions. During the offshore surveys about 9700 air-gun shots were produced to achieve a high-resolution seismic tomography through the wide-angle seismic refraction method, covering a total of nearly 2650 km of shooting tracks. To register ground motion, 27 ocean bottom seismometers were deployed, extending the inland seismic permanent network of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia and a temporary network installed for the experiment. A total of 1410 km of multi-channel seismic reflection profiles were acquired to image the subsurface of the area and to achieve a 2D velocity model for each profile. Multibeam sonar and sub bottom profiler data were also collected. Moreover, a total of 2020 km of magnetic and 680 km of gravity track lines were acquired to compile magnetic and gravity anomaly maps offshore Mt. Etna volcano. Here, high-resolution images of the seafloor, as well as sediment and rock samples, were also collected using a remotely operated vehicle.</p>
High-resolution seismic reflection, magnetic and gravity data, acquired offshore of Etna volcano, provide a new insight to understanding the relationship between tectonics and spatial-temporal evolution of volcanism. The Timpe Plateau, a structural high pertaining to the Hyblean foreland domain, located offshore of southeastern Mt. Etna, is speckled by volcanics and strongly affected by strike-slip tectonics. Transpressive deformation produced a push-up and a remarkable shortening along WNW-ESE to NW-SE trending lineaments. Fault segments, bounding basinal areas, show evidence of positive tectonic inversion, suggesting a former transtensive phase. Transtensive tectonics favoured the emplacement of deep magmatic intrusive bodies and Plio-Quaternary scattered volcanics through releasing zones. The continuing of wrench tectonics along different shear zones led to the migration of transtensive regions in the Etna area and the positive inversion of the former ones, where new magma ascent was hampered. This process caused the shifting of volcanism firstly along the main WNW-ESE trending “Southern Etna Shear Zone”, then towards the Valle del Bove and finally up to the present-day stratovolcano.
The high seismic productivity of volcanic areas provides the chance to investigate the local stress conditions with great resolution, by analysing the slope of the frequency-magnitude distribution of earthquakes, namely the b-value. Here we investigated the seismicity of Mt. Etna between 2005 and 2019, focusing on one of the largest known episodes of unrest in December 2018, when most of the intruding magma aborted, rather oddly, its ascent inside the volcano. We found a possible stress concentration zone along magma pathways, which may have inhibited the occurrence of a larger eruption. If the origin of such hypothetical loaded region is related to tectonic forces, one must consider the possibility that geodynamic processes can locally result in such rapid crustal strain as to perturb the release of magma. Strong b-value time-variations occurred a few days before the unrest event, suggesting new possibilities for investigating the volcano state and impending eruptions.
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