Empirical scaling correlations between fault lengths and fault slip-rates in seismically-active extensional regions: The Calabria and Messina Strait region (southern Italy) as case study
- 1Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, INGV, Via Ugo la Malfa, 153 - 90146 Palermo, Italy
- 2Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK
- 3Università degli Studi dell’Insubria, Como, Italy
- 4School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK
- 5Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
- 6DiSTAR-Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell'Ambiente e delle Risorse Università di Napoli “Federico II”, Napoli, Italy
- 7Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione di Roma 1, Roma, 00143, Italy
- 8Universidad de Salamanca, Departamento de Geología, Salamanca, 37008, Spain
- 9INGV, Osservatorio Vesuviano, Napoli, Italy
In this study, we present scaling relationships between fault lengths, fault slip-rates and historical seismicity for an active normal fault system, seismically accommodating crustal extension within the upper plate of the Ionian subduction zone (southern Italy). This crustal extension is confirmed by historical seismicity and instrumental geodesy, with GNSS-derived values of horizonal deformation within a range of 2-3 mm/yr throughout Calabria and the Messina Strait region. We collated data for fault slip-rates, fault lengths and historical earthquakes for a given fault to explore whether fault slip-rates are correlated with fault size and their geometric moment.
We present new results showing a robust correlation between fault lengths and fault slip-rates, which supports the idea of a relationship for a given fault between fault slip-rates and the geometric moment.
We discuss our results in terms of how these correlations should be used if regional deformation is accommodated by localised strain on faults mostly arranged along strike rather than distributed strain on multiple faults across-strike. For instance, we compare our empirical correlation between fault lengths and fault throw-rates over the Middle-Late Pleistocene in Calabria and the Messina Strait with those from Central and Southern Apennines over the Holocene, characterized by strain distributed on multiple faults across-strike and strain localised on faults mostly arranged along-strike, respectively.
Tectonic and seismic hazard implications are discussed for future investigations based on fault slip-rates, fault size and historical seismicity.
How to cite: Meschis, M., Roberts, G., Sgambato, C., Michetti, A. M., Livio, F., Mildon, Z., Faure Walker, J., Iezzi, F., Robertson, J., Gattuso, A., Barberio, M. D., Randazzo, P., and Caracausi, A.: Empirical scaling correlations between fault lengths and fault slip-rates in seismically-active extensional regions: The Calabria and Messina Strait region (southern Italy) as case study, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-5155, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-5155, 2024.
