EGU25-17882, updated on 15 Mar 2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-17882
EGU General Assembly 2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Reconciling active deformation and Quaternary normal faulting in a poorly understood sector of the central-southern Apennines (Italy): a multi-scale, multi-source data approach.
Marco Battistelli1,2, Federica Ferrarini2,3,4, Francesco Bucci5, Michele Santangelo5, Mauro Cardinali5, John Peter Merryman Boncori6, Daniele Cirillo2,3, Michele M.C. Carafa4, and Francesco Brozzetti2,3
Marco Battistelli et al.
  • 1Dip. di Ingegneria e Geologia, Università degli Studi “G. d’Annunzio”, Chieti-Pescara, Italy
  • 2Centro inteRUniversitario per l’analisi Sismotettonica Tridimensionale (CRUST), Chieti, Italy
  • 3Dip. di Scienze, Università degli Studi “G. d’Annunzio”, Chieti-Pescara, Italy
  • 4INGV, Sezione di Sismologia e Tettonofisica, L’Aquila, Italy
  • 5CNR-IRPI, Perugia, Italy
  • 6DTU Space Department, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark

Identifying active tectonics is a challenging goal, particularly in areas affected by low strain rates, complex structural and geological settings, and significant anthropogenic impact. Across the Italian Apennine belt, the Late-Quaternary activity of normal faults leaves a distinctive footprint on the landscape. This activity is often constrained by paleoseismological investigations and field geology evidence, and is supported by historical and instrumental seismicity, as well as being in agreement with stress and geodetic data. Active tectonics evidence sharply breaks up between the central and southern Apennines (Abruzzo-Molise regions’ boundary – AMB), although the sector is geographically and structurally in continuity with the overall extensional belt. In this sector, a lack of clear fault-geomorphic signature can be observed, likely fostered by lithologic high erodibility and landslide susceptibility. In addition, an evident seismic gap (Rovida et al., 2020) contrasts with geodetic data that, conversely, show as the area is currently undergoing rather fast permanent bulk deformation (Carafa et al., 2020).

To investigate this (apparent?) disconnection between active deformation and surface faulting, we combined a multi-scale and multi-source approach. To detect possible transients in the topography and analyse the spatial distribution of geomorphic features we carried out relief analysis and structural interpretation from stereoscopic imagery. To discriminate between tectonic versus gravitational (slope-related) signals, we used time-series InSAR data analysis.

We identified relief anomalies in three key areas and mapped displaced morphological features interpreted as the result of normal faulting. As well, interferometric data analysis highlighted a clustered spatial pattern on the distribution of gravitative movements that have been considered as a proxy of the control played by tectonic structures. Field survey providing structural evidence of normal-fault kinematics across the alleged structures helped in supporting the clues provided by remote data interpretation.

The overall outcomes, albeit preliminary, converge on evidence of diffuse normal faulting filling a structural gap within the AMB, providing additional hints on the seismic hazard of this area and inputs for future investigations.

 

Carafa M.M.C., Galvani A., Di Naccio D., Kastelic V., Di Lorenzo C., Miccolis S., Sepe V., Pietrantonio G., Gizzi C., Massucci A., Valensise G. & Bird P. (2020) – Partitioning the Ongoing Extension of the Central Apennines (Italy): Fault Slip Rates and Bulk Deformation Rates From Geodetic and Stress Data. J Geophys Res-Sol Ea, 125, e2019JB018956, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JB018956

Rovida A., Locati M., Camassi R., Lolli B., Gasperini P. (2020) – The Italian earthquake catalogue CPTI15. B. Earthq. Eng., 18(7), 2953-2984. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10518-020-00818-y

How to cite: Battistelli, M., Ferrarini, F., Bucci, F., Santangelo, M., Cardinali, M., Merryman Boncori, J. P., Cirillo, D., Carafa, M. M. C., and Brozzetti, F.: Reconciling active deformation and Quaternary normal faulting in a poorly understood sector of the central-southern Apennines (Italy): a multi-scale, multi-source data approach., EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-17882, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-17882, 2025.