Comparison of the historic seismicity and strain-rate pattern from a dense GPS-GNSS network solution in the Italian Peninsula

Abstract

We present a dense crustal velocity field and corresponding strain-rate pattern computed using Global Positioning System (GPS)- Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) data from several hundred permanent stations in the Italian Peninsula. GPS data analysis is based on the GAMIT/GLOBK 10.6 software, which was developed and maintained mainly by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), using tools based on the distributed-sessions approach implemented in this package. The GPS data span the period from January 2008 to December 2012 and come from several different permanent GPS networks in Italy. The GLOBK package implemented in the last version of the GAMIT package is used to compute the position time-series and velocities registered in the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) 2008. The resulting high-density intra-plate velocity field provides indications of the tectonics of the Mediterranean region. A computation of the strain-rate pattern from GPS data is performed and compared with the map of the epicentral locations of historical earthquakes that occurred in the last 1000 years in the Italian territory, showing that, in general, higher crustal deformation rates are active in regions affected by seismicity of greater magnitude.