Abstract
A tomographic analysis of Mt. Pollino area (Italy) has been performed using earthquakes recorded in the area during an intense seismic sequence that occurred between 2010 and 2014. 870 local earthquakes with magnitude ranging from 1.8 to 5.0 were selected considering the number of recording stations, the signal quality, and the hypocenter distribution. P- and S-wave arrival times were manually picked and used to compute 3D velocity models through tomographic seismic inversion. The resulting 3D distributions of VP and VS are characterized by high resolution in the central part of the investigated area and from surface to about 10 km below sea level. The aim of the work is to obtain high-quality tomographic images to correlate with the main lithological units that characterize the study area. The results will be important to enhance the seismic hazard assessment of this complex tectonic region. These images show the ductile Apennine platform (VP = 5.3 km/s) overlaying the brittle Apulian platform (VP = 6.0 km/s) at depth of around 5 km. The central sector of the area shows a clear fold and thrust interface. Along this structure, most of the seismicity occurred, including the strongest event of the sequence (MW 5.0). High VP (>6.8 km/s) and high VP/VS (>1.9) patterns, intersecting the southern edge of this western seismogenic volume, have been interpreted as water saturated rocks, in agreement with similar geological context in the Apennines. These fluids could have played a role in nucleation and development of the seismic sequence. A recent study revealed the occurrence of clusters of earthquakes with similar waveforms along the same seismogenic volume. The hypocenters of these cluster events have been compared with the events re-located in this work. Jointly, they depict a 10 km × 4 km fault plane, NW-SE oriented, deepening towards SW with a dip angle of 40–45°. Instead, the volume of seismicity responsible for the ML 4.3 earthquake developed as a mainshock-aftershock sequence, occurring entirely within the average-to-low VP/VS Apennine platform. Our results agree with other independent geophysical analyses carried out in this area, and they could significantly improve the actual knowledge of the main lithologic units of this complex tectonic area.
Highlights
The detailed knowledge of the crustal structure of an area considered as seismic gap, but affected in the recent past by a seismic sequence, is fundamental to evaluate and mitigate the seismic risk
The use of manually picked Pand S-wave arrival times of local earthquakes allowed to obtain three-dimensional images of the crustal volume involved in the 2010–2014 Pollino seismic sequence and near surrounding crust with unprecedented detail
Between 5 and 8 km depth in the central sector of the study area, the Apennine platform deepens in the NNW-SSE direction within the inner Apulian platform, forming what we interpreted as a fold and thrust, a common feature in the Southern Apennines framework
Summary
Pollino area (Italy) is located at the transition between the southern edge of the Apennines chain and the Calabrian subduction forearc (Figure 1A) It is one of the most structurally complex tectonic regions in the intra Apennine seismogenic belt (Michetti et al, 1997; Cinti et al, 2002). The current NE-SW extensional stress regime (Totaro et al, 2016; Napolitano et al, 2021) is driven by the simultaneous retrograde S-Eward motion of the subduction zone and by the opening of the Tyrrhenian back-arc basin (D’Agostino et al, 2011) The result of such lithospheric evolution is a complex structure characterized by W- and E-dipping sub-parallel normal faults in the upper crust (above 15 km depth) and by strike-slip faults below 15 km depth (Totaro et al, 2015; Brozzetti et al, 2017; Ferranti et al, 2017; Napolitano et al, 2021)
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