Ground deformation and gravity changes on the island of Pantelleria in the geodynamic framework of the Sicily Channel

Abstract

The island of Pantelleria is an active volcano located in the Sicily Channel (Southern Italy), in the middle of a continental rift system. Since the 1980s the island was periodically surveyed by using geodetic techniques (EDM, levelling, GPS and high precise gravimetry) to monitor the regional and local volcanic dynamics. Gravity data, collected between 1990 and 1998, show short and long wavelength changes due to the combined effect of shallow and deep sources. They reflect, to some degree, the structural setting of the island as delineated by the Bouguer anomaly field, which indicates that the island is broken up into two main basement blocks. The latter are bordered by two lineaments, probably regional faults related to the global geodynamics of the Sicily Channel Rift Zone. Moreover, the inverse correlation between the gravity and altimetric variations suggests that: i) Pantelleria is kinematically divided in two blocks; ii) the observed behaviour is strongly influenced by the geodynamics of the Sicily Channel. A new interpretation of the fully reprocessed data sets is presented, focusing on the spatial–temporal features of the horizontal ground deformation and gravity changes compared to the Bouguer anomaly and altimetric data. This leads to conclude that volcanism on the island has been probably strongly influenced by the global geodynamics of the Sicily Channel, and future eruptions are most likely to occur at the structural boundary separating the two blocks.