Machine-Learning-Based High-Resolution Earthquake Catalog Reveals How Complex Fault Structures Were Activated during the 2016–2017 Central Italy Sequence

Yen Joe Tan,Maddalena Michele,William L Ellsworth,Weiqiang Zhu,Gregory C Beroza,Lauro Chiaraluce,Margarita Segou,Felix Waldhauser,Miao Zhang

doi:10.1785/0320210001

Abstract

AbstractThe 2016–2017 central Italy seismic sequence occurred on an 80 km long normal-fault system. The sequence initiated with the Mw 6.0 Amatrice event on 24 August 2016, followed by the Mw 5.9 Visso event on 26 October and the Mw 6.5 Norcia event on 30 October. We analyze continuous data from a dense network of 139 seismic stations to build a high-precision catalog of ∼900,000 earthquakes spanning a 1 yr period, based on arrival times derived using a deep-neural-network-based picker. Our catalog contains an order of magnitude more events than the catalog routinely produced by the local earthquake monitoring agency. Aftershock activity reveals the geometry of complex fault structures activated during the earthquake sequence and provides additional insights into the potential factors controlling the development of the largest events. Activated fault structures in the northern and southern regions appear complementary to faults activated during the 1997 Colfiorito and 2009 L’Aquila sequences, suggesting that earthquake triggering primarily occurs on critically stressed faults. Delineated major fault zones are relatively thick compared to estimated earthquake location uncertainties, and a large number of kilometer-long faults and diffuse seismicity were activated during the sequence. These properties might be related to fault age, roughness, and the complexity of inherited structures. The rich details resolvable in this catalog will facilitate continued investigation of this energetic and well-recorded earthquake sequence.

Highlights

On 24 August 2016, a moment magnitude (Mw) 6.0 earthquake struck near the town of Amatrice (Fig. 1), resulting in the death of 299 people (Italian Civil Protection)
Catalog overall properties Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV)’s routine catalog has a magnitude of completeness (Mc) of 2.3 (Mancini et al, 2019), when estimated using the goodness-of-fit method and requiring that 95% of the data can be modeled by a power-law fit (Wiemer and Wyss, 2000)
The minimum ML of events that occurred around midnight are on average, about 0.3 smaller compared with events that occurred around noon (Fig. S6b)

Summary

Introduction

On 24 August 2016, a moment magnitude (Mw) 6.0 earthquake struck near the town of Amatrice (Fig. 1), resulting in the death of 299 people (Italian Civil Protection). It was followed two months later by an Mw 5.9 earthquake near the town of Visso on 26 October, before culminating in an Mw 6.5 earthquake near the town of Norcia four days later (Fig. 1). Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, New York, U.S.A., https://orcid.org/0000-00021286-9737 (FW); 3. British Geological Survey, The Lyell Center, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8119-4019 (MS)

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion