Middle Pleistocene fluid infiltration with 10–15 ka recurrence within the seismic cycle of the active Monte Morrone Fault System (central Apennines, Italy)

Abstract

This study integrates field, geochronological and geochemical data to constrain fluid circulation in the damage and core zone of the seismogenic Monte Morrone Fault System (MMFS), central Apennines (Italy). Faulting along the MMFS evolved from a diffuse deformation at the damage zone towards progressive localisation of a narrower fault core and, finally, to (re)activation of discrete slip surfaces at shallower crustal conditions. Multiple generations of carbonate mineralisations, including veins and slickfibers, occur along the main fault surfaces. Carbonate mineralisations are locally fractured and incorporated in the surrounding cataclasites, documenting repetitive structurally-controlled fluid infiltration during transient episodes of permeability creation and destruction. Stable carbon and oxygen isotopes of the carbonate mineralisations document a dominant meteoric water source probably mixed with deeper circulating waters having longer residence time. Clumped-isotope yield formation temperatures of vein and slickenfibers in the range between 23 and 40 °C. U-Th dating of carbonate mineralisations yield Middle Pleistocene ages (from 268 to 189 ka BP), with a 10–15-ka cyclicity that we link to the coseismic rejuvenation of the structural permeability in the fault zone. We propose that fault-related mineralisations recorded the interactions among tectonic deformation and climate during the Quaternary. Our study is the first documentation of fault-controlled recurrence intervals in fluid infiltration in a seismically active fault of central Apennines.