Minor earthquake sequences in the Amatrice-Norcia epicentral area (Central Italy)

Abstract

This study presents a detailed analysis of minor seismic sequences recorded in the Amatrice-Norcia area (central Italy) before 2016 when the most important seismic sequence of the last 40 years struck the region with the Mw 6.0 Amatrice and the Mw 6.5 Norcia earthquakes. We observe that, in the four decades before the 2016–2018 Amatrice-Visso-Norcia sequence, the instrumental seismicity rate is low, with maximum magnitudes lower than Mw 4.0, and is characterized by different types of behaviours as single shock events, swarms and minor sequences. For the first time, we relocate the minor seismicity recorded before 2016 by the Italian National Seismic Network of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia by applying the nonlinear inversion code NonLinLoc in a local velocity model. Revised earthquake locations of the past seismic sequences are compared to the recent 2016–2018 seismicity in order to investigate some possible correlations with the seismogenic structures reactivated in 2016. With this goal, we also integrated our new hypocentral locations with fault plane solutions and geological data to interpret our results with respect to the 2016–2018 seismicity. Our results show how some of the structures identified by the minor seismicity before 2016 were reactivated during the recent sequence, while others seismic structures remained silent. We therefore highlight how the study of minor seismic sequences provides important information about the seismogenic attitude of less active or less known seismogenic structures with consequent impact on the evaluation of the seismic hazard.