Abstract
The seismic sequence that hit Umbria and Marche during 1997 and 1998 was particularly significant because it dramatically marked the evolution of analysis tools and the development of our geophysical knowledge of the region. Since September 1997, we have had a growing, coherent catalogue of source moment tensors that provides reliable information on earthquake sources in Italy and the surrounding regions. Together with borehole and other tectonic data, this has conspicuously improved our knowledge of the regional strain and stress fields. The main impact of these new data that include local information consists of the possibility to change the scale of the regional geodynamic frame. The simple description of extension tectonics that dominate the Apennines belt has evolved into the present-day maps of the strain and stress fields, where the active tectonics involve compression in the eastern Alps, extension and compression fronts in the northern Apennines, extension and strike-slip structures in the southern Apennines, and a compressional front along the southern Tyrrhenian Sea. This recent geodynamic evolution and the present-day seismotectonic sketch of the Italian peninsula are here described on the basis of the recognition of these tectonic features.
Highlights
The Mediterranean region and the Italian peninsula at its core are strongly seismic areas
Tectonic data and in-situ measurements needed to be added to draw the first sketches of strain and stress field trends
The addition of a considerable amount of data that was related to an evolution of the determination techniques and seismological data acquisition, built up a reliable dataset for the Italian peninsula and surrounding regions
Summary
The Mediterranean region and the Italian peninsula at its core are strongly seismic areas Their peculiar geodynamic characteristics have been extensively studied over the past 30 years or so, using a broad range of observations and techniques, including geological and geophysical studies. Rapidly than the convergence between Africa and Eurasia (Malinverno and Ryan, 1986; Faccenna et al, 2001), which indicates that driving forces different from macroplates motion may have been important This complex evolution was the origin for all the different tectonic styles acting at the same time in this region: compressive deformation along the eastern Alps and in the southern Tyrrhenian; extension along the entire Apennine belt; and, less relevant, strike-slip deformation related to transfer structures, such as those in the southern Apennines. We describe the scale of observations in the past and its increment with time, and the consequent improvements to our knowledge of the geodynamic state of the central Mediterranean
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