Volume unbalance on the 2016 Amatrice - Norcia (Central Italy) seismic sequence and insights on normal fault earthquake mechanism.

ABSTRACT: We analyse the M_w 6.5, 2016 Amatrice-Norcia (Central Italy) seismic sequence by means of InSAR, GPS, seismological and geologic data. The >1000?km² area affected by deformation is involving a volume of about 6000?km³ and the relocated seismicity is widely distributed in the hangingwall of the master fault system and the conjugate antithetic faults. Noteworthy, the coseismically subsided hangingwall volume is about 0.12?km³, whereas the uplifted adjacent volumes uplifted only 0.016?km³. Therefore, the subsided volume was about 7.5 times larger than the uplifted one. The coseismic motion requires equivalent volume at depth absorbing the hangingwall downward movement. This unbalance regularly occurs in normal fault-related earthquakes and can be inferred as a significant contribution to coseismic strain accomodated by a stress-drop driven collapse of precursory dilatancy. The vertical coseismic displacement is in fact larger than the horizontal component, consistent with the vertical orientation of the maximum lithostatic stress tensor.

SUBMITTER: Bignami C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6414550 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature