Eutizio Vittori

• Research Director at Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA)

We present slip versus time histories derived from in situ ³⁶Cl cosmogenic dating for three active normal faults in the southern Apennines, Italy. In this region the total extensional strain is accommodated by either a small number of faults located across strike from each other or, in places, a single fault where no other active faults exist acros...

Geomorphological evidence of active tectonics in northwestern Albania. Preliminary results of the EATA Project - https://seismotectonics-albania.com

COSISMIC FAULTING AT THE SANTA VENERINA EARTHQUAKE OF 29 OCTOBER 2022

THE CATALOGUE OF EARTHQUAKES FOCAL MECHANISM OCCURRED IN ALBANIA AND ITS SURROUNDING DURING 1948 TO 2022 1Rr. Ormeni, 1I. Hoxha, 1O. Gjuzi, 1Rr. Bozo, 2D. Gega, 1Xh. Kanani, 1D. Mucaj 3L. Piccardi, 4E. Vittori, 4A.M. Blumetti, 4P. Di Manna, 4V. Comerci 1Institute of Geosciences - UPT, Tirana, Albania. 2Albanian Geological Survey, Tirana, Albania....

On the occasion of the centenary of the 1908 earthquake, with the aim of reconstructing the most complete picture possible of the effects induced on the environment , related descriptions and testimonies were searched for in the sources of that time, e.g. newspapers, magazines, Official Gazette, specific technical reports and books. A number of des...

The Lunigiana basin is a NW trending tectonic depression located in the Northern Apennines of Italy. The basin is bounded by active normal faults, characterized by moderate to strong seismicity, with historical earthquakes reaching up to magnitude 6 (February 14, 1834) and instrumental events with magnitude up to 5.4 (June 21, 2013). Using the clas...

On December 26, 2018, a Mw 4.9 earthquake hits the eastern flank of Mount Etna volcano (Sicily). The epicenter is located between the Fleri and Pennisi villages, and focal depth is estimated at 0.3 km (http://cnt.rm.ingv.it/event/21285011). This earthquake is part of a seismic sequence begun on December 23, 2018 and a concurrent phase of volcanic e...

In the framework of a bilateral cooperation project between the geological surveys of China and Italy, the geological effects of six strong to moderate earthquakes occurred in Sichuan, China (2008, 2013, 2017) and in Central Apennines, Italy (2009, 24 Aug. and 30 Oct 2016) were compared. The main aim was to test the applicability and effectiveness...

The Asian plate interiors are known to have host strong earthquakes with magnitudes up to M ≈ 8 in recent history, especially around the border area between Mongolia, Kazakhstan, China and Russia (e.g., M7.3 Chuya earthquake, 2003). Their recurrence times seem to be long, because of the relative low slip rates (<1 mm/y) of the faults which caused t...

The general situation of the extractive activities in Italy is currently strongly fragmented. One main reason was certainly the transfer of regulating competences from national to regional and local authorities. Indeed, the present institutional and regulatory organization makes it extremely difficult, at the national scale, to reconstruct a clear...

The ongoing study describes the geological-geomorphological environments affected by 2001 El Salvador earthquakes.It defines the earthquake intensity by taking into consideration the occurrence, size and areal distribution of earthquake environmental effects. Indeed, this study can significantly improve the evaluation of seismic intensity, which st...

Large landslides induced by February 13 El Salvador earthquake, were markedly distributed in the region of maximum seismic intensity, in a narrow belt along the surface rupture zone. Comprehensive analysis reveals that these large catastrophic landslides could be specifically tied to the main seismotectonic structure of the El Salvador fault zone,...

Un terremoto di M 4.0 ha colpito il settore settentrionale dell’Isola di Ischia il 21 agosto 2017, alle ore 20.57. Dopo correzioni, l’epicentro è stato definitivamente localizzato circa 1 km a SW rispetto l’abitato di Casamicciola Terme (loc. Majo). Il presente documento fornisce una sintesi degli effetti prodotti dal sisma e dei danni osservati.

This study is focused on potential evidence of capable faulting affecting Southern Tuscany-Northern Latium, a region of high heat flow and moderate to low seismicity. Here we refer to this region as Tuscia, the Latin name for the land of the Etruscans.The review of the evidence for active tectonics in this area has allowed us to identify several po...

Led by the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, in collaboration with NERC British Geological Survey, Geological and Mining Institute of Spain, University of Milano - Bicocca and Cyprus University of Technology, the PROTHEGO project is a collaborative research project funded in the framework of the Joint Programming Initiati...

The San Demetrio fault is a NW-SE trending normal fault at the south-eastern tip of the L'Aquila Basin fault zone (Central Apennines, Italy). Detailed field surveys and geophysical investigations, performed in the frame of seismic microzonation studies after the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake in the San Demetrio 'ne Vestini territory, have clearly indica...

We present some preliminary results on the mapping of coseismically-induced ground ruptures following the Aug. 24, 2016, Central Italy earthquake (Mw 6.0). The seismogenic source, as highlighted by InSAR and seismological data, ruptured across two adjacent structures: the Vettore and Laga faults. We collected field data on ground breaks along the w...

This 2 days-long field trip aims at exploring field evidence of active tectonics, paleoseismology and Quaternary geology in the Fucino and L’Aquila intermountain basins and adjacent areas, within the inner sector of Central Apennines, characterized by extensional tectonics since at least 3 Ma. Each basin is the result of repeated strong earthquakes...

The main objective of this paper was to introduce the Environmental Seismic Intensity scale (ESI), a new scale developed and tested by an interdisciplinary group of scientists (geologists, geophysicists and seismologists) in the frame of the International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA) activities, to the widest community of earth scientists...

The 2002 Denali Fault earthquake (Mw = 7.9) is the largest strike-slip earthquake in North America in more than 150 years. Although it occurred at a time when a wealth of digital instruments were deployed all over the world, only a few were relatively close to the fault rupture (Hansen et alii, 2004; Martirosyan, 2004). The epicenter was located 13...

The Italian territory is characterized by a great number of capable faults (i.e., faults able to produce significant ruptures/deformations at or near the surface). However, the potential of tectonic surface rupture/deformation (Surface Faulting Hazard, SFH) is not properly considered in national seismic hazard maps and legislation. In this paper it...

In the framework of site evaluation/re-evaluation procedures for nuclear power plants and other nuclear installations, this publication aims at encouraging and supporting Member States, especially from newcomer countries, to include paleoseismic investigations into the geologic database. In fact, paleoseismology is not just a crucial discipline for...

Surface slip distributions for an active normal fault in central Italy have been measured using terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), in order to assess the impact of changes in fault orientation and kinematics when modelling subsurface slip distributions that control seismic moment release. The southeastern segment of the surface trace of the Campo Fe...

In the last twenty years, the interest of scientific community towards Earthquake Environmental Effects (EEEs) has progressively increased especially in the frame of INQUA - International Union for Quaternary Research. In 2007 the ESI 2007 (Environmental Seismic Intensity scale) was published, a new intensity scale based only on EEEs resulting by a...

Abstract: In the frame of site evaluation/re-eva/uation procedures for nuclear imtallations, paleoseismology is essenrial for both Fault Oisplacement Hazard Assessment (FOHA) and Seismic Hazard Assessment (SHA), as recommended in the reference IAEA Safety Guide SSG-g. After rhe accident ar the Fukushima Oaiichi nuclear power planr caused by the dis...

Overview of combining regional strain-rate, slip-rate variability and stress transfer during fault interaction for seismic hazard assessment and understanding of continental deformation Abstract: Active faults experience earthquake rupture due to stress transfer from neighbouring earthquakes only if the fault in question is close to its failure str...

Within the project for the construction of a photovoltaic power plant in the territory of San Giovanni Incarico (Frosinone, Southern Latium, Italy), the Palaeolithic site of Lademagne has undergone archaeological preventive investigations by the Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Latium. During the excavation of trenches along the easte...

Within a seismic micro-zonation study in the district of Magliano dei Marsi (Abruzzo) recent geological investigations have provided new data regarding the Late Quaternary evolution of this area which is located a few kilometers West of the Fucino Plain. Stratigraphic and geophysical data have identified a new tectonic element (Colle Lucciano struc...

Within the PanGeo project (financed by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Program), the Geological Survey of Italy (ISPRA) and the Urban Planning Department of the City of Roma developed a geodatabase and map of the geological hazards for the territory of Roma, integrating remotely sensed data (PSInSAR—Permanent Scatterer Interferometr...

The review of all available contemporary documents, i.e., technical and photographic reports, newspapers, and other archive material, of the 1908, M 7.1, Messina–Reggio Calabria earthquake has allowed to recognize and classify a large number (365) of independent environmental effects of the earthquake and the subsequent tsunami. The effects have be...

http://www.isprambiente.gov.it/it/pubblicazioni/periodici-tecnici/memorie-descrittive-della-carta-geologica-ditalia/earthquake-environmental-effect-for-seismic-hazard-assessment-the-esi-intensity-scale-and-the-eee-catalogue In the last twenty years, the interest of scientific community towards Earthquake Environmental Effects (EEEs) has progressive...

This paper provides a characterization of Fault Displacement Hazard (FDH) in Italy existing in the 73 most populated urban areas, with the aim to pinpoint the cities where this hazard is relevant and what directly threatens. Despite the uncertainties in the location of the FDH areas, this study clearly shows that the problem is particularly evident...

Litho-palaeoenvironmental Map of Italy during the Last Glacial Maximum (22 ±2 ka cal BP) scale 1: ,000,000 Data: bed rocks; glaciers; loess; vertebrates; Ostracods; lakes; vegetation; Po plain; marine bathymetry; shore lines; Alpine foothills; sea surface temperature; archeology and active faults

Litho-palaeoenvironmental Map of Italy during the Holocene Climatic Optimum (8 ±1 ka cal BP) average surface air temperature of about 2°C higher than today; scale 1: ,000,000. Data: bed rocks; glaciers; loess; vertebrates; Ostracods; lakes; vegetation; Po plain; marine bathymetry; shore lines; Alpine foothills; sea surface temperature; archeology a...

Litho-palaeoenvironmental Map of Italy during the Last Glacial Maximum (22 ±2 ka cal BP) average air temperature of about 4.5 °C lower than today. 1:1,000,000 scale. Data: bed rocks; glaciers; loess; vertebrates; Ostracods; lakes; vegetation; Po plain; marine bathymetry; shore lines; Alpine foothills; sea surface temeprature; archeology and active...

Surface slip distributions for an active normal fault in central Italy have been measured using terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), in order to assess the impact of changes in fault orientation and kinematics when modelling subsurface slip distributions that control seismic moment release. The southeastern segment of the surface trace of the Campo...

INQUINAMENTO ATMOSFERICO E SALUTE DEI BAMBINI IN CITTÀ I potenziali impatti sulla salute derivanti dall’inquinamento atmosferico dipendono da diversi fattori quali la tipologia e la miscela degli in quinati presenti, la loro concentrazione, il tempo di esposizione e le dimensioni delle particelle che ne influenzano la capacità di penetrazione nell’...

The PanGeo EC 7FP Project contributes to open access to geohazard information, in support of the program GMES - Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (now Copernicus). Two towns per participating country were chosen as testing sites among those included in the Urban Atlas of EEA. National geological surveys act as reference points, being c...

The traditional approach for seismic intensity assessment based mostly on effects on humans and manmade structures often results poorly constrained, especially in the epicentral area of strong-to-large earthquakes (intensity degree >IX) when damage to structures may be frequently afflicted by saturation, and in sparsely populated areas. The applica...

Within the PanGeo project that aims at Enabling Access to Geological Information in Support to GMES (now Copernicus) services, the Geological Survey of Italy, together with the Urban Planning Department of Roma Capitale, have elaborated a geohazard map that integrates PSInSAR data with geological and geothematic data. The main objective of this ser...

This GeoHazard Description (GHD) was prepared by the Italian Geological Survey, a department of the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), and acts as support for the PanGeo Ground Stability Layer (GSL) of Palermo (intermediate product), Italy (www.pangeoproject.eu). The area covered by the GSL basically represents the...

The use of the term "capable fault" instead of the more generic "active fault", is to be preferred when dealing with faults, that, more than being simply active, have the capability to cut or deform the ground surface, generally in association, but not exclusively, with seismic events. Such faults are the most relevant from the societal ha zard vie...

The Paganica normal fault, that caused the April 9, 2009, L'Aquila earthquake (Central Apennines), is part of the Paganica-San Demetrio fault system (PSDFS). All available data useful to constrain the Quaternary activity of the PSDFS were reviewed, with the aim to point out its role in the landscape evolution of the L'Aquila region and particularly...

Five hundred and two different testimonies of coseismic environmental effects of the 1908 Southern Calabria-Messina earthquake have been identified and catalogued, based on a careful screening of contemporary documents, i.e. technical and photographic reports, newspapers and other archive material. Out of the 348 independent occurrences, landslides...

The increasing damage caused by natural hazards in the last decades in Europe, amplified by recent events including landslides (Messina, Sicily, September 2009), earthquakes (L’Aquila, Abruzzo, April 2009), forest fires (Greece, 2008) and floods (Central Europe) in the last years, points out the need for interoperable added-value services to suppor...

This GeoHazard Description (GHD) was prepared by the Italian Geological Survey, a department of the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), and acts as support for the PanGeo Ground Stability Layer (GSL) of Rome (intermediate product), Italy (www.pangeoproject.eu). The area covered by the GSL covers the administrative a...

This report focuses on the many ground effects that were induced by this seismic sequence, as mainly cracks, liquefaction- type phenomena, and hydrological anomalies. The aim is to provide a complete representation of such effects, to: – illustrate their type, size and areal distribution; – identify the zones in the affected area that were most pr...

We captured post-seismic deformation close to the surface rupture of the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake (M6.3, central Italy) using repeat terrestrial laser scan (TLS) methods. From 8 to 126 d after the earthquake, we repeatedly laser scanned four road surfaces that intersected the earthquake surface rupture. We modelled vertical near-field deformation,...

It is commonly believed that the Po Plain is an area of low seismic haz-ard. This conclusion is essentially a combination of two factors: (1) the historical record of earthquakes, which shows a relatively small number of events of moderate magnitude, and only two significant earthquakes, which occurred in the Middle Ages; and (2) the lack of ad-hoc...

Introduction and seismotectonic framework. We performed a study of the ESI2007 intensityWe performed a study of the ESI2007 intensity distribution in the epicentral area of the May-June 2012 seismic sequence in the Po Plain. The widespread occurrence of coseismic environmental effects, in particular related to liquefaction and lateral spreading, al...

Earthquake Environmental Effects (EEE) are the effects produced by an earthquake on the natural environment, either directly linked to the earthquake source or triggered by the ground shaking. These include surface faulting, regional uplift and subsidence, tsunamis, liquefaction, ground resonance, landslides, and ground failure phenomena. The EEE c...

This paper documents evidence of surface faulting associated with the 6 April 2009 moderate-sized earthquake (M L 5.8, M w 6.3) in the central Apennines of Italy, which caused major damage to the town of L'Aquila and its surroundings. Coseismic surface ruptures were mapped for a minimum distance of 2.6 km along the Paganica fault, a fault still poo...

This volume builds on presentations made at two thematic sessions on “The Active Tectonics of the Circum-Adriatic Region” at the EGU 2007 and 2008 General Assemblies in Vienna. In both sessions, contributions were invited from workers incorporating structural, geophysical, seismological, remote sensing, geodetic and thermochronological methods to b...

Analysis of distribution of landslides (rock falls and coherent slides), induced by 12 moderate to strong earthquakes occurred in the last three centuries in Central–Southern Apennines, has permitted to investigate the relationship of their maximum distance versus magnitude and ESI epicentral intensity. For coherent slides, the correlation of magni...

In the Central Apennines, active extensional tectonics is accommodated by a dense array of normal faults. Major tectonic elements are typically located at the foot of fault escarpments, tens of kilometres long and some hundreds of meters high. Subordinate faults within major blocks produce additional topographic irregularities (i.e. minor graben an...

The Paganica-San Demetrio fault, which caused the April 9, 2009 earthquake, has played a key role in the evolution of the Middle Aterno Valley basin since the Middle Pleistocene. Its minimum offset, marked by the elevation of the remnant paleosurface of the Anzano Plateau, is in excess of 700 m. In our interpretation, the Assergi and Campo Imperato...

On 6 April 2009, a moderate earthquake (Mw = 6.3; Ml = 5.8) struck the Abruzzo region in central Italy, causing more than 300 fatalities and heavy damage to L'Aquila and surrounding villages. Coseismic surface effects have been thoroughly documented by timely field surveys as well as by remote sensing analyses of satellite images. The outstanding q...

The shallow subsurface structure of the 2009 April 6 Mw 6.3 L’Aquila earthquake surface rupture at Paganica has been investigated with ground penetrating radar to study how the surface rupture relates spatially to previous surface displacements during the Holocene and Pleistocene. The discontinuous surface rupture stepped between en-echelon/paralle...

1] Using 3D terrestrial laser scan (TLS) technology, we have recorded postseismic deformation on and adjacent to the surface rupture formed during the 6th April 2009 L'Aquila normal faulting earthquake (Mw 6.3). Using surface modeling techniques and repeated surveys 8– 124 days after the earthquake, we have produced a 4D dataset of postseismic defo...

The seismicity of the Po Plain in Northern Italy is characterized by two strong Middle Ages earthquakes, the 1117, I° X MCS Verona, and the December 25, 1222, I° IX-X Brescia, events. Historical reports from these events describe relevant coseismic environmental effects, such as drainage changes, ground rupture and landslides. Due to the difficult...

In the Central Apennines, active extensional tectonics is accommodated by a dense array of normal faults. Major tectonic elements are typically located at the foot of fault escarpments, tens of kilometres long and some hundreds of meters high. Subordinate faults within major blocks produce additional topographic irregularities (i.e., minor graben a...

The Italian Catalogue of Earthquake Environmental Effects

The shallow sub-surface structure of the 6th April 2009 Mw 6.3 L'Aquila earthquake fault zone at Paganica has been investigated with Ground Penetrating Radar to investigate how the surface rupture relates spatially to previous surface displacements during the Holocene and Pleistocene. The discontinuous surface rupture stepped between en-echelon/par...

S U M M A R Y The shallow subsurface structure of the 2009 April 6 M w 6.3 L'Aquila earthquake surface rupture at Paganica has been investigated with ground penetrating radar to study how the surface rupture relates spatially to previous surface displacements during the Holocene and Pleistocene. The discontinuous surface rupture stepped between en-...

Terrestrial laser scanner (lidar) systems have the capability to very accurately build 3D topographic models and detect millimetric-scale changes caused by tectonic movements. We have measured post-seismic deformation at 5 locations along the 6th April L’Aquila earthquake surface rupture. Our first survey was undertaken 8 days after the earthquake,...

A dense grid of petroleum industry seismic reflection profiles, coupled with field mapping, exploratory trenching and geomorphic and structural analysis are used to characterize the Quaternary growth history of the Capriano del Colle Fault System, one of several inferred active buried thrusts that extend across the Po Plain in northern Italy. Short...

Of the more than 8000 km of coasts in Italy, about 35% consist of cliffs and rocky shores. On them many villages are located, some of them dating back to Roman or Greek times. Typical natural hazards along these coastal areas are rock falls, slides and debris flows. They induce locally extremely high levels of risk, as shown by the many disasters t...

The Po Plain is a foredeep basin flanked by the two major and active orogens of the Italian Peninsula, the Alps to the North and the Apennines to the South. The basin has a quasi - triangular shape and grades longitudinally to the East in the Adriatic Sea. We used petroleum industry seismic reflection data acquired by ENI E&P in the Central Po Plai...