Crustal structure and deformation across a mature slab tear zone: the case of southern Tyrrhenian Subduction (Italy)
- Author(s)
- Irene Bianchi, Francesco Pio Lucente, Massimo Di Bona, Aladino Govoni, Nicola Piana Agostinetti
- Abstract
We compute S velocity profiles of the crust across the Messina Strait (Italy), the tear zone at the southern end of the Ionian subduction zone. Separating Sicily from Calabria, the Messina Strait hosted some of the strongest earthquakes to ever occur in Italy. Here the motion of the Ionian slab with respect to Sicily creates a complex tectonic setting characterized by lithospheric tearing. We show velocity models of the crust, computed from teleseismic receiver function inversion, outlining the differences between Sicily and Calabria. Strong deformation across the Messina Strait between 10–15 and 30 km depth is expressed by strong anisotropy (up to 10%), developed in a ductile shear zone of the crust. The top of these ductile weaker layers could limit the depth extent of future ruptures.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Meteorology and Geophysics
- External organisation(s)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Roma, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
- Journal
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Volume
- 43
- Pages
- 12380-12388
- No. of pages
- 9
- ISSN
- 0094-8276
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL070978
- Publication date
- 11-2016
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 105106 Geodynamics, 105122 Seismic, 105124 Tectonics, 105102 General geophysics
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Geophysics, General Earth and Planetary Sciences
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/114c022c-302b-46d9-901d-000ac6216ba9