Surface faulting after the 30 Ocotber 2016 Central Italy earthquake

What is it about?

Surface faulting caused by moderate to strong earthquakes may occur along the major fault plane (primary fault) or along other structures in its proximity (distributed faulting). Distributed faulting can affect wide areas (tenths of square kilometers) and is responsible for significant damage. We assess the spatial pattern and geometric characteristics of distributed faulting of the 30 October 2016 Central Italy earthquake. We found that distance from the primary structure, fault geometry, and lithology are key factors controlling the distributed faulting occurrence. We also analyze four events that hit the Italian Apennines since 1980 and compare the results with the models currently adopted for estimating the possible amount of surface faulting caused by earthquakes. We found that current models, which are based on traditional field mapping methods, underestimate the probability of distributed faulting. We argue that the Central Italy 2016 event can act as a reference case study for fault displacement hazard assessment and that an increasing number of case histories will improve future mitigation strategies.

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Why is it important?

We analyze the role of geometry, lithology, and structural setting of surface faulting caused by the 30 October 2016 Central Italy earthquake. We compared results with previous events in the Italian Apennines and with the models currently adopted in Probabilistic Fault Displacement Hazard Assesment. Our findings suggest the possibility to ntroduce deterministic constraints for improving hazard assesment.