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Geosciences
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Geodynamics and Seismotectonics in the Mediterranean Region
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Geodynamics and Seismotectonics in the Mediterranean Region

A special issue of Geosciences (ISSN 2076-3263). This special issue belongs to the section "Structural Geology and Tectonics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 December 2023) | Viewed by 8524

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Enzo Mantovani

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Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, della Terra e dell'Ambiente, Università Degli Studi di Siena, Siena, Italy
Interests: tectonics; geodynamics; seismicity
Prof. Dr. Carmelo Monaco

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Catania, Corso Italia, 57, 95129 Catania, CT, Italy
Interests: field geology; tectonics; geological mapping; structural geology; exploration geophysics; geodynamics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Ioannis Koukouvelas

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Guest Editor
Geology Department, University of Patras, Panepistimioupoli Patron, 265 04 Patra, Greece
Interests: earthquake geology—paleoseismology; geology of Greece; hazard analysis and secondary effects of earthquakes; quantitative monitoring of post-earthquake landslides with the use of UAVs
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The mitigation of an earthquake’s effects represents an important problem in several countries of the Mediterranean region. It is well known that to best organize the defence from a natural disaster a profound knowledge of its genetic mechanism is crucially necessary. However, a largely accepted recognition of the driving forces and tectonic processes that generate seismic activity in the study area is not yet available. A lively debate still concerns the geodynamics of Trench-Arc–Back-Arc systems. This Special Issue aims at gathering all contributions that can help mitigate the present ambiguity. In particular, we welcome the reconstructions of the tectonic evolution which can plausibly and coherently account for the observed deformation pattern, evidenced by the huge amount of data now available from all Earth Sciences. As concerns seismicity, any attempt at recognizing the connection between the short-term development of the ongoing tectonic processes and the time-space distribution of major earthquakes would be a valued contribution. An aspect that calls for further studies regards the understanding of the role played by the post seismic relaxation triggered by past major seismic crises in the study area. This kind of information can help us recognizing the real meaning (transient or long term) of the present kinematic field defined by geodetic data.

Prof. Dr. Enzo Mantovani
Prof. Dr. Carmelo Monaco
Prof. Dr. Ioannis Koukouvelas
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Geosciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • geodynamics
  • tectonics
  • extrusion
  • seismicity
  • Mediterranean
  • back-Arc basins
  • subduction
  • neogenic evolution
  • orogens
  • magmatism

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 16128 KiB  
Article
Generation of the Quaternary Normal Faults in the Messina Strait (Italy)
by Enzo Mantovani, Marcello Viti, Daniele Babbucci and Caterina Tamburelli
Geosciences 2023, 13(8), 248; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences13080248 - 17 Aug 2023
Viewed by 1091
Abstract
It is widely recognized that since the Early–Middle Pleistocene, the Messina zone, the site of strong earthquakes, has undergone extension, but the geodynamic context which determined this deformation is still a matter of debate. This work suggests that such a tectonic event was [...] Read more.
It is widely recognized that since the Early–Middle Pleistocene, the Messina zone, the site of strong earthquakes, has undergone extension, but the geodynamic context which determined this deformation is still a matter of debate. This work suggests that such a tectonic event was caused by the interaction of northern Calabria with the continental Adriatic domain. The suture of that consuming boundary produced major changes in the microplate mosaic and the related kinematic pattern in the Southern Italian zones, which was triggered by the activation of the Sibari and Vulcano faults. In the new context, the Peloritani belt sector, dragged by the Hyblean block, rotated clockwise and then moved northward, causing its divergence from southern Calabria. The normal faults which have accommodated that separation may be the main seismogenic source in the Messina Strait. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geodynamics and Seismotectonics in the Mediterranean Region)
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33 pages, 16462 KiB  
Article
Reappraisal and Analysis of Macroseismic Data for Seismotectonic Purposes: The Strong Earthquakes of Southern Calabria, Italy
by Carlo Andrenacci, Simone Bello, Maria Serafina Barbano, Rita de Nardis, Claudia Pirrotta, Federico Pietrolungo and Giusy Lavecchia
Geosciences 2023, 13(7), 212; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences13070212 - 14 Jul 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1475
Abstract
In tectonically active areas, such as the Italian peninsula, studying the faults responsible for strong earthquakes is often challenging, especially when the earthquakes occurred in historical times. In such cases, geoscientists need to integrate all the available information from historical reports, surface geology, [...] Read more.
In tectonically active areas, such as the Italian peninsula, studying the faults responsible for strong earthquakes is often challenging, especially when the earthquakes occurred in historical times. In such cases, geoscientists need to integrate all the available information from historical reports, surface geology, and geophysics to constrain the faults responsible for the earthquakes from a seismotectonic point of view. In this paper, we update and review, according to the EMS-98 scale, the macroseismic fields of the five main events of the 1783 Calabria sequence (5, 6, and 7 February, 1 and 28 March, Mw 5.9 to 7.1), two other destructive events within the same epicentral area of the 1783 sequence (1791, Mw 6.1 and 1894, Mw 6.1), plus the Messina Strait 1908 earthquake (Mw 7.1). For the 1783 seismic sequence, we also elaborate an updated and new catalog of coseismic effects. The new macroseismic fields were analyzed using a series of MATLAB algorithms to identify (1) the unitarity of the field or its partitioning in sub-sources and (2) the field and sub-fields’ main elongation. A collection of earthquake scale laws from literature was used to compute the average source parameters (length, width, and area) with their range of variability, and an elliptical map-view representation of the source geometry was calculated and made available. The analyses of such data allow us to speculate on the earthquakes/faults association, as well as propose new interpretations and reconstruct the space–time evolution of the significant southern Calabria seismic sequences in the last five centuries. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geodynamics and Seismotectonics in the Mediterranean Region)
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21 pages, 11048 KiB  
Article
Lithosphere Structure of the Southern Dinarides and Continuity of the Adriatic Lithosphere Slab Beneath the Northern Dinarides Unravelled by Seismic Modelling
by Franjo Šumanovac
Geosciences 2022, 12(12), 439; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences12120439 - 29 Nov 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1439
Abstract
Currently recognised lithospheric models hypothesise the non-existence of a lithospheric slab (a so-called slab gap) in the area of the Northern Dinarides, and the possible existence of a shallow slab in the Southern Dinarides. These geological models are mostly based on previous regional [...] Read more.
Currently recognised lithospheric models hypothesise the non-existence of a lithospheric slab (a so-called slab gap) in the area of the Northern Dinarides, and the possible existence of a shallow slab in the Southern Dinarides. These geological models are mostly based on previous regional and global 3D velocity models obtained from teleseismic tomography. Recent local tomographic models providing a good resolution have regularly shown the existence of a fast anomaly underneath the entire Dinarides, directly indicating the existence of a lithospheric slab. To avoid interpretation pitfalls and increase reliability, forward seismic modelling based on new tomographic models was performed. Seismic modelling indicates a continuous lithospheric slab along the entire Dinarides in the shallow mantle, but it is not continuous vertically. In the Northern Dinarides, the shallow lithospheric slab extends at least to a depth of 150 km. In the Southern and Central Dinarides, there is a deep fast anomaly that can be interpreted in two ways due to the weak vertical resolution of teleseismic tomography. The first model suggests a steeply dipping continuous Adriatic lithospheric slab whereas the second model shows that the slab consists of two separate blocks, meaning that the deeper block was formed by delamination of the Adriatic lithospheric slab. Due to a similar correlation between the inverse velocity models for the synthetic model and the observed data, preference is not given to any model. The second model could indicate two independent Dinaridic subduction phases, as opposed to viewing subduction as a single long process during the geological past. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geodynamics and Seismotectonics in the Mediterranean Region)
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24 pages, 8344 KiB  
Article
Transtension at the Northern Termination of the Alfeo-Etna Fault System (Western Ionian Sea, Italy): Seismotectonic Implications and Relation with Mt. Etna Volcanism
by Salvatore Gambino, Giovanni Barreca, Valentina Bruno, Giorgio De Guidi, Carmelo Ferlito, Felix Gross, Mario Mattia, Luciano Scarfì and Carmelo Monaco
Geosciences 2022, 12(3), 128; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences12030128 - 10 Mar 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3672
Abstract
Offshore data in the western Ionian Sea indicate that the NW–SE-trending dextral shear zone of the Alfeo-Etna Fault System turns to the N–S direction near the Ionian coastline, where the extensional Timpe Fault System is located. Morpho-structural data show that NW–SE-trending right-lateral strike-slip [...] Read more.
Offshore data in the western Ionian Sea indicate that the NW–SE-trending dextral shear zone of the Alfeo-Etna Fault System turns to the N–S direction near the Ionian coastline, where the extensional Timpe Fault System is located. Morpho-structural data show that NW–SE-trending right-lateral strike-slip faults connect the Timpe Fault System with the upper slope of the volcano, where the eruptive activity mainly occurs along the N–S to NE–SW-trending fissures. Fault systems are related to the ~E–W-trending extension and they are seismically active having given rise to shallow and low-moderate magnitude earthquakes in the last 150 years. As a whole, morpho-structural, geodetic and seismological data, seismic profiles and bathymetric maps suggest that similar geometric and kinematic features characterize the shear zone both on the eastern flank of the volcano and in the Ionian offshore. The Alfeo-Etna Fault System probably represents a major kinematic boundary in the western Ionian Sea associated with the Africa–Europe plate convergence since it accommodates, by right-lateral kinematics, the differential motion of adjacent western Ionian compartments. Along this major tectonic alignment, crustal structures such as releasing bends, pull-apart basins and extensional horsetails occur both offshore and on-land, where they probably represent the pathway for magma uprising from depth. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geodynamics and Seismotectonics in the Mediterranean Region)
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