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IUGG XXIV General Assembly July 2-13, 2007 Perugia, Italy
(S) - IASPEI - International Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth's
Interior
JSS017 Poster presentation 2391
Crustal rheology along the Neapolitan Volcanic Zone-Apennine-Apulia
foreland transect, (Southern Italy)
Dr. Giuseppe Solaro
INGV Osservatorio Vesuviano IASPEI
We investigated the crustal rheology of the Southern Apennine chain along a WSW-ENE oriented crosssection,
running from Neapolitan Volcanic Zone to Apulia foreland. A computed thermal modelling and
re-localized hypocentral distribution of earthquakes of the area, spanning from 1993 to 2005, have been
used to constrain the rheological model. Results show that beneath the Neapolitan Volcanic Zone the
brittle/ductile transition is located at about 8 km of depth, whereas in correspondence with the axial
zone of the chain the rheology shows two brittle horizons, whose top are located at 20 km and 30 km
depth, respectively. Our results show that the horizontal rheological variations are quite predominant
with respect to vertical ones in this sector of the Apennine belt. This fact can be helpful to discriminate
which of tectonic processes have played a major role to construct the belt and/or is still active. In
conclusion, the rheological model and the strength envelopes obtained from our modelling could be
taken into account, as a first order approximation, to better understand the mechanical behaviour of the
Southern Apennine crust.
Keywords: rheology, tectonics, apennine