Tectonophysics 621 (2014) 101122

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Tectonophysics
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Rates of geodetic deformation across active faults in southern Italy

Luigi Ferranti a,, Mimmo Palano b, Flavio Cannav b, Maria Enrica Mazzella a,1, John S. Oldow c,
Erwan Gueguen d, Mario Mattia b, Carmelo Monaco e
a
DiSTAR Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, delle Risorse e dell'Ambiente, Universit Federico II, Largo S. Marcellino 10, 80138 Napoli, Italy
b
Istituto Nazionale di Geosica e Vulcanologia, Osservatorio Etneo, Catania, Italy
c
Department of Geosciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA
d
Istituto di Metodologie per l'Analisi Ambientale, C.N.R., Tito Scalo, PZ, Italy
e
Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, Geologiche e Ambientali, Universit di Catania, Italy

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Active deformation in southern Italy is accommodated by a distributed number of faults with lowmoderate slip
Received 8 November 2013 rates. Outcropping extensional faults and mostly blind transcurrent faults are mapped within a western (or axial)
Received in revised form 10 February 2014 and an eastern domain, respectively. We use a combination of continuous (2001.002011.84) and episodic
Accepted 11 February 2014
(1995.682010.79) GNSS observations to rstly estimate the geodetic deformation rate on 32 faults. Geodetic re-
Available online 20 February 2014
sults were successively compared with geological displacement estimates. In agreement with seismological and
Keywords:
geological information, a net spatial segregation emerges between the extensional axial belt, and the eastern do-
GNSS velocity main where strikeslip faults are geodetically active. Although uncertainties are at times large, average displace-
Active fault ment rates show broadly consistent patterns within both domains. A longitudinal gradient in extension rate is
Geodetic slip rate observed for the axial fault array, with two sectors of higher magnitude (~0.81.7 mm/yr for individual faults).
Southern Italy This result is consistent with geological observations and supports the notion that extension occurs in discrete
patches. Faults of the eastern domain have lower (few 0.1 to ~1.2 mm/yr) strikeslip rates and an eastward-
decreasing extensional component, but signicant geodetic displacement is detected in areas lacking clear evi-
dence of activity. Few faults with 12 mm/yr extension rate are locally found in the eastern domain, but, based
on their limited length and on inconsistency with seismology and geology, they are considered as due to deep-
seated gravitational spreading. For crustal faults, although geodetic slip and moment rates are larger than geolog-
ical rates, the broad trend of long- to short-term rates is similar, indicating the feasibility of geodetic analysis to
contribute estimating fault slip rate and testing tectonic models in the region. Whereas the western domain
extension is thought to be controlled by potential energy related to the Tyrrhenian Moho uplift beneath the
Apennines, strikeslip in the east is related to shear on inherited faults within the Adriatic crust.
2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction In southern Italy, active faults and focal mechanism solutions of

Southern Italy is characterized as one of the highest seismic hazard
in the Mediterranean region, as documented by historical and instru-
mental catalogs where several large (6.5 M 7.5) and destructive
events have occurred (Fig. 1; Rovida et al., 2011). Despite that the larg-
est earthquakes have been associated to a causative fault, large uncer-
tainties still exist regarding denition of source geometric, kinematic
and energetic parameters (e.g. slip rates); this represents a severe draw-
back for the growing practice of seismic hazard estimation based on tec-
tonic information for individual seismogenic sources (e.g. Peruzza et al.,
2010).
Corresponding author at: Tel.: +39 812538180.
E-mail address: lferrant@unina.it (L. Ferranti).
1
Present address: Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Universit degli Studi di Perugia,
Italy.
crustal earthquakes dene two laterally juxtaposed belts of contempo-
rary deformation, with strikeslip faulting beneath the Apulia plains
and plateau to the east, and extension along the axis of the Southern
Apennines chain in the west (Figs. 2, 3). The current deformation
regime in the Apennines started to form between Late PlioceneEarly
Pleistocene, when it replaced contractional tectonics responsible for
Neogene accretion of the Southern Apennines fold-and-thrust belt
(Fig. 2, inset; Hyppolite et al., 1994; Patacca and Scandone, 2007).
Because of this relatively recent change in tectonic regime, the cur-
rent deformation pattern in the Apennines is diffuse and is character-
ized by low geodetic (~ 35 mm/yr) and geologic (12 mm/yr) rates
(Faure Walker et al., 2012; Ferranti et al., 2008; Giuliani et al., 2009;
Palano et al., 2011; Papanikolaou and Roberts, 2007; Serpelloni et al.,
2005), and the landscape still bears the dominant signature of contrac-
tional tectonics. Consequently, detection and characterization of active
and seismogenic faults present signicant challenges in the region,

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2014.02.007
0040-1951/ 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
102 L. Ferranti et al. / Tectonophysics 621 (2014) 101122
Fig. 1. Instrumental seismicity (M 2.2) in southern Italy 19832012 (http://iside.rm.ingv.it). Blue squares are historical earthquakes from CPTI catalog (Rovida et al., 2011); Imax,
maximum macroseismic intensity.
and to this end the GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System; formerly
known as GPS) observations can offer a vital contribution.
In the last decade, GNSS data analysis has contributed to the
understanding of the pattern of active deformation in southern Italy
(D'Agostino et al., 2008; Devoti et al., 2011; Ferranti et al., 2008;
Hunstad et al., 2003; Oldow et al., 2002; Palano et al., 2011; Serpelloni
et al., 2005). Although published geodetic studies have singled out the
regional scale pattern of crustal deformation, the relation between sur-
face displacement and inter-seismic strain accumulation at the scale of
individual faults or fault arrays has been established only locally and
with a signicant uncertainty (Ferranti et al., 2008; Giuliani et al.,
2009). In addition, a comparison between geodetic and geologic rates
of fault slip has not been attempted yet. The geodetic displacement re-
solved onto the fault may embed components of seismic and aseismic
slip, and of strain accumulation because of block coupling on the fault
slip surface; whether this displacement pattern is however representa-
tive of the long-term behavior of crustal faults requires comparison of
different datasets.
In this paper, we use a dense combination of: i) continuous GNSS
data collected between 2001.00 and 2011.84 on geodetic networks
installed in southern Italy, and ii) episodic GNSS measurements collect-
ed between 1995.68 and 2010.79, in order to provide the rst estima-
tion of geodetic horizontal slip rate on a signicant number of active
faults. Later, we compare the geodetic results with information obtained
from geological studies of active faults with the aim of reconciling con-
temporary and geologic displacements and provide insights into the
pattern of moment accumulation and release over different time spans.
Although our estimation of geodetic displacement is on occasion bi-
ased by a considerable uncertainty, results of this study help to rene
and implement the poorly constrained magnitude of slip rate on active
faults, which is a timely contribution for fault-based seismic hazard as-
sessment in this highly-populated region (e.g. Peruzza et al., 2010,
2011; Roberts et al., 2004). Combination of site velocities with local
seismicity and structural studies as discussed in this paper indicates
that, although broadly driven by convergence between Europe and
Nubia (e.g. the African plate west of the East African Rift), the pattern
of crustal displacement in southern Italy is strongly inuenced by a
combination of processes not immediately related to plate boundary
forces, such as crustal delamination and mantle upwelling, and exploi-
tation of intra-plate anisotropy.
2. Regional setting
Southern Italy is oored by the Southern Apennines fold-and-thrust
belt in the western and central part, and by the Apulia foreland in the
eastern part (Fig. 2, inset). The Southern Apennines accreted from
 L. Ferranti et al. / Tectonophysics 621 (2014) 101122 103

Fig. 2. Active faults in southern Italy. Compiled from the Database of Italian Seismogenic Sources (DISS; http://diss.rm.ingv.it/diss/), the GNDT (Gruppo Nazionale Difesa dai Terremoti)
database (Galadini et al., 2000), the Neotectonic map of Italy (Ambrosetti et al., 1987) and from recent literature as quoted in the text. The dashed white line in gure and in the inset
represents the boundary between the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian Moho (slightly modied from Di Stefano et al., 2011). Localities abbreviations are as follows: Ci, Cilento; CP, Campania
Plain; CV, Crati Valley; Da, Daunia Mountains; Ga, Gargano; Ir, Irpinia; Mu, Murge; MM, Matese Mountains; PhF, Phlegrean Fields; PM, Picentini Mountains; Pn, Pollino; Po, Potenza;
RV; Si, Sila; Sn, Sannio; SP, Sele Plain; Ta, Tavoliere; Tr, Tremiti Islands; VdA, Val d'Agri; VdD, Vallo di Diano; VV, Vesuvius Volcano. Inset shows the main tectonic provinces in southern
Italy, and the front of the fold and thrust belt.

Miocene to Early Pleistocene during the westward-directed subduction
and delamination of the Adriatic slab, a small lithospheric fragment
trapped within the articulated collision boundary between Africa and
Europe (Faccenna et al., 2001; Malinverno and Ryan, 1986; Patacca
et al., 1990). To the east, the Apulian sector of the Adriatic continental
margin served as the foreland to the eastward-migrating thrust belt.
The Apulia foreland has an average ~ 30 km crustal thickness
(Chiarabba and Amato, 1996) typical for continental crust, and is char-
acterized by a ~6 km thick MesozoicCenozoic carbonate platform sed-
imentary cover (Mostardini and Merlini, 1986). To the west, contraction
was followed by extension, which since the Early Miocene resulted in
hinterland stretching of continental crust and local emplacement of
oceanic crust beneath the southern Tyrrhenian Sea (Fig. 1, inset;
Malinverno and Ryan, 1986).
From Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene, east-directed displacement
of the contractional front in the Southern Apennines comes to an end
(Fig. 2, inset; Patacca and Scandone, 2007). During this time, involve-
ment of thick Apulian continental crust in the collision system caused
the (re-)activation of faults in the foreland plate with strikeslip and lo-
cally transpressional motion, that in the west broke through the
previously emplaced thin-skinned allochthon (Ferranti et al., 2009;
Monaco et al., 1998). These faults are at times seismically active in the
eastern part of southern Italy, in the Apulia foreland and beneath the
frontal part of the belt (Figs. 2, 3).
Since Late Pliocene, extension related to opening of the Tyrrhenian
Sea and crustal delamination of the Adriatic slab affected the western
sector of the Apennines, forming coastal and intermontane basins con-
trolled by high-angle normal faults which crosscut the pre-existing
thrust structures (Ferranti and Oldow, 2005; Hyppolite et al., 1994). Ex-
tension progressed from west to east, and starting from Early Pleisto-
cene an array of active normal faults was nested along the axial part of
the belt and includes major recognized seismogenic structures (Fig. 2).
In western Campania region, extension was locally accompanied by vol-
canism, whose emplacement was controlled by the intersecting fault
networks (e.g. Milano et al., 2004).
The regional gravity anomaly map and Deep Seismic Soundings
studies outline the existence of a doubling of the Moho beneath the
Southern Apennines (Fig. 2, inset; Cassinis et al., 2003; Di Stefano
et al., 2011; Morelli, 2000; Nicolich, 1989; Tiberti et al., 2005). This pat-
tern is related to crustal delamination (Channell and Mareschal, 1989)
104 L. Ferranti et al. / Tectonophysics 621 (2014) 101122

Fig. 3. Lower hemisphere, equal area projection of focal mechanisms compiled from recent literature and on-line catalogs for earthquakes with M 3.5; focal mechanisms are colored
according to rake: red, thrust faulting, blue, normal faulting, yellow, strikeslip faulting. Localities are as in Fig. 2. Dashed line is the same as in Fig. 2.

and impinging of the Tyrrhenian Moho, formed since the Miocene be-
neath the stretched (thickness down to ~ 10 km) back-arc basin, over
the sinking, old Moho of the Adriatic plate (Cassinis et al., 2003).
3. Active deformation
Active tectonics in southern Italy appears segregated in two discrete
domains, which are characterized by different deformation mecha-
nisms. The two domains are separated by a localized zone which runs
along the axis of the mountain chain, and strikingly coincides with the
deep boundary between the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic Moho. In the west-
ern domain, active normal faults (Fig. 2) and seismicity (Figs. 1, 3) are
concentrated within an ~50 km wide belt running along the mountain
ridge (Papanikolaou and Roberts, 2007; Valensise and Pantosti, 2001).
Within this belt, earthquakes have relatively shallow focal depths
(~ 1015 km), and exhibit focal mechanisms with primarily normal
faulting features and tensile axis roughly orthogonal to the Tyrrhenian
margin (Fig. 3). The belt of extensional earthquakes and active normal
faults follows to the south the curvature of the orogenic arc. Seismolog-
ical observations are generally consistent with borehole breakouts
(Montone et al., 2012) and fault-slip data from Quaternary rocks
(Faure Walker et al., 2012; Hyppolite et al., 1994; Maschio et al., 2005;
Papanikolaou and Roberts, 2007).
The swarm of active normal faults along the axis of the mountain
belt has been associated to most of the large historical earthquakes,
which concentrate in the extensional domain (Figs. 1 to 3; DISS
Working Group, 2010). These faults are regarded as having an Early
Pleistocene and in some cases an even younger age (Improta et al.,
2010; Maschio et al., 2005; Pantosti et al., 1993). Although the location
of the active normal faults is relatively well constrained, signicant
uncertainties exist on the age initiation, geological displacements, as
well as on the rate of slip for individual structures.
Geodetic data so far available supply the rate of integrated extension
in the Apennines but not the strain accumulation across individual
normal faults. The geodetically-estimated rate of regional extension
varies from ~23.5 (Ferranti et al., 2008; Serpelloni et al., 2005) to ~4
6 mm/yr (Giuliani et al., 2009; Hunstad et al., 2003; Ward, 1994).
On the opposite, the eastern domain encompassing the foothills of
the Apennines and the Apulia foreland locally show strikeslip and
subordinately thrust earthquakes (Fig. 3) with focal depths deeper
(~ 1535 km) than the extensional earthquakes in the west (Boncio
et al., 2007; Pondrelli et al., 2006). Within the Apulia foreland, whereas
the Gargano block and its offshore extension forms an active seismic
belt with moderate-magnitude thrust and transpressional earthquakes,
the southern part including the Murge and Salento blocks lacks signi-
cant seismicity (Figs. 1, 3). Notwithstanding, NESW convergence
 L. Ferranti et al. / Tectonophysics 621 (2014) 101122 105

Fig. 4. GNSS velocities and 95% condence ellipses referred to a xed: (a) Central Europe frame; and (b) Apulian frame (see text and Table 1 for additional details). Dashed line is the same
as in Fig. 2.
106 L. Ferranti et al. / Tectonophysics 621 (2014) 101122
Table 1
Relative GPSEuler vector and associated errors (95% of condence) for the xed Central
Europe (Eu) and the Apulia (Ap) reference frame. The Euler vector parameters (latitude
and longitude of pole, rotation rate) were estimated by minimizing, with a weighted least
squares inversion (Palano et al., 2010), the adjustments to horizontal GNSS velocities aligned
to a xed Central Europe reference frame (Nocquet and Calais, 2003). Sites used for the pole
parameters computations are reported on Table S1 of the Supplementary section.
Plate pair Latitude N Longitude E (/Myr)
EuAp 31.362 1.468 145.253 2.251 0.137 0.044
between southern Apulia and the seismologically active front of the
contractional orogen in Albania and the Dinarids across the southern
Adriatic Sea (Fig. 3) occurs at ~ 5 mm/yr (Hollenstein et al., 2003;
Jouanne et al., 2012; Serpelloni et al., 2005). South of Apulia, seismicity
in the eastern domain resumes in north-eastern Calabria, where strike
slip and subordinately thrust and extensional earthquakes are recorded
along the continental margin, the shelf and into the Ionian Sea (Fig. 3).
Seismogenic deformation in the eastern domain is characterized by
sequences, mainly segregated in the northern part of the region
(Pondrelli et al., 2003). These clusters, characterized by a sparse seis-
micity and by events with moderate magnitude, show an eastwest
alignment (Fig. 3) which outlines the surface and subsurface location
of broad systems of right-lateral faults which are thought to connect
the deep part of the Apennines to the Apulia foreland (e.g. Boncio
et al., 2007; Di Bucci et al., 2006). A northern array of right-lateral faults
is buried at depth beneath the Daunia foothills, but resurfaces across the
Gargano upland (Fig. 2). To the south, two additional arrays of EW
striking right-lateral faults are thought to join the Apennines with the
Murge and Salento blocks of Apulia. Further south, NWSE striking
transcurrent faults are mapped in northern Sila and in the Ionian Sea
offshore the Pollino range (Fig. 2).
Unlike the normal faults in the west, the location and geometry of
active transcurrent faults in the eastern domain is not well understood,
because most of the faults are blind and supposedly segmented. These
faults are thought to be Mesozoic or older extensional faults affecting
the Apulia platform, and nowadays reactivated in strikeslip motion
(Boncio et al., 2007; Di Bucci et al., 2006).
Boncio et al. (2007) evidenced that the 199091 sequence that
stroke the frontal belt of the Apennines near Potenza town in the east-
ern domain (Fig. 3), concentrated between a 1523 km depth range,
corresponding to the Apulia middle crust underthrust beneath the
Apennines belt. The apparent anomalous earthquake depths (N15 km)
and the connement within a relatively narrow depth range are
explained by Boncio et al. (2007) according to the crustal rheology,
which consists of a strong mid crustal brittle layer sandwiched between
two plastic horizons.
The subdue seismogenic role of faults within the eastern domain is
reected in the minor historical seismicity record when compared to
the western normal faults. In the eastern domain, strong historical
events are only sparsely documented and notably affect the northern
part of the region only (Fig. 2). On the other hand, no major historical
earthquakes are reported during the last 1000 yr in the central-
southern Apulian foreland and eastern Lucania region (see 2011, for ad-
ditional details).
4. GNSS velocity analysis
4.1. Network and data processing
To improve the detail of the geodetic velocity eld in the investigat-
ed area, we updated the GNSS results reported in Palano et al. (2011)
by extending the data processing up to the 2011.84 epoch and including
into the processing the periodic measurements carried out on the Peri-
Tyrrhenian GPS Array (PTGA; Ferranti et al., 2008). The 15-benchmark
network, surveyed for the rst time in 1995, was distributed in the en-
tire southern peninsular Italy. Since then, the PTGA network has been
surveyed in 1997, 2000, 2008 and 2010, and it has been expanded to
reach the current conguration of 42 benchmarks (Mazzella, 2011).
All the benchmarks were installed within hard bedrock not affected by
fractures as far as possible. Particular care was devoted to locate obser-
vation sites within coherent and rooted blocks with no evidence of
gravitational sliding. Overall, this analysis builds on 95 continuous and
31 episodic measurement sites (Fig. 4).
GNSS data were processed by using the GAMIT/GLOBK software
(Herring et al., 2010). To tie the regional measurements to the
ITRF2005 reference frame (Altamimi et al., 2007), data coming from
12 continuously operating IGS (International GNSS Service) stations
(AJAC, BRUS, CAGL, GRAS, GRAZ, JOZE, LAMP, MATE, MEDI, NOTO,
NOT1 and ZIMM) were introduced in the processing. By using the
GLOBK software we combined, on a daily basis, our solutions (and
their covariance matrices) with global solutions (IGS1, IGS2, IGS3,
IGS4, IGS5, IGS6 and EURA) provided by the Scripps Orbit and Perma-
nent Array Center (SOPAC) to generate site time series. As a nal step,
by using the GLORG module of GLOBK we combined these solutions
and their full covariance matrices to estimated a consistent set of posi-
tions and velocities in the ITRF2005 reference frame by minimizing
the horizontal velocity of the 12 continuously operating IGS stations
mentioned above. To account for correlated noise, we applied the real-
istic sigma algorithm of Herring (2003) to each of our time series, after
removing the best-tting annual and semi-annual signals and including
the estimated random walk component for every single component of
each station in our nal velocity solution.
Our GNSS network shares some stations with those processed by
D'Agostino et al. (2011) allowing for a rigorous integration of the two
estimated velocity elds. To this end, we aligned the published veloci-
ties to the ITRF2005 reference frame by applying a seven-parameter
Helmert transformation, obtained by nding the transformation that
minimizes the Root Mean Square (RMS) of differences between veloci-
ties of common sites. The average discrepancies are small, and the RMS
for the used 15 common stations is less than 0.4 mm/yr. The resulting
velocity eld and additional details are reported in the Supplementary
material section.
4.2. GNSS velocity elds
In order to analyze the crustal deformation pattern over the investi-
gated area, the estimated GNSS velocities were aligned to a xed Central
Eurasia reference frame (Nocquet and Calais, 2003) and to an additional
local reference frame (that we label Apulia), whose Euler pole was
estimated by using GNSS sites located in southern Apulia and eastern
Lucania regions (Tables 1; S1).
In a Central Europe reference frame, the geodetic velocity eld
depicts a general NW-directed motion at a rate of 13 mm/yr on
the Tyrrhenian sector, and a N-to-NE-directed motion at a rate of
36 mm/yr on the Adriatic sector (Fig. 4a). The divergent velocity
boundary is sharp and is positioned along the crest of the Apennines,
where it coincides with the seismological and active faults boundary
(Figs. 2, 3). Further south, the geodetic boundary is loosely traced across
central Calabria. Sites located in the Campania coastal plain show a
pattern that differs from the general trend and underlines local effects
deriving from volcanic centers on the western Campania margin
(Vesuvius and Phlegrean Fields, Fig. 2).
Velocities referred to the Apulia frame evidence, on the Tyrrhenian
side of Campania and Lucania regions, a pattern of WSW-oriented mo-
tion at a rate of 1 to 4 mm/yr (Fig. 4b). The Tyrrhenian sector of Calabria
shows a similar pattern but with rates generally b1.5 mm/yr. On the
Adriatic side of southern Italy, the velocity eld shows a broad ENE-
directed pattern with rates of about 14 mm/yr in the area between
eastern Molise and northern Apulia. Sites in central-southern Apulia
 L. Ferranti et al. / Tectonophysics 621 (2014) 101122 107

Fig. 5. Geodetic strain-rate parameters: (a) rate of the areal change magnitude (background color code) and greatest extensional and contractional horizontal strain-rates (arrows);
(b) rate of maximum shear strain.
 108
Table 2
Modeled active crustal faults of the western and eastern domain, and gravitational faults. For each structure, the geological source parameters, the kinematic and the Quaternary slip rate (bold for latest PleistoceneHolocene slip rate), and the source

L. Ferranti et al. / Tectonophysics 621 (2014) 101122

reference are listed. NMI = Neotectonic map of Italy (Ambrosetti et al., 1987); DISS = Database of Italian Seismogenic Sources, Version 3.1.1 (http://diss.rm.ingv.it/diss/); ITIS = Individual Seismogenic Source; ITCS = Composite Seismogenic
Source; GNDT = Gruppo Nazionale Difesa Terremoti; CNR MS = Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Modello Strutturale d'Italia.

ID Fault name Length Coordinate Down-dip Min depth Max depth Strike Dip Kinematic Dip Rake () Slip-(Throw, T)-rate Horizontal slip-rate Source
(km) width (km) (km) (km) () () geology direction (mm/yr) (mm/yr)
West tip East tip

Eastern domain
1 Biferno 30 414312 415848 18.3 2 16 55 50 n/a SE n/a n/a n/a NMI
144236 15112
2 Frosolone 36 414030 414030 14.9 11 25 269 70 RN N 230 0.11.0 0.11.0 DISS (ITIS095)
142031 144642
3 RipabottoniS. Severo 64 41417 414323 19.1 6 25 270 85 R N 180220 0.10.5 0.10.5 DISS (ITCS053)
144751 153347
4 S. Marco in LamisMattinata 45 414328 414252 25.1 0 25 270 85 RN N 200230 0.11 0.11 DISS (ITCS058),
153431 16539 0.8 0.8 (Tondi et al., 2005)
5 Castelluccio dei SauriTrani 93 411649 411628 12.2 11 23 270 80 R N 170190 0.10.5 0.10.5 DISS (ITCS004)
152458 163130
6 Mirabella EclanoMonteverde 60 41222 405821 16.6 1 16 280 65 RN N 230250 0.11.0 0.11.0 DISS (ITCS084)
145629 153843
7 Potenza 15 403951 40388 6 15 21 95 88 R S 175 0.10.5 0.10.5 DISS (ITIS084)
154723 155819
8 Palagianello 65 403931 403731 9 13 22 90 85 R S 170190 0.10.5 0.10.5 DISS (ITCS005)
161951 17535
9 AmendolaraSibari 68 394738 393343 26.9 3 22 286 45 TL N 235 0.71.0 0.71.0 Ferranti et al. (2009)
162910 171356
10 Rossano 40 393637 393352 28.3 2 22 280 45 LT N 220 1.05.0 (T) 1.02.0 GNDT (99),
162228 164950 (Van Dijk et al., 2000)
11 Cecita 20 392952 391928 25.4 0 22 162 60 NL SW 320 n/a n/a n/a
162952 16348
12 Lakes 30 391950 39657 25.4 0 22 142 60 NL SW 320 1.2 0.6 Galli and Bosi (2003)
163259 164601
13 LameziaCatanzaro 21 385534 385441 n/a n/a n/a 95 70 L S n/a n/a n/a GNDT (104)
161238 16273

Eastern domain, shallow-crustal creeping faults

14 Varano 35 415420 414546 5.8 0 5 315 60 N NE 270 n/a n/a Ithaca, (Bertotti
154153 16523 et al., 1999)
15 Castel del Monte 44 4174 405443 20.8 0 18 300 60 N NE 270 n/a n/a CNR MS, (Del Gaudio
161319 164034 et al., 2007)
16 AvenaLauropoli 28 394543 395645 4.6 0 4 222 60 N E 270 x 0.3 Ferranti et al. (2009)
162317 163616

Western domain
17 Acquae Iuliae 22 41322 41259 13.2 1 13 125 65 N SW 270 0.20.4 0.10.2 GNDT (52) (Galli and
14231 141530 0.451.9 0.20.8 Naso, 2009)
18 Matese Lake 36 413022 412133 14.3 0 13 120 65 N SW 270 0.51.0 0.20.4 GNDT (53), [this paper]
14847 143219
19 Boiano Basin 24 413122 41245 13.8 1 12.3 55 55 N NE 270 0.11.0 (T) 0.10.6 DISS (ITIS004), (Galli
14195 143356 0.50.9 0.30.5 and Galadini, 2003;
Pordo et al., 2002)
20 Volturno Plain N 15 411560 411132 13.9 1 13 120 65 N SW 270 0.51.5 (T) 0.20.5 (T) 0.20.6 GNDT (65)
14349 141318 0.10.2
21 Ariano Irpino 25 412540 411323 14.9 11 25 277 70 RN N 230 0.11.0 0.10.3 DISS (ITIS092)
14458 145216
22 Lauro 11 405455 405132 13.9 1 13 125 60 N SW 270 0.20.5 (T) 0.10.2 GNDT (76) (Ambrosetti
143225 143911 et al., 1987)
23 Volturara 30 40545 404631 13.9 1 13 310 60 N NE 270 0.3 (T) 0.2 Papanikolaou and
145054 15948 Roberts (2007)
24 Irpinia Fault (Colliano segment) 28 405112 404128 15 1 14 310 60 N NE 270 0.40.6 0.20.3 DISS (ITIS077)
1584 152317 (Papanikolaou and
Roberts, 2007)

L. Ferranti et al. / Tectonophysics 621 (2014) 101122

25 Irpinia Fault (S. Gregorio segment) 9 404015 403749 15 1 14 300 60 N NE 270 0.40.6 0.20.3 DISS (ITIS078)
152438 153011
26 MelandroPergola 18 403351 402646 11.3 1 10.8 317 60 N NE 270 0.11.0 0.10.5 DISS (ITIS010)
15304 153844
27 East Agri 20 402455 401929 13.1 5 15 120 50 N SW 270 0.71.3 0.6 GNDT (90), (Papanikolaou
154240 15556 0.83 (T) 0.5 and Roberts, 2007)
28 M. Maddalena 23 402353 401458 13.5 1 12.7 316 60 N NE 270 0.11.0 0.10.5 DISS (ITIS008),
153918 155037 0.2 0.2 (Maschio et al., 2005)
29 South Diano 15 401954 401235 14.4 1 12 140 50 N SW 270 0.50.7 (T) 0.30.4 GNDT (86), (Villani and
153856 154340 Pierdominici, 2010)
30 Mercure Basin 32 40552 395540 15.0 0 13 120 60 N SW 270 0.20.4 (T) 0.10.2 Papanikolaou and
155230 161042 Roberts (2007)
31 Pollino 32 395915 394923 17.3 0 15 125 60 N SW 270 0.20.5 (T) 0.10.2 GNDT (97) (Papanikolaou
15593 161732 0.20.4 (T) 0.10.2 and Roberts, 2007)
32 Crati Valley 51 393615 39846 10.4 1 10 175 60 N W 270 0.11.0 0.10.5 DISS (ITCS015),
161555 161843 0.8 (Galli et al., 2007)
Adopted value.

109
110 L. Ferranti et al. / Tectonophysics 621 (2014) 101122
have an E-directed motion at a rate b 1 mm/yr, and the Ionian side of
northern Calabria displays a SE-directed velocity pattern at b 1.5 mm/yr.
4.3. Geodetic strain-rate eld
To compute the 2D strain-rate tensor over the studied area, starting
from the observed horizontal velocity eld and associated covariance
information, we derived a continuous velocity gradient tensor on a reg-
ular 0.2 0.2 grid using a spline in tension technique (Wessel and
Bercovici, 1998). The tension is controlled by a factor T, where T = 0
leads to a minimum curvature (i.e. natural bicubic spline), while T =
1 leads to a maximum curvature, allowing for maxima and minima
only at observation points. In the computations we set T = 0.4, slightly
different from the value (T = 0.3) suggested by Wessel and Bercovici
(1998) for topographic interpolation. As a nal step, we computed the
average 2D strain-rate tensor as derivative of the velocities at the
nodes of each grid cell. The estimated strain-rates are shown in Fig. 5a
as greatest extensional ( H max ) and contractional ( h min ) horizontal
strain-rates and rate of the areal change, and in Fig. 5b as rate of the
maximum shear strain.
We present here a rened version of the results shown by Palano
et al. (2011). A continuous belt of positive area change with high
strain-rate values (up to ~ 110 nanostrains/yr) and NESW-oriented
H max is recognized along the crest of the Apennines (Fig. 5a), in agree-
ment with active crustal stretching documented by geological and seis-
mological data. However, stretching does not appear quantitatively
uniform, with areas of relative maxima and minima alternating
along the belt of extensional strain and positive area change rate.
In detail, from north to south, the border between central and south-
ern Apennines (at the boundaries of Molise, Lazio and Campania
regions, Fig. 5a) is characterized by a rate of area change of up to
~ 80 nanostrains/yr with a NESW trending H max and a locally positive
h min indicating a bi-axial extensional pattern. Southward, the belt of
high-extension rate follows the curvature of the chain, with principal
axis having a constant NESW trend, and theh min swinging from nega-
tive to positive. The rate of area change, which is slightly reduced in the
border sector between Campania and Apulia, increases again at the
boundary between Campania and Lucania and has two peaks up to
~ 110 nanostrains/yr. Southward, the belt of rapid area dilation and
high extension rate sharply disappears at the CalabriaLucania border
(Fig. 5a).
A second belt of area dilatation, albeit of minor magnitude
(~ 30 nanostrains/yr, with local peaks up to ~ 60 nanostrains/yr) and
with E- to SE trendingH max, characterizes the eastern coast of northern
Calabria, and pushes northward into central Apulia where the maxi-
mum principal axis progressively turns to a NE trend (Fig. 5a). Further
north, this positive areal change belt is offset to the left and crosses
the Gargano promontory, with H max axis keeping to a NE trend.
Areas of negative area change rate are limited. Apart from the coastal
sector of the Campania Plain, where alternating patches of negative and
positive areal changes may testify local volcanic processes, in the
Apennines they are restricted to an arcuate belt that follows the front
of the chain between Molise and Lucania, with prevailing NE- to E-
trending h min axis and up to 80 nanostrains/yr (Fig. 5a). A marginally
signicant contraction was already evidenced in this area by Giuliani
et al. (2009).
The maximum shear strain rate map (Fig. 5b) shows highest values
along the crest of the Apennines, which spatially coincide with those
areas that in the last 103 yr were struck by strong earthquakes and cur-
rently experience a diffuse low-to-moderate seismic release (Figs. 1, 3).
Particularly, the CampaniaMolise border in the north and the Campa-
niaLucania border in the south are the sectors with highest shear strain
of up to 80 nanostrains/yr. High maximum shear strain-rate up to 60
nanostrains/yr can be locally recognized at the volcanic districts of the
Tyrrhenian margin of Campania as well. On the opposite, the shear
strain-rate in northern Calabria, Lucania and Apulia is low, even in the
Adriatic and Ionian coastal region that shows locally moderate dilata-
tion rates (Fig. 5a).
5. Geodetic slip rate across active faults
5.1. Geometric and kinematic parameters
In order to estimate the geodetic slip rate and later the moment rate
for active faults, in a rst step we derived the fault geometric and kine-
matic information from published and unpublished studies and data-
bases (Table 2). In particular, based on the location of GNSS stations,
we have singled out 32 structures equally distributed within the west-
ern and eastern domain. For each structure we stipulated length (L),
strike (), dip (), minimum (Dmin) and maximum (Dmax) depth,
down-dip width (H; dened as H = d / sin where d is the difference
between Dmax and Dmin values), rake and slip rate. Parameters of
many structures (particularly for those of the eastern domain) were ex-
tracted from the Database of Italian Seismogenic Sources (DISS) Version
3.1.1 (http://diss.rm.ingv.it/diss/). Two types of seismogenic sources
were drawn from the DISS database, namely Composite and Individual
sources (Table 2). Unlike Individual sources, which are relatively well
parameterized faults which can produce characteristic earthquake
ruptures, Composite sources are viewed as seismogenic volumes
which incorporate an unspecied number of Individual sources, and
thus their characteristic rupture length is poorly dened or unknown.
Although this may imply a smaller accuracy of source description, they
are nonetheless used to achieve completeness of the record of potential
earthquake sources, and thus contribute to the development of regional
probabilistic seismic hazard assessment (Basili et al., 2008). In the
present study, because of the limited number of stations used to
constrain the geodetic slip rate, both Composite and Individual sources
were treated as single structures. Parameters of some faults were
extracted from the GNDT (Gruppo Nazionale Difesa dai Terremoti)
database (Galadini et al., 2000), or from individual papers and maps
(Table 2). For these structures, source information is less complete
relative to the DISS database, particularly as regards the fault depth.
For few faults, the parameters were rstly dened based on our detailed
or reconnaissance investigation.
The modeled deformation sources have length typically in the ~10
35 km range, with only some of them, and namely the Composite
sources or some other regional fault array, exceeding 40 km. Dmin ranges
typically from null (outcropping fault) to 1 km for the major and minor
faults of the extensional domain, respectively. Faults of the foreland part
of the transcurrent domain have the top at shallow depth (1 km) or are
exposed, as occurring in the Gargano promontory. On the opposite,
faults of the eastern domain which underlay at depth the foothills of
the Apennines and are structurally covered by the thrust belt have
Dmin at 611 km, rarely less (Table 2). In northern Calabria, strikeslip
faults outcrop or have tips at shallow depths below the coastal plain
or the continental shelf and slope.
The Dmax values stipulated in the sourced datasets, which is related
to the crustal seismogenic thickness (hereinafter Hs), was calibrated
through the analysis of the depth distribution of seismicity. To this
aim, we dened four different sectors (Fig. 6a), one in the western do-
main and three in the eastern domain. The three sectors within the east-
ern domain are: the foothills belt in the Apennines, the foreland in the
Apulia region and the eastern part of Calabria. By taking into account
all earthquakes with M 2.2 occurred in the investigated area since
1983 (http://iside.rm.ingv.it), we computed a cumulative frequency
plot of the depth-distribution of instrumental seismicity for each sector.
The value of 2.2, usually dened as magnitude of completeness, repre-
sents the lowest magnitude for which the catalog can be considered
complete (see Palano et al., 2011 for additional details). The plot
shows that 90% of earthquakes (e.g., Marone and Scholz, 1988) occur
in the upper crust within a depth that increases from the western to
the eastern domain (Fig. 6b). The limiting depth for 90% of M 2.2
 L. Ferranti et al. / Tectonophysics 621 (2014) 101122
earthquakes is 13, 17 and 19 km in the western, frontal and foreland
part of the Apennines; the limiting depth in the Calabria frontal belt is
22 km. These results are in good agreement with conclusions achieved
in the study of local seismic sequences beneath the frontal part of the
Apennines (Boncio et al., 2007; Di Luccio et al., 2005; Latorre et al.,
2010). The Dmax listed in the DISS database is slightly deeper than our
estimate of the limiting depth for 90% of M 2.2 earthquakes, because
the former is based on the depth of the most energetic shocks within the
sequence associated to the seismogenic source. We mostly adopted the
maximum depth value reported in the DISS where available, or alterna-
tively, used our estimate.
When not listed, strike and dip of faults were estimated based on
published and unpublished geological information. For the purpose of
computation, strikes were averaged between the mapped surface tips
of faults or fault systems (compare Figs. 2 and 6). Although this simpli-
cation may introduce errors for low-angle dipping faults, the modeled
structures have all moderate- to high-angle dips and thus errors related
to wrong strikes are negligible. Faults of the eastern domain have
assigned dips between 70 and 90, a range of value consistent for
strikeslip and oblique-reverse faults. Fault dips for the western domain
are in the range of 5565 typical for normal faults.
The kinematics of modeled faults rely on structural analysis carried
out in recent deposits and on stress tensor data derived from available
focal mechanisms. We list in Table 2 the general kinematic role of
each structure as reported in the consulted databases and studies, and
the rake stipulated in published accounts or based on our knowledge.
Finally, because we are mostly interested at scalar rates, we draw
from published sources the geologic slip rate of faults, which are typical-
ly averaged on a Pleistocene or on a Holocene time interval (the two
different time spans are reported in Table 2). It must be noted that the
geological estimates are in some cases loosely constrained particularly
for blind faults of the eastern domain. For sake of comparison with the
geodetic rates, the slip rate reported in consulted repositories was
converted to the horizontal slip rate by using the dip angle. For the
111
stations have an observational record that partly span the 2002 seismic
events. Thus, large co-seismic offset related to these earthquakes do not
signicantly affect our geodetic velocity eld.
The geodetic displacement resolved onto the faults may embed
components of both seismic and aseismic slip, and of strain accumula-
tion because of friction on the fault plane (e.g. Savage, 1983). Sites
used here to compute slip rates for individual faults are reasonably far
from any of the faults (typically N1 km), and thus we assume that our
slip estimate reects the steady surface deformation. Based on this
reasoning, we compared the observed interseismic displacement to
the geologically recorded slip rate. We assume the long-term or geologic
(over many earthquake cycles) fault displacement means that the slip has
occurred on frictionless fault planes.
6. Scalar geodetic and geologic moment rate
To better understand the relation between long-term and contem-
porary deformation on the faults for which geodetic slip rate were com-
puted, we estimated in a second step the scalar geological and geodetic
moment rates on these faults (Table 3).
The geological moment rate was computed using the Brune (1968)
formulation:
M geol HLu 1
where is the shear modulus of the rocks involved in faulting with
assigned value of 30 GPa, L and H are length and down-dip width, re-
spectively, of the dislocation along which faulting occurred and u is
the average displacement on the dislocation, which corresponds to the
stipulated geologic slip rate (Table 2). We estimated both the Pleisto-
cene and Holocene moment rate depending on the available
information.
The geodetic moment rate was estimated using the Savage and
Simpson (1997) formulation:
strikeslip faults, the indicated value represents the horizontal compo-       

nent of slip.
5.2. Computation of geodetic slip rates
By selecting the closest GPS stations straddled by each fault, we com-
puted the parallel (strike) and perpendicular (tensile or shortening)
horizontal components of the geodetic slip rate (Table 3) by using a
geometrical approach that projects the vector decomposition of GNSS
stations velocities onto the fault trace. Only in ten cases we used two
stations for each pair of blocks across the fault in order to compute the
horizontal slip rate. For the remaining faults, selected stations were
three or more (see Table 3 for details).
For each fault, the kinematic estimation was carried out by using a
Monte Carlo simulation (Metropolis and Ulam, 1949) to a set of selected
stations surrounding the fault. During the iterations of Monte Carlo sim-
ulation, values of station velocities were sampled at random from their
probability distributions. The geometrical approach was used to calcu-
late the kinematic parameters at each iteration. After 10,000 iterations
the result was a probability distribution of possible parameters. The
kinematic parameter estimations were the expected values for the
obtained probability distributions and the associated errors were the
related standard deviations (Table 3).
Within the time period considered in this study, no signicant earth-
quake has occurred in southern Italy nor in the immediate surround-
ings, apart for the 2002 Molise sequence in the Daunia sector of the
eastern domain (Fig. 3), which had a cumulative co-seismic offset of
120 mm for the two main shocks (both with Mw = 5.7) as recorded
by GNSS data (Giuliani et al., 2007). Within the western domain, no es-
timates are available for the offset associated to the 1998 Mw = 5.6
Mercure earthquake. The permanent GNSS stations considered here
were installed after both earthquakes, and only some episodic PTGA
M geod 2H s A Max  H max ;  h min ;  H max h min  2
where is the shear modulus of rocks within the focal volume, with
assigned value of 30 GPa, Hs is the seismogenic thickness (Table 2), A
is the surface area of the investigated region and H max and h min are
the principal horizontal strain-rates previously described. For each
fault listed in Table 2 we dened a rectangular-hull with surface area
dened as A = (4)(L + 2) where 4 and L + 2 are the short and
the long side of the rectangular-hull, L is the length of the fault and ,
with arbitrary assigned value of 8 km, represents the minimum distance
between the fault trace and the side of the rectangular-hull (Fig. 7). By
taking into account the observed horizontal velocity eld and associated
covariance information, in a rst step we computed the expected veloc-
ity values at the nodes of each rectangular-hull and as a second step we
derived the average 2D strain-rate tensor at the center of each
rectangular-hull. Finally, by adopting the formulation described in (2)
and parameters reported in Table 2, we computed the geodetic moment
rate (Table 3).
We did not incorporate in this study an estimation of the seismic
moment rates because of the limited time-span (~ 30 yr) covered by
the instrumental seismicity catalog, which is too short to cover the
recurrence time of most of the large earthquakes and consequently is
not an adequate measure of the seismically-released strain.
7. Results
7.1. Strikeslip faults of the eastern domain
In the eastern part of southern Italy, GNSS velocities depict substan-
tial displacement across a deformation belt spanning between the
Apennines and northern Apulia (Fig. 8). Moving from west to east, the
112 L. Ferranti et al. / Tectonophysics 621 (2014) 101122
b
Fig. 6. a) Sketch map of the four seismogenic domains identied in southern Italy; b) Cumulative frequency plot of the depth-distribution of instrumental seismicity with M 2.2 for the
four seismogenic domains. Earthquakes having depth xed at the default values of 5 and 10 km (usually adopted for mid-continental areas when the depth of the earthquake is poorly
constrained by available seismic data) were also included in the computation.
rst signicant velocity gradient is encountered across an ~30 km NE
SW-trending boundary spatially coinciding with the Biferno River
Valley (n. 1, Fig. 8) in the Daunia sector. Here, no known seismogenic
source is listed in available databases, but our analysis reveals 0.9
0.5 mm/yr right-lateral slip with a minor contraction component
(Fig. 9a) across a structure inferred to run beneath the valley. It is possi-
ble that this structure, reported in generalized structural maps
(Ambrosetti et al., 1987), is part of a broader deformation belt running
offshore the Adriatic Sea north of the Gargano upland and characterized
by thrust and strikeslip earthquakes (Fig. 3; Del Gaudio et al., 2007).
Along the offshore extension of the Biferno structure, oblique thrust
faults accommodate uplift of the Tremiti Island high (Fig. 2) and fold
the sea-oor (Ridente and Trincardi, 2006). Thus, geodetic result on-
land is consistent with marine geophysical data.
The transpressional structure underlying the Biferno Valley merges
to the southwest with the ~ 150 km long EW striking array of right-
lateral faults connecting the Apennines to the Apulia foreland (Fig. 2).
The location of these structures has been proposed in the aftermath of
the 2002 seismic sequence, caused by ruptures along right-lateral
blind fault segments (Fig. 3; Di Luccio et al., 2005). At the western part
of the array, the geodetic signal is however inadequate to precisely esti-
mate the horizontal slip rate across the Frosolone (n. 2, Fig. 8) and
RipabottoniS. Severo sources (n. 3) of the DISS database (Fig. 9a).
The geodetic signal, on the other hand, is better in the eastern part of
the array, within the Gargano highland, where it suggests right-oblique
transtensional displacement at ~ 0.5 mm/yr across the exposed
MattinataS. Marco in Lamis Fault (n. 4). The fault spatially coincides
with a seismically active belt characterized by a mixture of thrust and
strikeslip earthquakes (Fig. 3). The structure consists of three seg-
ments, all of them straddled by GNSS sites. Across the eastern segment,
Holocene dextral slip at ~0.8 mm/yr is recorded by paleoseismological
studies (Piccardi, 1998; Tondi et al., 2005), and, together with the
Pleistocene strikeslip rate estimate range, is consistent with the geo-
detic result for the whole fault system (Fig. 9a). The eastern extension
of the deformation belt is tracked by high-resolution seismic reection
proles offshore Gargano, where it deforms the sea-bed with right-
lateral displacement which decreases to ~ 0.2 mm/yr (Di Bucci et al.,
2009; Ridente and Trincardi, 2006).
To the south, residual GNSS velocities across the EW striking fault
system separating Murge and the lowland south of Gargano
(Castelluccio dei SauriTrani, n. 5; Fig. 8) indicate 1.2 0.3 mm/yr
right-lateral slip. The fault system is buried under the lowland and
does not show seismogenic activity (Figs. 2, 3), but the geodetic dis-
placement is over twofold the estimated maximum geologic slip rate
(Tables 2, 3; Fig. 9a).
An ~EW trending fault system further south is located beneath the
foothills of the Apennines (Mirabella EclanoMonteverde, n. 6, Fig. 8),
and is characterized by 1.1 0.5 mm/yr right-lateral slip with a slight
extensional component. The geodetic signal is in broad agreement
with the inferred geological slip rate and kinematics (Fig. 9a), and
with the proposition of normal-right oblique slip during the MS = 6.6,
1930 earthquake (Pino et al., 2008) on a fault spatially coinciding with
the location of source n. 6. GNSS network conguration and observed
velocities are not adequate to estimate a possible eastern extension of
this fault system in the Murge plateau, however.
Further south, an ~80 km long system of deeply buried (top at 1315
depth) EW striking faults has been proposed (DISS Working Group,
2010) to stretch from the Lucania Apennines to the Apulia foreland at
the border between the Murge and Salento blocks (sources n. 7 and 8,
Fig. 8). Geodetic estimate for the western part of the system (Potenza
Fault), are of a small right-normal motion (Fig. 9a). This result is consis-
tent with the seismological characterization of the structure responsible
for several seismic sequences in the last two decades, with the larger
shocks occurring on EW striking, right-lateral fault planes (Boncio
 L. Ferranti et al. / Tectonophysics 621 (2014) 101122 113

Table 3
Modeling results for the active faults (same as in Table 2), listing for each fault the GNSS sites assigned to individual blocks straddled by the fault, the geodetic slip rate and kinematics
(positive for right-lateral and extensional motion, and negative for left-lateral and contractional motion), and the geodetic and geological moment rate (bold for moment-rate estimations
derived from latest Pleistocene-Holocene geologic slip rate). Question mark on kinematics indicates a more uncertain estimate.

ID Fault name GPS sites Geodetic slip-rate (mm/yr) Kinematic geodesy Moment rate (Nm/yr)

Block 1 Block 2 Strikeslip Opening Geodetic Geologic

Eastern domain
1 Biferno TRIV, MAUR, FRES, PETC LARI, MELA 0.92 0.50 0.29 0.47 R 5.64E + 15 n/a
2 Frosolone BSSO, CABA TRIV, MAUR 0.07 0.96 0.43 0.35 RN? 2.36E + 16 1.61E + 151.61E + 16
3 RipabottoniS. Severo FOGG, MOCO, SVIT MELA, LARI, SPCI 0.13 0.98 1.12 0.92 RN? 2.81E + 16 3.66E + 151.83E + 16
4 S. Marco in LamisMattinata ACQ1, MSAG LASE, SGRT 0.45 0.57 0.53 0.29 RN 7.02E + 15 3.39E + 153.39E + 16
2.71E + 16
5 Castelluccio dei SauriTrani FOGG, MARG CADM, MRVN 1.16 0.28 0.23 0.39 R 2.49E + 16 3.40E + 151.70E + 16
6 Mirabella EclanoMonteverde ANDR, CAFE, GROT ACCA, SERB, SGTA 1.05 0.54 0.70 0.58 RN 1.49E + 16 2.98E + 152.98E + 16
7 Potenza TITO CAMA 0.28 0.28 0.26 0.24 RN 3.72E + 15 2.70E + 141.35E + 15
8 Palagianello SVTO, MATE, GINO NOCI, FASA 1.03 0.66 0.10 0.29 R 1.52E + 16 1.76E + 158.81E + 15
9 AmendolaraSibari TREB ROSS 1.01 1.12 0.76 0.60 LN? 1.31E + 16 3.84E + 165.48E + 16
10 Rossano ROSS PIPA 1.22 0.37 0.78 0.38 RT? 9.00E + 15 3.39E + 16
11 Cecita LUZX, CECI, CAMO PIPA 0.31 0.22 0.81 0.25 RN 5.12E + 15 n/a
12 Lakes CRLM, SERS CCRI, STSV 1.06 0.78 1.05 0.29 RN 1.55E + 16 2.74E + 16
1.37E + 16
13 LameziaCatanzaro SERS, AMAN LAME 0.14 0.32 0.02 0.18 RN? 2.79E + 15 n/a

Eastern domain, shallow-crustal creeping faults

14 Varano ISCH LASE, MSAG 0.16 0.46 2.12 0.32 N 3.05E + 15 n/a
15 Castel del Monte MRVN, CADM, AMUR VALZ 0.98 0.33 1.51 0.31 NR 1.26E + 16 n/a
16 AvenaLauropoli TIMP TREB 0.07 0.44 1.09 0.44 N 3.26E + 15 1.16E + 15

Western domain
17 Acquae Iuliae VAGA LONG 0.37 0.23 1.21 0.23 N 8.10E + 15 1.75E + 153.50E + 15
3.93E + 151.66 + 16
18 Matese Lake LONG, CAMP VAGA, PTRJ 0.65 0.37 0.76 0.52 NL 8.99E + 15 7.75E + 151.55E + 16
19 Boiano Basin LONG, CAMP BSSO, CABA 1.53 0.90 1.74 0.54 NR 6.87E + 15 1.21E + 151.21E + 16
4.97E + 158.94E + 15
20 Volturno Plain N VAGA MODR 0.80 0.21 0.27 0.21 N 4.57e + 015 3.29E + 159.86E + 15
1.31E + 154.60E + 15
21 Ariano Irpino PSB1, SACR SVIT, MOCO, CICL 0.15 0.54 2.06 0.81 N 1.31E + 16 1.34E + 151.34E + 16
22 Lauro AVEL PACA 0.59 0.37 1.61 0.30 N 2.20E + 15 1.06E + 152.64E + 15
23 Volturara BAGN, MCRV TOBE 1.86 0.38 1.30 0.87 NR 1.11E + 16 4.32E + 15
24 Irpinia Fault ANDR, SNAL, MRLC BAGN, MCRV 0.51 0.35 1.52 1.06 NR 1.08E + 16 5.04E + 157.57E + 15
(Colliano segment)
25 Irpinia Fault GIUL DONG, CDRU 0.08 0.32 1.0 0.27 N 6.72E + 15 1.62E + 152.43E + 15
(S. Gregorio segment)
26 MelandroPergola CDRU, DONG TITO 0.45 0.37 2.83 0.22 N 7.47E + 15 6.11E + 146.11E + 15
27 East Agri VOLX GRUM, MCEL 1.63 0.52 0.66 0.29 RT 5.67E + 15 5.48E + 151.02E + 16
8.49E + 15
28 M. Maddalena MTSN, SLCN MCEL, GRUM 1.23 0.64 1.69 1.43 NL 6.08E + 15 9.32E + 149.32E15
2.80E + 15
29 South Diano MTSN CARM 0.43 0.30 1.05 0.30 N 4.13E + 15 4.22E + 155.90E + 15
30 Mercure Basin TIMP CUCC 0.47 0.27 1.54 0.27 N 4.48E + 15 3.33E + 156.66E + 15
31 Pollino SERR, CASS ACRI 0.32 0.34 0.09 0.57 RN? 5.71E + 15 3.84E + 159.60E + 15
3.84E + 157.68E + 15
32 Crati Valley BISI, LUZZ, LUZX CETR, CARO 0.35 0.45 0.16 0.45 RN? 3.20E + 15 1.59E + 151.59E + 16
2.54E + 16

et al., 2007; Di Luccio et al., 2005). To the east, a parallel structure
(Palagianello source) has been proposed to connect the mountain belt
and the foreland plateau (Fig. 8); geodetic data indicate possibly sub-
stantial right-lateral slip at 1.0 0.7 mm/yr (Fig. 9a), in agreement
with the inferred seismogenic source kinematics albeit at slightly larger
rate.
On the Ionian margin of southern Italy, signicant differential mo-
tion exists between GNSS sites in eastern Lucania and northern Calabria
and those further south (Fig. 8). Sites ROSS and PIPA in northern Sila
have left-directed motion with respect to sites in and around the Pollino
Range. The differential motion occurs across a deformation belt which
borders the southern side of Pollino and continues offshore along the
southern ank of the Amendolara Ridge (Fig. 8; n. 9). Morphotectonic
and marine geophysical studies (Ferranti et al., 2009, under revision)
documents that this ~70-km long fault system (AmendolaraSibari) is
active and involves SW-oriented, left-oblique transpressional blind seg-
ments extending down to ~10 km depth. Thanks to the irregular coast-
line and the geodetic network conguration, the GNSS data are able to
track displacement on the offshore fault. The broad left slip estimated
by geodetic data, although biased by uncertainty (Fig. 9a), is in agree-
ment with seismic prole analysis and focal mechanisms of middle-
upper crustal earthquakes, that along the Amendolara Ridge are charac-
terized by left-slip on NW-striking nodal planes (Ferranti et al., 2009,
under revision; Fig. 3).
Further south, on the northern border of the Sila massif, GNSS veloc-
ities document that the NWSE striking RossanoS. Nicola Fault array
(n. 10), has a right-lateral motion at 1.2 0.4 mm/yr, coupled to a
shortening component at 0.8 0.4 mm/yr (Fig. 9a), which may result
from sites ROSS and PIPA being located at a restraining bend of the
fault system (Figs. 2, 8). This nding is consistent with studies proposing
a transpressive character of the fault system (Ferranti et al., 2009; Tansi
et al., 2007; Van Dijk et al., 2000), and with focal solutions of the most
energetic earthquakes (Fig. 3), although the right lateral geodetic mo-
tion is not consistent with geology and seismology. The magnitude of
the geodetic estimation is at the lower boundary of the stipulated geo-
logic rate (15 mm/yr; Galadini et al., 2000). However, we believe
that the geological slip rate, when compared to all other faults of the re-
gion, is probably overestimated. We have arbitrarily reduced the upper
114 L. Ferranti et al. / Tectonophysics 621 (2014) 101122
Fig. 7. Draft of the rectangular hull used for the computation of the geodetic moment-
rates. The upper surface area (A) of the rectangular-hull is dened as A = (4)(L + 2)
where 4 and L + 2 are the short and the long side of the rectangular-hull, L is the length
of the fault and , with arbitrary assigned value of 8 km, represents the minimum distance
between the fault trace and the side of the rectangular-hull. H, dened as H = d / sin
(where d is the difference between Dmax and Dmin values; see main text and Table 2 for de-
tails) represents the down-dip width of the fault; Hs is the crustal seismogenic thickness.
bound to 2.0 mm/yr (Table 2) to maintain coherency with the regional
displacement eld.
In the interior of the Sila massif, the NNWSSE striking Sila Fault sys-
tem (Fig. 8) has been proposed, based on trench investigations, to be re-
sponsible for large (M 6.26.7) historical earthquakes (Galli and Bosi,
2003; Galli and Scionti, 2006). According to Galli and Scionti (2006),
the system is composed of two segments, the Cecita and Lakes Faults
to the NW and SE, respectively, and of minor segments further SE, that
have normal-left oblique kinematics. In the last four centuries, this sys-
tem ruptured almost entirely from NW toward SE (163817441832),
with the exception of the north-western segment, the silent Cecita
Fault. Geodetic observations, on the other hand, indicate right-oblique
transtensional motion for both faults (n. 11, 12, Figs. 8, 9a). The geodetic
strikeslip rate for the Lakes Fault is consistent with the reported
Holocene rate, but no geological information available for the Cecita
Fault.
In the central part of Calabria, a main EW morphological boundary
corresponds to the trace of the LameziaCatanzaro Fault (n. 13; Fig. 8),
which is thought to limit northward the active subduction zone beneath
the Calabrian Arc (Faccenna et al., 2011). Disagreement exists on the re-
cent activity of the fault, which is alternatively considered to have a left-
lateral (Tansi et al., 2007) or a normal (Faccenna et al., 2011) kinematics.
GNSS sites show only a very small differential motion across the fault
(Fig. 9a), however.
7.2. Shallow-crustal creeping faults of the eastern domain
Within the eastern domain, few faults characterized by high-rate
geodetic extension are locally encountered within the transcurrent
fault arrays. These faults have also an inferred or proved geologic exten-
sion, but they are not typically associated to extensional earthquakes or
to large seismic events.
In northern Apulia, on the northeastern tip of Gargano, a well-
constrained diverging velocity gradient documents horizontal exten-
sion of up to 2.1 0.3 mm/yr across the NWSE striking Varano Fault
which dissects the Gargano promontory (n. 14; Fig. 8). The contradicto-
ry pattern of slip when compared to the extent of strikeslip faulting in
the region is reected in the sharp variation in area change pattern at
Gargano from negative in the west to positive in the east (Fig. 5a), and
clearly calls for different processes at hand. Although geologic slip
rates are not available for structure n. 14, the high geodetic extension
is not consistent with the limited length of the fault to be a crustal
seismogenic structure. According to Bertotti et al. (1999), the Gargano
promontory was structured by Neogene thrusts and transpressional
faults rooted above a shallow-crustal NNE-dipping detachment. Based
on the above arguments, we regard the Varano Fault as an ancillary
structure, possibly reactivating the old thrust surface, which accommo-
dates gravity-controlled, seaward motion of the eastern part of Gargano.
Accordingly, we assign to the fault a shallow rooting depth of 5 km
(Table 2).
To the south, on approaching the Adriatic coast of Murge, NE diver-
gence occurs between sites straddled by a NWSE striking discontinuity
which cuts through the plateau (here baptized Castel del Monte Fault,
n. 15; Fig. 8). This structure may coincide with the location of the
small-energy 1991 Castel del Monte seismic sequence (Mmax = 3.1)
which was characterized by prevailing extensional focal mechanisms
(Del Gaudio et al., 2005). Like for the Varano Fault, the signicant
horizontal extension (1.5 0.3 mm/yr) across the Castel del Monte
Fault is suggestive of a contribution from gravity-controlled surface
motion toward the bathymetric low.
On the Ionian side of northern Calabria, signicant divergence is ob-
served between sites TREB on the coast and TIMP in the Pollino Moun-
tain range, and indicates horizontal extension at 1.4 0.5 mm/yr across
a NESW striking fault system (AvenaLauropoli, n. 16; Fig. 8). The geo-
detic results are consistent with geological analysis, which documented
that the AvenaLauropoli Fault is composed of discontinuous and small-
length fault segments rather than a through-going lineament, and is
accompanied by locally dramatic stratal titling indicative of rooting at
shallow depths (Ferranti et al., 2009). The fault was interpreted by
Ferranti et al. (2009) as part of a supercial extensional detachment
related to deep uplift of the Pollino range above transpressional faults.
7.3. Normal faults of the western domain
Moving from the northwest along the axis of the Apennines, the rst
major extensional structures are encountered at the Matese massif, lo-
cated at the CampaniaMolise boundary. On the southwest side of the
massif, sites LONG and VAGA support a geodetic extension of 1.2
0.2 mm/yr on the Acquae Iuliae Fault (n. 17, Figs. 8, 9b), which is viewed
as the source of large historical and Holocene earthquakes, and was al-
ready identied as the location of a signicant geodetic velocity gradient
(Giuliani et al., 2009). Our geodetic extension estimate is by far lesser
than the value (2.53 mm/yr) shown by Giuliani et al. (2009), but it is
broadly consistent with the upper bound (0.8 mm/yr) Late Holocene
range proposed on the base of trench data by Galli and Naso (2009).
Within the Matese massif, geodetic data indicate divergence across a
NWSE striking and SW-dipping fault system (Matese Lake Fault, n. 18)
which cuts along the central part of the range. The fault is thought to
have Holocene activity (Bousquet, 1973; Galadini et al., 2000), but it is
not well parameterized nor included in the DISS database. Geodetic ve-
locities of sites straddled by the fault, however, are consistent with a
normal-left oblique horizontal motion at ~0.7 mm/yr. This estimate is
moderately larger than the geologic extension computed from parame-
ters drawn from a published cross-section (Calabr et al., 2003), which
yield component rate of ~ 0.2 to ~ 0.4 mm/yr, assuming an Early
(1.8 Myr) to Middle (0.8 Myr) Pleistocene inception of faulting, respec-
tively (Fig. 9b).
On the contrary, agreement exists on the seismogenic role of the
NE-dipping Boiano normal fault, located at the northern border of
the Matese massif (n. 19, Fig. 8), which is considered responsible
for the Me = 6.6, 1805 earthquake (Fig. 1; DISS Working Group,
2010). Geodetic analysis indicates signicant extension (1.7
0.5 mm/yr) and a component of right-lateral slip (1.5 0.9) for
the fault (Fig. 9b). Our extension slip estimation is moderately larger
than the inferred Pleistocene and Holocene (Galli and Galadini,
2003) rate and broadly consistent with the estimate of Giuliani
et al. (2009).
Between the Matese massif and the Tyrrhenian coastline of northern
Campania region, the horizontal GNSS velocities indicate an additional
albeit minor right-lateral slip and extension (Figs. 8; 10). However,
the stations distribution is not adequate to assess where the gradient
is precisely occurring, and thus to constrain the location of the active
 L. Ferranti et al. / Tectonophysics 621 (2014) 101122 115

Fig. 8. Modeled active faults and seismogenic sources (numbers according to Tables 2, 3), and labeled GNSS sites and related velocity in the Apulian reference frame. Localities as in Fig. 2.

fault(s). These are commonly thought to lie at the inner border of the
northern part of the Campania plain (Volturno Plain Fault, n. 20,
Galadini et al., 2000) where they form a NWSE trending, ~ 80 km
long system of right-hand en-echelon strands of limited length
(Fig. 8). If the Volturno Plain Fault is the active faults, then the strain ac-
cumulation on it is consistent with the Pleistocene and Holocene rates.
In the Sannio area, geodetic extension at 2.1 0.8 mm/yr is ob-
served across the Ariano Irpino Fault (n. 21; Figs. 8, 10). This source
lies at the boundary between the western and eastern domain, and is
thought to be a blind normal-oblique structure (Table 2) associated to
destructive historical earthquakes (Fig. 1). Note that, because velocities
of sites SACR and PSB1 are similar and are both different from SVIT,
MOCO and CICL, we slightly turned counter-clockwise the reported
strike of the fault to let SACR and PSB1 in the western or footwall
block and the remaining sites in the hanging-wall block. Although the
fault parameters proposed in the DISS database make this fault more
akin to the eastern domain (Table 1), our results are more consistent
with it being part of the western, extensional domain.
Within the Picentini Mountains, albeit constrained by few GNSS
sites, geodetic velocities suggest motion across some faults which
however lack evidence of Holocene activity. Both the Lauro (n. 22)
and the Volturara (n. 23) Faults (Fig. 8) have a geodetic extension
of ~1.6 mm/yr, the latter associated to a signicant (2.2 0.2 mm/yr)
right-lateral slip. For both faults, the geodetic estimate is larger than the
geological slip rate (Fig. 9b).
East of the Picentini Mountains, the Irpinia Fault is a well character-
ized structure because it slipped during the Mw = 6.9, 1980 earthquake
(Pantosti et al., 1993). Co-seismic rupture observations showed that the
fault is segmented, and paleo-seismological investigations have sug-
gested a 0.40.6 mm/yr extension rate (DISS Working Group, 2010).
116 L. Ferranti et al. / Tectonophysics 621 (2014) 101122

a) b)

Fig. 9. Horizontal fault-parallel and fault-normal components of the geodetic and geologic slip rate for individual faults in the: a) eastern domain; and b) western domain of southern Italy.
Geologic and geodetic rates drawn from Tables 2 and 3, respectively. The geologic rate for source n. 28 (thicker dashed line) includes the estimate for the MelandroPergola (DISS Working
Group, 2010, Table 2) Fault, and an additional ~0.4 mm/yr including the summed contribution from the Vallo di Diano (VD) and Alburni (A) Faults (Papanikolaou and Roberts, 2007),
assuming a ~60 dip.

GNSS data indicate 1.5 1.1 and 1.0 0.3 mm/yr extension for the
Colliano (n. 24) and S. Gregorio (n. 25) segments of the fault, respective-
ly, which are larger than the trench data (Tables 2, 3, Fig. 10). Probably,
the estimate for the S. Gregorio segment include contributions from
other faults southwest of the Irpinia Fault and north of sites DONG
and CDRU.
The Cilento promontory, which faces the Tyrrhenian Sea in southern
Campania, appears to behave as a geodetically and geologically coher-
ent block. The boundary sector between the Cilento promontory and
the Apennines is marked by Quaternary extensional basins (Vallo di
Diano and Val d'Agri, Fig. 2). Different views exist about the location
of the master fault controlling the destructive seismogenic activity in
the area (Cello et al., 2003; DISS Working Group, 2010; Maschio et al.,
2005), specically whether it is NE- or SW-dipping structure.
In the northern part of the boundary sector between Cilento and the
Apennines, substantial divergent motion is recorded in a sector span-
ning sites CDRU and DONG in the west and TITO in the east (Fig. 8). Ex-
tension is here modeled as largely accommodated by the NE-dipping
MelandroPergola Fault (n. 26), although motion could be also occur-
ring across the northern strand of the 45-km long Vallo di Diano Fault,
and on the Alburni Fault (Fig. 2). The geodetic extension (2.8
0.2 mm/yr) is larger than the geological estimate (Fig. 9b), even when
the additional contribution of the Vallo di Diano and Alburni Faults
(Papanikolaou and Roberts, 2007) are included, and suggests current
slip on all the faults plus additional internal strain in the surrounding
crust.
PTGA sites CARM and MTSN straddling the southern strand of the
Vallo di Diano Fault (n. 29, Fig. 8), which limit the eastern side of the
Vallo di Diano basin, have a velocity residual indicative of 1.1
0.3 mm/yr extension. This result appears consistent with structural
and paleoseismological investigations (Spina et al., 2008; Villani and
Pierdominici, 2010) although at a slightly higher geodetic value
(Fig. 9b). Unfortunately, we have no sites straddling the central part of
the Vallo di Diano Fault to assess its geodetic activity.
Regarding the Val d'Agri basin, uncertainty exists on the geodetic
horizontal slip rate for the NE-dipping Monti della Maddalena
Fault (n. 28; Fig. 8), where eld studies and detailed seismological ob-
servations (Improta et al., 2010; Maschio et al., 2005; Valoroso et al.,
2009) record active extension controlling the recent evolution of the
basin. Geodetic observations broadly document an extension (1.7
1.4 mm/yr) and a left-lateral slip component (1.2 0.6 mm/yr) across
the M. Maddalena Fault, at the upper bound of the Pleistocene and
Holocene estimate (Fig. 9b).
To the eastern border of the Val d'Agri basin, the SW-dipping East
Agri Fault (n. 27) has been proposed to be an active normal to left-
oblique fault (Benedetti et al., 1998; Cello et al., 2003). Our analysis is
not consistent with this view, but rather indicates right-lateral slip at
1.6 0.5 mm/yr and a shortening component for the fault (Fig. 9b).
The southward continuation of the active extensional belt in south-
ern Lucania is not well constrained either by focal mechanisms or by ac-
tive fault studies. Diverging GNSS velocities between sites of the axial
zone (TIMP) and of the Tyrrhenian margin (CUCC) suggests current
 L. Ferranti et al. / Tectonophysics 621 (2014) 101122
extension (1.5 0.3 mm/yr) accommodated across inferred active nor-
mal faults of the Mercure basin (n. 30; Fig. 8). The basin has been struck
by the 1998 Mw 5.6 Castelluccio Earthquake and in the last few years it
has been experiencing an intense, low-energy seismic sequence (Arrigo
et al., 2006; Totaro et al., 2013). The geodetic estimate is substantially
larger than the Holocene estimates (Fig. 9b), but the signicant distance
between the GNSS sites (Fig. 8) could hinder the existence of additional
sources and/or diffuse strain.
To the southeast of the Mercure Basin, along the south-western bor-
der of the Pollino range, a number of PTGA sites constrain motion on the
WNW-striking Pollino Fault (n. 31, Fig. 8), which is regarded as the main
Neogene transcurrent shear zone of northern Calabria (Ghisetti and
Vezzani, 1982; Van Dijk et al., 2000). Investigators proposed a main
left-lateral kinematics (Bousquet and Gueremy, 1969; Catalano et al.,
1993; Ghisetti and Vezzani, 1982), and some suggested it was
reactivated as normal since the Middle Pleistocene (Schiattarella,
1988). Based on paleoseismological investigations, it was argued that
the central part of the fault is active in extension together with the
NNWSSE striking Castrovillari Fault to the south, but the whole fault
system is currently characterized by an important seismic gap (Cinti
et al., 1997, 2002; Michetti et al., 1997). Although uncertainty is signi-
cant, our geodetic observations are not supportive of the left-lateral slip,
rather they possibly indicate minor right-lateral slip and extension
(Fig. 9b), in agreement with the reactivation model. Geodetic data, on
the other hand, are consistent with the geological slip rate estimate
for the fault (Fig. 9b).
South of the Pollino Fault, the Crati Valley is bordered on both sides
by normal faults (Monaco and Tortorici, 2000; Tortorici et al., 1995), co-
incident with strong historical and moderate instrumental earthquakes
(Figs. 2, 3). GNSS station distribution allows to estimate extension on
the eastern border fault (n. 32, Fig. 8), although the activity of the north-
ern part of the western fault system, suggested by geologic studies
(Monaco and Tortorici, 2000), cannot be neglected. A small right-
oblique extension displacement is detected (n. 30), in agreement with
fault-kinematic studies (Faccenna et al., 2011) and Pleistocene rate
estimate.
a)
Fig. 10. Geodetic and geologic moment rates computed for individual faults in the: a) western and, b) eastern domain of southern Italy. Geologic and geodetic rates drawn from Tables 2
and 3, respectively.
117
8. Discussion
8.1. Lateral variability of geodetic deformation in southern Italy
It is a common believe that the current tectonic regime in southern
Italy is dominated by extension along the axis of the Apennines
(e.g. Montone et al., 2012), with localized strikeslip faulting in
northern Apulia. Our analysis, supported by a detailed inspection of
geological and seismological data, is rather consistent with a sharp
and continuous spatial segregation between the western and eastern
parts of the region, which are characterized by extension and strike
slip deformation, respectively (Figs. 2 to 4). In the following, we
discuss the broad pattern of geodetic horizontal slip rates for fault
systems within both domains, and specically how do they vary
across and along the orogen. For sake of simplicity, we refer to the
average geodetic estimate and neglect uncertainties.
Within the western sector, we nd that the extension rate on indi-
vidual normal faults is broadly within the ~ 0.81.7 mm/yr range
(Fig. 9b). Three faults, located at the tip (n. 31, 32) or off (n. 20) the
main axial fault array, have lower extension rates of ~ 0.10.3 mm/yr.
Only two sources (n. 21 and 26) have larger rates, but the geodetic esti-
mate probably includes contributions from more than a single fault and/
or signicant internal block strain. A mostly right-lateral strikeslip
component is found for faults of the western domain, but it is limited
at ~0.40.6 mm/yr, and, given uncertainty, is of low statistical signi-
cance. Only few faults have a signicant (up to ~1.5 mm/yr) component
of strikeslip motion (Fig. 9b).
Although we acknowledge that extension in the western sector of
southern Italy is focused within the high mountains, we rene this
view and surmise that it is not concentrated on a single, through-
going fault. Rather, it appears that at least two parallel fault swarms
along the axis of the Apennines (e.g. Matese, Irpinia, Val d'Agri sectors,
Fig. 8) are needed to accommodate most (~2/3 to ~9/10) of the regional
geodetic strain gradient. Other faults to the west, located at the bor-
der of the coastal plains (e.g. n. 20, 22), accommodate the remaining
strain.
b)
118 L. Ferranti et al. / Tectonophysics 621 (2014) 101122
More signicantly, the magnitude of geodetic extension and strain
appears to vary systematically moving along the axis of the chain paral-
lel to the main faults arrays (Figs. 8, 10). Within the CampaniaMolise
sector in the north, the aggregated extension accommodated by faults
at the Matese massif (faults n. 17 to 19) is ~3.6 mm/yr, and an addition-
al 0.3 mm/yr extension may occur west of this location (n. 20). Moving
to the southeast, extension decreases to ~ 2 mm/yr in Sannio (n. 21),
and then to ~ 2.3 mm/yr in the Picentini Mountains (n. 2223 at
~1.5 mm/yr, with an additional ~0.8 mm/yr extension accommodated
by oblique motion on fault n. 6 to the east) and ~11.5 mm/yr in Irpinia
(n. 2425). Thus, a 1.52 mm/yr decrease in extension rate from
~ 3.5 mm/yr to ~ 1.52 mm/yr characterizes the transition from
northern (Matese) to central (SannioPicentiniIrpinia) Campania
(Fig. 9b).
A second sector of relatively greater extension (~ 2.8 mm/yr) is
found in the Vallo di DianoVal d'Agri area at the CampaniaLucania
border (aggregated contribution of n. 2829, and n. 26 with additional
strain admittedly taken by faults west of it). South of here, in southern
Lucania, the magnitude of extension decreases progressively, but
rapidly to ~ 1.5 mm/yr (n. 30) and down to near null in northern
Calabria (n. 3132). In southern Lucania and northern Calabria, it
appears that only a single fault swarm is capable of accommodating
the extension (Fig. 8). The variation in extension magnitude along
the axis of the chain, with two patches of greatest values at the
MoliseCampania and CampaniaLucania borders, is reected in
the pattern of area and shear strain change (Fig. 5a, b).
The observed trend in geodetic data is consistent with the long-term
slip rate pattern (Fig. 9b), and appears a persistent feature of crustal
faults in the Southern Apennines (Papanikolaou and Roberts, 2007).
The latter authors studied the active faults between Irpinia and northern
Calabria (roughly between our sources n. 23 and 31, encompassing the
southern sector of greater extension) and found individual and aggre-
gated slip rates which are greater at the center and diminish toward
the tips of the individual faults and regional fault array. We found a sim-
ilar pattern in geodetic extension not only for the southern fault array,
but also for the northern one from Matese to Irpinia (Fig. 9b). Although
when compared to geologic rates, the geodetic rates are one to twofold
higher (Fig. 9b), our ndings lend support to the conclusion that region-
al extension in the Apennines occurs in discrete patches, and crustal
faults interact to maintain the established geometry and slip rate
pattern of the array (Papanikolaou and Roberts, 2007). The possible rea-
sons for the magnitude discrepancy between geologic and geodetic
rates are discussed in the next section.
When compared to normal faults of the western domain, faults of
the eastern sector have lower strikeslip rates distributed within two
average clusters of ~0.10.3 mm/yr and ~11.2 mm/yr (Fig. 9a). Unlike
the western domain, the lower slip rates and the higher uncertainty for
faults of the eastern domain hinders the detection of possible longitudi-
nal gradients in magnitude. The associated fault-normal component of
the horizontal slip rate appears larger in northern Calabria, and smaller
in the Apulian sector, where it mostly characterizes faults closer to the
western domain. The fault-normal component typically changes from
extensional close to the western boundary (n. 2, 3 and 6, but also n.
21 at the border with the western domain), to null or slightly contrac-
tional in the Apulia foreland (n. 1, 2, 8). A similar pattern was already
noted in seismological data (Boncio et al., 2007) for the Apulian faults,
and supports the correlation between surface geodetic observations
and deep seismogenic processes.
Finally, extension at ~12 mm/yr is extracted for some faults within
the eastern domain (n. 14 to 16, Fig. 8) which are: a) located near the
coast; b) of limited length; c) surrounded by seismologically active
strikeslip and reverse faults. These faults do not form a through-
going belt, but rather they are isolated segments. The observed
extension magnitude is clearly off-scale when compared to their
length according to well-established empirical relations (Wells and
Coppersmith, 1994), and rmly sustain the interpretation, supported by
eld study (e.g. Ferranti et al., 2009, for source n. 16), of their gravitational
nature.
8.2. Relation between geodetic and geologic deformation
Geodetic horizontal slip rates and moment rates computed in this
work are generally larger than the reported geological rates, and only
in some cases are at the upper bound of their uncertainty range, partic-
ularly for extensional faults of the western domain (Figs. 9 to 10). As al-
ready pointed out elsewhere (e.g. Friedrich et al., 2003), there may be
various reasons for the observed discrepancy between geodetic and
geological observations. On the one hand, there could be missing faults,
or signicant internal strain between the GNSS stations and the
modeled fault trace. This non-recoverable deformation may result
from slip on multiple small faults within the blocks that are too small
and have too low slip rates (1 mm/yr) to be detected by GNSS obser-
vations. Based on the amount of research carried so far, it is unlikely that
important active faults have gone unnoticed in the Apennines. For ex-
ample, the Volturara Fault (n. 23) has a higher geodetic than geologic
rate with no additional large fault intervening between the GNSS sites,
and this is possibly indicative of diffuse internal strain.
Another reason for the discrepancy could be the known possibility of
time uctuations in the geodetic record, which in several cases turns to
be unrepresentative of the longer-term deformation (e.g. Friedrich et al.,
2003). These uctuations may record mechanical transients during the
seismic cycle (interseismic recoverable strain or post-seismic rebound
effects) which are smoothed out in the permanent strain recorded by
the geological offsets. Perhaps, post-seismic effects associated to the M
6.9, 1980 Irpinia earthquake, which may derive by processes occurring
at the ductile layer depth (e.g. Della Via et al., 2003), conspire with
other uncertainty sources to augment the discrepancy between the geo-
detic and geological record in the Irpinia sector of central Campania
(faults n. 24, 25).
Finally, it could be argued that part of the discrepancy may be caused
by sliding processes at some of the GNSS sites which led to an overesti-
mation of extension magnitude. However, because almost all measure-
ment sites are installed in hard bedrock (see Section 4.1), we exclude
that gravitational sliding is present in our estimates.
Clearly, our geodetic estimates have a yet large range, because a
large number of GNSS velocity estimation are characterized by uncer-
tainties of ~ 0.3 mm/yr, which is in the same range of the geological
slip-rate of most of the faults studied here. Because uncertainties are
inversely proportional to the observation time span, the current
or planned increment of the observation time interval at these
sites will lead to a reduction of uncertainty values at 0.1 mm/yr level
(e.g. Herring, 2003).
Notwithstanding geodetic uncertainty, the geodetic and geological
estimate still will not match. We are aware that a sound interpretation
of the relation between the geodetic and geologic deformation relies
on a knowledge of the seismic versus aseismic behavior of the fault,
which may be provided by a quantitative appraisal of the historical seis-
micity associated to the fault, far beyond the scope of the paper. We can
only make a qualitative estimation of the seismic behavior of faults by
inspection of their spatial relation with the historical seismicity release
pattern (Fig. 1).
Within the axial part of the chain, where destructive earthquakes are
reasonably attributed to extensional faults (Figs. 1, 2), and seismic ef-
ciency on the 600 yr time-window is up to 100% (Palano et al., 2011), a
discrepancy between geodetic and geologic rates has different implica-
tions depending on the timing of the last earthquake rupture.
Geodetically active faults at the CampaniaMolise boundary
(Acquae Iuliae, Matese Lake, Boiano n. 17 to 19), have geodetic rates
only slightly larger than, or comparable to geologic rates. Because the
Boiano Fault lastly ruptured in the Me = 6.6, 1805 earthquake (DISS
Working Group, 2010), this result would suggest transient effects or dif-
fuse strain. On the opposite, the Acquae Iuliae Fault, which is viewed as
 L. Ferranti et al. / Tectonophysics 621 (2014) 101122
the source of the Me = 6.3, 1349 event (Galli and Naso, 2009), may be of
some concern given the substantial time elapsed since. The Matese Lake
Fault, for which large historical events are not reported, might be ef-
ciently releasing by means of creep or low seismicity (note however,
that the location on a high mountain terrain renders the historical seis-
micity record for the fault more uncertain). While this paper was in the
review process, a seismic sequence (Mmax = 4.95) occurred in the area,
whose epicentral distribution (http://iside.rm.ingv.it/) coincides with
the Matese Lake Fault. This occurrence allows to argue that if the fault
is (at least partially) locked, the signicant geodetic strain accumulation
on the fault may be of concern, in light of its recent seismic activation.
Faults in central and southern Campania, on the contrary, have geo-
detic moments by far larger than geological moment rates (n. 21 to 25,
Fig. 10b). For some faults, post-seismic effects (Irpinia Fault segments)
or diffuse strain may be postulated. Because no historical earthquakes
are associated to the Lauro (n. 22) and Volturara (n. 23) Faults, signi-
cant seismic loading can be excluded, and the discrepancy may result
from transient creep. On the other hand, the high geodetic rates for
the Lucania faults may be of concern considering the location in a de-
structive seismic area (Maschio et al., 2005; Villani and Pierdominici,
2010).
On the opposite, the geodetic and geologic rates are broadly compa-
rable in Calabria (Fig. 10b). This result may be insightful for the Pollino
Fault (n. 31), which is thought to be coinciding with a seismic gap based
on trench investigations (Cinti et al., 1997, 2002; Michetti et al., 1997).
Although the geodetic and geologic rates are both low, their similarity
might be of concern.
Conversely, in regions of low to null seismicity, if the geodetic and
geologic moment rates are equal, creep or very long recurrence intervals
for seismic events may be postulated. This is the case of the extensional
array located at the border of the coastal plains (n. 20, 22), which show a
minor albeit appreciable geodetic signal. We do not know whether this
motion is accommodated aseismically (e.g. Ferranti et al., 2008), as sug-
gested by the lack of signicant seismic events (Figs. 1, 3), or faults of
the Tyrrhenian margin have recurrence times longer than the complete-
ness interval of the historical catalogs. Certainly, these faults have ac-
commodated the most severe displacement of the Apennines upper
crust down to the Tyrrhenian Sea during the last 23 Myr, and thus a
long-recurrence activation cannot be neglected.
Similarly, the eastern domain, which is characterized by diffuse
strikeslip deformation and low to moderate seismicity, may be charac-
terized by faults with efcient seismic release or by long-recurrence
earthquakes. For instance, signicant geodetic motion, comparable
with geologic rates, is found for sources in northern Apulia and in the
Apennines foothills (n. 2 to 6, Fig. 10a). On the one hand, it is possible
that signicant creep is occurring on these faults. However, because it
was proposed that large past earthquakes may have activated some
fault segments (e.g. Fracassi and Valensise, 2007), our observation raises
the possibility of future ruptures.
8.3. Different engines for the active deformation domains
Appraisal of independent geodetic, geological and seismological
datasets shows a remarkable consistency within both the western and
eastern tectonic domains. The boundary between the two domains is
sharp and runs along the high crest of the Apennines, where active nor-
mal faults accommodate large part of the geodetic extension (Figs. 2, 3,
4). Noteworthy, this boundary spatially coincides with the deep contact
between the young and uplifted Tyrrhenian Moho to the west, and the
subjacent, older Adriatic Moho to the east (Fig. 2, inset). The eastward
encroachment of the Tyrrhenian Moho is thought to be a result of the
progressive roll-back and delamination of the Adriatic slab and accom-
panying migration of the locus of stretching and asthenospheric upwell-
ing in the Tyrrhenian back-arc basin (Cassinis et al., 2003; Di Stefano
et al., 2011; Malinverno and Ryan, 1986).
119
The direction of geodetic extension (Fig. 5a) is ~ NESW along the
Southern Apennines, but turns to ~EW in Calabria following the oro-
graphic bend, the rotation of seismological axes (Fig. 3) and the curva-
ture of the deep Moho boundary (Fig. 2). Although numerical models
are needed to quantitatively appraise the relation between processes
acting at different depths, these observations are taken to imply that ex-
tension in the high Apennines is a direct result of the impingement of
the Tyrrhenian Moho and delamination of the Adriatic crust, and is
thus controlled by an excess potential energy. Geodetic observations
are consistent with seismological data in supporting the notion that sur-
face and deep crustal processes are intimately twinned along the axis of
the Apennines.
What is remarkable is the clear spatial segregation, within the axial
part of the western domain, of two discrete fault arrays with the highest
slip and strain rates localized at the CampaniaMolise and Campania
Lucania boundary, respectively (Figs. 5, 10). As already noted, the geo-
detic pattern is persistent in the geologic record (Papanikolaou and
Roberts, 2007). The two fault arrays and shear strain regions in the
Apennines are mirrored to the east by the physiographic difference
between Gargano and Murge, with an intervening lowland. We
speculate that a deep segmentation between the two foreland blocks
(e.g. Doglioni et al., 1994; Ferranti and Oldow, 2005) has caused a
spatially shifted encroachment of the Tyrrhenian Moho beneath the
Apennines, which in turn has controlled the position and evolution
of the two sectors of localized extension in the upper crust of the
Apennines.
On the other hand, different causes must be invoked for the geodetic
activity of strikeslip faults in the eastern domain. The concealed and
diffuse pattern of low slip rate faults are consistent with a model of re-
activation of Mesozoic or older extensional faults affecting the continen-
tal interior of the Adriatic micro-plate (Boncio et al., 2007; Di Bucci et al.,
2006). Although seismological data mostly indicate active displacement
only in Gargano and northern Calabria (Figs. 1, 3), geodetic observations
indicate a more diffuse pattern of strain accumulation and release.
Overall, the transcurrent and locally oblique motion currently accom-
modated on these faults may be seen as a far-eld response to the colli-
sion between the southern part of Adria, and the Dinarids and Albanian
sector of Europe (Hollenstein et al., 2003; Jouanne et al., 2012; Oldow
and Ferranti, 2005; Oldow et al., 2002).
9. Concluding remarks
Despite the limited time-span covered by the GNSS data (about 85%
of the permanent sites have an observation interval shorter than 5 yr,
and episodic sites have observation interval of ~15 yr), we observe for
several faults a good agreement between the pattern of geodetic and
geological deformation, albeit the geodetic rates are largely or at the
upper bound of geological rates.
Notwithstanding the locally signicant uncertainty and the likely
existence of transient uctuations in geodetic slip rate estimation, our
results supply vital information for rening the understanding of active
faults in the region. For most of these faults, the geological slip rate is to
date poorly constrained (Table 2). The results presented here are partic-
ularly encouraging for the study of the eastern domain strikeslip faults,
where the geological slip rate is difcult to assess due to their deep blind
nature and the low deformation rates.
Of importance, we detect signicant right-lateral geodetic displace-
ment in areas of the eastern sector where no active structures are re-
ported in available datasets (e.g. n. 1), or where the inferred sources
show a weak evidence of activity (e.g. n. 5). Although we are not able
at this stage to discern whether it could represent a seismic hazard
threat or not, this outcome is relevant for near future active tectonic
analysis.
The geodetically-based renement of slip rate for active faults has
important implications for both fault-based and time-dependent seis-
mic hazard assessment models. At present, the national seismic hazard
120 L. Ferranti et al. / Tectonophysics 621 (2014) 101122
map (Meletti et al., 2008) does not include individual seismogenic
sources, mostly for the difculty of characterizing their seismicity be-
cause of the large uncertainty on the deformation rate (see Table 2).
Thus, incorporation of geodetic slip rates may effectively contribute to-
ward a fault-based seismic hazard assessment (Peruzza et al., 2010,
2011; Roberts et al., 2004), even in this region of low and diffuse
deformation.
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at http://dx.
doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2014.02.007.
Acknowledgments
This research was conducted under the auspices of a collaborative
research initiative funded by various sources in Italy and in the United
States. The GNSS campaigns could not have been carried out without
the diligent work of many undergraduate and graduate students from
Italy and the United States. The careful reviews of B. Pace and I.
Papanikolaou were instrumental in clarifying several aspects of the
work.
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