GNGTS 2015 - Atti del 34° Convegno Nazionale

164 GNGTS 2015 S essione 1.3 their running. Consequently, seismological knowledge of the Sicily Channel, and Pantelleria Island in particular, is still lacking in detail. Moreover, there is no permanent local network on the island, which could provide useful data, particularly on the microseismicity. Between 2006 and 2007, we installed a temporary seismic network on the island of Pantelleria, with the aim of improving the knowledge on the local seismicity, and checking for any similarities with other volcanic areas, such as microseismic events that are typical of a hydrothermal environment (e.g. Fossa of Vulcano; Alparone et al. , 2010). In this paper, we compare the instrumental and historical seismicity, and provide a review on the historical eruptions in the Sicily Channel. Finally, we show the results of the experiment with the mobile seismic network deployed at Pantelleria. Geological framework. Pantelleria is located in the Sicily Channel, a relatively shallow seaway (average depth 350 m), connecting the African continent to Sicily (Fig. 1). The Sicily Channel is affected by extensional tectonic processes, and characterized by three main tectonic depressions (the Pantelleria, Linosa andMalta troughs), which are the expression of a continental rift, extending in a NW-SE direction. The tectonic depressions of the Sicily Channel have been interpreted as large and discrete pull-apart basins involving deep crustal levels that developed in front of the Africa-Europe collisional belt within a large dextral wrench zone (Cello et al. , 1985; Reuther and Eisbacher, 1985; Finetti and Del Ben, 2005). The Sicily Channel is also a region of important volcanic phenomena. Regional magnetic anomalies clearly indicate an alignment of volcanic bodies on the seafloor NW and SE of Pantelleria as far as 37 km from the island, following a linear trend compatible with the main direction of the rift (Lodolo et al. , 2012 and references therein). According to Argnani (1990), the basins are due to normal faulting, and strike-slip motion is found in a N-S trending “separation zone”, located between the troughs of Pantelleria, Linosa and Malta. This zone separates elements with different structural features and age (Argnani, 1990) and an effusive, Fig. 1 – General framework (A) and structural pattern (B) of the Sicily Channel (modified after Lanzafame et al. , 1994; Reuther and Eisbacher, 1985). The inset in the lower right corner shows the map of Pantelleria island; the yellow triangles show the stations of the mobile seismic network running at Pantelleria island from June 2006 to February 2007.