GNGTS 2023 - Atti del 41° Convegno Nazionale

Session 1.1 - POSTER GNGTS 2023 New Geological And Paleoseismological Data on the Seismogenic Source of the 1654 Southern Lazio Earthquake: the Roveto Valley Fault (Central Italy) D. Maceroni 1 , G. Dixit Dominus 3 , S. Gori 2 , E. Falcucci 2 , F. Galadini 2 , M. Moro 2 and M. Saroli 1,2 1 Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Roma, Italy, 2 Università degli Studi di Cassino e del Lazio Meridionale, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile e Meccanica (DICeM), Cassino, Italy, 3 Mares S. R. L, Roma, Italy We investigated the Late Quaternary activity of a major, crustal fault affecting the southern sector of Central Apennines, the Roveto Valley Fault (also known as Liri Valley fault). This sector of the chain was hit by numerous M>5 historical seismic events. For some of these, e.g., the 1654 one (Mw 6.33), the causative seismogenic source has never been conclusively defined. Within this seismotectonic framework, the recent activity of the Roveto Valley Fault is still a matter of debate. Some authors defined its activity as ended in the Middle Pleistocene; others considered it as currently active and seismogenic at least in its southern portion. We collected new geologic and geomorphologic data along the eastern (left) flank of the Roveto Valley, where the fault crops out, and we identified evidence of displacement of alluvial fans that we attributed to the Early, Middle, and Late Pleistocene. Moreover, the paleoseismological analysis allowed us to define the activation of the Roveto Valley fault also during historical times, that is, over the past few centuries. Evidence of this has been collected along a large sector of the fault trace, from Civitella Roveto (to the North) to Pescosolido (to the South) for a length of about 30-35 kilometres. As for the northernmost sector of the fault, that is from Civitella Roveto to the North, geo-archaeological evidence indicate that the fault is not active and capable, at least since the Middle Pleistocene, allowing to define the lenght of the fault as surface which display evidence of Late Quaternary activity. The results of our studies contribute to improving the knowledge of the seismotectonic setting of a large sector of the Central Apennines. Indeed, proving the current activity of the Roveto Valley fault casts new light on possible seismogenic sources of major seismicity of central Italy, potentially responsible for severe damage over a wide area and to relevant cities, Avezzano and Sora being among them. Corresponding author: deborah.maceroni@unicas.it