GeoBalocchi's Blog

Abstract This article deals with the geological-structural analysis of the rock outcrops along the River Secchia near Castellarano (northern Italy). The outcrops studied belong to the Ranzano Formation (Epiligurian Succession), which in this area represents the lower part of the arenaceous-onglomeratic facies of the Val Pessola Member. From a tectonic viewpoint, the outcrops are located within an area comprised between the Viano syncline to the west and the Montegibbio monocline to the east. The brittle tectonic structures are found along a fault system where the eastern block is lifted compared with the lower western block (Viano syncline). Geological-structural survey of the area allowed the presence of structures, known as deformation bands, to be recognised. They are small millimetre-scale faults present in arenaceous rock types, where fracturing of the grains takes place by shearing. During the survey, structures of different mesofaults were also identifed and grouped together i...

Abstract The 2016 central Italy earthquake sequence, which started on 24th August with a Mw 6.0 event, was followed by numerous aftershocks located southeast and northwest of the epicentre. The hypocenters deepened progressively from SW to NE, followed by a marked depth increase in the easternmost areas. In this sector of the Apennines, the fault plane solutions for the main events consist of a NE-SW trending active extension normal faulting, as described by several authors. Through the analysis of the central Italy seismic sequence, a geometric model of regional detachment, characterised by a NE-dipping low-angle plane with normal kinematics, is proposed. This seismotectonic model shows the same features as in the Tiber valley, where the extensional fault system is characterised by a NE-dipping low-angle “Casteluccio-Amatrice” detachment with SW-dipping master faults, antithetical to the previous one. Riassunto La sequenza sismica dell’Italia centrale del 2016 e la faglia no...