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Subduction zone geometry and stress patterns in the tyrrhenian sea

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Abstract

Joint hypocenter determination is performed for intermediate and deep earthquakes of the Tyrrhenian Sea region.

This analysis allowed us to obtain a catalogue of 70 well-located events in this peculiar Benioff zone, which is characterized by quite low seismic activity, compared to the Pacific deep earthquake regions. The method used for the analysis is that ofFrohlich (1979), a variant of the successive approximation technique, which allows use of a great number of events and stations but saves computer memory. The results show a spoon-shaped Benioff zone, dipping NW in the Tyrrhenian Sea to 500km depth. 32 reliable fault-plane solutions have been determined using these new earthquake locations, confirming the predominance of down-dip compression in the central part of the slab and more complex motion along the borders of the zone, as previously suggested byGasparini et al. (1982).

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Iannaccone, G., Scarcella, G. & Scarpa, R. Subduction zone geometry and stress patterns in the tyrrhenian sea. PAGEOPH 123, 819–836 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00876972

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