S13B-2799
High Resolution Vp and Vp/Vs Local Earthquake Tomography of the Val d'Agri Region (Southern Apennines, Italy).
Monday, 14 December 2015
Poster Hall (Moscone South)
Samer Bagh1, Luigi Improta1, Pasquale De Gori2, Marina Pastori1, Davide Piccinini3, Luisa Valoroso1, Mario Anselmi4, Mauro Buttinelli1 and Claudio Chiarabba5, (1)National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, Rome, Italy, (2)Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Palermo, Italy, (3)Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Pisa, Italy, (4)INGV, Rome, Italy, (5)INGV National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, Rome, Italy
Abstract:
The Val d’Agri (VA) Quaternary basin in the southern Apennines extensional belt hosts the largest oilfield in onshore Europe and normal-fault systems with high (up to M7) seismogenic potential. Frequent small-magnitude swarms related to both active crustal extension and anthropogenic activity have occurred in the region. Causal factors for induced seismicity are a water impoundment with severe seasonal oscillations and a high-rate wastewater injection well. We analyzed around 1200 earthquakes (ML<3.3) occurred in the VA and surrounding regions between 2001-2014. We integrated waveforms recorded at 46 seismic stations belonging to 3 different networks: a dense temporary network installed by INGV in 2005–2006, the permanent national network of INGV, and the trigger-mode monitoring network managed by the local operator ENI petroleum company. We used local earthquake tomography to investigate static and transient features of the crustal velocity structure and to accurately locate earthquakes. Vp and Vp/Vs models are parameterized by a 3x3x2 km spacing and well resolved down to about 12 km depth. The complex Vp model illuminates broad antiformal structures corresponding to wide ramp-anticlines involving Mesozoic carbonates of the Apulia hydrocarbon reservoir, and NW-SE trending low Vp regions related to thrust-sheet-top clastic basins. The VA basin corresponds to shallow low-Vp region. Focal mechanisms show normal faulting kinematics with minor strike slip solutions in agreement with the local extensional regime. Earthquake locations and focal solutions depict shallow (< 5 km depth) E-dipping extensional structures beneath the artificial lake located in the southern sector of the basin, and along the western margin of the VA. A few swarms define relatively deep transfer structures accommodating the differential extension between main normal faults. The spatio-temporal distribution of around 220 events correlates with wastewater disposal activity, illuminating a NE-dipping fault between 2-5 km depth in the carbonate reservoir. The fault measures 5 km along dip and corresponds to a pre-existing thrust fault favorably oriented with respect to the local extensional field.
