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Correlation of deep earthquakes, eruptive activity at stromboli volcano and age of the radium fractionation in the magma

1976; Elsevier BV; Volume: 1; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/0377-0273(76)90026-3

1872-6097

G. Capaldi, Edoardo Del Pezzo, R. Pece, R. Scarpa,

Geological Studies and Exploration

Mount Vesuvius is emplaced on a regional NE-SW-trending fault that accommodates the stretching of the lithosphere caused by a backward retreat of the Calabrian arc. The dynamics of the Calabrian arc controls the temporal occurrence of earthquakes in the Southern Apennines and in Sicily.By means of a detailed statistical approach, we identified a significant correlation between seismic events occurring in different subsets of this geodynamic domain: seismicity changes in the Southern Apennines follow those in the Calabrian arc after 18–21 years, while seismicity changes in Sicily follow those in the Calabrian arc after 8–10 years.The seismicity changes in these three areas appear also to have affected the eruptive activity of Vesuvius in the period 1631–1944. The major effusive-explosive eruptions of this period followed the seismicity changes in the Southern Apennines after 6–13 years and those in the Calabrian arc after 36–39 years.From a tectonic point of view, this indicates a direct link between the eruptive activity of Vesuvius and the dynamics of the Calabrian arc. The backward retreat of the arc produces strain pulses propagating to adjacent areas.From a volcanological point of view, we speculate that the arrival of an extension strain pulse in the area of Vesuvius may trigger the fast movement of magma-filled cracks that stay in unstable equilibrium in the roots of the volcano.