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Volcano Monitoring in the Aeolian Islands (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea): The Lipari-Vulcano Eruptive Complex

1989; Springer Nature; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/978-3-642-73759-6_20

0939-9658

S. Falsaperla, G. Frazzetta, G. Neri, G. Nunnari, Rosanna Velardita, L. Villari,

High-pressure geophysics and materials

Seismicity and ground deformation affecting the Lipari-Vulcano area (Aeolian Islands, Italy) have been continuously monitored for several years as part of a program of volcano surveillance in a densely populated area. Among the accumulated data, particular attention was paid to the evident correlation between ground deformation in the Lipari-Vulcano area and the seismic crisis which occurred in the Gulf of Patti, a few kilometres south of the island of Vulcano, culminating in a 5.5 magnitude shock which struck the region on 15 April, 1978. The seismicity was largely associated with the Tindari-Letoianni line (Ghisetti and Vezzani 1982), a large-scale fault system extending northward from northeastern Sicily to intersect the Aeolian Islands volcanic arc: along this tectonic trend are located the islands that form the Lipari-Vulcano eruptive complex. The occurrence of the seismic crisis was preceded by a marked deformation phase, which produced significant dilatation in the Lipari-Vulcano area. This phase had begun by the end of 1976 and culminated some time after the occurrence of the main shock on 15 April, 1978. At the same time, fumaroles on Vulcano Island underwent a temperature increase (more than 100°C) and unusual variations in the gas composition were detected (Martini et al. 1980; Carapezza et al. 1981). Even though the observed ground deformation and seismicity did not lead to an eruption, it is thought that the increasing tensional stress in the regional tectonic structures controlling the volcanism (as indicated by the incipient dilatation), together with more intense fracturing associated with the seismic crisis, represented a higher eruption probability.