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Fault slip‐rate variations during crustal‐scale strain localisation, central Italy
Author(s) -
Roberts Gerald P.,
Michetti Alessandro M.,
Cowie Patience,
Morewood Nigel C.,
Papanikolaou Ioannis
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2001gl013529
Subject(s) - geology , seismology , slip (aerodynamics) , plate tectonics , tectonics , fault (geology) , active fault , quaternary , geodesy , paleontology , physics , thermodynamics
Rates of plate motion are generally uniform over 10–10 2 Myrs timescales. Faults between tectonic plates might, therefore, be expected to show temporally‐uniform slip‐rates if the same number of faults remain active. For an extending region of the Eurasia‐Africa plate boundary, Italy, finite throw values (vertical component of the slip) for seismogenic normal faults are less than that predicted when recent throw‐rates are extrapolated over the fault lifetimes. The effect correlates with distance from the fault system tips and demonstrates that the slip‐rates on centrally‐located faults have increased with time. Neighbouring normal faults were active in the Quaternary but show no signs of surface faulting during the latest Pleistocene to Holocene. Death of these faults has provided the extra strain per unit time to drive the increased slip‐rates measured on other faults. Thus, fault interaction and death modify slip‐rates and seismic hazards associated with plate tectonics.