Work

A 34-Year Record of Seismic Activity on Vulcano Island, Italy

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Following the abrupt geochemical and geophysical variations that occurred on the island of Vulcano in September 2021, the search for previous multidisciplinary data on decades-long time spans became necessary to contextualize the newly recorded anomalous variations, which represented a serious threat for the local population. Our analyses of ‘vintage’ reports, old documents and analog seismograms broaden our understanding of crustal seismic activity. The results unravel the predominant role of the Vulcano’s hydrothermal system with respect to tectonic processes in the generation of seismicity in the analyzed sector. Earthquakes were generally located offshore and achieved a maximum M4.6. A 3D strain release map and DBSCAN application highlight seismogenic volumes to NW, SW, E offshore the island and trending NNW-SSE inshore, in agreement with structural pattern. Two major volcano unrests in 1985 and 1988 had seismicity mostly confined to the island. In comparison, the longer duration and typology of seismic signals recorded between 2021 and 2022 make this latest episode peculiar in the context of Vulcano’s past seismic activity.

Source: Geosciences

DOI: 10.3390/geosciences15030096

Authors: Susanna Falsaperla, Salvatore Spampinato, Ornella Cocina, Giovanni Barreca

Institutions: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, INGV Osservatorio Etneo, University of Catania

Language: English

Topic: earthquake and tectonic studies

Subfield: Geophysics

Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,172

Funders: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca