Magnitude 5.9 Southern Italy
Thursday, October 31, 2002 at 10:32:58 (UTC)
|
||||||||||||||||
Tectonic Setting
Preliminary moment-tensor solutions for this earthquake imply that the shock occurred as the result of movement on a strike-slip fault. The fault would be either a north-south, left-lateral fault or an east-west, right-lateral fault. Some geologists have hypothesized that a major component of the relative motion between the African plate and Eurasian plate is accommodated on a north-south, left-lateral, boundary that passes near the epicenter of the earthquake. The boundary is thought to accommodate slip of 5 - 10 mm/ year. The preliminary focal-mechanisms are consistent with this model. It is noteworthy, however, that many destructive earthquakes in Italy occur as the result of deformation of the earth's crust that is not related in a simple way to the present-day movements of the African and Eurasian plates. Until detailed studies of this earthquake are completed, hypotheses on the earthquake's relationship to large-scale plate-tectonic processes are speculative. |
Did You Feel It?
Report shaking and damage at your location. You can also view a map displaying accumulated data from your report and others.
Theoretical P-Wave Travel Times
Historical Moment Tensor Solutions
Earthquakes: Frequently Asked Questions
Preliminary Earthquake Report
USGS National Earthquake Information CenterU.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center