Plio-Quaternary tectonic evolution of the Northern Apennines thrust fronts

(Bologna-Ferrara section, Italy): seismotectonic implications

G. TOSCANI1, P. BURRATO2, D. DI BUCCI3, S. SENO1, G. VALENSISE2

1
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Pavia. Via Ferrata, 1 - 27100 Pavia, Italy
2
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Via di Vigna Murata, 605 - 00143 Roma, Italy
3
Dipartimento della Protezione Civile. Via Vitorchiano, 2 - 00189 Roma, Italy

Corresponding author:

Giovanni Toscani

Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra

Università di Pavia

Via Ferrata, 1

27100 Pavia (ITALY)

toscani@manhattan.unipv.it

Evoluzione tettonica plio-quaternaria dei fronti di accavallamento nord-appenninici

(transetto Bologna-Ferrara, Italia): implicazioni sismotettoniche

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Key words

Fold-and-thrust belt, active tectonics, seismogenic sources, Po Plain.

Abstract

The outermost, NE-verging fronts of the Northern Apennines (Italy) are overlain by a thick

syntectonic sedimentary wedge filling up the basin beneath the Po Plain. Due to fast

sedimentation rates and comparatively low tectonic rates, the fronts are generally buried.

Evidence for their activity includes scattered historical and instrumental earthquakes and

drainage anomalies controlled by growing buried anticlines. The largest earthquakes, up to

Mw 5.8, are associated with active compression with a GPS-documented shortening rate

<1 mm/a.

We used geological, structural and morphotectonic data to draw a N-S–striking section

between Bologna and Ferrara, aimed at analyzing whether and how the deformation is

partitioned among the frontal thrusts of the Northern Apennines and identifying the

potential sources of damaging earthquakes. We pointed out active anticlines based on the

correspondence among drainage anomalies, historical seismicity and buried ramps. We

also analyzed the evolution of the Plio-Quaternary deformation by modeling in a sandbox

the geometry, kinematics and growth patterns of the thrust fronts.

Our results (i) confirm that some of the main Quaternary thrusts are still active and (ii)

highlight the partitioning of deformation in the overlap zones. We remark that the extent

and location of some of the active thrusts are compatible with the location and size of the

main historical earthquakes and discuss the hypothesis that they may correspond to their

causative seismogenic faults.

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Riassunto esteso in italiano

I fronti di accavallamento più esterni della catena Nord-Appenninica sono sepolti da una

spessa coltre di sedimenti clastici che colma l’intera Pianura Padana e che è stata studiata

in particolare tramite pozzi profondi e sezioni sismiche a riflessione, realizzate

prevalentemente per scopi esplorativi (idrocarburi). Questi studi mostrano un sistema di

pieghe e accavallamenti sepolti Nord-Est vergenti, che hanno influenzato e controllato la

deposizione dei cunei di sedimenti silicoclastici sintettonici; per la parte plio-quaternaria,

questi cunei mostrano spessori fino a 9 km.

In Pianura Padana, in virtù della rapida sedimentazione clastica e dei limitati ratei di

deformazione che caratterizzano l’area, le evidenze di tettonica attiva sono estremamente

scarse e di difficile lettura. Alcune di queste evidenze, seppur deboli, si riscontrano nelle

anomalie del reticolo idrografico, sotto forma sia di deviazioni fluviali che di repentine

variazioni dell’attività erosiva del corso d’acqua, variazioni che sono risultate essere

controllate in prevalenza dalla crescita delle anticlinali sepolte al di sotto di tali anomalie.

Inoltre, i cataloghi della sismicità storica e strumentale mostrano che la Pianura Padana

meridionale è interessata da una sismicità da bassa a moderata (fino a Mw 5,8),

caratterizzata da meccanismi focali compressivi. I breakout di pozzi profondi e i

meccanismi focali mostrano entrambi un Shmax orientato circa perpendicolarmente

all’andamento dei fronti di accavallamento sepolti. I dati GPS, infine, evidenziano un

debole raccorciamento in direzione N-S (velocità inferiore a 1mm/a).

In questo contesto, il lavoro punta a verificare: 1) il grado di attività dei diversi

accavallamenti sepolti dell’Appennino Settentrionale, in particolare nell’arco delle pieghe

ferraresi, 2) se e come la deformazione si ripartisca tra essi e 3) quali degli accavallamenti

individuati possano essere interpretati come sorgenti di terremoti potenzialmente dannosi.

Abbiamo quindi integrato dati geologici, strutturali e morfotettonici e, sulla base

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dell’interpretazione di dati di pozzo e linee sismiche a riflessione, abbiamo realizzato una

sezione a scala regionale orientata circa SSW-NNE.

Per investigare l’attività degli accavallamenti sepolti e/o delle anticlinali di rampa ad essi

associate, abbiamo analizzato l’assetto morfotettonico dell’area investigata, confrontando

la posizione delle anomalie nel reticolo del drenaggio con quella delle strutture sepolte.

Abbiamo quindi proiettato la sismicità storica e strumentale dell’area sulla sezione

geologica, per confrontare la sua distribuzione rispetto all’assetto strutturale e alle

deformazioni rilevate, in particolare nei sedimenti quaternari. Infine abbiamo realizzato

alcuni modelli analogici volti a riprodurre l’evoluzione della deformazione lungo il transetto

investigato, in particolare quella plio-quaternaria, con l’obiettivo di studiare la cinematica e

l’evoluzione dei fronti di accavallamento e le interazioni tra attività tettonica e

sedimentazione nelle fasi finali della strutturazione di tali fronti.

I risultati mostrano che i sovrascorrimenti principali:

- sono stati attivi durante il Quaternario e in parte lo sono attualmente;

- presentano una partizione della deformazione nelle zone di sovrapposizione;

- hanno ubicazione e geometrie compatibili con i principali terremoti storici dell’area, dei

quali potrebbero perciò costituire le faglie-sorgente.

1. Introduction

The Po Plain is a densely populated region of Northern Italy, hosting significant productive

activities as well as important historical centers. Infrequent reverse faulting earthquakes

(PONDRELLI et alii, 2006) with Mw up to 5.8 (CPTI Working Group, 2004) pose a limited

hazard but a comparatively high risk to most of these cities.

In the decades immediately following World War II, the subsurface geology of the region

was widely investigated for hydrocarbon exploration purposes. It is well established that a

thick clastic sequence fills the Po Plain flexural basin, burying the outermost thrust sheets

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of the Northern Apennines fold-and-thrust belt and the southernmost thrust sheets of the

Southern Alps. The recent-to-current activity of these thrusts and their seismogenic

potential, however, is still not fully appreciated and is hence in need of further

investigations. Due to the combination of fast sedimentation rates and low deformation

rates, the thrusts are buried and the surface evidence of their activity is faint and elusive.

We used a multidisciplinary approach along a transect between Bologna and Ferrara to

verify the extent of current activity of the thrusts buried beneath the Po Plain and the

seismotectonic implications of such activity. We compared information on the main

historical earthquakes of the area and geomorphological clues of growing buried anticlines

with information on the geometry of thrust sheets obtained by the integrated analysis of

subsurface data, in particular seismic reflection lines and deep well logs. To evaluate the

behavior of the analyzed thrusts through time and the partitioning of deformation among

them, we compared our transect with a parallel cross-section drawn for the same structural

arc by previous investigators. Finally, we simulated the evolution of thrusting through a set

of scaled analogue models.

The preliminary results of this approach are discussed in this note. They suggest that the

main thrusts analyzed have been all active during the Quaternary, that some of them are

still active, and that based on their size and location they may have acted as the causative

faults of the main historical earthquakes.

2. Geological and seismotectonic setting

2.1. Geology and geomorphology

The tectonic setting of the buried Northern Apennines is characterized by three adjoining

arcs: Monferrato, Emilia and Ferrara-Romagna, respectively from west to east (Fig. 1).

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The Ferrara-Romagna arc is further subdivided into three second order structures:

Ferrara, Romagna and Adriatic (BIGI et alii, 1990).

Our SSW-NNE transect runs from Bologna to Ferrara, crossing the Ferrara structure. It

starts close to the northeastern topographic margin of the Northern Apennines, that

corresponds to the “Pedeapenninic Thrust Front” (PTF) as defined by BOCCALETTI et alii

(1985). The PTF separates the uplifted and exposed part of the accretionary wedge from

the part buried under the Po Plain (Figs. 1 and 2). To the NNE our transect runs through

the most external, buried thrust fronts of the Northern Apennines and terminates near

Ferrara, just south of the current location of the Po River. The outermost thrust sheets are

covered by a thick Plio-Quaternary clastic sequence forming the depositional wedge-top.

This sequence can be up to 9 km-thick at the core of the synclines (ORI et alii, 1986; BIGI

et alii, 1990; DOGLIONI, 1993; BARTOLINI et alii, 1996; FORD, 2004). As a result, the buried

thrusts and related fault-propagation folds have been studied almost exclusively by means

of seismic reflection lines and deep well logs acquired for hydrocarbon exploration (e.g.

PIERI & GROPPI, 1981; ORI & FRIEND, 1984; MASSOLI et alii, 2006). These data show a

system of NE-verging blind thrusts and folds that controlled the syntectonic deposition of

sedimentary wedges. The Northern Apennines fold-and-thrust belt and the related

foredeeps migrated northeastwards during the Late Oligocene-Quaternary (e.g.

MALINVERNO & RYAN, 1986; ROYDEN et alii, 1987; DOGLIONI, 1991; SCROCCA et alii, 2007).

The thrust fronts propagated at rates ~9.0 mm/a (BASILI & BARBA, 2007, and references

therein).

2.2. Subsurface geology

Information on the Po Plain subsurface comes from extensive hydrocarbon exploration,

which unveiled its deep structural and stratigraphic setting (e.g. BIGI et alii, 1990), and from

shallow water wells, which describe the architecture of the younger deposits (REGIONE

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EMILIA ROMAGNA & ENI-AGIP, 1998). These large dataset allows several marker surfaces

to be recognized and mapped. These buried surfaces develop over large areas and are

deformed in synclines and anticlines; these latter locate above the ramps of the blind

thrusts. From the deepest (oldest) to the shallowest (youngest), the most continuous

surfaces are: 1 - the bottom of the Pliocene marine deposits, a first order stratigraphic

marker (Fig. 3) overlain by sediments varying in age within the Pliocene succession at the

scale of the entire Po Plain; 2 - the bottom of the Quaternary continental deposits, which

coincides with the bottom of the lower alluvial unit (ca. 650 ka); and 3 - the bottom of the

upper alluvial unit (traditionally dated ca. 350-450 ka). Tighter constraints on the age of

these buried surfaces are available in literature; for instance, MUTTONI et alii (2003) assign

the surface corresponding to the first prominent Pleistocene glacio-eustatic lowstand to the

marine isotope stage (MIS) 22, dated 0.87 Ma.

The overall sedimentary evolution of the Po Plain follows a regressive trend, from an open

marine environment in the Pliocene to shallow marine, paralic and continental

environments throughout the Quaternary. The Upper Quaternary sedimentary bodies are

separated by major unconformities related to glacio-eustatic cycles (AMOROSI et alii, 2004).

In cross-section, the sedimentary bodies defined by the regional marker surfaces exhibit

growth strata on the limbs of the anticlines, thus testifying the synsedimentary activity of

these folds. Growth strata have been effectively used to quantify deformation rates after

careful removal of differential compaction effects (SCROCCA et alii, 2007).

2.3. Recent deformation, seismicity and seismogenic sources

The southern Po Plain is a low relief region. In our study area, the only surface expression

of the growing buried anticlines is the control they exert on the drainage pattern, which

consists of river diversions and channel pattern changes (e.g.: CASTIGLIONI & PELLEGRINI,

2001; BURRATO et alii, 2003). In particular, BURRATO et alii (2003) mapped drainage

7
anomalies all over the Po Plain and correlated them to existing buried faults to verify

whether these anomalies may have a tectonic origin. For the study area these

investigators highlighted anomalies in the Po, Idice, Reno and Panaro Rivers (see their

Table 1 and Fig. 5) as induced by the current activity of the Ferrara structure (Fig. 2).

Concerning the subsurface, an analysis of growth strata across the Mirandola anticline, a

few kilometers west of the studied transect, yielded an uplift rate decreasing from ca. 0.5

mm/a to 0.2 mm/a in the past 1.4 Ma (SCROCCA et alii, 2007). Moving to the southwest,

activity of the PTF is testified near Bologna by deformation and faulting of Middle-Upper

Pleistocene deposits, uplifted river terraces correlated with alluvial fan sequences buried in

the plain, and tectonic landforms of the mountain front (AMOROSI et alii, 1996; BOCCALETTI

et alii, 2004, PICOTTI & PAZZAGLIA, 2008).

In agreement with the geological evidence for active compression and shortening,

borehole breakouts show Shmax oriented ca. N-S (MARIUCCI et alii, 1999; MONTONE &

MARIUCCI, 1999; MONTONE et alii, 2004; PONDRELLI et alii, 2006), whereas GPS data

indicate shortening at a rate of less than 1 mm/a roughly in the same direction (SERPELLONI

et alii, 2005; DEVOTI et alii, 2008). Italian earthquake catalogues show that the southern Po

Plain is characterized by earthquakes having contractional focal mechanisms (CASTELLO et

alii, 2006; PONDRELLI et alii, 2006) and that have reached Mw 5.8 in historical times (CPTI

WORKING GROUP, 2004).

According to the Database of Individual Seismogenic Sources (DISS; DISS WORKING

GROUP, 2007; BURRATO et alii, 2008), the Po Plain is bordered by active thrust fronts

belonging to the Northern Apennines and Southern Alps chains, represented in DISS as

discrete individual potential earthquake sources. In the study area, these sources are N-

verging blind thrusts belonging to the PTF and to the outermost buried fronts of the

Northern Apennines (Fig. 2). Available individual sources are only those so far interpreted

as responsible for the largest historical and instrumental events. However, DISS

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hypothesized also the activity and earthquake potential of the remainders of the same

thrust fronts, listing them in the database as “Seismogenic Areas” encompassing an

unspecified number of individual sources (see BASILI et alii, 2008, for the meaning of this

definition).

3. The Bologna-Ferrara cross-section

To check whether, where and how tectonic strain is partitioned within the Ferrara-

Romagna arc, and whether tectonic activity variations along the arc are responsible for the

current structural setting, we considered two regional cross sections. Figure 3 shows two

parallel SW-NE sections crossing the Ferrara structure (see Fig. 2 for location). Section A

is the result of an integrated analysis of seismic reflection lines and deep well logs, while

section B, located few kilometers to the east, is redrawn after MASSOLI et alii (2006). Both

sections show clearly the folds and faults that form the architecture of the Ferrara

structure. In the innermost part of both sections (SW) the main thrusts exhibit a complex

geometry: section A shows multiple detachments at different structural levels, while

section B shows mostly deep-seated detachments (group G1 in Fig. 3). A second group of

ramp anticlines is seen in the middle portion of the Ferrara structure and of the sections

(group G2, Fig. 3). Both sections show a similar structural style and a main deep-seated

thrust with shallower splays, all associated with minor backthrusts. No faults involve the

bottom of the Quaternary deposits, which appear to seal the brittle structures that were

active up to the end of the Pliocene. All the observed structural features join each other to

form a main and wider structural arc, as highlighted also by the third group of ramp

anticlines (group G3, Fig. 3). This group includes the outermost thrusts, which again show

the same structural style on both sections, with a deeper thrust and associated secondary

structures. In this case, however, the bottom of the Quaternary sediments is cut by brittle

structures, testifying a progressive transfer of tectonic activity toward the outermost

9
portions of the arc through time. A comparison of the structural elevation of the buried

anticlines shows considerable differences among the different groups of faults and folds:

the innermost group (G1) is comparable in sections A and B; in the middle part of the

structure (G2), the shallowest and more elevated anticlines are seen in section A; the

shallowest thrust anticlines of G3, i.e. the outermost thrust sheets, are seen in section B

(Fig. 3). These differences in the elevation of anticlines correspond to differences in the

amount of tectonic displacement; in particular, the uneven distribution of elevations and

displacements within the same regional structure suggests that the current setting of the

arc originated from a complex series of tectonic events which resulted in partitioning of

strain, both along the arc and through time.

4. Analogue models

As stated earlier, this work is mainly devoted to detect and understand the kinematic

evolution of the Ferrara arc, in particular during the Plio-Quaternary. Therefore, we carried

out a set of analogue models aimed at analyzing the deformation through a section

suitable for a comparison with our Bologna-Ferrara transect (Fig. 4). The models were

prepared with quartz sand and glass microbeads layers in a 30 cm-wide and 80 cm-long

sandbox (scale between 1:200.000 and 1:250.000).

We first reproduced the initial natural stratigraphic succession. In the southern Po Plain,

the sedimentary succession starts with Triassic shallow-water and partly evaporitic

carbonate rocks, and goes on with Jurassic and Cretaceous carbonate rocks overlain by

Middle Eocene marly limestone. The latter formation is topped by Tertiary and Quaternary

sediments that can be roughly subdivided into two principal cycles. The first cycle, mainly

Oligocene-Miocene in age, is formed by deep-water sediments (until Langhian) and

turbidite deposits (Langhian-Tortonian). The second cycle starts with Messinian sediments

lying above a major regressive erosional surface detectable all over the Po Plain, and is

10
formed by siliciclastic sediments and evaporite deposits, mainly at the edges of the basin.

Sedimentation of pelite and sand deposits prevailed during the Pliocene and Pleistocene

(DONDI et alii, 1982; DONDI & D’ANDREA, 1987).

We reproduced this succession using mainly quartz sand. The basal detachment below

this simplified succession was created by introducing a layer of glass microbeads; the

elevation of this layer from the bottom of the sandbox was changed in each experiment to

allow the lowermost thrust to detach at different depths within the corresponding Paleozoic

basement. A further décollement, corresponding to Oligocene marls with low shear-

strength, was modeled by another layer of microbeads located 2.5 cm above the basal

detachment. Finally, to account for the dip of the foreland monocline during deformation

(Mariotti & Doglioni, 2000), the sandbox baseplate was made to dip 5° towards the mobile

backstop.

The restoration of the geological cross sections of Figure 3 indicates that a number of

tectonic, sedimentary and erosional events followed one another through time, as

suggested by the age of the resulting tectonic structures. A set of sandbox experiments

can hardly model such a complex geological setting. Therefore, we tried to reproduce only

a few major structures in order to highlight the evolution of the most recent tectonic events

that affect Plio-Pleistocene sediments. After the emplacement of the tectonic wedge

(innermost part of the experiment) and the formation of the first thrusts affecting the

foreland (roughly corresponding with the Upper Miocene) we introduced a single

depositional event. This event represents the sedimentation of the Upper Messinian,

Pliocene and Pleistocene foredeep deposits, in accordance with evidence from the

geological cross sections. It was reproduced by overlying a 1.5 cm-thick layer of quartz

sand at the front of the outermost thrusts, after 23 cm of shortening. We went on

shortening the models by moving the sliding backstop up to the end of the experiment (i.e.

11
until the sand started to fall outside the unconfined wall of the sandbox). This occurred

after 45 cm of backstop shifting; the final shortening hence exceeds 50%.

The sandbox was provided with a lateral glass wall. This allowed the progress of

deformation through time to be fully appreciated over the entire depth of the models. It also

allowed pictures of sections of the models to be taken while moving the sliding backstop.

In the meanwhile, pictures of the models surface were taken as well.

The comparison between the regional cross sections and the analogue models shows

interesting similarities in terms of structural style. For instance, the number of the main

structures shown in the model of Figure 4 is the same observed in the geological section.

The innermost structure corresponds to the PTF, whereas the intermediate and outermost

ones correspond to the fronts buried under the Po Plain sediments. The intermediate

structure shows deep-seated thrust faults with associated backthrusts, whereas the

outermost structure is formed by a deep thrust with a forward splay detached at a

shallower level. In the initial deformation stages, the models kinematics shows that thrusts

incept and develop in-sequence. After sedimentation in the foredeep and due to the

resulting extra-load, however, a strong reactivation of the innermost structure takes place

and the later thrusts affecting the overlying sediments show an increase in wavelength.

Without syn-tectonic sedimentation, the activity of the innermost thrust of the model would

have been limited in time and followed by the inception of a new thrust ahead of it, in the

undeformed parts of the sandbox. This circumstance was verified by carrying out a

reference experiment with no syntectonic sedimentation; after 23-24 cm shortening a new

thrust formed in the outer parts of the model and the previously active thrust stopped. The

sediments added at this stage of deformation effectively extended the duration of activity

of the innermost thrust.

We conclude that structural style and evolution of the models are strongly influenced by

syntectonic sedimentation. The evolutionary pattern of our models also reveals that thrust

12
activity can skip backward from the outermost fronts, buried beneath the Po Plain, to the

inner ones (that can be compared to the PTF, currently the most active structure in the

study area), and that it can be partitioned among them depending on the occurrence,

number and size of sedimentary events through time.

5. Discussion and conclusions

Recent and historical seismicity, drainage anomalies and syntectonic Plio-Quaternary

growth strata highlight the ongoing tectonic activity of the Northern Apennines thrust fronts.

Signifcant seismicity can be correlated both with the outer buried fronts and with the inner

PTF (Figs. 2 and 5).

The comparison between sections A and B (Fig. 3) shows that both the displacement and

structural elevation of the different groups of thrusts are not constant along strike, i.e. there

is a strain partitioning along the fronts and inside the whole Ferrara structure. The

cumulative long-term displacement of individual thrusts seems to match the extent of

seismic release. In other words, the largest historical earthquakes apper to have been

generated by those individual thrusts or group of structures that are characterized by the

highest displacement values (Fig. 5).

In Figure 5 we projected the geometry of the seismogenic sources associated with the

largest earthquakes of the study area according to the DISS database (DISS WORKING

GROUP, 2007) and suggested a possible interpretation of the main faults in the light of the

results obtained in the present study. Some of the proposed individual seismogenic

sources segment the PTF to the SSW of our sections (sources 1, 4 and 5 in Fig. 2).

Moving outwards, the source of the 11 April 1688, Bagnacavallo earthquake (Mw 5.9) can

be ascribed to group G1, that shows a comparable structural elevation in both sections. No

earthquakes correspond to any of the thrusts of this group in the zone represented in

section A, probably due to their shallower décollement (whereas in section B thrusts are

13
deep-seated). The 3 March 1624, Mw 5.4, 22 October 1796, Mw 5.6, 13 January 1909, Mw

5.5, and 30 December 1967, Mw 5.4 earthquakes can be tentatively associated with group

G2 (A, B, C and D, respectively, in Fig. 2). The long-term displacement of this group of

structures decreases eastward, suggesting that there may be little or no seismogenic

potential at all in coincidence with section B. If this were the case, the sources of the 1624

and 1967 earthquakes should be located along this group of structures somewhere west of

section B. Group G2 defines a minor arc within the larger Ferrara structure and the

epicenters of the earthquakes discussed above concentrate in its central part, where the

thrusts presumably attained the largest displacement (Fig. 2). Finally, we ascribe the

source of the 17 November 1570, Mw 5.5 Ferrara earthquake to the outermost group of

structures (G3), as shown in section A. Section B indicates that, further east, group G3

exhibits a larger long-term displacement, but the lack of historical and instrumental

earthquakes precludes any inference on the seismogenic potential of this part of the

thrusts.

Acknowledgments. This research has benefited from funding provided by the Italian
Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri – Dipartimento della Protezione Civile (DPC) and by
PRIN 2005 grant (University of Pavia). Scientifics papers funded by DPC do not represent
its official opinion and policies. The two referees, Adriano Zanferrari and Sergio Rogledi,
are kindly acknowledge for their suggestions and advices that greatly improved the first
versions of the manuscript. The cross sections, geological and coming from the analogue
models, have been treated with 2DMove© of Midland Valley Exploration Ltd. (Glasgow,
UK).

14
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Figure captions

Figure 1: Simplified tectonic map of the Po Plain and surrounding regions, showing the

Northern Apennines and Southern Alps main thrusts and faults as red lines. Yellow and

orange polygons: individual seismogenic sources and seismogenic areas, respectively,

from DISS database (DISS WORKING GROUP, 2007; BASILI et alii, 2008).

Structures: Monferrato Arc, MA; Emilian Arc, EA; Ferrara-Romagna Arc, FRA;

Pedeapenninic Thrust Front, PTF; Western Southern Alps buried thrust, SABT; Schio-

Vicenza line, SV; Thiene-Conegliano thrust front, TC; Cansiglio-Maniago thrust front,

CAM. GPS vectors in the inset are from SERPELLONI et alii (2005).

Figure 2: Simplified map of the study area, showing the buried Northern Apennines thrust

fronts (gray lines), historical and instrumental seismicity from CPTI and CSI catalogues

(black squares and diamonds), drainage anomalies (white circles) from BURRATO et alii

(2003), and Shmin directions (white bars) from MONTONE et alii (2004). Seismogenic

sources (black rectangles; DISS WORKING GROUP, 2007): 1, Casalecchio di Reno; 2,

Ferrara; 3, Bagnacavallo; 4, Faenza; 5, Crespellano; 6, Loiano. Earthquakes associated

with sources: 1, 3 Jan 1505 Bologna (Mw 5.5); 2, 17 Nov 1570 Ferrara (Mw 5.5); 3, 11 Apr

1688 Romagna (Mw 5.9); 4, 4 Apr 1781 Romagna (Mw 5.8); 5, 20 Apr 1929 Bolognese (Mw

5.6); 6, 14 Sep 2003 Monghidoro (Mw 5.3). Earthquakes discussed in the text: A, 22 Oct

1796 Emilia Orientale (Mw 5.6); B, 13 Jan 1909 Bassa Padana (Mw 5.5); C, 3 Mar 1624

Argenta (Mw 5.4); D, 30 Dec 1967 Bassa Padana (Mw 5.4). Cities: BO, Bologna; FO, Forlì;

RA, Ravenna. Gray lines indicate the trace of the sections of Figure 3.

Figure 3: Schematic structural sections across the study area. Section A (Bologna-

Ferrara, see trace in Fig. 2) has been interpreted and depth-converted from seismic data;

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section B was redrawn after MASSOLI et alii (2006). Labels: Pls=Pleistocene; uPl=Upper

Pliocene; mPl=Middle Pliocene; lPl=Lower Pliocene; uMe=Upper Messinian; Ol-

lMe=Oligocene-Lower Messinian; Ol=Oligocene; Ap-uCr=Aptian-Upper Cretaceous; mLs-

uLs=Middle-Upper Lias; uCa-No=Upper Carnian-Norian; uPe-lCa=Upper Permian-Lower

Carboniferous; pCa=pre-Carboniferous. G1=group 1 of structures; G2=group 2; G3=group

3.

Figure 4: comparison between section A (from Fig. 3) and one of the internal sections of

the analogue models carried out in this work, showing similarities between the main faults

of the intermediate and outermost structures (thick black lines). Model sections can be

found in the lower part of the picture (not to scale), which shows the undeformed stage

and the stage following the deposition of syn-tectonic sediments. The synthetic

stratigraphy adopted in the models is sketched on the right. Sh=shortening in centimeters.

Figure 5: seismogenic sources associated with the largest earthquakes of the study area

(DISS WORKING GROUP, 2007) interpreted in the light of the results obtained in the present

study.

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Fig. 1

Fig. 2

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Fig. 3

Fig. 4

23
Fig. 5

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