Tansi C. (1), Iovine G. (1), 2002, Geomorphologic and Subsurface Evidence of Active Tectonics In The Sant’eufemia Plain (central Calabria, Southern Italy): The Zinnavo Fault, EGS XXVII General Assembly, pp. abstract #4208, Nice (France), 21-26 April 2002,
URL: http://www.cnr.it/prodotto/i/249604

he study area is located on the NW boundary of the Sant'Eufemia Plain (Central Cal- abria), where a system of Quaternary normal step faults, oriented WNW and down- throwing toward SE, is to be found. This fault zone characterises, in geo-structural terms, the NW portion of the Catanzaro graben. The Zinnavo fault belongs to the above-mentioned system. As a consequence of its recent activity (Holocene), the dis- tal portion of a notable continental alluvial fan has been displaced (with a maximum apparent separation of ca. 30 m). On the downthrown side of the fault, two smaller and more recent alluvial fans are to be found, thus pointing out at rejuvenation phases of the same tectonic structure. The Zinnavo fault lies within the epicentral zone of the catastrophic earthquake of 1638 a.D., whose MCS intensity has been evaluated as greater than IX_ on that occasion, most of Central Calabria was severely dam- aged. Moreover, along the same tectonic structure, a notable seismic activity is to be recorded. According to the above considerations, the Zinnavo fault can be assumed to be "seismogenetic" and responsible for the high level of seismic risk of the study area, which is densely urbanised and characterised by notable infrastructures (cf. e.g. the Lametia Airport). Geomorphologic and geo-structural investigations have been carried out, through field surveying and air-photo interpretation (from the macro- to the meso- scale). Moreover, surface data have been integrated by means of sub-surface informa- tion, such as_ a) seismic reflection profiles, b) stratigraphic logs, c) helium anomalies. On the basis of the performed analyses, the presence of several high-vulnerability "el- ements" (e.g. the town of Lametia Terme and its airport, the highway and the railway) in the NW sector of the Sant'Eufemia Plain determines high-levels of seismic risk - a fact never evidenced, in the technical literature, before.

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