REVIEWING THE INTENSITY DISTRIBUTION OF THE 1933 EARTHQUAKE (MAIELLA, CENTRAL ITALY). CLUES ON THE SEISMOGENIC FAULT

Abstract

Here we deal with the study of a strong earthquake occurred in 1933 in the mountainous area of the Maiella massif (Abruzzi, central Italian Apennines). We carried out original archive researches that allowed to evaluate a novel macroseismic field, and new parameters for this earthquake (Io=Imax 9 MCS; Mw 6.01±0.07; epicentral coordinate: N42.050°, E14.191°). Then we compared its highest intensity distribution of this event with the known, active normal fault of the region, finding any possible matching with none of these. Therefore, considering the subsurface tectonic interpretation provided by the recent scientific literature, we hypothesize that a possible seismogenic structure for both the 1933, and the catastrophic 1706 event (Mw 6.9; roughly same 1933 epicenter) is the blind backthrust that developed during Early-Middle Pleistocene in the footwall of the Maiella anticline.