The Italian peninsula across
the Mediterranean Sea is part of the tectonic plate
boundary - the accommodation zone -- between the
Eurasian and the African plates, which continue to
move closer to each other. This motion controls the
long-term evolution of the boundary, but recent geologic
changes suggest a more rapid tectonic event superimposed
on the slow motion of the big plates and localized
to the Apennine arc. This signature event of the
Italian peninsula is most dramatically manifested
in the current deformation along the Calabrian portion
of the arc and is the main focus of this project.
Researchers from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, in conjunction with
researchers from the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, are
working to deploy 50 portable digital broadband seismographs throughout
southern Italy. These instruments will record both global and regional
earthquakes for 18 months. Researchers are also working to deploy an additional
10 digital broad-band ocean-bottom seismometers (OBS) offshore for a period
of 12 months. Researchers will use signals from distant earthquakes to
develop a catscan, or a three dimensional image, of the Earth's crust and
mantle beneath the Italian Peninsula of the earth. read
more background information on project |
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| After
installing a station in an old convent just outside
Montella, a building in Craco (pictured above)
seemed another perfect place for a seismograph
station, free from cultural noise that can cause
problems in seismic readings. |
Report 3: The Castle Strategy (read
report 1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
by Art Lerner-Lam, Director, Center
for Hazards and Risk Research
With the Twelfth Day marking the close
of the holiday season in this part of the world, the
CAT/SCAN instrument deployment phase is kicking into
high gear. This week, the weather cleared and we received
permission from the "Department of the Belle Arti" to
install a station in the restored old convent just
outside (and above!) Montella. This is an inspiring
place, restored with sensitivity and obvious pride.
We drove to the site, climbing a winding road through
chestnut groves and small pastures, and met the caretaker
at the gate. His father had been the previous caretaker,
and he grew up at the convent. One of the requirements
of this installation, and rightly so, is that the presence
of anything "modern" be completely camouflaged,
so that nothing detracts from the historical ambiance
of the convent. The station itself is hidden in a buried
utility room, while the only part that must be exposed,
the GPS antenna that provides our timing signal, is
hidden in a mound of sod on one of the small stone
buttresses surrounding the door. The caretaker helped
us by chiseling a hidden recess for the connecting
cable. As geologists, we pound on million-year-old
rocks with abandon. But rock hammers have no place
in the vicinity of a structure of this magnificence.
The "castle strategy" is
one way to roam the countryside looking for stations.
Castles (or convents and monasteries) are built on
high ground on bedrock, and are usually isolated from
the cultural noise that can cause problems in seismic
recordings. Whether it is in private or public hands,
the pride that residents take in the local castle offers
a degree of local partnership that civil bureaucracies
have difficulty matching. But in some areas, our good
relationship with the government leads us to more preferable
sites. This was the case when we installed our next
stations in an old stable at an agricultural research
station near Castel del Monte, and in a small government-owned
building in Craco, near Matera.
Craco (pictured) is perched on a vertically-inclined
stream-bed conglomerate indicative of the incipient
continental collision in the southern Apennines. Thus
the station is perfectly positioned to illuminate the
transition between oceanic subduction to the southeast
and continental collision to the northwest. Although
our colleagues at INGV identified the station site
for us, and we were assisted by the local caretaker,
Mr. D'Onofrio, we're happy that we showed the station
to a war veteran, Francesco, and his daughter, Michelina,
living across the street. They'll look after the site
for us.
Near Craco, we stayed overnight in
a hotel in Castellaneta, with dozens of photos of Rudolph
Valentino on the walls. When we told the owner that
we recognized the silent film star, he looked at us
as if we were nuts. "Don't you guys know anything?
Valentino was born in Castellaneta." The name
of the hotel is "Rudy". We had failed to
connect the dots.
Finally, we installed a station
in a shed near a wheat field and vineyard belonging to
Mr. Santangelo, just outside of Tricarico. This, too,
is a beautiful site, high on a hill in a quiet area.
Mr. Santangelo is a friend of Mr. Pancrazio, the former
mayor, who, in turn, is a friend of Nano Seeber's brother.
The station was installed by Chad Holmes and John Armbruster,
with help from Mr. Salvatore Esposito. Afterwards, we
had a late lunch in Mr. Pancrazio's apartment in the
center of town. Pasta pomodoro, sausage, cheese, fruit,
wine from Basilicata, and plenty of conversation. Food
and science are great social lubricants.
| Stations
Successfully Established to Date |
 |
| Location |
Station
Name |
Latitude
(N) |
Longitude
(E) |
| Grottaminarda |
GROM |
41.07273 |
15.05993 |
| San Andrea di
Conza |
SACO |
40.84334 |
15.37066 |
| Minervino |
SX11 |
41.06107 |
16.19686 |
| Pietragalla |
SX17 |
40.73606 |
15.84757 |
| Venosa |
VENO |
40.96443 |
15.82340 |
| San Giovanni a
Piro |
SGIO |
40.04098 |
15.45745 |
| Cocozzello (Cosenza) |
CO22 |
39.49259 |
16.30505 |
| Capaccio Vecchio |
CAVE |
40.45000 |
15.00540 |
| San Marco la Catola |
|
41.51685 |
15.0076 |
| Montella |
|
40.83333 |
15.03333 |
| Casteldelmonte |
|
41.05000 |
16.25000 |
| Craco |
|
40.38333 |
16.43333 |
| Tricarico |
|
40.61667 |
16.15000 |
This joint project involves researchers
from Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO): Michael
Steckler, Leonardo Seeber, Arthur Lerner-Lam, and Maya
Tolstoy; and researchers from the Istituto Nazionale
di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV): Alessandro Amato,
Gianni B. Cimini, Claudio Chiarabba, Marco Cattaneo,
and President Enzo Boschi. Support provided by the
Continental Dynamics Program of the US National Science
Foundation. Additional support provided by the NSF
EAR Instrumentation and Facilities program through
IRIS, and the OCE MG&G program through the OBS
deployments and support of the OBSIP facility.
Additional collaborators include:
Universita di Cosenza (Prof. Ignazio Guerra); Protezione
Civile (government agency and local volunteer networks);
Comuni (Town governments); Grottaminarda; San Andrea
in Conza; Montella (Avellino); Venosa (Foggia); San
Giovanni a Piro; Craco (Matera).
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