Earthquakes in Italy

The main articles are:

• Italy
• Earthquakes

Complex seismic situation

The border of the plate passes through the center of Italy, since it is located not on one plate - the Eurasian platform, but on a small plate, which is called the Adriatic and is located under the Adriatic Sea.

The Adriatic Plate is actually an extension of the African Platform pushing up like a finger between Italy and the Balkans.

The plates have boundaries that are sometimes referred to as fault lines, but generally behave as one platform to which they are attached, as the underlying rock layer is hard and not broken, although it can bend. So whenever the African Platform sets in motion and it is set in motion by Africa's U-turn, the Adriatic Finger also moves^[1].

The movement comes from all sides of the Adriatic Sea, not just the African Platform, which during the movements of the platforms sinks to the south and shifts to the east. A large section of Europe above the Adriatic is a stretch zone. All this leads to movement on the border of the plates passing through the center of Italy.

The African plate is more above the water, its tension associated with a clockwise turn, that is, its massive northern part tends east, and the narrower southern part - west. Because of this difference, tension appears in the middle of the continent, and tension zones appear on the coast. From the movement of the entire continent, the East African rift breaks the end of the^[2].

2016: Earthquakes in Central Italy - Hundreds killed

In the second half of 2016, Italy experienced a serious increase in seismic activity. Tremors from August 24 killed 299 people^[3].

The 6.5 magnitude earthquake in the state on October 30 was the largest since 1980^[4]. Many Italians were forced to live in tents and temporary shelters, fearing to enter their own homes under the threat of new tremors.

According to Gianluca Valencise, a seismologist at the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology of Italy, the latest tremors are a more normal state for the country than the relative lull it experienced from the end of the 18th to the end of the 20th centuries.

Earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 and higher create stress in the Earth's crust, which is distributed through adjacent faults and can cause them to rupture, Valencise said. This process can continue indefinitely according to the domino principle and cover hundreds of kilometers of the earth's surface.

1980: 6.9 earthquake: 3,000 killed

In 1980, a shock of magnitude 6.9 near Naples killed about 3,000 people.

1783: Calabria 6.5 earthquake. Killed 50 thousand people

In 1783, five large tremors of magnitude up to 6.5 hit Calabria and killed more than 50 thousand people.

See also

• Phlegrean Fields (Campi Flegrei)

Notes