ground deformation patterns on mount etna 1992 to 1994 inferred from gps data in this paper ground deformation that occurred on mount etna from 1992 1994 is studied using gps data first problems relating to data processing of the 1993 and 1994 surveys carried out on the whole of the mount etna gps network are considered care has been paid to the network adjustment step particularly in evaluating effects of the reference frame stability in finding final solutions comparison between survey results allows us to invert the strain tensor and to compute displacement vectors the latter when fully constrained solutions are available the comparisons lead to the conclusion that during the 1992 1994 period at least two sources were active the first was related to a shallow dyke that produced the 1991 1993 eruptive fissures the second deeper source was depleted during the 1991 1993 eruption and recharged between 1993 and 1994 local ground movements correlate spatially and temporally with seismic phenomena

climate forcing of regionally coherent extreme storm impact and recovery on embayed beaches abstract the effective management of sedimentary coastlines demands a good understanding of the seasonal and inter annual cycles in beach volumes as well as the potential impact of extreme events this paper uses a 10 year time series 2007 2017 of supra and intertidal beach volume from exposed and cross shore transport dominated sites to examine the extent to which beach behaviour is coherent over a relatively large region 100 km stretch of coast and predictably coupled to incident wave forcing over the study period 10 beaches exposed to similar wave tide conditions but having different sediment characteristics beach lengths and degrees of embaymentisation showed coherent and synchronous variations in sediment volumes albeit at different magnitudes the sequence of extreme storms of the 2013 14 winter which represents the most erosive event over at least a decade along most of the atlantic coast of europe is included in the data set and three years after this winter beach recovery is still on going for some of the 10 beaches post storm beach recovery was shown to be mainly controlled by post storm winter wave conditions while summer conditions consistently contributed to modest beach recovery skilful hindcasts of regional changes in beach volume were obtained using an equilibrium type shoreline model shorefor davidson et al 2013 demonstrating that beach changes are coherently linked to changes in the offshore wave climate and are sensitive to the antecedent conditions the shorefor model can successfully be applied to exposed coastal areas dominated by cross shore sediment transport and can also be used as a relatively simple and regional tool for the future management of beaches where coherence in coastal response is observed furthermore a good correlation was found between the beach volume changes and the new climate index wepa west europe pressure anomaly castelle et al 2017b which offers new perspectives for the role and the use of climatic variations proxies to forecast coastline evolution

long term stress strain analysis of volcano flank instability the eastern sector of etna from 1980 to 2012 1 we investigated the evolution of seismicity and deformation in the unstable eastern flank of etna volcano over a 30 year period from 1980 to 2012 a significant temporal correlation has been revealed between periods of flank acceleration and intensified seismic activity by comparing seismicity along the northern border pernicana fault system of the sliding flank and the deformation of the eastern flank two marked phases have been observed in 1984 1986 and in the years following 2002 these two phases are separated by an intermediate phase from 1987 to 2001 in which the flank sliding slowed down and the seismicity dropped drastically this common temporal evolution in the deformation rate and seismic release supports the hypothesis that the seismicity in the northern border can be viewed as a marker of the response to accommodate the stress exerted by the traction of the eastern flank sliding this interplay has also been corroborated by finite element method numerical computations that highlight a good correlation between the seismicity pattern and areas of positive stress changes induced by the sliding surface the two intense phases of flank acceleration are representative of two main different sources volcano flank instability stretching the eastern sector in the first 1984 1986 phase and magmatic intrusions pushing the eastern flank seaward since the 2002 2003 eruption establishing the relationship between flank acceleration and seismic activation therefore contributes to understanding etna s mechanical behavior and provides insights into the processes regulating the unstable flank response

new evidence for the form and extent of the pernicana fault system mt etna from structural and soil gas surveying a multidisciplinary study based on structural and soil gas surveys was carried out in order to investigate the relationship between soil co2 degassing and the tectonic setting of the lower northeastern flank of mt etna volcano the results show that anomalous soil co2 emissions occur mainly along faults trending wnw ese and also where these faults intersect the other main fault set trending ne sw that displaces the study area in particular anomalies in co2 degassing were revealed both along the pernicana fault and along another fault fiumefreddo fault which may represent the prolongation of the former towards the ionian sea coast in the areas where these structures show evident surface faulting they are all characterised by left lateral displacements and aseismic creep behaviour furthermore the geochemical survey revealed that these faults join in an area devoid of geological evidence of surface faulting and continue underneath an apparently unfaulted alluvial cover near the coastline in the light of these findings we suggest that the pernicana and fiumefreddo faults are discrete segments of a near continuous left lateral shear zone affecting the whole north eastern flank of mt etna as far as the ionian coast

long term uplift rate of the etna volcano basement southern italy based on biochronological data from pleistocene sediments the eastern flank of mt etna volcano rests on pleistocene marine sediments which unconformably cover the apenninic maghrebian chain units a quantitative biostratigraphic analysis was carried out based on the calcareous nannofossil content of the pleistocene deposits outcropping along the s and ne periphery of the volcano sediments were constrained to the mnn19e and mnn19f biozones deposited from 1 2 to 0 589 ma according to the depth of deposition and the present altitude of the pleistocene succession uplift rates are estimated between 1 1 and 1 7 mm yr 1 for the northeastern sector of the etna edifice and between 0 36 and 0 61 mm yr 1 for the southern one this inhomogeneous long term uplift rate affecting the etna region probably results from a buried thrust below the northern flank of etna which is related to the post tortonian geodynamic evolution of ne sicily

simulation of collision zone segmentation in the central mediterranean abstract collision processes between the african and european plates in the ionian sea offshore calabria and in sicily take place in several ways to the east normal subduction of oceanic crust underlying the ionian sea occurs underneath the calabrian arc whereas to the west continental collision between the pelagian block and the calabrian arc which extends from calabria to the northeastern tip of sicily and offshore of the island to the north gives rise to the maghrebian thrust belt on mainland sicily this belt consists mostly of stacked basinal and platform carbonates of mesozoic early tertiary age deposited along the africa passive margin no clear subduction characterizes the area north of the hybleandashmalta plateau where it collides with the maghrebian chain the origin of the hybleandashmalta plateau is unclear geophysical data indicate however that its crustal structure is different from that of the surrounding pelagian foreland crustal structure variations at the edge of the subducted african plate may thus cause the observed segmentation of the collisional arc system a computer model of the region was created to learn about the deformation and faulting processes in the region the simulation starts prior to the collision of the pelagian block with the calabrian arc with time the hybleandashmalta plateau collides with the northern crustal block and as a result a new simulated topography a new distribution of velocities and most important a new distribution of fracture zones are created a shear fracture zone is formed east of the hybleandashmalta plateau malta escarpment extending to the subduction zone at the calabrian arc a less active strike slip fracture zone is created west of the hybleandashmalta plateau an additional e w trending active fracture zone is creating in the southern part of the simulated area this feature may correspond to a fault zone which runs from the strait of sicily to the ionian sea

dynamics of the eastern flank of mt etna volcano italy investigated by a dense gps network abstract mount etna has developed at the intersection of two regional tectonic lineaments the nnw sse trending hybleo maltese escarpment which separates the thick inland continental crust of the african platform from the ionian mesozoic oceanic crust and the ne sw messina fiumefreddo fault that marks a rift zone between south calabria and north eastern sicily extending as far as the mt etna area all tectonic features affect with outstanding surface features the eastern side of the volcano the eastern flank of the volcano is affected by a long term motion toward ese in 1997 in order to increase the detail of the ground deformation pattern on the lower eastern flank of mt etna a new gps network the ionica network was installed on this sector of the volcano this gps network consists of 24 stations and covers the lower eastern flank of the volcano from the town of catania to taormina and from the coastline up to an altitude of about 1300 m all the new stations consist in self centring benchmarks this kind of benchmark allows all station set up errors to be avoided before the merging of the ionica network to the frame of the global gps network of mt etna in june 2001 three surveys were carried out on this network in september 1997 august 1998 and january 2001 from the ground deformation pattern it is possible to distinguish two different sectors showing different characteristics of deformation the southern part of the network shows a more uniform distribution of the vertical motion with a mean se ward horizontal component while the northern one shows an heterogeneous vertical motion with a ese ward horizontal component furthermore a higher velocity is detected between 1997 and 1998 due to the additional stress induced by a shallow intrusion on the nw flank of the volcano the model resulting from data inversions defines a wide sliding plane beneath the entire eastern flank of the volcano with a low dip angle the expected velocity vectors fit well the observed ones even if the measured velocities are still quite higher than expected at lowermost stations the vertical inclination of the velocity vectors measured during the 1998 2001 period gradually decreases from west to east suggesting a sort of rotational movement of the south eastern flank interrupted by some anomalous vectors on the lower part that show higher vertical velocities these anomalies being located on a wedge defined by the intersection of the main nnw sse and ne sw fault systems and near the timpe faults are probably due to the activity of the vertical faults cutting the lower eastern flank of mt etna stations lying on the hanging wall and on the footwall of the timpe fault system are affected by similar horizontal displacements meaning that these structures are moving eastwards together with the sliding flank this evidence suggests that the timpe faults are probably second order structures with respect to the detachment surface these results depict a structural framework of the eastern flank of mt etna in which the low angle dislocation can be considered as a first order approximation of an actual listric plane and the current active part of the timpe fault system is confined above the detachment surface

clast cortex aggregates in experimental and natural calcite bearing fault zones abstract we investigated the formation mechanisms of rounded clast cortex aggregates a composite grain found in the slipping zones of faults hosted in calcite and clay rich rocks the natural aggregates contain a central clast commonly made of host rock fragments or reworked cataclasite from the slipping zone the central clasts are surrounded by an outer cortex of calcite or clay grains a few m or less in size in laboratory experiments on calcite gouges using two rotary shear apparatus we investigated the dependence of clast cortex aggregate formation on the applied slip rate normal stress total displacement and ambient humidity clast cortex aggregates formed at all investigated slip rates 100 m s to 1 m s but only at relatively low normal stresses 5 mpa the aggregates were better developed with increasing displacement up to 5 m and did not form in experiments with water dampened gouges in the experiments aggregates formed in low strain regions within the gouge layers adjacent to the highest strain slip zones we propose that clast cortex aggregates in calcite bearing slip zones form in the shallow portions of faults during shearing in relatively dry conditions but our experiments suggest that they cannot be used as indicators of seismic slip formation involves clast rotation due to granular flow accompanied by accretion of fine matrix material possibly facilitated by electrostatic forces

evidence of multiple strain fields beneath the eastern flank of mt etna volcano sicily italy deduced from seismic and geodetic data during 2003 2004 we carried out a study of the seismicity and ground deformation occurring on mt etna volcano after the end of the 2002 2003 eruption and before the onset of the 2004 2005 eruption data were recorded by the permanent local seismic network run by istituto nazionale di geofisica e vulcanologia sezione di catania and by geodetic surveys carried out in july 2003 and july 2004 on the gps network most earthquakes were grouped in two main clusters located in the northeastern and southeastern sectors of the volcano the areal distribution of seismic energy associated with the recorded earthquakes allowed us to highlight the main seismogenic areas of mt etna in order to better understand the kinematic processes of the volcano 3d seismic locations were used to compute fault plane solutions and a selected dataset was inverted to determine stress and strain tensors the focal mechanisms in the northeastern sector show clear left lateral kinematics along an e w fault plane consistent with events occurring along the pernicana fault system the fault plane solutions in the southeastern sector show mainly right lateral kinematics along a nne and ene fault plane and left lateral kinematics along nw fault planes that together suggest roughly e w oriented compression surface ground deformation affecting mt etna measured by gps surveys highlighted a marked inflation during the same period and exceptionally strong seawards motion of its eastern flank the 2d geodetic strain tensor distribution was calculated and the results show mainly ene wsw extension coupled with wnw ese contraction indicating right lateral shear along a nw se oriented fault plane the different deformation of the eastern sector of the volcano as measured by seismicity and ground deformation must be interpreted by considering the different depths of the two signals seismic activity in the southeastern sector of volcano is located between 3 and 8 km b s l and can be associated with a very strong additional e w compression induced by a pressurizing source just westwards and at the same depth located by inverting gps data ground deformation in contrast is mainly affected by the shallower dynamics of the fast moving eastern flank which produces a shallower opposing e w extension the entire dataset shows that two different processes affect the eastern flank at the same time but at different depths the boundary is clearly located at a depth of 3 km b s l and could represent the decollement surface for the mobile flank

strain accumulation across the messina straits and kinematics of sicily and calabria from gps data and dislocation modeling article i nfo we use global positioning system gps velocities and dislocation modeling to investigate the rate and nature of interseismic strain accumulation in the area affected by the 1908 mw 7 1 messina earthquake southern italy within the framework of the complex central mediterranean microplate kinematics our data confirm a change in the velocity trends between sicily and calabria moving from nnw ward to ne ward with respect to eurasia and detail a fan like pattern across the messina straits where maximum extensional strain rates are 65 nanostrains yr extension normal to the coast of northern sicily is consistent with the presence of sw ne trending normal faults half space dislocation models of the gps velocities are used to infer the slip rates and geometric fault parameters of the fault zone that ruptured in the messina earthquake the inversion and the bootstrap analysis of model uncertainties finds optimal values of 3 5 2 0 1 3

fault creep and kinematics of the eastern segment of the pernicana fault mt etna italy derived from geodetic observations and their tectonic significance abstract aseismic fault displacements related to numerous fast slipping active faults are frequently observed on mt etna but the characteristics and the rate of displacements along with the behaviour of individual fault segments are poorly constrained to resolve this we installed two local geodetic networks in 1997 along the eastern segment of the pernicana fault one of the most active structures in the geodynamic framework of the volcano the networks are based on the electroptical distance measurements edm and global positioning system gps techniques and consist of four and six benchmarks respectively geodetic data confirm that the tectonic activity of the eastern pernicana fault is controlled by fault creep i e a near continuous stable sliding at a mean slip rate of 2 8 cm yr punctuated by aseismic displacement episodes the analysis of the strain tensor calculated from the edm and gps data indicates that deformation in the fault zone is related to a clear sinistral strike slip movement a more complete picture is obtained from the gps measurements for the rocca campana area where the main structure branches out eastward into a splay fault the inversion of 3d displacement vectors suggests a deformation model consisting of two principal sinistral strike slip faults with an oblique component of movement the maximum observed displacement 6 1 cm measured in the period april 1997 february 1999 is accommodated by the splay fault this finding corroborates the hypothesis that as proposed by the tectonic models in the literature the movement of the eastern segment of the pernicana fault is transferred easterly towards structures at a lower altitude along the same strike e g the fiumefreddo fault as a consequence the pernicana fault may constitute part of a continuous left lateral trans current zone which displaces the whole north eastern flank of mt etna

volcano tectonic activity along structures of the unstable ne flank of mt etna italy and their possible origin abstract we describe the prehistoric historic activity of the main and minor volcano tectonic structures of the northeastern flank of mt etna giving new data which provide a clearer view of how destabilized volcanoes react to magma pressure and gravity forces data are mostly based on new lithostratigraphic surveys and on offset measurements of late pleistocene holocene deposits and historic man made features the north east rift ne rift is a volcanic rift that has guided mostly explosive but also secondary effusive activity since the end of the pleistocene monogenetic cones and explosive craters are strongly elongated and aligned along 66 main surface fractures and several others hidden but inferred from sinkhole alignments the opening direction is locally oblique with a left lateral component in the north eastern segment of the rift at the ne tip of the rift the movements are relieved by the normal left lateral pernicana fault pf an 11 km long structure comprising e w fault segments connected by right stepping en echelon faults our study demonstrates that the very high slip rates at a centennial scale of these structures are well constrained and similar ne rift 0 6 1 8 cm a pf 0 5 2 2 cm a and have been also recognized in the latest pleistocene holocene 2 7 cm a the e w fiumefreddo fault ff has normal left lateral kinematics and a historic slip rate of 0 1 cm a ripa della naca faults strike ne and are covered by unfaulted

magma uprising and flank dynamics on mount etna volcano studied using gps data 1994 1995 1 ground deformation occurring on mount etna from 1994 to 1995 is analyzed in this paper this period was characterized by intense volcanic activity at the four summit craters with frequent strombolian activity fire fountains and emplacement of several new lava flows four gps surveys were carried out during this time two as routinely planned each year and an additional two in 1995 to acquire more data to follow the activity at the ne crater the comparisons between gps surveys are reported in terms of horizontal and vertical displacements of each station and in terms of areal dilatation and principal strain axes during the period considered in this work a trend of increasing areal dilatation of the volcano at a rate of about 5 strain yr was recognized it was briefly interrupted by a small contraction about 2 strain in the autumn of 1995 when volcanic activity at the summit craters began in detail the strain distribution of the network is analyzed it allows the detection of areas showing anomalous behavior such as the summit zone or the pernicana fault inversions of the ground displacement vectors have been performed by appropriately combining numerical and analytical approaches results of the inversions suggest structures defining an eastward and southward sliding of the eastern and southeastern sectors of mount etna

high precision locations of multiplets on south eastern flank of mt etna italy reconstruction of fault plane geometry abstract on 9 january 2001 a seismic swarm located on the south eastern flank of mt etna and with nearly identical waveforms caused some damage to zafferana etnea village 3 km from the epicentral area an analysis of the seismicity occurring in the last 8 years in this area has revealed other earthquakes with the same characteristics some pre empted and followed up to a few months the 2001 january swarm others were recorded more than five years beforehand using similarity of waveforms these earthquakes were classified into three families the use of a multiplet technique has allowed to obtain the spatial distribution of the events with higher precision mean error of 10 20 m with respect to traditional localization techniques mt etna earthquakes relocation clearly describes the geometry of the seismogenic tectonic structure the hypocenters lie on a ne sw oriented plane that is coincident with one of the focal planes obtained by first arrival polarities this alignment is also coherent with one of the main regional tectonic trends cutting the mt etna area and can be interpreted as a right lateral strike seismic source on the south eastern flank of mt etna distant from eruptive centres which repeats from time to time and is able to produce strong energy releases

importance of gravitational spreading in the tectonic and volcanic evolution of mount etna the interaction between gravity and thermal effects largely determines the structural and magmatic evolution of volcanic constructs at scales spanning several orders of magnitude from small cones to the oceanic crust1 3 although gravitational spreading is a direct consequence of this interaction and a fundamental process in volcano growth it is rarely recognized as such here we describe a striking example of this process at etna volcano in italy the volcano and its clay rich substratum are slowly spreading towards the east and south driven by gravity spreading produces extensional structures in the summit region and contpressional structures at the base of the volcano eastward movement of the volcanic edifice over a stationary magma supply may be the cause of an apparent westward migration of volcanic activity as gravitational spreading seems to control the location and magnitude of shallow seismicity and flank eruptions an appreciation of its effects could become an essential element of future volcanic hazard evaluation our model proposed here for etna may also be relevant to a reinterpretation of the geological history of a number of other volcanoes

roots of etna volcano in faults of great earthquakes abstract results from several seismic methods allow us to sketch the deep structure of etna and its ionian margin under etna a volume of high velocity material is found in a structurally high position the emplacement of this suggests spreading of the surrounding medium just offshore down to the east normal faults penetrate through the upper crust the deeper crustal structure beneath appears upwarped from the basin towards etna juxtaposed with the crust of sicily a thinner crust reaches from the ionian basin under etna and the mantle is upwarped in such a structure magma can then be viewed as a melted lens capping a mantle upwarp at shallow depth rather than in an intracrustal chamber this reduces the conflict between estimates of its volume from excess output of volatiles and short residence times a link in time is indicated between volcanic and seismic activity at a large scale over the millennium the reported ends of episodes of high output rates of magma are followed by the reported occurrences of magnitude 7 earthquakes which caused destruction in southeastern sicily several steep active normal fault have been imaged to a depth of 10 km the crust up to 30 km offshore of the cities of catania and augusta which may be fault planes for such large earthquakes they expand and prolongate the system of the timpe faults on the eastern flank of etna thus linking large scale tectonics offshore with the volcano etna developed together with normal faulting upwarp and spreading during the recent evolution of the former ionian subduction activation of the material at depth at the lateral edge of the slab by vertical motion with extension above could produce the peculiar type of etna magmatism

location and orientation of eruptive fissures and feederdykes at mount etna influence of gravitational and regional tectonic stress regimes abstract lava extrusion from fissures on the flanks of the etna volcano is a common feature of recent activity as evidenced by the eruptions of 1971 1981 1983 and 1985 and was of similar importance during prehistoric times we propose here a model within which the location and orientations of the large majority of historic eruptive fissures on etna s flanks together with their feeder dykes are explained within the framework of a gravitational stress regime stress orientations within this regime are controlled largely by the gross morphology of the volcano but are significantly modified by local topographic anomalies we propose that the gravitational stress regime largely supercedes an earlier developed regional tectonic stress regime which still operates in the sub volcanic basement and may remain the dominant control of eruptive fissure and feeder dyke disposition at lower altitudes on the flanks the proposed model is supported by 1 detailed examination of fissure locations and orientations and the relationship between fissure azimuths and topography 2 precise horizontal distance measurement and vertical ground deformation studies of a recent eruption and 3 qualitative physical modelling experiments in which coloured water is injected into solidified gelatine solutions representing variously shaped volcanic constructs a cautious approach is advocated when extrapolating trends of spatially limited fissure segments for the purpose of locating potential sites of magma ascent and implications of the model for hazard analysis are outlined

insights into fluid circulation across the pernicana fault mt etna italy and implications for flank instability article i nfo we conducted geophysical geochemical measurements on a 2k m n s profile cutting across the pernicana fault one of the most active tectonic features on the ne flank of mt etna the profile passes from the unstable e flank of the volcano to the south to the stable n flank and significant fluctuations in electrical resistivity self potential and soil gas emissions co2 rn and th are found the detailed multidisciplinary analysis reveals a complex interplay between the structural setting uprising hydrothermal fluids meteoric fluids percolating downwards ground permeability and surface topography in particular the recovered fluid circulation model highlights that the southern sector is heavily fractured and faulted allowing the formation of convective hydrothermal cells although the existence of a hydrothermal system in a volcanic area does not surprise these results have great implications in terms of flank dynamics at mt etna indeed the hydrothermal activity interacting with the pernicana fault activity could enhance the flank instability our approach should be further extended along the full extent of the boundary between the stable and unstable sectors of etna for a better evaluation of the geohazard in this active tectonic area

a multidisciplinary study of an active fault crossing urban areas the trecastagni fault at mt etna italy abstract the trecastagni fault is a nnw sse tectonic structure in the densely inhabited southern flank of mt etna characterised by evident morphological scarps and movements of normal and right lateral type that directly affect roads and buildings the fault is affected by continuous dynamics with intermittent accelerations accompanied with shallow seismicity it has an important role in the instability affecting mt etna s south eastern flank and represents part of the southern boundary of the unstable sector the motion of the fault between 2005 and 2011 has been analysed by using a multi disciplinary approach involving terrestrial and satellite ground deformation data active monitoring systems able to investigate the fault in detail are extensometers a levelling network and insar two episodes of acceleration were recorded at the end of 2009 and during 2010 data evidences that the acceleration episodes affected only portions of the fault and that stress may accumulate and be periodically released although both magmatic processes inflation or intrusive episodes and flank dynamics influence the occurrence of the tf acceleration episodes the dragging effect of the overall seaward sliding of the south eastern flank is evident and it causes the subsidence of the hangingwall accumulating stress on the fault that is periodically seismically released

active spreading and regional extension at mount etna imaged by sar interferometry abstract large flank instability has been proposed by most recent authors as a major process in the dynamics of mount etna however several aspects of the models are still disputed such as the boundaries of the moving area and the driving force for the instability in this paper we present synthetic aperture radar interferometric data which allow us to identify two main sectors of active instability where the deformational process differs an eastern sector is bounded to the north by the pernicana provenzana fault to the west by the north rift zone and the south rift zone and to the south by the mascalucia tremestieri trecastagni fault system interferograms provide new data on the activity and extent of the southern boundary which was previously underestimated in this sector the structural features indicate an eastward sliding driven by e w regional extension which can be interpreted as a result of the retreating slab of the ionian subduction a second collapsing sector exists along the southern flank of mount etna where the interferograms show the presence of an active anticlinal ridge this ridge is interpreted as the result of southward gravity spreading over a basal decollement between etna and its plio quaternary basement and the hyblean platform the two sectors first became active in summer 1996 after the beginning of a new cycle of eruptive activity at the summit the activity was ongoing until january 1998 with the deformation rate ranging from 4 6 mm yr for the mascalucia tremestieri trecastagni faults to 12 mm yr for the anticlinal ridge

interaction between magma intrusion and flank dynamics at mt etna in 2008 imaged by integrated dense gps and dinsar data 1 global positioning system gps and differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar dinsar data collected from july 2007 to july 2008 on mt etna are analyzed to define the dynamics preceding and accompanying the onset of the eruption on 13 may 2008 short and long term comparisons have been made on both gps and radar data covering similar time windows thanks to the availability of three gps surveys the year before the eruption onset an increase in the seaward movement of the ne flank of the volcano has been detected in the few months before the dike intrusion the gps ground deformation pattern also shows a slight inflation centered on the western side of the volcano in the preeruptive long term comparison from july 2007 to may 2008 the gps has been integrated with dinsar data by the sistem approach to take advantage of the different methodologies and provide high spatial sampling of the 3 d ground displacement pattern we inverted the sistem results to model the pressure source causing the observed preeruptive inflation the subsequent emplacement of the eruptive dike was imaged by two gps surveys carried out on a dense network over the uppermost part of the volcano on 6 and 13 may i e a few days before and a few hours after the beginning of the eruption we inverted this comparison to define the position geometry and kinematics of the dike the dike intrusion was also imaged by dinsar data with temporal baselines of 2 3 months which confirm strong displacements localized on the summit area rapidly decreasing toward the middle flanks of the volcano as detected by very short term gps data furthermore the comparison between dinsar and gps data highlighted the presence of a depressurizing source localized beneath the upper southwestern area acting just after the dike intrusion finally the long period 1 year gps and dinsar data were integrated by sistem to finely depict the 3 d ground deformation pattern with the highest spatial resolution the long period data allowed the complex kinematics of the volcano to be finely imaged and highlighting the interaction between flank dynamics and magma injection

dynamics of mount etna volcano inferred from static and kinematic gps measurements 1 ground deformations measured on mount etna from late 1995 to mid 1998 using gps observations are analyzed four gps surveys were carried out during the considered period in 1995 the gps network consisted of 18 stations on the volcanic edifice and 6 stations around it during the 1996 survey 22 new monuments were added along a n s profile crossing the summit craters area this profile was surveyed by a semikinematic method allowing greater spatial detail to be achieved on the uppermost part of the volcano the comparisons between the gps surveys are reported here in terms of horizontal and vertical displacements for each station and also in terms of areal dilatation and strain distribution this last parameter continues its ascending trend at a rate of 5 strain yr 1 already shown in the previous period after the end of the 1991 1993 flank eruption inversion of the ground deformation patterns permits investigation of the evolution of both the position and dynamics of magma reservoirs beneath the volcano consistently associated with a general eastward sliding of its eastern sector this study allows us to define the nonuniqueness of ground deformation sources through the investigated period suggesting that the plumbing system of the volcano is made up of a complex system of single intrusions occurring at different times

shear response to an intrusive episode at mt etna volcano january 1998 inferred through seismic and tilt data abstract the space time evolution of a seismic swarm m d max 3 7 occurring on 9 14 january 1998 at mt etna volcano is analysed the hypocentral pattern and most reliable focal mechanisms indicate that seismic activity during 10 14 january mainly occurred within a fault zone located in the volcano s western flank the fault showed an approximately ne sw overall trend and shallow rupture mode of right lateral strike slip type it is noteworthy that earthquakes occurring during the initial phase 9 january of the swarm showed prevalent dip slip rupture mechanisms which are consistent with tensile opening of an approximately nnw sse trending fault zone this nnw sse structural lineament belongs to a regional lithospheric structure which has also been identified as a main volcano genic structural trend of mt etna the observed continuous tilt data are not explainable by the seismic slip associated with strain released along the ne sw structure however an intrusive source would be compatible with the rupture mechanisms observed during the initial phase of the swarm and could explain the observed tilt therefore we evidence that an intrusive episode occurred along the nnw sse structure starting 9 january and during the following days it forced the ne sw fault system to work in a right lateral mode these mechanisms leading to the february november 1999 summit eruption are analogous to the ones observed before the 1991 93 eruption

a syn eruptive ground deformation episode measured by gps during the 2001 eruption on the upper southern flank of mt etna ground deformation occurring on the southern flank of mt etna volcano during the july august 2001 eruption was monitored by gps measurements along an e w profile crossing the fissure system this profile was measured eight times during the eruption using the stop and go semi kinematic technique horizontal and vertical displacements between gps surveys are reported for each station the most significant event is a deformation episode occurring during the first week of the eruption between 25 27 july displacements were measured on benchmarks close to the eruptive fissure and the tensile 1989 fracture data inversions for measured displacements were performed using the okada model the model shows the narrowing of the 2001 dyke accompanied by a dextral dislocation along an east dipping fault parallel to the 1989 fracture

thermal weakening of the carbonate basement under mt etna volcano italy implications for volcano instability abstract the physical integrity of a sub volcanic basement is crucial in controlling the stability of a volcanic edifice for many volcanoes this basement can comprise thick sequences of carbonates that are prone to significant thermally induced alteration these debilitating thermal reactions facilitated by heat from proximal magma storage volumes promote the weakening of the rock mass and likely therefore encourage edifice instability such instability can result in slow gravitational spreading and episodic to continuous slippage of unstable flanks and may also facilitate catastrophic flank collapse understanding the propensity of a particular sub volcanic basement to such instability requires a detailed understanding of the influence of high temperatures on the chemical physical and mechanical properties of the rocks involved the juxtaposition of a thick carbonate substratum and magmatic heat sources makes mt etna volcano an ideal candidate for our study we investigated experimentally the effect of temperature on two carbonate rocks that have been chosen to represent the deep heterogeneous sedimentary substratum under mt etna volcano this study has demonstrated that thermal stressing resulted in a progressive and significant change in the physical properties of the two rocks porosity wet i e water saturated dynamic poisson s ratio and wet vp vs ratio all increased whilst p and s wave velocities bulk sample density dynamic and static young s modulus dry vp vs ratio and dry dynamic poisson s ratio all decreased at temperatures of 800 c the carbonate in these rocks completely dissociated resulting in a total mass loss of about 45 and the release of about 44 wt of co 2 uniaxial deformation experiments showed that high in situ temperatures 500 c significantly reduced the strength of the carbonates and altered their deformation behaviour above 500 c the rocks deformed in a ductile manner and the output of acoustic emissions was greatly reduced we speculate that thermally induced weakening and the ductile behaviour of the carbonate substratum could be a key factor in explaining the large scale deformation observed at mt etna volcano our findings are consistent with several field observations at mt etna volcano and can quantitatively support the interpretation of 1 the irregularly low seismic velocity zones present within the sub volcanic sedimentary basement 2 the anomalously high co 2 degassing observed 3 the anomalously high vp vs ratios and the rapid migration of fluids and 4 the increasing instability of volcanic edifices in the lifespan of a magmatic system we speculate that carbonate sub volcanic basement may emerge as one of the decisive fundamentals in controlling volcanic stability