Preliminary moment-tensor solutions for this earthquake imply that
the shock occurred as the result of movement on a strike-slip fault.
The fault would be either a north-south, left-lateral fault or an east-west,
right-lateral fault. Some geologists have hypothesized that a major component
of the relative motion between the African plate and Eurasian plate is
accommodated on a north-south, left-lateral, boundary that passes near
the epicenter of the earthquake. The boundary is thought to accommodate
slip of 5 - 10 mm/ year. The preliminary focal-mechanisms are consistent
with this model. It is noteworthy, however, that many destructive earthquakes
in Italy occur as the result of deformation of the earth's crust that is
not related in a simple way to the present-day movements of the African and
Eurasian plates. Until detailed studies of this earthquake are completed,
hypotheses on the earthquake's relationship to large-scale plate-tectonic
processes are speculative.
Global Seismic Hazard Assessment Program -GSHAP
URL:
http://zeus.wdcb.ru/wdcb/sep/strong/20021031/stect.html
Last revision November 1, 2002
