New GPS constraints on the Africa-Eurasia plate boundary zone in southern Italy

Abstract

Southern Italy is a key area for understanding the tectonic processes in the Africa-Eurasia collision zone. We analyze new GPS measurements carried out between 1994 and 2001. The results are presented in terms of time series, trajectories and velocities of crustal motion, as well as a geodetic strain rate field. While central Italy, Corsica, Sardinia and the Tyrrhenian Sea move like the Eurasian plate, the overall motion of the Sicily Rift Zone region matches African plate motion. Unexpected are the north-northwest directed motions of northeastern Sicily and the Eolian islands. Most striking on the deformation field are a north-south oriented compression along the northern Sicilian coast, compression between Apulia and northwestern Greece as well as extension in the Sicily Rift Zone and the interior of Sicily.