Multidisciplinary inferences on a newly recognized active east-dipping extensional system in Central Italy

We use a multidisciplinary approach to gather preliminary evidence for a Quaternary east-dipping extensional detachment in Central Italy. This structure crops out in the Sabini-Eastern Simbruini (SES) and would be hidden at mid-crustal depths beneath the L’Aquila 2009 (Mw6.3) epicentral area. The SES geometry is reconstructed through geological mapping, structural analysis and seismic line interpretation. The geometry of the mid-crustal segment, referred to as the Ocre Segment (OS), is interpreted through seismological analyses of the largest aftershock (Mw5.4) of the L’Aquila 2009 sequence. The kinematic compatibility between the SES and the OS under a common SW–NE tensional field is tested through stress inversion of both geological and seismological data. The reliability of OS activation is tested through slip tendency analysis. Like other Italian cases, the SES and the OS are preliminarily interpreted as expressions at different depths of the same unknown east-dipping extensional detachment, characterized by a ramp–flat–ramp geometry.