COMMENTS

The Nicotera-Rosarno Source was devised on the basis of the assumption that some 
of the Tectonic Lineaments listed in the Database, and particularly the Nicotera-
Gioiosa Ionica Line, do hold an independent seismogenic potential. In addition to 
being a certainly active feature that has controlled much of the recent geologic and 
landscape evolution of this stretch of Calabria, this tectonic is the locus of frequent 
minor seismicity that affects it almost over its entire length onshore (e.g. two spatially 
separated sequences in spring and fall 1997), but also of more significant historical 
earthquakes, such as those that occurred in 1828, 1928 and 1940 (CPTI, 1999). In 
particular, the source was designed based on the 7 March 1928 earthquake, Me=6.0 
(Ma=5.9), a rather poorly known and poorly investigated event. The Nicotera-Gioiosa 
Ionica Line separates the Serre block (to the north), where topography is higher and 
Late Pleistocene uplift is assumed to be faster, and the Gioia Tauro Plain-Aspromonte 
block (to the south).

The Nicotera-Rosarno Source was laid out as a transverse feature limiting to the 
north the Gioia Tauro Plain Source. As such, and based on the above general 
considerations, this source should have oblique (normal-left lateral) kinematics, 
south side down, but no evidence is available to confirm or refute this hypothesis. In
the absence of more accurate data, the depth extent of faulting was assumed to be the 
same as that of the Gioia Tauro Plain Source.


OPEN QUESTIONS

1) Did the 1828 and 1928 both occur on this fault?

2) What is the potential of the rest of the Nicotera-Gioiosa Ionica Line, besides minor 
seismicity such as that recorded in 1997?

3) What is the true geometry at depth of this source, and how is it linked with the 
Gioia Tauro Plain Source, which is assumed to be a pure normal fault?
