Bulifon (1693 a; b)
He describes the effects on the environment induced by the 5 June 1688 
earthquake, but does not provide their clear location. He reports that:
- water became red and smelt of sulfur in the Cerreto area on 5 June, and lasted 
  three days;
- the ground sank swallowing mills in an area as large as ca. 6 miles (about 9 
  km) around San Giorgio la Molara,
- a river born and after a few days disappeared near Apice,
- two important springs feeding a river have shown a transient interruption in 
  Piedimonte area,
- some ruptures of the surface formed in an area of about 3 miles (about 5 km) 
  around San Marco dei Cavoti,
- a linear fire appeared in the Vitulano Valley.

Serva (1985)
He reconstructs the isoseismal map of the 1688 earthquake locating a 
macroseismic epicentre near Cerreto Sannita within the 
XI M.C.S. (Mercalli Cancani Sieberg scale) degree area. He describes 
the occurrence of low intensity foreshocks and many aftershocks, 
the strongest on June 10.

Ortolani and Pagliuca (1988)
On the basis of structural and geomorphic considerations divide 
the Southern Apennines into five NW-SE belts originated between 
Late Pliocene and Pleistocene. The 1688 earthquake epicentral 
area is located along the western boundary of the belt they 
denominated B2. The B2 belt is delimited longitudinally by two 
NW-SE main faults responsible for its uplift whereas it is 
dislocated by several transversal NE-SW faults along its length. 
They notice that the historical seismicity occurred mainly along 
the edges and within the B2 belt.

Alessio et al. (1993)
Based on macroseismic and instrumental investigations they 
define four seismogenic areas showing a different 
seismic behaviour: the Southern Abruzi area, the Molise area, the 
Beneventano area, and the Campania-Lucania area. The 
Beneventano area contains the maximum damage areas of the 
1125, 1688, 1702, 1732 A.D. historical earthquakes. Analysis of 
recent seismicity shows a swarm-type activity with earthquake 
sequences of comparable magnitude concentrated in time and 
space.

Bousquet et al. (1993)
The investigators analyse the active faults of the Benevento area 
using structural, micro-tectonic and geomorphological approaches. 
They show a faults map and a table in which they summarise type  
and age of Pliocene-Quaternary deformation in the Benevento 
area. They do not relate the active faults they 
recognise to any historical earthquakes with exception for those 
responsible for the 1980 Irpinia earthquake (ID XXXX). In 
particular they report geological and geomorphological indicators 
of Quaternary tectonic activity along N120-140 (Apennine 
trend) and N90-100-trending faults. Since most of these faults involve 
breccias which are difficult to date they infer recent 
movement only along two of these faults: on the southern slope of 
Mt. Avella where they observe deformed Wurm scree and a 
rejuvenated fault scarp located in the Matese Massif. A post Early-
Quaternary movement is inferred from tilted (more than 35) 
scree bedding located at Santuario del Taburno and Madonna della 
Grotta. On the basis of the observation that:
1) the faults they mapped are not enough to match the large 
  number of destructive earthquakes;
2) the Irpinia earthquake occurred on a morphologically minor 
  fault;
3) Holocene scarps erode fast;
   they infer that all the faults with Apennine trend should be 
regarded as potential seismic sources and that the earthquake 
recurrence of these faults should be longer than 1700 years.

Pantosti and Valensise (1988), Valensise et al. (1993) and Boschi 
et al. (1995)
On the basis of 1688 earthquake felt reports and consistency with 
known nearby seismogenic sources, these papers propose a ca. 25 
km-long, NW-striking, SW-dipping fault located between Paduli 
and Cerreto Sannita as the source responsible for the 1688 
earthquake.

Massaro et al. (1996)
Quantifing the erosion index of the Tammaro River basin they 
subdivide this area into five erosion index population showing 
that about 95% of the basins analysed fall in the same population. 
They describe N50 and N110-140-striking faults as those 
controlling the tributaries and Tammaro River evolution.

Chiarabba and Amato (1997)
They attempt the identification of the fault responsible for the 
large earthquakes that struck the Benevento region, from imaging 
lateral heterogeneities in the upper crust using background 
seismicity recorded by a local seismic array in 1991 and 1992. 
Their work is based on the understanding that lithological 
heterogeneities along major fault zones, inferred from velocity 
anomalies, reflect the presence of patches that behave differently 
during large rupture episodes. They map two NW-trending high-
velocity zones (HVZs) in the upper crust beneath the Matese 
limestone massif and interpret them as high-strength regions that 
extend for 30-40 km down to at least 12-km depth. From the 
coincidence between these anomalies and location of maximum 
intensity regions of 1688 A.D. and 1805 A.D. earthquakes they 
suggest that these anomalies delineate the extent of the two fault 
segments of the southern Apennines belt capable of generating 
M=6.5-7 earthquake. They also observe some lateral offset 
between these segments possibly related to transverse right-
lateral faults which may control the segment boundaries.

Boschi et al. (1997) and Boschi et al. (2000)
The Catalogue of Strong Italian Earthquakes between 461 B.C.
and 1990 A.D.  reports some descriptions about the effects on the 
environment produced by the 1688 earthquake such as:
- up to three miles (about 6 km) long surface rupture at San 
  Marco dei Cavoti (Magnati, 1688),
- up to two miles (about 3 km) long, up to 60 cm wide surface 
  rupture at S. Giorgio la Molara ("Vera e distinta relatione 
  dell'Horribile...",1688),
- a very deep crack destroying the road close to Terra dei Turchi, 
  now Vitulano (Archivo General di Simancas...", 1688).
