Baratta (1895)
This paper describes the May 28,1894 earthquake, that was strongly felt in a 
wide area between Basilicata and Calabria, thus including the Mercure basin. 
Reinterpreting the report from Ing. M. Maglietta, which was in Episcopia 
village at the time of the event, Baratta estimates a duration of the shock not 
exceeding 7-10 seconds. Diffuse damage to buildings, with no loss, was 
recorded in the villages of Viggianello, Rotonda, Castelluccio Inferiore and 
Episcopia. The damage distribution forms a NNE-SSW elongated ellipse with a 
17 km-long maximum axis.

Lona and Ricciardi (1961)
These workers sample the fine portion of the lacustrine sediments (upper 
175 m of the sequence) of the Mercure Basin. By means of pollen analysis 
they suggest a post-Mindel and pre-Wurm age for the well stratified silty-
clay, sand and marl layers, indicating a middle-upper Pleistocene age for 
the whole fluvial-lagoonal infill.

GE.MI.NA (1963)
This paper presents a detailed study of the Mercure Basin planned to 
reconstruct the geometry of some lignite layers. The interpretation of the 
stratigraphic log of several boreholes has been used to draw a map of the 
isobaths of the top surface of the carbonatic basement.

Vezzani (1967)
This investigator presents a geological, mainly stratigraphical, overview on 
the deposits filling the Mercure basin. The stratigraphic section starts from 
the bottom with a thick (200 m in the western sector) conglomerate, 
interbedded with few lenses/layers of sand and silty-sand, all derived from 
the erosion of the ranges bounding the depression. Vertically and laterally 
well stratified silty-clay, sand and marl layers, containing freshwater 
mollusca, diatoms and ostracoda follow, indicating a low-energy depositional 
system. Within this second unit there are several lignite lenses, intensely 
exploited in the recent past. At the top of the section only angular detrital 
deposits, badly cemented in a clay-sandy matrix, are present especially near 
range fronts. In the conclusions the author suggests that the lineament/fault 
between Castelluccio and Viggianello, responsible for the opening of the 
basin, was active during and after the deposition of the younger lacustrine 
sediments.

Bousquet and Gueremy (1968)
These investigators study the neotectonic structures of the Mercure 
Basin, using both geological and morphological approaches. They show the 
existence of two episodes of quaternary deformations have been detected. 
The first episode, related to the activity of the WNW fault system, is 
responsible for the formation of the Mercure Basin and took place during the 
Gunz and the interglacial Mindel-Riss. The second one was probably 
subsequent to Rissian depositions but ended before the Wurm.

Esposito et al. (1988)
They describe describe the 8 January 1988, Ml = 4.1 earthquake, that took 
place in the Mercure Basin between Viggianello and Castelluccio Inferiore. 
The shock was clearly felt in the Basilicata, Calabria and Campania regions.
A maximum intensity VI-VII MCS is estimated. The authors detected a 
large attenuation toward the south (Calabria region) and suggested an 
hypocentral depth within the uppermost 10 km of the crust for the medium 
size seismic events characterizing this area.

Gasparini et al. (1988)
They also investigate the 8 January 1988 Ml = 4.1 earthquake, that was 
the main shock of a 2 week-long sequence, located in the Mercure Basin, at 
the Basilicata-Campania border. A maximum intensity of degree VI MCS is 
assessed over a wide area. According to these investigators the 
anomalously high number (37) of localities with I = VI is probably due to the 
occurrence  of a Md 3.7 earthquake in the Vallo di Diano area on 13 January 
1988 (to the north of the Mercure Basin) and to the presence of several 
buildings already damaged by the much stronger 1980 Irpinia earthquake.

Lazzari (1989)
This worker focuses on the geomorphology and especially the gravitational 
phenomena in the Mercure Basin. The lacustrine deposits, locally disturbed 
by tensional structures, reach a maximum thickness up to 400 meters in the 
central part of the basin. The author highlights the presence of deep 
gravitational phenomena together with rotational landslides and several 
rock-falls all over the basin, with a peculiar gravitational activity in the 
northern-north-eastern sector. In the 1972 a huge detrital flow hit the 
village of Castelluccio Superiore. He suggests as a possible explanation for the 
strong gravitational movements both a recent tectonic activity and the high 
average amount of rain-fall per year (up to 1500 mm) usually concentrated 
(73%) between October and March.

Schiattarella et al. (1994)
These workers carry out structural and morphostratigraphic analyses 
in the Mercure Basin. The genesis and the evolution of the basin has been 
driven by two different tectonic stages, predating the deposition of the 
middle-upper Pleistocene lacustrine sediments. The first stage is occurred in 
a strike-slip regime, related to the activity of the Pollino left-lateral N120
fault system, and is responsible for the development of an half-graben, NE-
SW oriented. The second stage, related to a NE-SW extension axis rotating 
clockwise through time, set the conditions for the growth of an endoreic 
basin, starting from the end of lower Pleistocene. The authors correlate the 
measured N150-trending extensional joint sets together with N-S and E-W 
trending normal faults, all affecting the middle-upper Pleistocene lacustrine 
marls and cutting across the N120-trending listric normal faults, to the last 
position of the extension axis, rotating clockwise. At present range fronts 
bounding the Mercure Basin do not seem to be controlled by tectonic 
movements, and the authors underline that the Castelluccio-Gallizzi N120-
trending fault is clearly sealed by middle-upper Pleistocene fluvial-
lacustrine sediments.

Storia Geofisica Ambiente (1994)
This is an internal report for Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica (Roma) on the 
historical seismicity of the Pollino Range area. The whole area exhibits a low 
seismic activity with the exception for the Viggianello area, for which an oral 
tradition reports a strong event dated at the "death of Jesus Christ", that 
usually means a generic old time.

De Martini (1996)
This worker presents a structural and geomorphic analysis in the Mercure 
Basin area. The upper Pleistocene lacustrine marls are affected by NNW-SSE 
trending normal faults and by many N-S trending extensional joints. The 
same deposits, with the exception of the eastern sector of the basin, show a 
gentle tilt (2 to 10) to the W. The present depocenter, characterised by 
anomalous aggrading behaviour, migrated ~ 5 km to the W with respect to 
the paleo-depocenter before the fluvial-lagoonal infill. The author describes 
several stream rotations towards the present depocenter, the best example 
of which is the 90 turn of the Battendiero river. Also the regional divide is 
clearly concave westward. Finally the author suggests that a 22 km-long 
blind (or hidden) normal fault (called Mercure Fault), striking N350-335, 
dipping 60 to the East and located in the westernmost part of the basin, 
could better explain all the data collected.

Marra (1998)
This paper presents a structural and geomorphic study of the intramontane 
Mercure Basin. The author attributes a critical role to the Castelluccio left-
lateral N120 fault (part of the main Pollino fault system) in the evolution of 
the depression and in the deformation of the lacustrine infill. A first 
transtensive phase originated a pull-apart basin between two main left 
lateral strike slip faults; thus starting in middle Pleistocene time a 
transpressive phase followed, acting on the same structures, due to the 
inversion of the step. The author suggests that the second phase has been 
responsible for N-S trending, W verging thrusts, affecting the middle-upper 
Pleistocene lacustrine sediments. The N-S extensional joints together with 
NNW-SSE trending normal faults, measured in the upper section (silty-clay 
layers) of the lacustrine sediments are interpreted by the author as 
secondary effects related to and compatible with the transpressive phase.
