Changes in seismic attenuation due to fracturing and fluid migration
during the 2016-2017 Central Italy seismic sequence
Abstract
The Amatrice-Visso-Norcia seismic sequence struck Central Italy across
the Apenninic normal faults system in 2016. Fluids likely triggered the
sequence and reduced the stability of the fault network following the
first earthquake (Amatrice, Mw6.0), with their migration
nucleating the Visso (Mw5.9) and Norcia
(Mw6.5) mainshocks. However, both spatial extent and
mechanisms of fluid migration and diffusion through the network remain
unclear. High fluid content, enhanced permeability and pervasive
microcracking increase seismic attenuation, but each process contributes
to different attenuation mechanisms. Here, we measured and mapped peak
delay time and late-time coda attenuation, using them as proxies of
seismic scattering and absorption before and during the sequence.
Structural discontinuities and lithology control scattering losses at
all frequencies, with the highest scattering delineating carbonate
formations within the Gran Sasso massif. The Monti Sibillini thrust
marks the strongest contrasts in scattering, indicating a barrier for
northward fracture propagation. Before the sequence, low-frequency
high-absorption anomalies distribute around the chain axis. A single
high-absorption anomaly bounded north by the Monti Sibillini thrust
develops NNW-SSE across the seismogenic zone during the sequence. This
spatial expansion appears related to the deep migration of
CO2-bearing fluids across the strike of the fault
network from a deep source of trapped CO2 near the
Amatrice earthquake. Migration develops primarily during the Visso
sequence, followed by diffusion across the fault zones during the Norcia
sequence. High-scattering and high-absorption focus below the carbonates
south of Norcia during the sequence, mapping the progressive northern
permeation of the seismogenic zone from south to north.