Geodetic, geological and geophysical evidence of active tectonics insouth-western Sicily and offshore

Starting from the analysis of interferometric data, which reveal adifferential ground motion on a SW-NE alignment between Campobello diMazara and Castelvetrano (south-western Sicily), we analyzed theevidences of active tectonics in this frontal sector of the orogen. Thealignment falls within the seismogenic zone where the 1968 Beliceearthquake sequence occurred. Even though this is the strongest seismicevent recorded in Western Sicily in historical times, focal solutionsprovide different hypothesis on trend and kinematics of possible faultingmechanism. The discovery of dislocated archaeological and recentmarkers within the seismogenic zone enabled us to provide, for the firsttime, the likely evidence of surface expression for recent coseismic-relateddeformation. The geological data were complemented by new marinegeophysical and GPS surveys with the aim to verify a possiblecorrespondence between geodetic and geological-morphological data. Theresults confirm that oblique thrusting and folding, in response to currentNW-SE oriented compression, is still active and this aspect must beseriously analysed in the evaluation of the seismic hazard of this denselypopulated part of Sicily.