25 years after its establishment, INGV publishes a special edition of the Map that collects the seismic events recorded on the national territory from 1999 to today.
The National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) has just published the new Seismicity Map that reports the earthquakes that occurred in the last quarter of a century in Italy and surrounding areas.
This special edition of the Map, created on the occasion of the celebrations for the 25th anniversary of the foundation of the Institute, shows the over 72.000 seismic events with a magnitude equal to or greater than 2.0 located by the INGV National Integrated Seismic Network between 1 January 1999 and 31 August 2024.
Most of the earthquakes reported on the Map, colored in yellow, were located in the most superficial layer of the Earth's crust, especially in the first 15 kilometers of depth. The area of the central-southern Tyrrhenian Sea is instead characterized by seismic events identified with the color blue, to indicate hypocenters deep even hundreds of kilometers below the surface of the sea in an area characterized by the phenomenon of subduction of the Calabrian Arc, with one of the two plates sliding under the other, sinking into the underlying mantle.
Also interesting is the high seismicity highlighted in the volcanic areas of Sicily, in particular the Etna area, and Campania, with the Campi Flegrei which, especially in recent months, have recorded earthquakes of magnitude greater than 4.0.
The new Seismicity Map also includes a graph showing the trend in the annual number of earthquakes with a magnitude of 2.0 or greater from 1999 to 2024.
The histogram highlights how the years in which a greater number of earthquakes were recorded coincide with those of the most significant seismic sequences of the last 25 years: 2009 (L'Aquila), 2012 (Emilia) and 2016-2017 (Central Italy).
In particular, the year with the highest number of seismic events was 2016, with almost 12.000 earthquakes with a magnitude greater than or equal to 2.0. In total, the localized events that year were over 70.000.
2016 is also remembered as the year with the strongest seismic event ever recorded by the INGV National Integrated Seismic Network since its inception in the 80s: the magnitude 6.5 earthquake recorded in Norcia on 30 October.
The new Map also features a QR code that allows you to access the dedicated website “Map of Seismicity in Italy”, developed to view the interactive map of earthquakes with additional content and features and download the digital version of the Map directly onto your smartphone.
More information on the article published in the INGVterremoti Blog.
Useful links:
National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV)
