Geoarchaeology and paleoseismology blend to define the Fucino active normal fault slip history, central Italy

Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e15

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Geoarchaeology and paleoseismology blends to define the Fucino active normal fault slip history, central Italy S. Gori a, *, E. Falcucci a, F. Galadini a, M. Moro a, M. Saroli a, b, E. Ceccaroni c a

Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Italy  di Cassino, DiMSAT, Italy Universita c Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell’Abruzzo, Italy b

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history: Received 29 April 2016 Received in revised form 30 December 2016 Accepted 19 January 2017 Available online xxx

We first describe the late Holocene slip history of one of the major segments of the Fucino active normal fault, in central Italy, by combining geoarchaeological investigations with paleoseismological trenching. The Fucino fault system released a Mw 7 earthquake in 1915 (with many other events with decimetre and/or metre-size palaeoseismic slip events in the past), that is the strongest seismic shock occurred in this portion of the Italian territory over at least the past millennium. We dug trenches across the investigated tectonic structure; then, the sedimentary sequence and its relation with the exposed fault planes have been analysed “vertically”, as typically made in paleoseismological investigations, but also “horizontally”, by deepening the excavations “step-by-step” while digging, i.e. performing archaeological-type stratigraphic excavations. Such a procedure permitted the recognition of different displacement events of the fault, and the progressive surveying of different cultural levels, since the Neolithic Period, interposed with or cut into natural levels. The reconstruction of the interplay between human occupation of the site and the local geomorphic evolution e framed by the late Holocene climatic changes e permitted us to gain reliable chronological data for constraining the fault slip history in the last 5500 yr. Our analyses also confirmed that the investigated structure activated during the 1915 earthquake. Four previous displacement events were recognised: a first event, prior to the 1915 one, occurred slightly after the Roman Period (probably during the 5the6th century AD); two preceding events occurred between the Late Neolithic and the Roman period, the older of the two during the late Neolithic, while the later during the Late Bronze Age-Early Iron Age. The oldest event predates the Neolithic Period. No evidence of a Late Middle Ages faulting event found by others researchers along another branch of the Fucino fault was found in our trenches. From a methodological viewpoint, the results of our study mark the effectiveness of adopting joint geoarchaeological/paleoseismological approach in terms of chronological constraints for active faulting studies in such contexts where long human occupation took place, where the natural and “human” events rhythmically interplay. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Geoarchaeology Archaeological stratigraphy Paleoseismological trenching Active normal faulting 1915 Fucino earthquake Central Italy

1. Introduction In active faulting studies, achieving a detailed chronology of the stratigraphic sequences displaced by a given tectonic structure is a fundamental prerequisite to assess the recent kinematic behaviour

* Corresponding author. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Via di Vigna Murata 605, 00143, Rome, Italy. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (S. Gori), [email protected] (E. Falcucci), [email protected] (F. Galadini), [email protected] (M. Moro), [email protected] (M. Saroli), [email protected] (E. Ceccaroni).

and slip history of the fault, and in particular for defining the timing of fault activations. One of the most worldwide adopted techniques to analyse the activity of tectonic structures over the past few millennia is to dig trenches across the fault trace, generally referred to as paleoseismological trenching. Commonly, chronological data for paleoseismological studies derive from radiometric age determinations, in particular from radiocarbon dating of organic matter contained within the faulted sediments. However, surface processes can prevent the preservation of datable features or determine complicated stratigraphic settings that can impede definition of timing of fault activation.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2017.01.028 1040-6182/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article in press as: Gori, S., et al., Geoarchaeology and paleoseismology blends to define the Fucino active normal fault slip history, central Italy, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2017.01.028

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In contexts characterised by long and continuous human occupation and activity, chronological data, potentially more precise, accurate and reliable than those derived from classical numerical dating methods, can be achieved by the analysis of the relation of human activities of the past with natural surface processes and landscape evolution. This is what is called Geoarchaeology. Deciphering human-induced processes and frame them within the morpho-stratigraphic evolution of an area can provide with elements for defining the pace of natural processes, and, in paleoseismological studies, can thus allow acquiring a high resolution chronology of a stratigraphic sequence affected by an active fault. The Italian territory as a whole represents an excellent case study to demonstrate effectiveness of geoarchaeological investigations in spelling out the recent activation events of an active fault. And the Fucino basin, in central Italy, is an exceptional example as the area witnessed human presence since Prehistory. During the Roman Period, important central Italy towns were here founded, among which Alba Fucens and Marruvium (since about the 5th century b.C. to 5th century AD). The basin underwent strong human-induced environmental modifications, mainly represented by successive attempts of draining the lake (the widest in the Apennine) hosted by the depression, since the 1ste2nd century AD. The lake was definitively dried up during the second half of the 19th century. From a seismotectonic point of view, the Fucino basin was the focus of the 1915 earthquake that can be considered as “The” earthquake of central Italy, in terms of magnitude of the seismic event as a single shock (Mw 7) and of damage and fatalities caused (more than 30,000 victims). The seismogenic source of the earthquake is an extensional fault that borders the Fucino basin to the north-east, henceforth referred to as Fucino fault system. The Fucino fault system is probably the best known among all the active tectonic structures of this part of Italy (Fig. 1a and b), as for its structural characteristics and evolution, long-term (Quaternary) and recent (Holocene) kinematic behaviour and slip history. Different works (e.g. Giraudi, 1986, 1988; Serva et al., 1986; Galadini and Messina, 1994; Messina, 1996; Michetti et al., 1996; Galadini and Galli, 2000; Cavinato et al., 2002; Gori et al., 2007) described the displacement of the whole Quaternary continental succession deposited within the Fucino basin along the fault. Extensive paleoseismological investigations were also carried out over the past thirty years by different researchers (about twenty paleoseismological trenches were dug), mostly across the trace of the 1915 earthquake surface rupture. These studies identified several episodes of fault activation during the Holocene. These resulted in as many 1915-like seismic events with a mean recurrence time of 1400e2600 years. As a matter of fact, a Middle Age event found along a segment of the Fucino fault system (Galli et al., 2016) would define a shorter recurrence time (~700 yr) for the past two millennia. Despite the knowledge regarding the recent slip history of the Fucino fault system can be considered quite comprehensive, there are still some unsolved or debated issues that deserve a highresolution and updated stratigraphic analysis to be unravelled. Among these, the still unattested activation during the 1915 earthquake of one of the three major segments composing the structure (Fig. 1b), known as Marsicana Highway-Mt. Parasano fault segment (Galadini and Galli, 1999), and the history of its recent slip events, which are very poorly known thus far. In order to improve the knowledge on the recent slip history of the Marsicana Highway-Mt. Parasano fault segment, we here first apply a joint geoarchaeological/paleoseismological approach to investigate the movements of the mentioned fault segment over the past few millennia: we carry out classical paleoseismological analysis, by digging trenches across a synthetic splay of the Marsicana Highway-Mt. Parasano fault segment. The exposed

sedimentary sequence and its relation with fault planes are analysed both “vertically”, that is along the walls of the excavations as usual, and “horizontally”, by deepening the excavations “step-bystep” while digging, i.e. applying the so called “stratigraphic excavation” of archaeological studies (Fig. 2). The pace of each deepening step was led by the progressive uncovering and surveying of different cultural levels interposed to or cut into natural levels. By combining archaeological and paleoseismological data, our aim is to obtain a refined timing of the fault movements and to improve the knowledge about the whole Fucino fault. The adopted approach is based on a more comprehensive use of the archaeological data, considered not just as dating feature contained within a given stratigraphic unit e as it is generally considered e but rather as constitutive element of the landscape that interlaces with the tectonic evolution of the landscape itself. In this perspective, the identification of in place rather than just remobilised (e.g. colluviated) cultural features is a fundamental aspect for obtaining direct chronological constraints for the deposition of the sedimentary units y affected by fault movements. After general sections in which we describe the seismotectonic features of the central Apennines and the knowledge about the Fucino fault system thus far, we report the analyses carried out at different sites along the investigated fault segment. The results obtained are then analysed and compared with the available paleoseismological information to discuss on similarities and differences. Hence, considerations on the recent movements of the Fucino extensional structure and on its seismotectonic characteristics will be made in the conclusions. 2. Geological and seismotectonic setting The Fucino basin is one of the largest central Apennine intermontane extensional tectonic depressions, most of which are halfgrabens having the main fault on the north-eastern flank (Fig. 1). These faults result from the NE-SW trending extensional deformation, active in this part of Italy since the Pliocene-early Quaternary (e.g. Cavinato and De Celles, 1999; Galadini and Messina, 2004), and currently ongoing (Montone and Mariucci, 2016), at 3 mm/yr rate (Devoti et al., 2011; Galvani et al., 2012; D'Agostino, 2014). The activity of these structures dismembered the fold-andthrust structure of the chain, previously built up during the compressive tectonic phase. The progressive sinking of the normal fault hanging walls allowed the accumulation within the depressions of hundreds metres-thick Quaternary continental sequences, made of alluvial, lacustrine and slope deposits (e.g. Bosi et al., 2003). Sediments and landforms related to ancient base levels of the basins have been progressively cut off by the faults and left suspended in the footwalls of the faults by tens or hundreds of metres. Most of the central Apennine active normal faults (Fig. 1a) are considered inherently related to seismogenic sources potentially able to release M 6.5e7 earthquakes (e.g. Galadini et al., 2012; Vannoli et al., 2012). As revealed by joint geological, paleoseismological and historical seismicity data (e.g. Galli et al., 2008), some extensional structures activated during large magnitude seismic events occurred in the past millennium, among which the January 13, 1915 earthquake (Mw 7.0) determined by the activation of the Fucino fault system. Conversely, some other active extensional faults did not activate in historical times e or information about their last activation event are still lacking e and they are therefore considered as seismic gaps (Galadini and Galli, 2000). The Fucino depression and its extensional fault have been the subject of many studies in the past decades aimed at defining the Quaternary evolution and kinematic characteristics, as well as the associated paleoseismicity. Surface and sub-surface data (seismic

Please cite this article in press as: Gori, S., et al., Geoarchaeology and paleoseismology blends to define the Fucino active normal fault slip history, central Italy, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2017.01.028

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Fig. 1. a) Seismotectonic framework of the central Apennines. Active fault traces, coloured lines. b) Detail of the Fucino basin area; fault segment traces, yellow lines; location of the photovoltaic plant, red triangle, inset. Numbers indicate location of the trenches dug during previous studies along the Marsicana High-Mt. Parasano and the San Bendetto-GioiaMt. Serrone fault segments: (1) and (4) by Galadini and Galli (1999); (2) and (3) by Michetti et al. (1996); (5) by Galli et al., 2016. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

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Fig. 2. a, b, c, d) Joint archaeological/paleoseismological excavation, with the progressive deepening of the trench. e) Detail of the wall of a paleoseismological excavation as example; fault planes, black and white arrows. f) archaeological survey of the different cultural levels; grid as reference frame for surveying and logging different archaeological remains.

reflection profiles) permitted the identification of a “double polarity”, half graben-mode, nucleation of the depression, with two consecutive phases: the former Late Pliocene(-early Quaternary) phase, during which the opening of the basin was led by ENE-WSW trending and SSE dipping fault strands that bounded the basin to the north; this has been followed by the Quaternary and presently active tectonic phase, led by NW-SE trending and SW dipping fault segments (Galadini, 1999; Galadini and Messina, 2001; Cavinato et al., 2002). The ~35 km-long surface expression of the Fucino active fault system is represented by at least three main segments (e.g. Serva et al., 1986; Giraudi, 1988; Michetti et al., 1996; Messina, 1996), en echelon arranged (dextral step-over), named as the Magnola Mts. segment (MMF), the Marsicana Highway-Mt. Parasano segment (MHPF) and the San Benedetto dei Marsi-Gioia dei Marsi-Mt. Serrone segment (SBGSF) (Fig. 1b), from north to south, by Galadini and Galli (1999). Synthetic and antithetic splays are the Trasacco

fault and the Luco dei Marsi fault (Fig. 1b), respectively. Other minor shear planes have been also identified (Galadini and Galli, 1999). In terms of kinematic characteristics, the displacement of Quaternary continental sequences along the fault strands defined extension rate on the order of 0.6e1.0 mm/yr (Galadini and Galli, 2000). According to Galli et al. (2012), the 1915 earthquake activated the whole Fucino seismogenic source. Coseismic geodetic data inversion allowed the attribution of the seismic event to an extensional crustal rupture dipping south-westward (Ward and Valensise, 1989), whose surface projection fits with the Fucino fault. The earthquake caused widespread ground fractures (Fig. 3a), described in detail by Oddone (1915). In particular, they described coseismic ground displacements up to about 1 m high. The accurate description and location of these features, reports by eye witnesses, and modern geological analyses indicated the occurrence of surface faulting during the 1915 event along many splays and segments of the Fucino fault (Serva et al., 1986). This drove many researchers

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Fig. 3. a) Geological surface effects caused by the 1915 Fucino earthquake; coseismic ground ruptures, black bold dashed lines; a detail of the area of Pescina, inset. b) Digital terrain model of the area of Pescina; main coseismic 1915-related ground fractures, black-and-white dashed line; location of the photovoltaic plane, dashed triangle; surface scarps identified in the area of the plant, black and white arrows.

towards the analysis of the 1915 surface rupture, and stimulated the search for the traces in the geological records of surface ruptures related to previous similar seismic paleo-events. Paleoseismological studies carried out thus far defined several Holocene surface faulting events (Michetti et al., 1996; Galadini et al., 1997; Galadini and Galli, 1999). In particular, Galadini and Galli (1999) identified seven episodes of fault activations over the past 11 kyr along most of the segments of the fault, by integrating pieces of evidence collected along different fault segments and splays. The authors confirmed the activation of the investigated segments during the 1915 earthquake and provided evidence for a preceding Late Antiquity faulting episode (occurred during the 5the6th century AD). This event would have been responsible for the widespread archaeoseismological evidence collected in the Fucino area by Galadini et al. (2010) and for seismically-induced damages to Colosseum in Rome, restored in 484 AD or 508 AD. Saroli et al. (2008) identified three faulting events along the SBGSF, two of which comprised between 5ky and 10 ky BP. As for the MMF, Galli et al. (2012) confirmed the activation of the structure during the 1915 event and during the previous 5the6th century AD event. Recently, Galli et al. (2016) analysed the walls of the trench excavated during the INQUA 6th International Workshop on “Active Tectonics, Paleoseismology and Archaeoseismology”, Fucino 2015 (Amoroso et al., 2015; Gori et al., 2015) across the SBGSF, at the site

where coseismic scarp formed during the 1915 earthquake. The authors hypothesised the occurrence of an episode of fault activation during the late Middle Age, testified by a supposed colluvial wedge (that is, a wedge of sediments at the base of the fault scarp that results from the erosion of a coseismic scarp; McCalpin, 2009) related to that period. As for the MHPF segment, instead, available paleoseismic data are few and quite incomplete. Coseismic ground fractures where described by Oddone (1915) in the area of Pescina, aligned along the main fault scarp (Fig. 1a, and close-up inset). And this is the sole probable evidence of the fault segment surface rupture during the 1915 event thus far. In this perspective, indeed, during works for laying a pipeline that crossed the structure, Galadini and Galli (1999) identified just evidence of fault segment movements after about 2500 b.C., that the authors supposed to be the 1915 event. Two older events were also identified, not strictly constrained in time: one occurred between 2500 b.C. and 19100 ± 650 yr B.P., and one preceding the latter age (Galadini and Galli, 1999). 3. Investigating the Marsicana Highway-Mt. Parasano fault segment During the activities for the installation of a photovoltaic power plant, in the north-western sector of Pescina (Figs. 1a and 3b), archaeological investigations at the site was firstly carried out by

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the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell’Abruzzo (Abruzzi Archaeological Superintendence). The area of the plant crossed the easternmost of a pair of stepwise parallel, NW-SE trending and SW dipping scarps, some hundred metres long and up to 2e3 m high (Figs. 3b and 4aed). Both the scarps tapered north-westward and they were partly disturbed by human activities (some buildings and edifices are located on and across them). Some archaeological exploratory excavations brought to light a

sequence of white-grey lacustrine clayey silt, within which the investigated scarp was formed (see Table 1 for description). The local Quaternary stratigraphic framework of the area suggests these marks relate to lake deposits to the Early Pleistocene successions described by Messina (1996). A sequence of colluvial and alluvial deposits (see Table 1 for description) was found in the hanging wall area at the base of the scarp. The colluvial sequence contained abundant archaeological remains aged from the early Neolithic to

Fig. 4. Aerial image of area under investigation a) before the photovolatic power plant foundation and b) after; main scarp of the Marsicana High-Mt. Parasano fault segment, black bold dashed line; synthetic fault scarp investigated in the present work, white dotted line. c) panoramic view of the scarp (indicated by white arrows) investigated in the present work. d) geomorphic/cultural map of the photovolatic power plant area; trenches dug across the scarp, numbers (see text for description). The areas where different cultural units were exposed are shown.

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Table 1 Sedimentological description of the units exposed by trenching. Stratigraphic units description: - Unit 1: ploughed soil; it was made of sparse angular-to-sub-rounded carbonate clasts (size ranged from few decimetres to a few centimetres) in sandy light-brownish matrix. It contained several historical pottery fragments. A charcoal contained in the unit was radiocarbon dated at 1857 ± 29 BP (radiocarbon age)/82e231AD (calibrated, 2s). - Unit 2: greyish-brownish fine sand. It was very rich in charcoal fragments, especially in its upper part. One of the fragments was dated at 214 ± 26 BP (radiocarbon age)/ 1646e1949 AD (calibrated, 2s). - Units 3 to 6: they were made of sparse angular-to-sub-angular carbonate clasts (size ranged from few decimetres to a few centimetres) in silty-sandy matrix. The units displayed an overall massive texture with no layering. We distinguished one from the other mainly by the colour of the matrix, that varied from brown to orange to black. Overall, the sedimentological features suggest the units to be mainly colluvial sediments deposited at the base of the Pescina terrace. Radiocarbon dating was performed on charcoals contained in units 4 and 5, and they gave ages of 5639 ± 50 BP (radiocarbon age)/4581-4356 b.C. (calibrated, 2s) and 5279 ± 32 BP (radiocarbon age)/4232-3994 b.C. (calibrated, 2s). - Unit 7: sub-rounded-to-rounded carbonate gravel (size ranged from few decimetres to a few centimetres) with sparse coarse sand matrix. It was interpreted as an alluvial body. - Unit 8: lacustrine greyish-whitish silt. It was generally massive, but laminations were locally detectable. In the fault zone, the silt was heavily deformed and disrupted by the fault movements.

the Roman period (Figs. 4d, 5 and 6), within successive superposed stratigraphic/cultural levels (Borghesi, 2011, unpublished technical report to the Abruzzi Archaeological Superintendence; Cosentino et al., 2011). The underlying alluvial deposits, in contrast, were archaeologically sterile. The presence of these scarps, the different and quite “anomalous” stratigraphic sequence uncovered on the two sides of the scarp, and the abundance of archaeological findings pushed us to investigate the origin of the scarp, by digging trenches across it. The excavations revealed that the lacustrine deposits and the colluvial/ alluvial sediments were brought into contact by a 1e2 m thick shear zone related to an extensional tectonic structure, just a few hundred metres to the SW of the trace of the MHPF. The formation of the scarp was therefore related to the activity of a fault splay synthetic to the main fault segment. We dug five trenches across this previously unknown fault splay of the MHPF to investigate its recent slip history.

3.1. Stratigraphic analysis The lacustrine clayey silt (unit 8) was found in the footwall of the fault in all of the trenches. As for the colluvial sequence, occurring in the fault hanging wall, the refined archaeological stratigraphy examined during the archaeological surveys suggested we should proceed with an archaeological-type stratigraphic excavations across the fault zone, as explained in the introduction. This would permit us to get a precise timing of the colluvial unit's deposition. From a sedimentological point of view, the colluvial units in the hanging wall were mainly made of angular-tosubangular carbonate clasts in a brownish-to-blackish sandy matrix. Erosional surfaces, as well as man-made cuts, occurred at different levels of the stratigraphic succession. The succession was capped by the ploughed soil, that locally reached ~0.8 m thickness, cutting across the fault zone. The soil developed on a colluvial deposits that contained various historical pottery shards, spanning the last two millennia. A charcoal collected from the ploughed soil

Fig. 5. a) Picture of the archaeological excavation performed at the base of the scarp (modified from Cosentino et al., 2011). b) map scheme of the archaeological/stratigraphic framework.

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Fig. 6. a, b, c, d, e) Pottery shards and objects daylighted by the paleoseismological trenches (“ceramic impressa” type in d). f) worked obsidian shard.

in trench 3 gave an age of 1857 ± 29 BP (82e231 AD, cal. 2s). This probably means that the parent colluvial deposit incorporated a charcoal much older than the actual age of the soil formation, as confirmed by the age of the stratigraphic sequence that occurred beneath the soil and that we describe below. The stratigraphic analysis of the colluvial units in all of the trenches and the determination of archaeological findings permitted the identification of five superposed cultural units related, from the earliest, to the Neolithic, Eneolithic, Late BronzeEarly Iron and Roman Periods (Figs. 5e7). Colluvial units 4 and 5 (Figs. 8e11) were exposed in trenches 1, 2 and 3, dug in the centralsouthern sector of the photovoltaic plant. These deposits contained abundant Neolithic artifacts and decorated pottery shards e most of which made of “ceramica impressa” and “ceramica figulina” (e.g. , 2008) (Fig. 6a to e) e and shaped obsidian shards Pessina and Tine (Fig. 6f). These features relate to the Neolithic culture, up to Late Neolithic (known in the Fucino area as “Aspetto di Paterno”) and aged at 4000-3800 b.C. (Cosentino et al., 2011, and references therein). These units were found just underneath the ploughed soil, separated from it by an erosional surface. In trench 2, a few centimetres-thick alluvial sand layer (unit 2) was intercalated in places, lying above another unconformity, and cut by a man-made hole filled by the ploughed soil. Interestingly, colluvial units 4 and 5 also gave in situ Neolithic features, evidenced by man-made holes filled with clayey sediments and pottery shards. This implies a continuous occupation of the site during the Neolithic, despite the deposition of colluvial bodies. In very few places, man-made holes

related to the Late Bronze-Early Iron Age (10the9th century B.C.) affected a few tens-centimetres thick colluvial deposits that directly covered the Neolithic layers (Fig. 5) This testifies to a significant cultural hiatus, and the absence of significant deposition between the two cultures at this site. We collected charcoals from the stratigraphic sequence for radiometric age determination (14C method, at Poznan Science and Technology Park Adam Mickiewicz University Foundation, Radiocarbon Laboratory), to strengthen the archaeologically-derived chronological constraints. Specifically, a sample from unit 4 in trench 2 gave an age of 5639 ± 50 BP (4581-4356 B.C., cal. 2s), whereas a charcoal from unit 5 in trench 3 dated at 5279 ± 32 BP (4232-3994 B.C., cal. 2s). These radiometric ages are evidently chronologically consistent with the archaeological attribution to the Neolithic of the units. Lastly, a sample from units 2 in trench 2 gave an age of 214 ± 26 BP (1646e1949 AD, cal. 2s). Trenches 4 and 5 were dug in the central-northern sector of the photovoltaic plant. Underneath the ploughed soil, the excavations uncovered a colluvial unit (unit 3) characterised by a darker matrix than the previously described ones. They contained abundant pottery shards and tiles exclusively related to the Roman Period. This chronological attribution is corroborated by the relation of the colluvial sediment with remnants of the foundations of a small edifice (maybe a farm) (Fig. 7a) and a canal (Fig. 7b and c), both referred to the Roman Period. Comparably to the above described layers, unit 3 gave both colluviated and in situ archaeological remains and artifacts, in this case of Roman age.

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Fig. 7. a) Remnants of the foundations of a Roman edifice (maybe a farm); limit between the present soil and the underlying colluvial unit that hosted the remains, white dotted line. b, c) map view of the Roman canal surveyed during the archaeological studies.

Hence, the trenches dug in the central-southern sector (trenches 1, 2 and 3) of the photovoltaic plant exposed just beneath the present soil an older colluvial sequence than that found by trenches 1, 2 and 3, in the central-southern sector of the plant. This evident lateral chrono-stratigraphic diachrony, in such a very narrow area, has to be related to the occurrence of very local geomorphic processes between the Neolithic and the Roman age, that shaped the local landscape and permitted the lateral contact of diachronous cultural levels at the same stratigraphic level and depth. 3.2. Surface faulting events The stratigraphic succession as a whole was displaced by faulting. The identifications of different synthetic and antithetic shear planes in all of the trenches (Figs. 8e11), combined with the above described stratigraphic setting, permitted the definition of five subsequent events of fault activation, timed due to the availability of our obtained archaeological and radiometric chronological constraints. The earliest faulting event (E5) is seen in trench 3 (Fig. 10). It placed in contact unit 7 with unit 6 along fault F3. The absence of unit 3 at the F3 footwall suggests, indeed, that the deposit has been displaced by the fault and then it has been eroded away from the uplifted side of the fault prior to the deposition of unit 5. Therefore, this event predates the Neolithic Period. The analysis of trenches 1, 2 and 3, revealed that two events took place after the Neolithic and before the ploughed soil (E4 and E3). These are witnessed by the following evidence and considerations (Figs. 8e10). First, the colluvial units containing the above described Neolithic features (units 4 and 5) were displaced along fault F3 of trenches 1, 2 and 3. This fault was sealed by the base of

the ploughed soil. Second, the minimum offset of unit 5 in trench 3 along fault F3 can be estimated in about 1.3 m. This value derives from the difference in height between the unit at the trench bottom in the fault hanging wall, and the base of the ploughed soil at footwall, where unit 2 must have been present but subsequently eroded, before the deposition of the ploughed soil. Since the maximum observed ground displacement due to the 1915 earthquake was in the order of a metre, and the paleoseismologically derived displacement per event of the Fucino fault is unlikely to exceed 1.2 m (e.g. Michetti et al., 1996; Galadini et al., 1997), the 1.3 m minimum offset is interpreted here as the result of a pair (at least) of events subsequent to Neolithic. The two latest faulting events, E2 and E1, are seen in trenches 4 and 5 (Fig. 11), and occurred after the Roman period. In detail, the penultimate event (E2) displaced unit 3 along fault F2 in trench 4. This fault was sealed by the ploughed soil. The large abundance of Roman elements, the relation with the above described Roman structures and the absence of any later artifacts or features in unit 2 (Fig. 11) suggests that E2 occurred during or shortly after the Roman period. The last event E1 was identified along the fault zone in all the five trenches (fault F1 in Figs. 8e11). It affected the base of the ploughed soil, which locally filled fractures bordered by shear planes. The radiometric age determination of the charcoal sampled in unit 2 in trench 2, dated at 1646e1949 AD (calib. 2s), and the offset base of the ploughed soil attest that the last faulting event recorder by the investigated fault has to be referred to a moment subsequent to this age, i.e. to the 1915 event. In trench 4, the occurrence of the last two events is testified by the ~40 cm displacement of the base of unit 3 along fault F1, that is roughly twice the offset of the base of the ploughed soil along the same fault. The ~25 cm offset of the base of the ploughed soil is also seen

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Fig. 8. Walls of paleoseismological trench 1 and related stratigraphic log.

along trenches 3 and 4.

4. Discussion 4.1. Geoarchaeological reconstruction The defined chrono-stratigraphic framework, derived by joint archaeological analysis and radiocarbon dating provides key information and understanding of the geomorphic evolution of the area. Major geomorphic evolutionary stages are in response to climatic variations, as the following describes. In detail, the presence of colluvial deposits containing both re-deposited and in situ Neolithic features testifies to a continuous occupation of the site even during the production and accumulation of detrital sediments, about 6000e5500 yr BP. According to Giraudi (2005), a phase of burial of soils by alluvial sediments occurred 64005650 cal yr B.P. in the central Apennines. Moreover, such a phase of alluvial deposition seems to match to a North Atlantic Ice-Rafted Debris event (Bond et al., 2001), related to a cooling phase of the Atlantic ocean. Hence, the colluvial sequence “hosting” Neolithic cultural elements may be related to this phase of significant climatic instability.

Furthermore, the laterally diachronous units uncovered by trenches 1-2-3 and trenches 4e5 indicates the presence of an unconformity surface, related to a phase of linear erosion after the Neolithic that locally removed the older deposits (Fig. 12). This phase determined the formation of local morphological highs (in the central-southern portion of the investigated area) and lows (in the central northern area), with the embedment of the colluvial units that were “affected” by Roman features within the Neolithic and Early Iron cultural levels. Such a localised erosion likely relates to a small incision, perpendicular to the investigated fault scarp, possibly determined by the lowering of the local base level. Interestingly, a significant drop of the Fucino lake stand was postulated by Giraudi (1989) between 5000 and 2800 yr. BP, based on geological and archaeological data. This phase of lake level fall began at the end of the Neolithic and reached its climax during the third millennium BP. Subsequently, the lake level raised until the Roman drainage. This drop in the lake stand may have induced local streams at the rim of the basin to erode headwards, thus determining local truncation of the Prehistoric and Protohistoric cultural levels (Fig. 12). In a more general chrono-stratigraphic perspective, radiocarbon dating of the charcoal contained within the unit onto which the

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S. Gori et al. / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e15

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Fig. 9. Walls of paleoseismological trench 2 and related stratigraphic log.

present soil developed defined that the age of the charcoal (82e231 AD, cal. 2s) is evidently much older than the age of the formation of the soil itself. This fact highlights the importance of the performed geoarchaeological analysis. Indeed, the recognition of cultural features developed in situ in relation to colluvial deposits and the reconstruction of the geomorphic evolution of the site since the Late Neolithic permit to consider the mentioned age of the dated charcoal (and more generally the “acritical” use 14C dating) as not stratigraphically meaningful, apart from the definition of “post” dating for the deposition. As a result, if in our case we have a straightforward geoarchaeological “control” on the chronostratigraphic sequence, in many cases of colluvial deposition external constraints are unavailable. Hence, the sole dating of features contained within the colluvial sediments can lead to erroneous chronological interpretations. 4.2. Paleoseismic record The depicted chrono-morpho-stratigraphic framework permits us to make inferences about the age of the identified faulting events, the last four of which took place after the Neolithic, summarised in Table 2. In particular, the identification of in situ archaeological remains e mostly from the Neolithic and Roman Periods e permits us to obtain a more reliable age for the deposition of the hosting units and, consequently, for the events that displaced them, as we describe below. Starting from the more recent, E1, the displacement of the base of the ploughed soil and the radiocarbon dating of the charcoal collected in unit 2 in trench 2 testify to fault activation in the last 200e300 years. The sole seismic event in the area that may have ruptured the surface over this time span is evidently the 1915 earthquake. Therefore, this represents the first paleoseismic

evidence that confirms the MHPF activation during the 1915 earthquake, and that the coseismic surface offset observed by Oddone (1915) in the area of Pescina has to be referred to the occurrence of surface faulting along the investigated splay. The penultimate event E2 displaced unit 3 in trenches 4e5. This unit only contained Roman pottery shards (no later archaeological elements have been found within it, despite the continuous human presence in the Fucino area during the Middle Ages) and it was in direct relation with in situ Roman structures (the canal and remnants building foundations). Moreover, E2 was sealed by the deposition of the colluvial deposit that hosted pottery shards ascribable to the last millennium, onto which the present soil develops. These lines of evidence suggest that the faulting episode took place during or shortly after the Roman Period. Events E3 and E4 took place after the Neolithic Period. The described erosional “cut” occurred after the Late Neolithic does not allow us to definitely exclude that E3 (in trenches 1-2-3) may coincide with E2 (in trenches 4e5), as trenches did not provide correlative “geological recording” of the same faulting events. Nevertheless, we can hypothesise that E2 and E3 may be two different events for the following twofold reason: 1) no colluvial wedges (sensu McCalpin, 2009) or sediments younger than Neolithic or the Late Bronze Age-Early Iron Age were found at the hanging wall of fault F3 (that recorded E3); in this perspective, the presence of archaeological remains within the colluvial units defining in-situ Late Neolithic or Early Iron Age habitation during deposition allow us to chronologically bracket the sediments between about 6000 yr BP and 3000 BP. 2) the identified major erosional phase, that might have eroded any possible younger deposit from F3 hanging wall, preceded the Roman Period. This means that any evidence of E3

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Fig. 10. Walls of paleoseismological trench 3 and related stratigraphic log.

occurrence, that is colluvial wedges or related offset, has been removed during the erosional phase before the deposition of the Roman layers. On these bases, we can hypothesise that no faulting episodes occurred along F3 during (or shortly after) the Roman Period to allow the preservation of sediments younger than the Late Bronze Age-Early Iron Age at the fault hanging wall. Hence, E3 may predate E2. Event E5 predates the Neolithic Period. Indeed, the layers containing in-situ Neolithic features unconformably overlain those (units 6 and 7 in trench 3) displaced by E5. After that, four events of activation postdate the Neolithic. If we consider the paleo-events identified by previous studies along the Fucino fault system, four faulting episodes were defined by Galadini et al. (1997) and Galadini and Galli (1999) after about 4000 yr B.C. These are comparable to the results of our paleoseismological analysis. In particular, our events E4 and E3 are chronologically consistent with events 4 and 3 identified by the mentioned authors, aged at 3944-3618 B.C. and 1500-1300 B.C., respectively, that is, during the Late Neolithic and the Late Bronze Age. Similarly, as for events E2 and E1, the former likely relates to the activation episode that occurred during or shortly after the Roman Period e aged at the 5the6th century AD (Galadini et al., 1997, 2010; Galadini and Galli, 1999) e, whereas the latter evidently matches with the 1915 earthquake. We found no paleoseismological evidence in our trenches of any faulting events between the 5the6th century and the 1915 ones. In this perspective, we must note that the investigated area was located outside the extent of the Fucino lake during the past few

millennia. This implies that the examined stratigraphic succession cannot be considered as complete as the sequence that was presumably deposited within the lacustrine basin. This has implications for the completeness of the geological record of faulting episodes. However, our geoarchaeological investigations revealed a quite continuous cultural stratigraphy (even considering the erosional phase) since the Neolithic in the area. Moreover, the timing of the last four events we identified seems chronologically consistent with the last four events recognised by Galadini et al. (1997), Galadini and Galli (1999) and Galli et al. (2012) along many branches of the Fucino fault system e who found no evidence of fault activation between the Roman Period and the 1915 event. With the above in mind, it is interesting to note that evidence for a 13th century earthquake has been found along the SBGSF segment of the Fucino fault system. Galli et al. (2016) detected evidence for a colluvial wedge of that age, that would be consistent with the observations that are used to interpret a palaeoearthquake of this age by Michetti et al. (1996); both of these studies were carried out along the southernmost segment of the Fucino fault system, to the southwest of the fault segment studied herein, where the fault scarp formed the paleo-Fucino lake shoreline. This difference between the two fault segments rises interesting issues about the seismicity of the region: it may indicate that only small portions of the overall fault system may be ruptured in any one earthquake with surface offset confined to separate fault segments. This would be in agreement with paleoseismological studies carried out along the Paganica fault (e.g. Moro et al., 2013), causative of the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake, located some tens kilometres to the N-NW. According to the mentioned authors, the about 12 km-long Paganica fault can activate both as single seismogenic structure,

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Fig. 11. Walls of paleoseismological trenches 4 and 5 and related stratigraphic log.

during 2009-like seismic events, and together with nearby fault strands during larger events (M 6.5e7). So, ruptures on single segments of major fault systems would not be unexpected and a common seismotectonic feature of the central Apennines. Nonetheless, Galli et al. (2016) stated that the 13th century earthquake on the Fucino fault would have ruptured the whole system, causing more than 0.7 m surface offset, resulting in a M 7 earthquake, comparable to the 1915 one. Therefore, if only the ~10 km-long SBGSF ruptured during the 13th century event, it may have caused a much smaller seismic event, with magnitude and surface offset much lower than 7 and 0.7 m, respectively. In our opinion, therefore, based on the above evidence and

considerations, it is worth doing more work to get a deep understanding of the kinematic behaviour of the Fucino fault system and, taking into account the observations made by Giraudi (1988, 2005) and Galadini et al. (1997), of the paleo-environmental and geomorphic evolution of the SBGSF scarp. In terms of evaluation of the displacement per event, the vertical separation of correlative stratigraphic units across the detected faults permits some considerations. Although ploughing locally cut off the uppermost parts of the units across the faults, the offset caused by event E1 (1915 earthquake) can be estimated by considering the displacement of the base of the ploughed soil in trenches 1 to 4, that ranges 10e25 cm.

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Fig. 12. Morpho-stratigraphic setting of the investigated area. Each stratigraphic column represents local stratigraphy in the photovoltaic power plant (see text for description). Erosional event, likely due to a Fucino lake level drop and associated deepening of linear incision, dashed line.

Table 2 Summary of the outcomes of the paleoseismological investigations. Faulting event

Time of occurrence

Offset (cm)

E1 E2 E3þE4 E5

1915 During or shortly after the Roman Period (likely 6th century AD) After the Neolithic Before the Roma Period Before the Neolithic

25 50 (minimum) 130 (cumulative and minimum) Undefined

As for event E2, the displacement across the faults of the basal contact between units 3 and 8 in trench 4 e restoring the displacement determined by E1 along F1 e provides 50 cm minimum offset, since the base of unit 3 was not reached by the excavation at the F2 hanging wall. As for E3 and E4, we can only estimate a summed minimum downthrown for these events, that ranges between about 20 cm (trench 1) and 130 cm (trench 3). 5. Conclusions Geoarchaeological and paleoseismological studies (five paleoseismological trenches have been dug by adopting the archaeological-type stratigraphic excavation) have been carried out across a splay of the Marsicana Highway-Mt. Parasano segment (MHPF) of the Fucino fault system. The structure crosses a photovoltaic plant in the northern sector of Pescina. The interplay between human occupation of the area since at least the Late Neolithic (4000 yr B.C.) and the local geomorphic evolution (framed in the broader context of the whole Fucino basin) allowed defining the morpho-stratigraphic evolutionary picture of the sector affected by the tectonic structure. Useful chronological constraints to first describe the recent slip history of the fault strand have been obtained. Our analyses revealed that the investigated hanging wall splay of the MHPF activated four times (Table 2) since about 5500 yr BP, responsible for minimum surface offset in the range 10e50 cm. The obtained chronological data suggested that these events coincide with those identified by previous studies along the other segments and splays of the Fucino fault system: the eldest recognised event took place during the Late Neolithic (about 4000e3600 yr B.C.); the subsequent event occurred during the Late Bronze Age (around 1500-1300 B.C.); the penultimate event took place after, but very close to the Roman Age (likely during the 5the6th century AD); the last activation episode coincides with the 1915 earthquake. Despite the stratigraphic record investigated was quite complete (although not continuous) throughout the study area since the Neolithic, we

found no geological evidence of a Middle Age (around the 13th century AD) activation event, supposed by other authors to be occurred along the Fucino tectonic structure. Ultimately, from a methodological point of view, this study highlights the potential of crossing geoarchaeological investigations with paleoseismological trenching in contexts of longlived and continuous human occupation. Such a crossed approach can provide with chronological constraints that can be much more robust and strict than those solely obtained by “classical” dating of samples collected from paleoseismological trench walls, especially when dealing with slope-derived/colluvial sedimentary sequences, not integrated e when possible e by archaeological in situ frequentation data, which are the most frequent kind of deposit along hillsides affected by active faults. Acknowledgements The authors warmly thank Limes geoarchaeological cooperative society e its President Dr. Hermann Borghesi Dr. Hermann Borghesi and all of the members (http://www.coop-limes-archeologia.it/) efor discussions and suggestions on archaeological issues. We are indebted with Dr. Serena Cosentino for providing us with a fundamental help in determining pre-Roman archaeological findings. We also acknowledge the personnel of Abantia Group, and the digger Hassan. The criticism and suggestions of Dr. Giovanni Monegato and of Professor Gerald Roberts allowed great improvement of the quality of our work. We are indebted with them. References Amoroso, S., Bernardini, F., Blumetti, A.M., Civico, R., Doglioni, C., Galadini, F., Galli, P., Graziani, L., Guerrieri, L., Messina, P., Michetti, A.M., Potenza, F., Pucci, S., Roberts, G., Serva, L., Smedile, A., Smeraglia, L., Tertulliani, A., Tironi, G., Villani, F., Vittori, E., 2015. Quaternary geology and paleoseismology in the Fucino and L'Aquila basins. In: Geological Field Trip of 6th International INQUA (International Union for Quaternary Research) Workshop on Paleoseismology, Active Tectonics and Archaeoseismology, 19e24 April 2015, Pescina, Fucino

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Please cite this article in press as: Gori, S., et al., Geoarchaeology and paleoseismology blends to define the Fucino active normal fault slip history, central Italy, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2017.01.028