New satellite data released by the Copernicus consortium of the European Union’s Space program have confirmed, according to researchers from the University of Catania, the location in the Calabrian hinterland of the tectonic fault from which the Messina – Reggio Calabria earthquake of 28 December originated 1908 (estimated magnitude M=7.1), already identified by scholars three years ago, through the survey “The Messina Strait: Seismotectonic and the Source of the 1908 Earthquake”. The current tectonic activity of the same fault, called W-Fault, was also recorded.
Satellite data
«The interferometric satellite data made available by the consortium Copernicus – explained the professor. Giovanni Barreca of the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences of the University of Catania and first signatory of the scientific article – represent the cutting edge of space remote sensing technology and, thanks to InSAR processing (Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry), manage to capture the horizontal and vertical movements of the ground with millimeter precision over the entire European continent in a specific time interval (2018-2022).
The eye on the Strait
In fact, focusing our attention on the Strait of Messina, the data on ground movement recorded by Catania geologists clearly show how the Calabrian sector between Cannitello, Villa S. Giovanni and Campo Calabro is rising, while that south of the Catona stream (Gallico , Catona) is instead decreasing with movement rates exceeding 1.5 mm per year.
The limit between the rising zone and the falling zone is a fairly clear speed contrast with a straight development – a patterns typically associated with active tectonic structures – and perfectly outlines the structure reported in the study published in 2021 in the international journal Earth-Science Reviews by the University of Catania, INGV-OE and the University of Kiel, i.e. the Calabrian section of the W-Fault. The independent evidence therefore strengthens the results of the study, placing the W-Fault as the key seismotectonic element for the entire area of the Strait of Messina.
«This should be of considerable importance in relation to the design of future infrastructures in the area – observes prof. Barreca – as the location on the map, the rates of tectonic activity and the dimensions of the fault represent the fundamental elements for estimating the seismic actions of the project, such as the horizontal acceleration expected at the site in dynamic conditions”.
The Strait of Messina Society: «No seismic risk»
«The points of contact with the ground of the bridge over the Strait of Messina in relation to the data collected by the Copernicus satellites, on the basis of the geoseismotectonic studies carried out, were identified avoiding positioning on active faults». This is what the Strait of Messina Society declares.
«What was stated in a study is known to the designers of the Opera – continues the note – In the 2024 designer’s report, the specialists involved in revisiting the data available to date confirm that there are no substantial changes to what was expected and planned. The construction of suspension bridges in seismic areas – adds the Company – has always taken place in every part of the world in areas
with more relevant seismogenic potentials than the Strait of Messina: Türkiye; Greece; Japan; California. The seismogenic potential of the Strait of Messina is not capable of producing earthquakes greater than 7.1 on the Richter scale. In any case, the bridge over the Strait is designed to remain in the elastic range even with higher magnitudes.” «The definitive project of the bridge over the Strait of Messina – he continues – is accompanied by over three hundred geological documents resulting from new and more extensive documentation at various graphic scales, created with the aid of approximately four hundred specific investigations, including geological, geotechnical and
seismic. The geological, hydrogeological, geotechnical and seismic data are completed by specialist reports with floor plans; detailed geological and geotechnical sections. Geological knowledge in the Strait of Messina area has been deepened with many specific studies. These are elaborate insights,
among others, by specialists from the Faculty of Geology of the University of Catania and the Department of Earth Sciences of the University of Rome Sapienza”.,
