Revisiting the 1968 Belice valley (western Sicily) earthquake sequence
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Abstract
We revisit the earthquake sequence that struck the Belice valley (western Sicily) in January‑February 1968. The sequence is characterized by several moderate earthquakes which occurred in close proximity in time and space, with the largest event recorded in the early hours of the 15th of January. To date we gathered the most comprehensive parametric data set of arrival times and surface wave magnitude (MS) readings in order to facilitate relocations and MS reassessments, respectively. The relocation results put the events in the middle-lower crust, with the hypocentres tightened compared to previous results. Our revised MS estimations for ten of the largest events of the sequence support a near-6 magnitude for the mainshock. We show that our MS results are in line with the information provided by the instrumental parametric data available, not just for the mainshock but also within the broader context of the entire sequence. Different from recent estimations, our results support a magnitude above 5.5 for the mainshock, but, at the same time, suggest that the mainshock magnitude value of 6.4 reported in various catalogues is overestimated.
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