Seismotectonics of the eastern Southern Alps: a review

The more significant geological and geophysical data available for northeastern Italy, between lake Garda and the Italian border with Yugoslavia, and between the Italian border with Austria and the river Po are analyzed and compared. From the geological point of view, a structural model showing sectors with different pre-Quaternary evolution, and a neotectonic model showing the tectonic evolution in the Middle Pleistocene-Holocene period, has been developed. The direction of the tectonic features is coherent with the present known stress field. The seismicity is concentrated in upper crustal levels (5-15 km) in Friuli but hypocentre depths of 25 km were recognized in the Garda area; it is due to the ongoing shortening between the Europe and Adria plates. A seismotectonic model is presented with four major structural units; these units are then further subdivided into ten homogeneous seismogenetic zones. -from Authors