On 23 November 1980, a major earthquake (M(s) = 6.9) struck a large ar
ea of the southern Apennines (Campania and Lucania regions, southern I
taly). This seismic event, the largest in Italy over the last 80 years
, almost completely destroyed 15 villages and caused extensive damage
to other towns, including Naples. The quake produced the first well-do
cumented example in Italy of surface dislocation, represented by a fau
lt scarp 38 km long. We undertook a study that included C-14 dating of
organic materials from layers displaced by paleoseismic events to ass
ess the seismologic hazard for the area. We collected peat and charred
wood samples from the walls of two trenches excavated across the 1980
fault at Piano di Pecore di Colliano, Salerno, where the sedimentary
suite is faulted and warped by five quakes (including that of 1980). T
his produced comparable vertical throw and deformation patterns. Chron
ological data for pre-1980 events, coupled with detailed stratigraphic
analysis, yielded a dip-slip rate and a recurrence interval of 0.4 mm
/yr and 1700 yr, respectively.