Project Highlights 2005 - RETREAT, Northern Italy

Eight semi-continuous GPS sites were established in northern Italy in June 2005 as part of the ongoing RETREAT (Retreating-trench, Extension and Accretion Tectonics) project. Each site was equipped with a Trimble NetRS receiver and a Trimble Zephyr Geodetic antenna. These installations were facilitated by Italian colleagues from the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica and Volcanologia (INGV) in Bologna, the University of Pisa, the University of Perugia and the Osservatorio Geologico di Coldigioco, as well as the University of Washington. These stations will record data continuously until late September, 2005 when they will be recovered at the conclusion of this year's RETREAT GPS campaign. UNAVCO will also provide equipment and engineering support for the GPS campaign in September.
 
These deployments and the campaign that will take place later this year represent the third of five RETREAT GPS campaigns presently funded. RETREAT is a multidisciplinary project to develop a self-consistent dynamic model of syn-convergent extension using the northern Apennines as a natural laboratory. It is a collaborative effort among Yale, University of Washington, Lehigh, Purdue, USC, and multiple institutions in Italy and Croatia. More information is available at the RETREAT Geodesy website [http://www.geo.arizona.edu/~rab/RETREAT/ ] and the official RETREAT website [http://www.geology.yale.edu/RETREAT/]. The RETREAT Tectonic Interpretation (RTI) Workshop will take place in Hvar, Croatia, in October 2005.