TRACE-IT 1.0: Tectonic Record of Active faulting from geology, geoChronology and gEochemistry in ITaly

TRACE-IT 1.0: Tectonic Record of Active faulting from geology, geoChronology and gEochemistry in ITaly Perna M.G.1†, Bello S.1,2,3†*, Galli P.3,4, Andrenacci C.1,2, Sanità E.1, Lavecchia G.2, Giaccio B.3, Peronace E. 3, Messina P., Marshall M. G.1, De Novellis C.1 1Dipartimento di Scienze, G. d’Annunzio University Chieti – Pescara, 66100, Chieti, Italy 2Centro inteRUniversitario per l’analisi Sismotettonica Tridimensionale (CRUST), Chieti, Italy 3Istituto di Geologia Ambientale e Geoingegneria (IGAG), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Monterotondo, Rome, Italy 4Dipartimento della Protezione Civile, Rome, Italy †These authors contributed equally *Corresponding author: [e-mail] TRACE-IT 1.0 (Tectonic Record of Active faulting from geology, geoChronology and gEochemistry in ITaly) is a georeferenced database developed within the DEFENS project (3D gEology-constrained seismic rupture dynamic models: a new interdisciplinary strategy For Earthquake forecasting and resilience), funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research to the P.I. Simone Bello. The database was designed to compile, harmonize, and standardize published geological information used to reconstruct the recent tectonic evolution of active fault systems in Italy. It integrates multidisciplinary observations derived from geological, paleoseismological, geomorphological, geophysical, geochemical, and geochronological investigations, providing a unified framework for accessing information that is otherwise scattered across hundreds of scientific publications. TRACE-IT 1.0 contains 10,104 georeferenced records compiled from ~300 peer-reviewed publications covering the entire Italian territory. Each record represents a point-based observation associated with an active fault and may include information on fault geometry, paleoearthquake chronologies, earthquake recurrence, displacement measurements, slip and throw rates, geochemical indicators, analyzed materials, dating methods, and chronological constraints. The database is intended to support multidisciplinary studies of active tectonics, fault evolution, paleoseismology, and seismic hazard assessment by providing a standardized, traceable, and easily queryable dataset. TRACE-IT is designed as an expandable resource, allowing future integration of additional observations and newly published studies while preserving compatibility with previous versions. The database, its compilation methodology, structure, validation procedures, and potential applications are fully described in the accompanying Data Descriptor manuscript submitted to Scientific Data. METADATA Dataset name: TRACE-IT 1.0 – Tectonic Record of Active faulting from geology, geoChronology and gEochemistry in ITaly Version: 1.0 Project: FIS2 "DEFENS" – 3D gEology-constrained seismic rupture dynamic models: a new interdisciplinary strategy For Earthquake forecasting and resilience Website: https://www.defens-project.it/ Funding: Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR) Spatial coverage: Italian territory Coordinate reference system: WGS84 geographic coordinates (EPSG:4326 / GCS_WGS_1984) File formats: Microsoft Excel (.xlsx), ESRI Shapefile (.shp), and tab-delimited text (.txt) Geometry type: Point Coordinate fields: Lon (X), Lat (Y) Number of records: 10,104 NOTES The shapefile was generated from the Excel database using the XYTableToPoint tool in ArcGIS Pro, with the Lon and Lat fields used to create point geometries, and subsequently exported as an ESRI Shapefile. The shapefile preserves the same attribute structure as the original database. Because the ESRI Shapefile format uses DBF tables, text fields are limited to 254 characters. Attribute names follow the 10-character limitation imposed by the DBF format. Consequently, fields beginning with a number (e.g., 14C or 36Cl) were automatically renamed by ArcGIS Pro by adding a leading letter (e.g., F14C_Type, F36Cl_param). The Excel version (TRACE_IT_V_1.xlsx) should be considered the authoritative version of the dataset because it preserves the original field names and is free from DBF format limitations. To optimize compatibility with the ESRI Shapefile format, text values occurring in fields primarily intended to store numerical data were removed only in the Shapefile version. No information has been removed from the original .xlsx database, which retains all original entries and should be consulted whenever complete attribute information is needed.