The Friuli Thrust Front is a system of east-west reverse faults along the southern margin of the eastern Alps in northeastern Italy, near the border with Slovenia and Austria. It absorbs the north-south shortening as the Adriatic microplate pushes into and beneath the Alpine chain.
These thrusts stack older rocks over younger foreland deposits, uplifting the Carnic and Julian pre-Alps and producing some of the highest seismic hazard in the Alps. Slip rates are low by global standards but enough to generate strong, shallow earthquakes.
The front is the source of the devastating 1976 Friuli earthquake (magnitude ~6.5) that killed nearly a thousand people and triggered a landmark reconstruction effort in Italy. Its combination of active thrusting and dense settlement keeps the region among the most closely monitored in the southern Alps.