Abstract
Small-scale crescent-shaped bedforms were identified within flat-bottomed channelized features carving the submarine volcanic flanks of the Stromboli and Salina edifices. The bedforms are downslope-asymmetric, with a sub-horizontal stoss side and a steep lee side. They have a wavelength of tens of metres and a wave height of metres, and their crest-lines are roughly perpendicular to the maximum slope. Based on their size, texture and similarities to other bedforms, they can be interpreted as cyclic steps, i.e. a class of upslope-migrating turbidite sediment waves. Although their genesis must be similar, some differences are observed between the two cases. At Stromboli, repeated multibeam surveys at an 11-year scale showed a significant upslope migration of the bedforms because they lie on the bottom of a channel connected to active coastal dynamics, whose headwall is located at a few metres depth. By contrast, the surveys showed no significant morphological variations at Salina, where the bedforms are larger than at Stromboli and the channel headwall is located at about −100 m, suggesting that these feature are mostly inactive at present.
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Acknowledgments
This research was funded by the Italian MaGIC (Marine Geohazards along the Italian Coasts) Project and carried out in the framework of the RITMARE (Ricerca ITaliana per il MARE) Project. Crews of R/Vs Urania and Thetis (CNR), and Universitatis (CoNISMA) are gratefully acknowledged along with the fellow researchers and students who took part in the sea surveys.
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Casalbore, D., Bosman, A., Romagnoli, C., Chiocci, F.L. (2017). Small-Scale Bedforms Generated by Gravity Flows in the Aeolian Islands. In: Guillén, J., Acosta, J., Chiocci, F., Palanques, A. (eds) Atlas of Bedforms in the Western Mediterranean. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33940-5_44
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33940-5_44
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