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The contribution of marine geology to the knowledge of marine coastal environment off the Campania region (southern Italy): the geological map n. 502 “Agropoli” (southern Campania)

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Abstract

The marine geological map n. 502 “Agropoli”, located offshore the Cilento Promontory, southern Italy, is here described and the regional geology interpreted, particularly referring to water depths between the 30 and 200 m isobaths. The geologic map has been constructed in the frame of a research program financed by the National Geological Survey of Italy (CARG Project), finalized to the construction of up-to-date cartography of the Campania region. Geological and geophysical data on the continental shelf and slope offshore of the Southern Campania region have been collected in the study area, bounded northwards by the Salerno Gulf and southwards by the Policastro Gulf. A high resolution multibeam bathymetry allowed for the construction of a marine digital elevation map; sidescan sonar profiles also have been collected and interpreted. The latter, merged to the bathymetry, have represented the base for the marine geologic cartography. The integrated geologic interpretation of seismic, bathymetric and sidescan sonar data has been calibrated by sea-bottom samples. The morpho-structures and the seismic sequences overlying the outcrops of acoustic basement reported in the cartographic representation have been studied in detail using single-channel seismics. The interpretation of seismic profiles has been a support for the reconstruction of the stratigraphic and structural setting of the Quaternary continental shelf successions and the outcrops of rocky acoustic basement in correspondence to the Licosa Cape morpho-structural high. These areas result from the seaward prolongation of the stratigraphic and structural units, widely cropping out in the surrounding emerged sector of the Cilento Promontory. The cartographic approach is based on the recognition of laterally coeval depositional systems, interpreted in the frame of the system tracts of the Late Quaternary depositional sequence. We present evidence of now subaqueous terraces inferred to be palaeoshorelines representing past sea-level positions and tentatively correlated these to oxygen isotopic stratigraphy.

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Acknowledgments

This paper has been funded by CNR grants devoted to Prof. B. D’Argenio in the frame of the research project on the marine geological mapping of the Campania region at the scale 1:25.000 (Geological map n. 502 “Agropoli”). We thank Prof. Bruno D’Argenio (University Federico II, Naples, Department of Earth Sciences), scientific responsible of the marine geologic mapping of the Campania region, for his support. We thank Dott. Lucia Monti (Regione Campania, Settore Difesa Suolo, Via Alcide De Gasperi 6, 80133, Naples, Italy) to make available the seismic sections and the geological maps shown in this paper. The marine geological survey has been carried out by Dott. Gemma Aiello based on data collected at sea. We thank Dott. Nicola Pelosi (CNR-IAMC Sede di Napoli, Calata Porta di Massa, Porto di Napoli, 80133, Naples, Italy) for the informatization of the geological maps shown in this paper. Finally, we thank Dr. Amy Draut Editor in Chief of Marine Geophysical Research for her patient support.

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  1. Institute of Marine, Environmental and Coastal Area (IAMC), National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Calata Porta di Massa, Porto di Napoli, 80133, Naples, Italy

    Gemma Aiello & Ennio Marsella

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  1. Gemma Aiello
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  2. Ennio Marsella
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Correspondence to Gemma Aiello.

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Aiello, G., Marsella, E. The contribution of marine geology to the knowledge of marine coastal environment off the Campania region (southern Italy): the geological map n. 502 “Agropoli” (southern Campania). Mar Geophys Res 34, 89–113 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11001-013-9186-4

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