Abstract
The Ionian margins of Calabria and Apulia (IMCA) have been affected by mass movements of varying style, scale and age. Here we present examples of seabed and subsurface features identified along more than 400 km of the IMCA from multibeam seabed imagery and subbottom profiles acquired by OGS since 2005. Four different types of mass movement phenomena are recognized with expression at seabed and in the shallow subsurface: (1) mass transport complexes (MTCs) within intra-slope basins, (2) isolated slide scars (ISS) along open slopes, (3) slope-parallel sediment undulations (SPSU) recording block-rotations linked to fluid migration, and (4) headwall and sidewall scarps (HSC) in submarine canyons. Preliminary analyses of sedimentary processes suggest that both open-slope failures capable of triggering tsunamis and retrogression of canyon headwalls within 1–3 km of the Calabrian coast represent potential geohazards for coastal populations and offshore infrastructures.
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Acknowledgments
The seabed dynamics of the IMCA are being examined in the context of the Italian projects MAGIC (MArine Geohazards along the Italian Coasts), funded by the Civil Protection Department, and Ritmare (La ricerca italiana per il mare), funded by the Ministry of University and Research (MIUR). Data were acquired during four campaigns of the r/v OGS Explora: in 2005 for three projects, HERMES (EC Integrated Project), MESC (collaboration with the University of Trieste) and WGDT (collaboration with the University of Calabria), all funded by OGS, and in 2009 for MAGIC. All campaigns were coordinated by Riccardo Ramella. All data were processed and interpreted at OGS; Andrea Caburlotto and Dario Civile of OGS are thanked for contributions to the mapping. This work as well as Marianne Coste’s PhD programme are funded in the framework of MAGIC and Ritmare. Global Mapper software was customized for MAGIC interpretative purposes. The software package IHS Kingdom Suite is provided via an Academic Grant. The authors thank Sébastien Migeon and Dimitris Sakellariou for their constructive reviews.
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Ceramicola, S. et al. (2014). Submarine Mass-Movements Along the Slopes of the Active Ionian Continental Margins and Their Consequences for Marine Geohazards (Mediterranean Sea). In: Krastel, S., et al. Submarine Mass Movements and Their Consequences. Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research, vol 37. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00972-8_26
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00972-8_26
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