Fabio Matano

High-resolution morpho-bathymetry of Pozzuoli Bay, southern Italy

We present the results of a detailed bathymetric survey of Pozzuoli Bay (Gulf of Naples, Italy). This shallow marine area, along with the Campi Flegrei inland, is a highly active volcanic district in the coastal zone of SW Italy. The area has been active since at least 78 ka B.P., and is structurally dominated by a caldera collapse (∼8 km in diameter) associated with the eruption of the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff (NYT), a 30–50 km3 dense rock equivalent (DRE) ignimbrite dated ∼15 ka B.P. The main cartographic product consists of a 1:10,000 scale morpho-bathymetric map of Pozzuoli Bay, derived from 1 m cell-size, colour hill-shaded, digital terrain model of the seafloor. Multibeam bathymetry data reveal the precise extent of Roman underwater archaeological remains located in the N–NW infralittoral zone of the Bay. Morphometric analysis allowed for the development of thematic representations, including slope and aspect maps. A complete data set of active fluid vents seafloor locations were also recorded during the survey and reported in the final map. The multibeam bathymetric survey illustrated in this study provides an unprecedentedly detailed image of the seafloor morphology of Pozzuoli Bay and represents a contribution to the understanding of the dynamic evolution of the Campi Flegrei caldera, a high-risk volcanic area densely populated by almost one million people.

Stratigraphy and Detrital Modes of Upper Messinian Post-evaporitic Sandstones of the Southern Apennines, Italy: Evidence of Foreland-Basin Evolution during the Messinian Mediterranean Salinity Crisis

During the Messinian, the southern Apennines thrust belt experienced a period of strong tectonic rearrangement and accretion, activation of overthrusts, and consequent migration of depocenters. The upper Miocene successions cropping out in the northern segment of the southern Apennine thrust belt have good potential for improving our understanding of the interplay between Messinian salinity-crisis events and foreland-basin evolution. The local Messinian stratigraphy includes: (1) pre-evaporitic thin-bedded euxinic marly clay, interbedded with diatomaceous marls; (2) evaporitic limestone, crystalline gypsum, and reworked gypsum; (3) post-evaporitic deposits subdivided into two main units: the Torrente Fiumarella unit and the Anzano Molasse Formation that grade upward into ostracod-rich deposits (Lago-Mare facies). The evaporitic and post-evaporitic sequences are separated by an angular unconformity. This paper deals with the stratigraphic and petrographic study of the post-evaporitic deposits. The Torrente Fiumarella unit includes lacustrine and alluvial conglomerates, quartzolithic sandstones containing abundant carbonate detritus, shale, and reworked clastic gypsum. The Anzano Molasse Formation includes thick-bedded deltaic to turbiditic conglomerates and sandstones passing upward to thin-bedded turbidite sandstones and marlyclayey siltstones. Sandstones are quartzofeldspathic with variable proportions of sedimentary (both carbonate and siliciclastic) and plutonic detritus. In particular, two populations are present, plutonic-rich and mixed plutonic-sedimentary. Volcaniclastic layers, composed of dominantly vitric particles (shards and pumice), are also interbedded within Anzano Molasse sandstones. The Anzano succession includes rare freshwater ostracods that increase in abundance in the uppermost Lago-Mare facies. The Lago-Mare facies deposits are represented by silty-marly clay with abundant Ostracoda shells (Ilyocypris gibba, Cyprideis torosa and Candona sp.) and intrarenite having abundant intrabasinal carbonate particles (ooids, peloids, and bioclasts) and subordinate extrabasinal noncarbonate and carbonate particles. The post-evaporitic sequences represent an infilled foredeep basin, with a lacustrine environment progressively deepening and experiencing gravity resedimentation. Detrital modes document complex provenance relations from upper Messinian accreted terranes of the southern Apennines thrust belt. Post-evaporitic sandstones in the Irpinia-Daunia sector of the southern Apennines foreland-basin system record both the effects of the foreland tectonic evolution and the Messinian Mediterranean salinity crisis. They may represent alternative models for foreland-basin evolution during a restricted time in late Messinian, which can be applicable also in other portions of the circum-Mediterranean orogen.

Laser Scanning Application for Geostructural analysis of Tuffaceous Coastal Cliffs: the case of Punta Epitaffio, Pozzuoli Bay, Italy

Abstract This study presents the results of a Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS) application aimed at characterizing the structural pattern of Punta Epitaffio tuffaceous coastal cliff, Pozzuoli Bay, Eastern Tyrrhenian margin. The study site is located in the Campi Flegrei, an active volcanic caldera, characterized by dense urbanization, near the town of Naples, Italy. The 3D digital model of the Punta Epitaffio cliff derived from TLS data, provided a base for the classification of rock discontinuities by geostatistical analysis. In particular, the work flow of geostructural data processing included: 1) statistical analysis of spatial orientation of the facets of the 3D mesh derived by the TLS survey; 2) extraction of the best-fit attitudes (dip and dip direction) of discontinuity sets for each sub-planar patch of the rock face; 3) cluster analysis of best-fit structural discontinuities; 4) definition of all the discontinuity sets and geo-structural classification of 3D model facets; 5) kinematic analysis for the definition of possible failure mechanisms. Kinematic analysis took into account primarily structurally-controlled failure mechanisms (planar sliding, wedge sliding, flexural toppling, and direct toppling). The method illustrated in this research can be extensively applied to identify unstable areas along tuffaceous coastal cliffs and define shape and volume of rocks potentially involved by failures.

Geostructure of Coroglio tuff cliff, Naples (Italy) derived from terrestrial laser scanner data

We present a long-range terrestrial laser scanner application for the geostructural mapping of Coroglio cliff, a tuff rock face exposed along the coastal zone of Campi Flegrei, Napoli. The procedure includes several phases (geomorphological analysis, structural field survey, laser scanner data acquisition and data processing, 3-D model development and analysis, geostructural classification of discontinuity orientation data and 2-D vertical cartographic production). Field data were processed with specific software dedicated to geostructural and geometric analysis. Spatial data were managed with a geographical information system and have been used for the construction of 2-D and 3-D geometric models of the rock cliff surface and geostructural interpretation. The main product of this study is a vertical geostructural map of the Coroglio cliff at 1:500 scale that illustrates the spatial distribution and orientation of the major families of structural discontinuities detected along the exposed surface of the cliff. The cartographic product includes base information useful to identify the main rock failure mechanisms along the cliff and represents a first step for the zonation of areas susceptible to block failures and the planning of monitoring activities.

Application of Laser Scanning for Monitoring Coastal Cliff Instability in the Pozzuoli Bay, Coroglio Site, Posillipo Hill, Naples

This study presents a Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) application to monitor the slope stability along tuffaceous cliffed coast of Pozzuoli Bay, at Coroglio test site, Naples, Italy. We tested TLS technique based on Time of Flight method in order to obtain a 3D model of the coastal cliff, along with a classification of the rock discontinuities on the basis of their spatial orientation. A high-resolution digital model of the study outcrop has been produced, with a cell dimension of 5 cm. The analysis of spatial orientation of planar-like surfaces derived from the digital 3D model shows an excellent correlation with the sets of fractures and faults actually measured in the outcrop by classic geo-structural analysis. The results obtained from the Coroglio test suggest that the use of TLS application is an effective method for the monitoring of instability and evolution of coastal cliffs in volcanic settings.

Susceptibility regional zonation of earthquake-induced landslides in Campania, Southern Italy

In this paper, we present a GIS-based method for regional zoning of seismic-induced landslide susceptibility and show its application to the territory of the Campania region, Southern Italy. The method employs only three factors that we believe are most significant in the susceptibility assessment: the type of outcropping rock/soil, the slope angle, and the MCS intensity. Each of the three parameters is quantified in terms of relative weight expressed as indices, and the resulting Seismic Landslide Susceptibility index of an area is given by the average of the indices of the first two factors multiplied by the index of the third factor. The result of this susceptibility zonation applied to Campania shows a good agreement between the distribution of the historical earthquake-triggered landslides and the highly susceptible zones.

Thickness of pyroclastic cover beds: the case study of Mount Albino (Campania region, southern Italy)

ABSTRACT The paper presents a method for estimating and mapping – at detailed scale (1:5000) – the thickness of pyroclastic cover beds resting on calcareous bedrock. This method, tested in the study area of Mount Albino (Campania region, southern Italy), makes use mainly of information gathered from in situ investigations, managed and processed in a geographical information system environment via a geostatistical interpolation technique (i.e. ordinary kriging) and finally integrated and amended by adopting a heuristic approach. Given its easy applicability and affordable costs, the proposed method can be used in similar geological contexts where knowledge of the spatial distribution of pyroclastic cover beds is a requirement for understanding and predicting slope instability processes.

Hyperconcentrated Flow Susceptibility Analysis and Zoning at Medium Scale: Methodological Approach and Case Study

A methodological approach for the susceptibility analysis and zoning, at medium scale, of hyperconcentrated flows is presented. The adopted procedure comprises the following steps: (1) collection of data useful to acquire detailed knowledge of the slope processes leading to flow-like mass movements in the site; (2) hyperconcentrated flow susceptibility analyses via heuristic and statistic procedures; (3) hyperconcentrated flow susceptibility zoning (1:25,000 scale) at a preliminary/intermediate level. The procedure is applied to the test site of Monte Albino, (southern Italy), which extends over an area of around 400 ha. The obtained results emphasize the potential of an approach which moves from preliminary to intermediate level of susceptibility zoning. The results also highlight the important role played by the combined use of different procedures, based on heuristic and statistical models, in defining a standardised criterion to be adopted in problems dealing with the analysis and zoning of susceptibility to hyperconcentrated flows.

Editorial – Coastal changes, from past records to future trends: proxy analysis, modelling, and monitoring

Coastal areas represent complex environmental systems, as they are controlled by a high number of interacting variables (forcing factors, processes), acting over different time scales. Coastal landforms and sedimentary bodies, and their dynamics, are the result of the interaction between geological factors, tectonic evolution and surface processes on a local scale, and global variables such as climate and plate tectonics, controlling sea level. Relevant factors enhancing global and local coastal trends are also the local scale boundary conditions, such as those related to the watershed dynamics and anthropic load. For such reasons their study needs a multidisciplinary/ holistic approach requiring highly detailed analyses and accurate monitoring activities. Coasts are high-rate dynamic systems that rapidly vary also in response to low intensity changes in global and local controlling factors. Today coastal environments are the expression of a dynamic equilibrium established soon after the 120 m rise of the sea level due to ice melting occurred after the Last Glacial Maximum. Nevertheless in some contexts the geomorphic responses to environmental changes can also occur over a long-period of time, so an understanding of these issues requires multi-temporal analysis approaches that span from historical to millennia time intervals. Indeed, the shaping of coastal landforms acts at different rates. Low coastal areas, such as sandy coasts, dune systems, spit and barrier islands, respond to the changes of the physical factors on a time scale of decades or few centuries. On the other hand, the evolution of rocky coastal sectors often develops very slowly on a time scale of hundreds of thousands years (Davidson-Arnott 2005), even if abrupt changes can be possible as effect of paroxysmal events such as those related to mass wasting. Coastal plains are sensitive to the combined effects of subsidence and extreme events, such as storm surges, that can trigger erosional and flooding processes and cause rapid land modifications. Climate change effects can increase the intensity of these processes, enhancing the susceptibility of such areas. Sea level rise and ongoing changes in intensity and frequency of storm events, precipitation, and temperature, are considered the main causes of the negative impacts on beaches and dune systems. Erosion and temporary flooding due to sea level increase, especially if combined with high subsidence rates, are considered the main issues on sandy beaches whereas the reduction in plant cover, due to the increase in temperature and fragmentation of the system, is the main problem affecting the embryo and foredunes development. Beaches, especially sandy beaches, are landforms that rapidly change in response to variations of their boundary conditions. Beach profile and controlling processes coexist in a dynamic equilibrium: the beach spatial variability is linked to changes in wave climate while temporal changes are due to changes in the intensity of the incident waves. Due to their high vulnerability to sea level impacts, a range of possible scenarios for the Italian coastal plains in the year 2100 have been provided by several authors (Lambeck et al. 2011; Antonioli et al. 2017) taking into account projections for sea level rise that include the isostatic and tectonic components under different climate conditions. These studies highlight how the local effect of the vertical ground movements can induce high differences of the sea level impacts. The high concentration of population and human activities along the * Fabio Matano fabio.matano@cnr.it

Multiscale integrated approach to understand the structure and evolution of the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff (NYT) caldera off the Campi Flegrei, eastern Tyrrhenian margin

Abstract from 88th Congress of the Italian Geological Society, 2016-09-07 - 2016-09-09, NaplesAbstract from 88th Congress of the Italian Geological Society, 2016-09-07, 2016-09-09, Naplesbook Edited by D. Calcaterra, S. Mazzoli, F.M. Petti, B. Carmina & A. Zuccari doi: 10.3301/ROL.2016.79