Holocene Sedimentary and Gravitative Processes in Highstand Prodelta Deposits on the Cuma outer shelf (Eastern Tyrrhenian sea, Italy): An Integrated Approach

High resolution seismic profiles interpretation and sedimentological and petrophysical correlation of piston cores has been carried out to define sedimentary and gravitative processes in a prodelta area of the Cuma offshore. This unit is constituted in the upper part by mud deposits, which are affected by a downward-displacement cropping out at the sea bottom, related to creep-type processes. The integrated approach (sedimentologic, petrophysic and seismostratigraphic analysis) allowed to establish that the sedimentological body interested by the deformation preserved an internal geometry testifying a low sliding of the sedimentary body without reworking. Moreover the emplacement of the upper unit, characterized by mud deposits, is interpreted as controlled by high sediment supply, high water contents and shallow gas pockets which could represent a principal triggering factor of the submarine instabilities.