Late Pleistocene and Holocene Cuma outer shelf (Eastern Tyrrhenian sea, Italy): an integrated approach

High resolution seismic profiles interpretation and sedimentological and petrophysical correlation of piston cores evidence recent, complex submarine instability processes offshore Cuma, Eastern Tyrrhenian Sea. In the investigated area a network of tributary channels, genetically related to the recent drainage system of Cuma canyon and bounded by slopes showing different profiles, has been identified. Some of them correspond to palaeo-channels, alternating phases of erosion and deposition, which formed, during the last sea level oscillation, a lateral contribution of the drainage system of the Cuma canyon. Seismic interpretation allowed to establish a stratigraphic marker, corresponding to the 18 ky erosional unconformity, clearly individuated at the top of a Late Pleistocene prograding wedge. One of the most significant Holocene units, crops out at the sea bottom and is characterised by limited downward displacement related to creep-type processes. The emplacement of such unit, characterized in the upper part by mud deposits, is interpreted as controlled by high sediment supply, high water contents and shallow gas pockets.