Comment on Lost tsunami by Maria Teresa Pareschi et al.

A numerical simulation recently published by Pareschi et al. [2006a] (hereinafter referred to as PAR2006) suggests the possible occurrence of a major tsunami that should have hit the eastern Mediterranean in the early Holocene. The catastrophic collapse of the eastern flank of the Etna Volcano that formed the Valle del Bove [Calvari and Groppelli, 1996; Calvari et al., 1998] is reported as the trigger of this tsunami that generated a pelagic turbidite nicknamed "Homogenite" [Kastens and Cita, 1981] or "Augias turbidite" [Cita et al., 1984; Hieke, 1984] throughout the eastern Mediterranean. Since its discovery, this deposit characterized by an acoustically transparent facies on seismic profiles has been related to the 3500 years old collapse of the Santorini Caldera [Kastens and Cita, 1981]. Several papers published in the last 25 years followed this interpretation [see Cita and Rimoldi, 2005, and references therein]. So there is a general agreement about the tsunamigenic origin for the widespread homogenite deposits, while a big discrepancy exists between the timing of this event and the formation of the Valle del Bove which cannot be younger than 7600 calibrated yr. B.P. [Calvari and Groppelli, 1996]. This comment aims to clarify the stratigraphic constraints about the timing of the homogenite deposition challenging the proposed genetic link between the collapse of the Valle del Bove and the Homogenite or Augias deposits.