Submarine Landslides on the Seafloor: Hints on Subaqueous Mass-Transport Processes From the Italian Continental Margins (Adriatic and Tyrrhenian Seas, Offshore Italy)

In the recent years, a large amount of marine geophysical data has been acquired along the Italian continental margins. Geophysics techniques such as multibeam and high-resolution sub-bottom profiles have been particularly useful in the reconstruction of the recent and active processes whose traces are found both at the seafloor and in the upper stratigraphy of slope and basin. In this chapter, we present a review of the available studies on a suite of submarine landslides along two portions of the Italian seas. The study areas are in the southwestern Adriatic Sea and in the southeastern Tyrrhenian Sea. Submarine landslides have been investigated through the analysis of their seafloor morphology and their internal architecture. Our study gives a detailed insight, from a marine geology perspective, on the large variety of internal geometry and features that characterize the deposits associated with submarine landslides. This chapter emphasizes the importance of the fine-scale characterization of the range of elements within the different sectors of mass-transport deposits. The recognition and the comprehension of these elements are crucial for a better definition of the controlling factors that drive the final arrangement of failed sediments.