Late Holocene ground movements in the Phlegrean volcanic district (Southern Italy): new geo-archeological evidence from the offshore of Vivara and Procida Islands

The Phlegrean Volcanic District is well known for its geoarchaeological evidence of vertical ground movements and coastal changes since the Roman period. In this paper we present the results obtained by studying the geomorphology and archaeology offshore of the Vivara and Procida islands, which were frequented by Aegean-Mycenaeans during the Bronze Age. The study allowed several palaeo-coastlines to be identified between 1 and 21 m b.s.l.. The lowest one is tentatively assigned to ca. 7000 BP, while those between -18 and -10 m are referred to date to the 18th to the 15th century B.C. on the basis of landing structures and other archaeological finds. The traces of other short-lived, relative sea-level stands have been found at about -8.5/-10, -5/-6, -3.5, -2.5 and -1 m. The study area underwent a discontinuous subsidence of about 15 m during the last 3800 years.