Pockmark morphology and turbulent buoyant plumes at a submarine spring

The input flow of groundwater from the seabed to the coastal ocean, known as Submarine Groundwater Discharge (SGD), has been only recently recognized as an important component of continental margin systems. It potentially impacts physical, chemical and biological marine dynamics. Independently of its specific nature (seepage, submarine springs, etc.) or fluid chemical composition, a SGD is generally characterized by low flow rates, hence making its detection and quantification very difficult, and explaining why it has been somewhat neglected by the scientific community for a long time. Along with the growing interest for SGDs emerged the need for in-situ observations in order to characterize in details how these SGDs behave. In this work, we describe the morphology of a pockmark field, detected in the Southern Tyrrhenian Sea (Mediterranean Sea), and provide observational evidences of the presence of active submarine springs over the coastal shelf area. We describe the effect of the fluid seeps on the water column stratification close to the main plumes and in the neighbouring areas, providing quantitative estimates of the intensity of the turbulent mixing and discussing their potential impact on the seabed morphology and pockmark formation in the context of turbulent buoyant plumes analytical modelling.