The Italian MaGIC Project: A first-order geohazard assessment by means of regional seafloor mapping

Over the past decades interest for marine geohazard assessment has rapidly grown up, driven by the increasing exploitation of natural resources, the emplacement of bottom-lying structures (cables and pipelines) and by the development of coastal areas, whose infrastructures increasingly protrude to the sea. At the same time, recent advances in seafloor mapping techniques have greatly improved our knowledge of geomorphic features that can be regarded as geohazard indicators, such as volcanic vents, slide scars, canyon headscarps, and fault-related seafloor unevenness. The national Project MaGIC (Marine Geohazards along the Italian Coast) is aimed at depicting potential geohazards based on the acquisition of highresolution bathymetry and on the production of maps of the geohazard -related geomorphic features for most of the Italian continental margins.