Marine Geology at ISMAR 2.0 (CNR): A "Journey Through the Past". And the future?

The recent re-organization of the CNR research network led to the formation of 4 new Research Institutes operating in the field of marine sciences, namely ISMAR (Institute of Marine Sciences), IRBIM (Institute of Marine Biological Resources and Biotechnologies), IAS (Institute for the study of Anthropic Impacts and Sustainability in the Marine Environment), and IGAG (Institute of Environmental Geology and Geoengineering). The new CNR-ISMAR was constituted in September 2018 by joining several sections that operate in the field of oceanographic science. In particular, three of these sections inherited significant expertise in the field of Marine Geology, i.e. the former IAMC-Napoli, the ISMAR headquarters (Venezia) and the section of Bologna . The newly-formed marine geology community benefits from a wide experience in surveying, monitoring, mapping and modeling of natural geologic processes in a variety geodynamic and oceanographic settings, from the modern and fossil record. Research activity carried out in the Mediterranean and worldwide by ISMAR scientists over the last decades has brought a significant advances in understanding fundamental geological processes, including: 1) Formation and destruction of oceanic lithosphere; 2) Earthquake and tsunami hazards; 3) Volcanic risk and geothermal resources; 4) Sediment dynamics from the coastal plain-continental shelf to slope-deep basins and its response to global forcing; 5) Submarine landslides; 6) coastal hazards (landslide, erosion, subsidence, flood and pollution) 7) Facies analysis and paleoenvironmental reconstruction of stratigraphic intervals (Mesozoic to Quaternary) of the peri-Mediterranean area; 8) Stratigraphic architecture of Neogene-Quaternary continental basins, and lakes; 9) Physical and ecosystemic response to geological and climatic forcers. Overall, such variegated research proved to be strategic in promoting the CNR participation to relevant national and international projects, and the best outcome has been published in many high ranked international, journals. Admittedly, the fundamental pre-requisite in achieving this result, was the availability of suitable offshore research vessels operating in support of the marine CNR scientific community up to 2017. The unfortunate situation is that all the experience gained through the years and the future of the marine geological investigation are currently at risk because of the present lack of any adequate research ships. This situation is obviously in urgent need to be reversed to maintain not only viable the marine scientific research at CNR, but also to continue and expand the offshore research at competitive levels. We present here a summary of results of relevant studies conducted over the last decades by researchers of the CNR-ISMAR Geology Group as a selection of "Greatest Hits" in Marine Research.