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Coastal hazard due to submarine canyons in active insular volcanoes: examples from Lipari Island (southern Tyrrhenian Sea)

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Abstract

The recent high-resolution multibeam bathymetry surveys around Lipari Island allowed to evidence several submarine canyons, whose head often cut back up to very shallow water and at a few tens of meters far from the coast. These canyons are mainly located in the eastern and southern side of the island and are characterized by an ongoing retrogressive (landward) erosion, that also controlled the shape and the evolution of the coastline. The canyon heads are formed by minor slide scars. By coupling slide scar morphometry and simple numerical model we have been able to roughly estimate the potential tsunami wave amplitudes generated by related slope failures. Moreover, the retrogressive erosion of canyon heads can be claimed as a cause of the enhanced subsidence reported in the last few thousand years in the eastern part of Lipari, where the main villages are located. Based on these evidence, we propose a first assessment of the coastal hazard due to marine retrogressive activity in the largest and most densely populated island of the Aeolian Archipelago.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the support from the MaGIC (Marine Geohazards along the Italian Coasts) and RITMARE (La Ricerca ITaliana per il MARE) Projects funded by DPC and MIUR, respectively. This study has been partially supported by the “savemedcoasts” EC project (Grant Agreement No. ECHO/SUB/2016/742473/PREV16) and benefited on data collected under the DPC-INGV Project V3 “Multi-disciplinary analysis of the relationships between tectonic structures and volcanic activity”, and the MIUR PRIN 2011-2013 National Research Programme “Response of morphoclimatic system dynamics to global changes and related geomorphologic hazard”. The first author also thanks the funding provided by “Progetto di Ateneo” of University Sapienza of Rome. Officials and crews of R/V Urania, Thetis and Universitatis are gratefully acknowledged along with the researchers and students taking part in the surveys. A special thank is due to Filippo Muccini and Riccardo Vagni for the acquisition of multibeam data in nearshore areas around Lipari.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento Scienze della Terra, Sapienza Università di Roma, Rome, Italy

    Daniele Casalbore & Francesco Latino Chiocci

  2. Istituto di Geologia Ambientale e Geoingegneria (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche), Area della Ricerca di Roma 1, Rome, Italy

    Daniele Casalbore, Alessandro Bosman & Francesco Latino Chiocci

  3. Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, Geologiche ed Ambientali, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Claudia Romagnoli

  4. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Rome, Italy

    Marco Anzidei

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  1. Daniele Casalbore
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  2. Claudia Romagnoli
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  3. Alessandro Bosman
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  4. Marco Anzidei
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  5. Francesco Latino Chiocci
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Correspondence to Daniele Casalbore.

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Casalbore, D., Romagnoli, C., Bosman, A. et al. Coastal hazard due to submarine canyons in active insular volcanoes: examples from Lipari Island (southern Tyrrhenian Sea). J Coast Conserv 22, 989–999 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11852-017-0549-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11852-017-0549-x

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