Morpho-Bathymetric and Seismo-Stratigraphic Analysis of the Bay of Naples (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy): Examples from the Naples, Sorrento, and Ischia Offshore

Seabed studies are a valuable tool in the investigation of active continental margins, both in volcanic and sedimentary settings. Being an example of a slope-confined sedimentary basin, the “Ammontatura” slope basin has been discussed using multibeam bathymetry and seismo-stratigraphic data matched with previously available cores. Being a significant tectonically controlled slope bounded by the Capri-Sorrento regional fault, the southern slope of the Sorrento Peninsula has been explored employing a dense network of bathymetric profiles. The data have shown the underwater extension of the mainland drainage system, comprising a dense network of submarine gullies, reflecting the onshore drainage system. The northern Ischia debris avalanche deposits have been studied through seismo-stratigraphic data, previously unpublished, whose geologic evolution has been placed within the Quaternary stratigraphic framework of Ischia. This research revealed how several geological events, such as the tectonic phases, the emplacement of erosional and depositional domains, the volcanic eruptions, and the reworking of volcanic deposits, interacted in controlling the sedimentary structure of slope basins. In the Ammontatura slope basin, the tectonic setting has probably controlled its emplacement along a NE–SW trending regional fault, resulting from the submarine prolongation of the Sarno-Sebeto normal fault, while intense reworking of volcaniclastic deposits acted as the main control factor in slope settings.