Morpho-sedimentary setting and evolution of Marettimo Valley (Egadi Islands, Sicily) during middle-late Quaternary: interaction between sea level changes and oceanographic circulation

Agate M., Tamburrino S., Sulli A., Placenti F., Sprovieri M., Lo Iacono C., Passaro S.

Abstract

We present morphological and stratigraphic results coming from surveys acquired in a NNW-SSE trending submarine depression (Marettimo Valley) located in the Egadi Islands (western Sicily offshore). In this area the seafloor is characterized by both depositional and erosional features generated under a variety of sedimentary processes. We identified two seismic facies units that are correlatable to: A) the progradation of shallow water (coastal to offshore) deposits during forced-regression sedimentary process, and B) contourite drifts emplaced by geostrophic currents through the Marettimo Valley. This unusual association of very shallow water contourites and shelf margin deposits originates, during middle-late Pleistocene glacio-eustatic cycles, from enhanced sedimentary dynamics establishing mutual interaction between progradational growth of the margin and bottom current deposition.

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DOI

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IMEKO TC

TC19 - Environmental Measurements

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