Seafloor distribution and last glacial to postglacial activity of mud volcanoes on the Calabrian accretionary prism, Ionian Sea

Mud Volcanism in a Canyon: Morphodynamic Evolution of the Active Venere Mud Volcano and Its Interplay With Squillace Canyon, Central Mediterranean

“…Tephra layers containing glass shards of different chemical compositions are known in this region and have been attributed to contemporaneous or amalgamated consecutive volcanic eruptions (Paterne et al, 1988). This sedimentation rate is comparable to previously determined sedimentation rates of the Spartivento forearc basin (0.18-0.26 mm/yr; Ceramicola et al, 2014b) and is clearly higher than values reported for the outer CAP (0.05-0.1 mm/yr; Kastens, 1984;Polonia et al, 2013). This results in sedimentation rates of 0.17-0.19 mm/yr, averaged over the five cores where the tephra layer was identified.…”

“…This is based on an estimate of the total minimum time required for the growth of the western cone (0.095 km 3 at an averaged extrusion rate of 27,000 m 3 /yr), resulting in an age of 3,500 years, and based on the extent of elevated backscatter intensities on the ship-derived data. This phase is similar in age to mudflow deposits cored at two cones and the caldera of the Madonna dello Iono MVs (Praeg et al, 2009), with an estimated age of emplacement within the last 4,800-2,500 years (Ceramicola et al, 2014b). This phase is similar in age to mudflow deposits cored at two cones and the caldera of the Madonna dello Iono MVs (Praeg et al, 2009), with an estimated age of emplacement within the last 4,800-2,500 years (Ceramicola et al, 2014b).…”

“…Seafloor morphologies, backscatter intensities, and burial amounts of mudflow deposits at the eastern cone document that mud breccia extrusion occurred in a phase of activity between 4,000 years ago until 2,200 years ago (Figure 3d). For the Pythagoras MV, located on the fold-and-thrust belt near the Calabrian Escarpment (Figure 1c), the latest mud extrusions are indicated during 1,400-3,800 years by buried mudflow deposits (Ceramicola et al, 2014b). For the Pythagoras MV, located on the fold-and-thrust belt near the Calabrian Escarpment (Figure 1c), the latest mud extrusions are indicated during 1,400-3,800 years by buried mudflow deposits (Ceramicola et al, 2014b).…”

“…Ground Truthing of Bathymetry and Backscatter at Venere MV Correlating backscatter intensities of mud breccia deposits with their burial depth has allowed to constrain extrusive activity of MVs over large regions, as studies on the CAP (Ceramicola et al, 2014b) or the Mediterranean Ridge (Rabaute & Chamot-Rooke, 2007) have demonstrated. Discussion 5.1.…”

“…Venere MV, discovered by Ceramicola et al (2014b), is an active twin-cone MV with a subsidence caldera situated at 1,600 m water depth within the lower channel of Squillace Canyon along the Ionian Calabrian margin, Central Mediterranean Sea (Figures 1 and 2). During R/V METEOR cruise M112 in 2014 (Bohrmann et al, 2015), hydroacoustic water column anomalies (i.e., flares) were documented for the first time at one of the two summits of Venere MV as well as at several peripheral seep sites around it.…”