The red coral deposits of the Graham Bank area: Constraints on the Holocene volcanic activity of the Sicilian Channel

The sub-fossil red coral of Sciacca (Sicily Channel, Mediterranean Sea): colony size and age estimates

“…These deposits were located within a wide submarine valley, called "the coral valley", in an area which hosts, among other submarine rocky edifices, the Graham Bank, a broad and relatively shallow relief, which corresponds to the location of the ephemeral so-called Ferdinandea Island, which appeared in 1831 as a result of an explosive eruption and rapidly disappeared after a few months. The red coral colonies, living on the rocky flanks of the valley, when died, rolled down and accumulated onto the seafloor, creating the red coral deposits, intermingled with volcanic and biogenic debris (Lodolo et al 2017).…”

“…The Sicily Channel also hosts large sub-fossil red coral deposits discovered between 1875 and 1880 off Sciacca, a small town along the southern coast of Sicily, at depths ranging from 150 to 200 m (Rajola 2012). Although red coral fossil colonies, in some cases maintaining traces of colour, are known from Miocene to Pleistocene deposits in several Italian sites (Neviani 1935;Vertino et al 2010), the only extensive sub-fossil deposits found in the Mediterranean basin are those of Sciacca, reaching back to 9,000 YBP (Di Geronimo et al 1993;Lodolo et al 2017). The formation of the Sciacca red coral banks is an extraordinary event in red coral bio-history that has taken place over several millennia at this site (Cattaneo-Vietti and Bavestrello 2010).…”

Elemental systematics of the calcitic skeleton of Corallium rubrum and implications for the Mg/Ca temperature proxy

“…Detrimental effects of ocean acidification on C. rubrum have also been reported (Bramanti et al, 2013;Cerrano et al, 2013). Fossil C. rubrum of Miocene to Holocene age have also been used for paleoceanographic reconstructions (Barrier et al, 1991; Di Geronimo et al, 1993, Vertino et al, 2010Vertino et al, 2014;Lodolo et al, 2017).…”

The Graham Volcanic Field Offshore Southwestern Sicily (Italy) Revealed by High-Resolution Seafloor Mapping and ROV Images

“…Finally, in the proximity of the GVF, three deposits of dead red coral have been discovered (Di Geronimo et al, 1993). They may have accumulated, during the post-LGM, as consequence of periodic collapses, possibly associated with volcanic and/or seismo-volcanic activity, dislodging living (or dead) corals from the steep flanks of volcanoes on which they lived (Di Geronimo et al, 1993;Lodolo et al, 2017).…”

“…Moreover, paleontological analysis of faunal elements associated with sub-fossil coral deposits found between C3 and C4, indicated a post-LGM emplacement (Di Geronimo et al, 1993); while radiocarbon dating of these corals span the last 10 ka, indicating that they were accumulated during the Holocene (Lodolo et al, 2017). The latter authors associated the origin of the coral deposit to periodic slope failures, possibly triggered by volcanic and/or seismo-volcanic activity (like that reported during Ferdinandea eruption; Gemmellaro, 1831), dislodging corals (dead or alive) from the steep flanks of volcanoes on which they lived, hypothesizing the occurrence of an active volcanism in the area during the last 10 ka.…”