Seafloor mapping of Palinuro Seamount, a volcanic ridge in Southern Tyrrhenian Sea

The Tyrrhenian Sea is a oceanic back-arc basin of the Mediterranean Sea related to the passive roll-back of the subduction system of the NW-dipping African lithospheric slab under the Apennines, Calabrian Arc, and Maghrebides orogenic belts (i.e. Malinverno and Ryan, 1986). Palinuro Seamount is an elongated, N100E oriented, volcanic complex formed by several coalescent edifices. It is 70 km long, 25 km wide and its top is located at 80 m b.s.l. (Passaro et al., 2010; Milano et al., 2012). In the last 10 years, Pleistocene lavas with a calcalkaline affinity (i.e. Trua et al., 2004) and hydrothermally derived products (i.e. Lupton et al., 2011, Ligi et al., 2014) were recorded at the apical sector of PS and geochemically analysed. Currently volcanic environments are still poorly characterised by acoustic backscatter derived from multibeam surveys, which instead represents a powerful tool for a rapid and detailed seabed mapping useful to improve the interpretation of the morphological and volcanic-structural processes. This contribution shows a seafloor mapping realised on Palinuro Seamount. The geophysical data acquired during two oceanographic cruise (Aeolian 2007 and 2010), was carried out with a multibeam sonar system and then processed in order to preserve data accuracy and resolution. The realised mosaic was geo-referenced and imaged using a gray scale. In order to calibrate the backscatter facies recognised on the base of homogenous reflectivity values, the lithology and grain size of seafloor sediments were evaluated. The final map realised will be useful for future morphological interpretations of the apical sector of the Palinuro volcanic ridge.