The Coastal Depositional Systems along the Campania continental margin (Italy, Southern Tyrrhenian sea) since the Late Pleistocene: New Information Gathered in the Frame of the CARG Project

Extensive high-resolution mapping of the continental margin off the southernCampania region (eastern Tyrrhenian Sea) has revealed significant morphologicaland geological features which allowed us to outline the gradual modification of thecoastal domains since the Late Pleistocene. Swath bathymetry, acoustic images ofthe seafloor, seismic acquisition, core and bottom samples were used to implement alarge database.Shore bodies ranging in age from pre- to post- last-glacial times have been identifiedin the uppermost 100 ms of the seismic stratigraphic record off the Sele and Bussentoriver mouths. The oldest bodies formed during the seaward retreat of the shorelineduring the Late Pleistocene sea level drop. The peak of the retreat accounts forthe growth of a shelf-margin, in the Salerno and Policastro Bays, and a mid-shelf,off Cilento, littoral body, at least 100 km long, during the last maximum lowstandphase. At that time, the River Sele flowed directly on the upper slope and formed achannel drainage system, still preserved between a depth of 180 and 500 m, due todensity flows that have transferred sediment from the coastal area directly into theSalerno Valley, an intraslope basin of the Eastern Tyrrhenian Margin. The postglacialsea level rise caused the fast drowning of the shelf and a partial preservation of thetransgressive deposits. However a prograding wedge 1.5 km long and about 10 msthick, which lies above the transgressive surface (90/60 m below the present day sealevel), could represent a trace of the Younger Dryas climatic event. The rapid shoreprogradation during the 12 ky B.P. cold event testifies the sensitivity of the Selecoastal system even to minor climatic oscillations.