Marine geophysics of the Naples Bay (Southern Tyrrhenian sea, Italy): principles, applications and emerging technologies

Marine geophysics of the Naples Bay is discussed focusing particularly on some principles, applications and emerging Technologies in seismic and magnetic marine data. The case histories of Somma-Vesuvius volcanic complex, Phlegrean Fields offshore and Ischia and Procida offshore (Naples Bay) are here discussed. Seismo-stratigraphic techniques and methodologies are explained, with the example of the Naples area, where the widespread volcanic activity during Quaternary times has disallowed the application of a classical stratigraphic approach, due to the occurrence of interlayered sedimentary sequences and interstratified volcanic bodies. Principles, applications and emerging technologies of marine geophysical data in the Naples Bay are considered with respect to data acquisition, processing and interpretation, taking into account some historical aspects towards new technologies. Among the sources tested in the Naples Bay there are the explosives, the Sparker and the Watergun, while the details to study geomorphological data have been analyzed through the Surfboom and the Sidescan Sonar. MEAS (Multispot Extended Array Sparker) seismic source has been largely used to acquire large database of single channel reflection seismics. More recently, by means of Multitip SAM96, SAM400 transducer high resolution seismic data in the Bay of Naples have been recorded and interpreted in detail. Significant correlations among seismic and magnetic data have been attempted based on comparative analysis of seismic and magnetometric datasets recorded in the Naples Bay.