Coastal and shallow marine geophysical investigations in the Roman site of Baia in Naples, Italy

The Roman site of Baia (Naples, Italy) belongs to the Campi Flegrei volcanic field, which is affected by vertical ground movement called Bradyseism, that strongly influenced the morphology of the coast. As a consequence, a number of architectural remains are now below the sea water surface, and partly or totally buried within the marine sediments. This work presents the results of the coastal and ultra-shallow marine geophysical survey aimed to investigate and reconstruct the onshore-offshore hidden built environment in the specific site. The geophysical approach included Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) to check the continuation of structural remains on the coast, static 3-D Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) to reconstruct the architectural relics in the shallow part and 2-D dynamic ERT to examine the layers below the the seabed in the deeper sections of the bay. The outcomes of this work contributed to the better understanding understanding of the submerged cultural landscape of Baia expanding the archaeological knowledge towards the shallow part and the coast.