Search results for " Tyrrhenian sea"

DO INVASIVE MACROALGAE INFLUENCE ASSOCIATED MOLLUSC DIVERSITY IN THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA ?

2013

The benthic molluscs associated to the non-indigenous red algae Asparagopsis taxiformis invading the Mediterranean rocky subtidal were compared with those associated to a native brown alga. The results showed a marked difference in species richness and abundance between native and non-native algal species.

The Stagnone of Marsala lagoon

2009

The Stagnone of Marsala is an oligotrophic lagoon situated on the western coast of Sicily. The area has been under study since the mid-nineteenth century. Research has focused on its physiographic, chemical-physical, biological, ecological features and, particularly, on submerged vegetation. Its main biotic component, a meadow of Posidonia oceanica, is distributed among peculiar reef formations inside and outside the lagoon, which are extremely interesting from an ecological and environmental point of view. The seagrass grows near to its thermal and salinity tolerance level in the inner lagoon, where it is partially replaced by Cymodocea nodosa and Caulerpa prolifera meadows. Algal assembla…

Algal assemblages response to fish-farm biodeposition in a Southern Mediterranean area (Gulf of Castellammare, Sicily): preliminary data

2005

This study, carried out in the Gulf of Castellammare (northern coast of Sicily), concerns the effects of fish-farm nutrient enrichment on the algal assemblage growing on artificial substrata of cages. A total of 51 taxa were identified (3 Cyanophyceae, 3 Phaeophyceae, 5 Bacillariophyceae, 3 Chlorophyceae, 6 Ulvophyceae and 31 Rhodophyceae). A dominance of opportunistic species was highlighted, following a gradient from impact areas to controls.

Influence of hydrothermal vents on phytobenthic communities in the Aeolian Islands (Tyrrhenian Sea): preliminary results

2010

GLI EFFETTI DEL DISTURBO ANTROPICO SULLA TOPOGRAFIA DEL REEF A VERMETI

2011

Intertidal vermetid reefs could be affected by many human disturbances. Using a microtopography device, the authors analysed the changes induced by the accessibility on the surface topography of the reefs. Human activities seems to be able to induce a decrease in rugosity and a surface smoothing on the outer margin of the reef. These effects are proportional to the accessibility of the site.

Structural architecture and active deformation pattern in the northern sector of the Aeolian-Tindari-Letojanni fault system (SE Tyrrhenian Sea-NE Sic…

2017

Framed in the current geodynamics of the central Mediterranean, the Aeolian-Tindari-Letojanni fault system is part of a wider NW-SE oriented right-lateral wrench zone which accommodates diverging motion between regional-scale blocks located at the southern edge of the Calabrian Arc. In order to investigate the structural architecture and the active deformation pattern of the northern sector of this tectonic feature, structural observations on-land, high and very-high resolution seismic reflection data, swath bathymetry data and seismological and geodetic data were merged from the Lipari-Vulcano volcanic complex (central sector of the Aeolian Islands) to the Peloritani Mountains across the G…

Submarine canyons of north-western Sicily(Southern Tyrrhenian Sea): Variability in morphology, sedimentary processes and evolution on a tectonically …

2014

Hyper-extended rifted margin in the Tyrrhenian Sea, upper plate of the Ionian subduction zone

2011

The Tyrrhenian Sea is a Miocene to Present back-arc basin developed in the upper plate of the Ionian subduction zone. Refraction seismic data indicate that the central sector of the Marsili Basin is a zone of thin crust ∼7 km thick compatible with its oceanic origin (Steinmetz et al., 1983). Conventional models rather define a Continent-Ocean Transition (COT) with normal oceanic crust (i.e. Finetti et al., 2005). This does not seem to be the case for the whole Tyrrhenian Basin. Serpentinized peridotites, emplaced during Pliocene, have been drilled at ODP Site 651 (Sartori et al. 2004). The W Calabria segment of the Tyrrhenian continental margin is peculiar as seismic data has excluded the p…

The transition between the Marsili oceanic crust and the W Calabria rifted margin: rifting and drifting in the upper plate of the Ionian subduction z…

2012

The western Calabria continental margin forms the transition between the Late Pliocene to Recent Marsili spreading center and continental Calabria. Integrating highpenetration and -resolution upper crustal seismic images with seafloor morphology, ODP well data and geological/geophysical constraints we provide a detailed reconstruction of the architecture of the distal portion of the W Calabria rifted margin and of the adjacent Marsili “oceanic” domain (Fig. 1) and develop a scheme for the Pliocene to present rifting and drifting of the upper plate of the Ionian subduction zone. Our seismic data document the presence of stretched and thinned continental crust, less than 10 Km thick into the …

Habitat mapping of VMEs along the inner shelf regions of the south-western Tyrrhenian margin (southern Mediterranean): a geo-statistical predictive a…

2016

The main aim of this work is to statistically predict the distribution of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs) along the continental shelf regions of the northern Sicilian margin (southern Mediterranean). The considered habitats, already mapped in the area on a qualitative base, are the Posidonia oceanica and Cymodocea nodosa seagrasses and the Coralligenous biocenosis. Posidonia oceanica and Coralligenous are considered as VMEs owing to their value as environmental indicators and biodiversity hotspots in coastal marine areas. For this reason, several actions were aimed in recent years to their complete characterization and mapping. The study area is located in the continental shelf of the n…