| EuroSTRATAFORM
About | Sampling
& Analysis | Results
The Western Adriatic Sea is an excellent
environment for investigating the formation of clinoforms.
The stratigraphy reveals a long, continuous clinoform,
extending much of the length of the western Adriatic
margin, from Ancona to the Gargano Penninsula (Fig.
1). This feature is co-located with a zone of rapid,
recent sediment deposition, based on adionuclide measurements
(Alvisi and Frignani, 1996), indicating that this clinoform
is actively growing. Thus, the western Adriatic provides
an opportunity to examine the transport processes that
feed the growth of a clinoform in conjunction with studies
of the sedimentology and stratigraphy, leading to an
understanding of the mechanisms responsible for its
morphology and predictions of stratal evolution.
The objectives of the EuroSTRATAFORM project are grouped
into four main themes:
1) Plume and coastal current transport:
What are the relative contributions of local and remote
supplies of sediment to the Apennine clinoform development?
What are the relative roles of buoyancy and wind forcing
on the far-field transport of Po sediments? How far
offshore is sediment transported in the Apennine plumes?
2) Inner shelf sediment trapping: Does
frontal convergence in the coastal current provide a
means of focusing sediment? Does wave-induced resuspension
lead to high concentrations in the wave boundary layer?
Do these processes interact to yield fluid-mud concentrations
capable of gravity-driven transport? Do intermittent
inputs from the Apennine rivers provide a source for
inner-shelf trapping?
3) Cross-shelf transport processes:
What are the relative roles of ambient currents and
hyperpycnal, gravity-driven flows in transporting sediment
from the inner shelf to the depositional zones?
4) Strata formation and bed preservation:
How do cross-shelf gradients in bottom turbulence intensity
influence the magnitude of sediment supply and the potential
for preservation of sediment deposits?
back to top |
