Chapter 11 Measurements in Marine Geology: An Example in the Gulf of Taranto (Northern Ionian Sea)

This chapter reports a synthesis of the presentations at the past International Workshops on Metrology for the Sea that points out some applications of measurements in marine geomorphology, stratigraphy and sedimentology on sediment samples. The research has been carried out on the continental margin of the Puglia region in the Gulf of Taranto (Ionian Sea). In this area, multibeam echosounders data and Chirp seismic profiles have been acquired, offshore of the Taranto harbour to investigate the impressive Taranto Landslide, which has an estimated volume of about 0.30 km3. Based on morphometric measurements and empirical calculations, the kinematics and the tsunamigenic potential of the landslide were evaluated. The outcomes of these analysis revealed that the sediment mass displacement was almost fast, with an inferred peak velocity exceeding 42 m/s, and possibly generated a wave up to 2–3 m high. The stratigraphic and sedimentological analyses were performed in an adjacent area to the landslide, on a 150 cm