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Tsunamigenic landslides at Stromboli volcano: reconstruction of past events by tephrochronology

Serena Da Mommio 1, Marija Voloschina1, Omar Qatoni1, Alessio Di Roberto2, Mauro Rosi1, Antonella Bertagnini2, Armin Freundt3, Steffen Kutterolf3, Rosanna De Rosa4, Marco Pistolesi1

  • Affiliations: 1Department of Earth Sciences, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy, 2Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione di Pisa, Pisa, Italy, 3GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany, 4Department of Biology, Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Calabria, Cosenza, Italy 

  • Presentation type: Poster

  • Presentation time: Thursday 16:30 - 18:30, Room Poster Hall

  • Poster Board Number: 152

  • Programme No: 2.2.16

  • Theme 2 > Session 2

Abstract

Volcanic islands are dynamic and vulnerable environments, subject to extremely hazardous geological phenomena. Among these, volcanic landslides represent a serious threat to communities, potentially generating large tsunamis with effects that can propagate over long distances. The volcanic island of Stromboli (Italy) is well-known for its mild and intermittent Strombolian activity, alternating with rare lava emissions and more violent explosions. The activity, associated with small-volume rockfalls, debris landslides and PDCs, also includes the generation of tsunamigenic landslides from flank collapses. We present a sedimentological and compositional study of four marine sediment cores recovered from the seafloor facing the Sciara del Fuoco -- a horseshow-shaped scar on the NW flank -- to investigate frequency, age and magnitude of the collapse events that occurred on Stromboli over the past millennia. The chronostratigraphic succession of volcaniclastic turbidites, which have formed by the landslides, as well as the time span that is covered by the cores[MOU1] , are constrained by the intercalated primary tephra layers recognized in the sediments, for which both source and age could be unequivocally identified. The analyzed compositions of the turbidite layers mostly show a single-source origin, well compatible with current and past activity of the volcano and representative of potential small-to-large-scale landslides that occurred on the island. At least 11 landslide events have been identified within the past 10,000 years in the core closest to the island. Turbidite deposits correlate well with other marine cores farther from the island and with onshore deposits, suggesting the occurrence of significant tsunamigenic collapses.