Quantitative Morphometric Assessment of Submarine Mass Transport Deposits: Insights from the Taranto Landslide Complex (North Ionian Sea, Southern Italy)

Quantitative Morphometric Assessment of Submarine Mass Transport Deposits: Insights from the Taranto Landslide Complex (North Ionian Sea, Southern Italy) | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Quantitative Morphometric Assessment of Submarine Mass Transport Deposits: Insights from the Taranto Landslide Complex (North Ionian Sea, Southern Italy) Agostino Meo This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7912630/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The Taranto Landslide Complex (TLC) is a large submarine failure system along the Apulian continental margin (Gulf of Taranto, northern Ionian Sea) between ~ 200 and 800 m water depth. High‑resolution multibeam bathymetry and morphometric analysis delineate five Quaternary mass‑transport deposits (MTDs; MTD1–MTD5) and provide first‑order, quantitative constraints on their geometry and dynamics. Individual deposits span 0.02–0.35 km³ in volume: MTD2 is the largest (~ 0.35 km³; ~26 km²), whereas MTD5 is the smallest (~ 0.02 km³; ~1 km²), with MTD1, MTD3 and MTD4 showing intermediate volumes of ~ 0.032–0.035 km³. Acoustic facies are predominantly chaotic to transparent, locally comprising laterally continuous reflectors bounded by erosive surfaces. Empirical morphometric relations indicate rapid sediment displacement, with inferred peak velocities of ~ 24–38 m s⁻¹. Transport is chiefly N/NE→S/SW following the regional slope, with subordinate W/NW–E/SE components. Although triggers cannot be uniquely resolved, high sedimentation rates, sea‑level fluctuations and tectonic deformation are plausible contributors. A reproducible workflow is presented to estimate deposit thickness and volumes using pre‑failure surface interpolation and conservative thickness ranges. The resulting morpho‑stratigraphic framework offers a concise, screening‑level appraisal of TLC submarine mass‑wasting through the Quaternary, supporting preliminary geohazard assessment and the prioritisation of monitoring and infrastructure routing. Submarine landslides Mass-transport deposits Kinematics Volume estimation Multibeam bathymetry Ionian Sea Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7912630","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":538845338,"identity":"6defbd7f-9385-4d72-9841-ac68226a923f","order_by":0,"name":"Agostino 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Sea","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7912630/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7912630/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThe Taranto Landslide Complex (TLC) is a large submarine failure system along the Apulian continental margin (Gulf of Taranto, northern Ionian Sea) between ~\u0026thinsp;200 and 800 m water depth. High‑resolution multibeam bathymetry and morphometric analysis delineate five Quaternary mass‑transport deposits (MTDs; MTD1\u0026ndash;MTD5) and provide first‑order, quantitative constraints on their geometry and dynamics. Individual deposits span 0.02\u0026ndash;0.35 km\u0026sup3; in volume: MTD2 is the largest (~\u0026thinsp;0.35 km\u0026sup3;; ~26 km\u0026sup2;), whereas MTD5 is the smallest (~\u0026thinsp;0.02 km\u0026sup3;; ~1 km\u0026sup2;), with MTD1, MTD3 and MTD4 showing intermediate volumes of ~\u0026thinsp;0.032\u0026ndash;0.035 km\u0026sup3;. Acoustic facies are predominantly chaotic to transparent, locally comprising laterally continuous reflectors bounded by erosive surfaces. Empirical morphometric relations indicate rapid sediment displacement, with inferred peak velocities of ~\u0026thinsp;24\u0026ndash;38 m s⁻\u0026sup1;. Transport is chiefly N/NE\u0026rarr;S/SW following the regional slope, with subordinate W/NW\u0026ndash;E/SE components. Although triggers cannot be uniquely resolved, high sedimentation rates, sea‑level fluctuations and tectonic deformation are plausible contributors. A reproducible workflow is presented to estimate deposit thickness and volumes using pre‑failure surface interpolation and conservative thickness ranges. The resulting morpho‑stratigraphic framework offers a concise, screening‑level appraisal of TLC submarine mass‑wasting through the Quaternary, supporting preliminary geohazard assessment and the prioritisation of monitoring and infrastructure routing.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Quantitative Morphometric Assessment of Submarine Mass Transport Deposits: Insights from the Taranto Landslide Complex (North Ionian Sea, Southern Italy)","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-11-05 14:54:46","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7912630/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"eea4c6e4-39c0-4f5d-901a-654984c16c48","owner":[],"postedDate":"November 5th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-11-26T02:39:04+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-11-05 14:54:46","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7912630","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7912630","identity":"rs-7912630","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}