Preservation of Transgressive System Tract Geomorphic Elements during the Holocene Sea Level Rise in the South-Eastern Sicilian Tyrrhenian Margin

Abstract

Understanding of complex sedimentary records formed by transgressive systems is critical because they provide information on sea level changes which control the evolution of the coastal environment. This paper discusses the preservation of the Transgressive System Tracts (TST) in the south-eastern Sicilian Tyrrhenian margin during the last Holocene eustatic cycle. The available dataset consists of high-resolution bathymetry (multibeam), whose description and interpretation through a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) has been integrated with six seismic profiles (CHIRP). Within the whole study area, four bathymetric contours (−120 m, −100 m, −80 m and −70 m) were identified and assumed as the markers of the main locations of the paleo-coastlines, corresponding with the steps of the main changes in the sea level. The transgressive deposits are preferentially preserved in the 70–100 m bathymetric range, bounded at the top by the maximum flooding surface and consisting of the relict geomorphic elements that represent past landscapes (coastal barrier lagoons, transgressive sheet areas, cuspate beaches, transgressive dune-field systems). Furthermore, with the support of 3D bathymetric maps, a reconstruction of the geomorphological evolution of the past coastal systems during the last transgressive stage is also provided.