Messina Strait Research Articles

The flourishing of Laminaria ochroleuca in the strait of Messina (Sicily, Italy): resilience population between “Scylla and Charybdis”

The kelp forest and bed of Laminaria ochroleuca were found in October 2023 in Porticello (Scylla -Reggio Calabria, Italy) between 48 and 55 m depth. Samples were collected for future genetic and sedimentological analyses and identification of associated fauna and flora. The aim of the upcoming research campaigns is to update the current knowledge of Laminaria forests in the Messina Strait, estimating the action and consequences of climate change at the local level. The project will involve the community of technical divers in long term monitoring (3–5 years), in order to measure ecosystem services. The information will be used to draft a policy document for the proposal of protected areas of the most extensive forests.

Super-long-span bridges: wind-resistant design developments and open issues

Suspension bridges with spans exceeding 1500 m were only achieved in 1998 with completion of the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in Japan and the Great Belt Bridge in Denmark. The most recent record is the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge in Turkey, with a main span of 2023 m. A slightly longer bridge is currently under construction in China and significantly greater spans are in planning, such as the Messina Strait Bridge, aiming for an impressive 3300 m span connecting Sicily with mainland Italy. Three critical challenges associated with such ambitious designs are addressed in this article. The first challenge centres on the significance of vortex-induced vibrations, particularly in multi-box girders. The prediction of these vibrations before construction relies on wind tunnel tests with scaled-down models characterised by inherent uncertainties. The second issue involves non-synoptic winds, such as downbursts. Although these events are relatively small and short-lived, they have a non-negligible probability of occurrence on large structures and may induce damage and loss of serviceability due to their intensity and the presence of vertical velocity components. Finally, the importance of robust design practices is underlined, emphasising the potential risks of relying solely on aerodynamic cross-section optimisation without providing additional structural stiffness and damping resources in these critical structures.

Integrated uplift, subsidence, erosion and deposition in a tightly coupled source‐to‐sink system, Pagliara basin, northeastern Sicily, Italy

AbstractHow tectonic forcing, expressed as base level change, is encoded in the stratigraphic and geomorphic records of coupled source‐to‐sink systems remains uncertain. Using sedimentological, geochronological and geomorphic approaches, we describe the relationship between transient topographic change and sediment deposition for a low‐storage system forced by rapid rock uplift. We present five new luminescence ages and two terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide paleo‐erosion rates for the late Pleistocene Pagliara fan‐delta complex and we model corresponding base level fall history and erosion of the source catchment located on the Ionian flank of the Peloritani Mountains (NE‐Sicily, Italy). The Pagliara delta complex is part of the broader Messina Gravel‐and‐Sands lithostratigraphic unit that outcrops along the Peloritani coastal belt as extensional basins have been recently inverted by both normal faults and regional uplift at the Messina Straits. The deltas exposed at the mouth of the Pagliara River have constructional tops at ca. 300 m a.s.l. and onlap steeply east‐dipping bedrock at the coast to thickness between ca. 100 and 200 m. Five infrared‐stimulated luminescence (IRSL) ages collected from the delta range in age from ca. 327 to 208 ka and indicate a vertical long‐term sediment accumulation rate as rapid as ca. 2.2 cm/yr during MIS 7. Two cosmogenic 10Be concentrations measured in samples of delta sediment indicate paleo‐erosion rates during MIS 8–7 near or slightly higher than the modern rates of ca. 1 mm/yr. Linear inversion of Pagliara fluvial topography indicates an unsteady base level fall history in phase with eustasy that is superimposed on a longer, tectonically driven trend that doubled in rate from ca. 0.95 to 1.8 mm/yr in the past 150 ky. The combination of footwall uplift rate and eustasy determines the accommodation space history to trap the fan‐deltas at the Peloritani coast in hanging wall basins, which are now inverted, uplifted and exposed hundreds of metres above the sea level.

Structural response of submerged floating tunnels with free-end boundary condition based on an analytical approach

Until now, the investigation of structural behavioral characteristics of submerged floating tunnels (SFTs) has primarily relied on numerical methods that demand intensive calculations. This preference stems from the challenges in deriving an analytical solution, given the complexity of the structural system and applied loadings. To address this, an analytical approach based on practical assumptions has been developed to assess the structural responses of SFTs. Mainly, to mitigate excessive internal forces in tunnel segments and facilitate an analytical approach, a free-end boundary condition is assumed. Under these assumptions, the analytical approach can effectively determine the structural response of SFTs in the time domain. The proposed approach was validated by a hydrodynamics-based numerical analysis using the finite element method program ABAQUS/AQUA. In the harsh wave conditions of the Messina Strait, this approach matches well with numerical analyses, except in cases of extremely low submergence depth or exceptionally large tunnel diameter compared to mooring stiffness. This analytical approach can rapidly and accurately evaluate the structural behavior of SFTs, especially when considering the specific environment and design loads at the basic design stage. Therefore, this method is practically valuable. However, its application should be carefully exercised due to the several limitations.

Structure and morphology of an active conjugate relay zone, Messina Strait, southern Italy

AbstractMessina Strait is a narrow fault‐bounded marine basin that separates the Calabrian peninsula from Sicily in southern Italy. It sits in a seismically active region where normal fault scarps and raised Quaternary marine terraces record ongoing extension driven by southeastward rollback of the Calabrian subduction zone. A review of published studies and new data shows that normal faults in the Messina Strait region define a conjugate relay zone where displacement is transferred along strike from NW‐dipping normal faults in the northeast (southern Calabria) to the SE‐dipping Messina‐Taormina normal fault in the southwest (offshore eastern Sicily). The narrow marine strait is a graben undergoing active subsidence within the relay zone, where pronounced curvature of normal faults results from large strain gradients and clockwise rotations related to fault interactions. Based on regional fault geometries and published age constraints, we infer that normal faults in southern Calabria migrated northwest while normal faults in NE Sicily migrated southeast during the past ca. 2–2.5 Myr. This pattern has resulted in tectonic narrowing of the strait through time by inward migration of facing normal faults and rapid mantle‐driven uplift.

Generation of the Quaternary Normal Faults in the Messina Strait (Italy)

It is widely recognized that since the Early–Middle Pleistocene, the Messina zone, the site of strong earthquakes, has undergone extension, but the geodynamic context which determined this deformation is still a matter of debate. This work suggests that such a tectonic event was caused by the interaction of northern Calabria with the continental Adriatic domain. The suture of that consuming boundary produced major changes in the microplate mosaic and the related kinematic pattern in the Southern Italian zones, which was triggered by the activation of the Sibari and Vulcano faults. In the new context, the Peloritani belt sector, dragged by the Hyblean block, rotated clockwise and then moved northward, causing its divergence from southern Calabria. The normal faults which have accommodated that separation may be the main seismogenic source in the Messina Strait.

Recent seismicity in the Messina area, southern Italy, and comparison to the local geology and tectonics

We have investigated the seismicity occurred during 2000-2021 in the area of Messina, the town which suffered greatest loss of human lives over the territory devastated by the magnitude 7.1 earthquake of December 28, 1908. We have found that most of recent activity was located beneath the historical centre of the town, in and near the very peculiar sickle-shaped harbor zone which prompted the Greek colonizers in the VII Century B.C. to give Messina the old name of “Zancle”(“Sickle” in the ancient Greek language). Extracting from the whole dataset (consisting of hundred earthquakes of maximum magnitude 3.8) the data relative to a small sequence of 28 events concentrated in a few days at the end of 2013, and performing high-quality Bayesian hypocenter locations of these events, we have found very clear epi-hypocentral trends suitable for comparison with the local structural scenario. The joint analysis of seismic, geological and geomorphological data including morphobathymetric curves of the sea bottom in the study area, has brought us to propose that the small sequence in question (and probably most of activity recorded during the whole 22-years period) may have been generated by internal dynamics of a local horst/graben system, the position of which (i) appears to correspond to one of the minor horsts documented in the Messina Strait basin area and (ii) is very close to the upper edge of the 1908 earthquake blind source reported in the Database of Individual Seismogenic Sources of the Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology.

New records of rarely reported species in the Mediterranean Sea (July 2023)

This Collective Article presents new information about the occurrence of 23 marine taxa that belong to five Phyla: two Chlorophyta, one Annelida, six Mollusca, three Arthropoda, eleven Chordata (one Ascidiacea, one Elasmobranchii and nine Teleostei) and extending from the Western Mediterranean to the Levantine Sea. All these records were reported from nine countries from the western to the eastern Mediterranean Sea, with a broad biogeographical coverage as follows: Spain: first records of the sacoglossans Cyerce graeca and Placida tardyi for the Alboran Sea and first records of the nudibranch Marionia gemmii for the Mediterranean waters of Spain; first records of nudibranch Algarvia alba in the Mediterranean Sea. Italy: First report of the long-legged crab Paragalene longicrura, a further new Mediterranean record of the rare offshore rockfish Pontinus kuhlii, first documented record of the spiny butterfly ray Gymnura altavela in Sardinia (Tyrrhenian Sea), new record of the red‐spotted wrasse Lappanella fasciata from the Messina Strait, first documented record of the rarely observed brown moray Gymnothorax unicolor in the Ionian coast, first record of the colonial ascidian Botrylloides israeliensis, first record of the Morocco dentex Dentex maroccanus, first record of mottled shore crab Pachygrapsus maurus and of an adult specimen of barracudina Lestidiops sphyrenoides in the Adriatic Sea, and further new Mediterranean records of Ross worm Sabellaria spinulosa along the same coast. Tunisia: second record of smalleye squaretail Tetragonurus cuvieri from the African Mediterranean coast. Slovenia: first records of the sea slug Trapania graeffei and Melanochlamys wildpretii, with the last one also representing the northernmost finding of this species. Croatia: northernmost record of the endangered twaite shad Alosa fallax in the Adriatic coast. Albania: first records of the Mediterranean spearfish Tetrapturus belone. Türkiye: first record from the Aegean coasts for Türkiye of the green macroalgae Cladophora battersii and Valonia aegagropila. Israel: first record of the skeleton shrimp Caprella acanthifera in the Southeastern Mediterranean Sea. Syria: first record of the Smooth grenadier Nezumia aequalis from Syrian marine waters.

Sediment resuspension due to internal solitary waves of elevation in the Messina Strait (Mediterranean Sea)

By combining real-field observations and theoretical predictions, we describe role and relationships among north-propagating internal solitary waves (ISWs) generated by tidal currents in the Messina Strait (Mediterranean Sea), buoyancy deformation, sediment resuspension, and mixing effects. In particular, our results show that the presence of ISWs traveling along the Gioia Basin (north of the Strait) is not strictly related to seasonality. During winter, when the remote observation of ISWs from satellite is particularly rare due to the weak water column stratification, we observe elevation-type ISWs from hydrographic data. This finding reveals a different scenario with respect to the summer one, when the high stratified water column gives rise to depression-type north-propagating ISWs and the subsequent sea surface manifestations, detectable from satellite imagery. Moreover, our beam transmission observations and theoretical predictions of the induced near-bottom horizontal velocity suggest that these elevation-type ISWs induce sediment resuspension over the seafloor, as well as mixing effects as they break on the frontal slope nearby Capo Vaticano.

The Red Coral Community in the Messina Strait: New Findings from the 1700s Lazzaro Spallanzani Collection

The precious red coral (Corallium rubrum L.) represents one of the most fascinating marine species of the Mediterranean Sea. Several samples, including red coral together with its accompanying species, were found in the zoological collection of the Italian pioneer biologist Lazzaro Spallanzani (1729–1799), collected in the Messina Strait during his voyage in Sicily (1788). The study of these samples allowed the inclusion of numerous additional species in the traditional red coral facies as the large oyster Neopycnodonte cochlear, the giant barnacle Pachylasma giganteum, the mesophotic scleractinian Caryophyllia (Caryophyllia) cyathus. These specimens proved to be very useful in describing the diversity of the paleo-community including red coral, shedding light on its formation processes. In particular, some specimens are composed of red coral rubble consolidated and cemented with other carbonatic remains Probably, these peculiar specimens have a similar origin to those of the Sciacca Banks already known from the Sicily Channel. In fact, the two areas are prone to intense seismic activity that periodically causes mass mortalities of red coral from nearby rocky reliefs and the formation of biogenic detritus, while the resulting chemical environment of the water and the sediments allows the consolidation of the carbonatic remains.

The 1908 Messina Straits Earthquake: Cornerstones and the Need to Step Forward

Editorial| January 04, 2023 The 1908 Messina Straits Earthquake: Cornerstones and the Need to Step Forward Andrea Argnani; Andrea Argnani * 1ISMAR‐CNR, Bologna, Italy *Corresponding author: andrea.argnani@ismar.cnr.it https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0729-2782 Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Nicola Alessandro Pino Nicola Alessandro Pino 2Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Naples, Italy https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1092-7152 Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Seismological Research Letters (2023) https://doi.org/10.1785/0220220355 Article history first online: 04 Jan 2023 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation Andrea Argnani, Nicola Alessandro Pino; The 1908 Messina Straits Earthquake: Cornerstones and the Need to Step Forward. Seismological Research Letters 2023; doi: https://doi.org/10.1785/0220220355 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietySeismological Research Letters Search Advanced Search The Mw 7.1 earthquake that on 28 December 1908 struck the cities of Messina and Reggio Calabria, facing each other across the Messina Straits, was one of the most destructive events of the past century and one of the deadliest earthquakes in human history, causing a huge death toll, estimated from 60,000 to >100,000 (Bertolaso et al., 2008). None of the large earthquakes that occurred in Europe in the twentieth century, some of them with larger magnitudes (Grünthal and Wahlström, 2012), resulted to be as deadly as the Messina earthquake, which sparked a wave... You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.

Logical Framework Approach in Transportation Planning: The passenger services in the Messina Strait

The paper focuses on the planning process of the transportation system. Considering the large and qualified debate that evolves in the field of land and spatial planning, a main aspect of the process is examined. The process is presented according to the Logical Framework Approach (LFA), with a product plan given by a Logical Framework Matrix (LFM). From the literature, it emerges that the use of the LFA approach, in planning processes, always refers to the implementation of infrastructural interventions, while it has not been proposed and used completely, for the implementation of services. The theoretical extension of the LFA approach to a plan, relating to the activation of transport services, is therefore proposed, with the differentiation of endogenous activities for outputs, outcomes and goals. An application of LFA/M is proposed, that derives from the Italian General Mobility Plan. The application is illustrated by referring to the real case of passenger maritime services in the Messina Strait (south of Italy, EU).

The assessment of earthquake hazard in Italy: a review

We present a review of the assessment of earthquake hazard in Italy, with special reference to the relationships between hazard models and building codes. After early attempts at hazard assessment in the 19th century, the 28 December 1908, Messina Straits earthquake prompted the inception of the first national seismic legislation, passed in early 1909. Nevertheless, the official building code started to be based on a truly scientific background only after 1980, when the catastrophic Irpinia (southern Italy) earthquake forced the qualified authority to accept a science-based assessment (statistics on the earthquake catalogue data) to support the implementation of the new national seismic zonation. Later on, between 1985 and 2000, the two basic components of seismic hazard assessment, namely the earthquake record and the distribution of earthquake sources, were greatly developed through investigations carried out by the Gruppo Nazionale Difesa dai Terremoti and by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica. Along with the improvement of basic data, the Italian seismological community started developing a new hazard model (PS4), based on the concept of seismotectonic probabilism, aimed at supplying the Italian Government with a solid reference frame for updating the seismic zonation and building code. Nevertheless, this goal was achieved only two decades later: on 31 October 2002 a moderate-size earthquake caused the death of 27 children and a teacher in a collapsed school of southern Italy, forcing the qualified authority to take a major step of modernization for the second time in 22 years. The entire Italian territory, including areas of rare and sparse seismicity, was subdivided into four seismic zones, mainly on the basis of PS4 results. In 2004, the Italian seismological community developed MPS04, a fully updated hazard model that was initially conceived only in view of updating the seismic zonation. In 2007, MPS04 was extended to provide design spectra for a new building code, which was finally adopted in 2009, following the disastrous L’Aquila (central Italy) earthquake. The experience of the European project for seismic hazard assessment named SHARE, completed in 2013, represented a step forward and put the basis for a new project, termed MPS19, designed specifically to provide a sound basis for updating the Italian building code.

Brief communication: The crucial assessment of possible significant vertical movements preceding the 28 December 1908, Mw = 7.1, Messina Straits earthquake

Abstract. The 28 December 1908 Messina Straits earthquake represents one of the worst seismic catastrophes in world history. In spite of the relatively large and various amount of data available and the geophysical investigations accomplished in the straits, the seismogenic structure is still elusive and intensely debated. Some models proposed for the causative fault rely considerably on the hypothesis of significant subsidence preceding the event. By driving results that differ critically from previously debated models, this assumption would have crucial repercussions on the seismic hazard assessment in the area. However, the critical analysis of this assumption in the light of the available data allows the rejection of this possibility.

Out of phase Quaternary uplift-rate changes reveal normal fault interaction, implied by deformed marine palaeoshorelines

We have mapped and constrained the timing of tectonically deformed uplifted Late Quaternary palaeoshorelines in the Messina Strait, southern Italy, an area above a subduction zone containing active normal faults. The palaeoshorelines are preserved from up to thirteen Late Quaternary sea-level highstands, providing a record of the deformation over this timescale (~500 ka) for the Messina-Taormina Fault, the Reggio Calabria Fault and the Armo Fault. The palaeoshorelines reveal spatial patterns of uplift through time along the strike of these normal faults, and, given the across strike arrangement of the faults, also reveal how the contribution of each fault to the regional strain-rate progressed through time. The results reveal that the uplift rates mapped within the fault hangingwalls and footwalls were not constant through time, with a marked change in the location of strain accumulation at ~50 ka. The uplift rates, once converted into throw-rates, imply that the three faults comprised similar throw-rates prior to ~50 ka (in the range 0.77–0.96 mm/yr), with the Armo and Reggio Calabria faults then switching to lower rates (0.32 mm/yr and 0.33 mm/yr respectively), whilst the Messina-Taormina Fault accelerated to 2.34 mm/yr. The regional extension rate, gained by summing the implied heave rates across the three faults, was maintained through time despite this re-organisation of local strain accumulation at ~50 ka. We explain these out-of-phase fault throw-rate changes during the constant-rate regional extension conditions as due to interactions between these upper plate normal faults. We finally discuss how fault throw-rates changing through time may affect a long-term seismic hazard assessment within active normal fault systems.

Observing and modeling long-term persistence of P. noctiluca in coupled complementary marine systems (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea and Messina Strait)

In the Mediterranean Sea, the Strait of Messina (MS) is a very peculiar area, connecting highly different regions and representing a privileged observatory for an early comprehension and assessment of ecosystems shifts. It is hypothesized that the outbreaks observed near the coast of many sites in the Mediterranean Sea may be the result of transport of permanent populations of P. noctiluca in pelagic waters to the coast, caused by specific hydrodynamic conditions. By both visual observations and numerical experiments our objective is twofold: (A) to help clarify whether the basin of the Aeolian Islands Archipelago (AIA), in the Southern Tyrrhenian Sea (STS), may be the site from which large populations of P. noctiluca are transported to the MS, and (B) to evaluate whether the upwelling turbulent system of the MS can be an energetic opportunity for this species. It should offer a rich habitat without jeopardizing the overall survival of the population, that is subject to stranding due to strong currents. Although very different, the two involved ecosystems (AIA and MS ) are complementary for the success of Pelagia noctiluca life cycle. Outputs obtained by coupling the 3D hydrodynamic model (SHYFEM) with a Lagrangian particle tracking model support the hypothesis of a connectivity between these two ecosystems, particularly in the first half of the year, indicating the coastal areas around the AIA as potential optimal source location for Pelagia larval stages. We support the very attractive hypothesis that two connected systems exist, the former one favours Pelagia's reproduction and acts as a nursery and the latter favours its growth due to higher productivity. We speculate that the reproductive population of the AIA is not permanent, but is renewed every year by individuals who have fed and quickly grown in the MS and who are passively transported by downwelling along canyon "corridors".

Spatial configuration and the Messina Strait question: A discussion on Reggio-Calabria and Messina road-networks linkage

A permanent traverse across the Messina Strait connecting Sicily to the Italian mainland at Calabria has been discussed since the 19th century. From this period onwards, several studies addressed aspects that ranged: from its political significance; to project costs and engineering-design feasibility. Interest in the matter declined during the 2010's due to the ever-unstable Italian political scenario. This, associated to an incipient development of instruments and methods to analyze urban networks, has hindered further studies on Messina and Reggio di Calabria cities' spatial configuration, or the consequential changes that their permanent connection across the Strait would ensure. As the Messina Strait question resurfaced in the 2020–2022, exploratory analyses on urban configuration become crucial in providing spatial-knowledge for decision-making process, as Southern Italy's territorial and transport integration are part of the Italian government and European Union agenda regarding post-pandemic recovery. This paper addresses this question from a territorial-configurational standpoint and simulates spatial changes in the advent of a permanent connection amongst Messina and Reggio di Calabria road-circulation networks. The objective is to compare and discuss these changes within the context of twin-cities, as Messina and Reggio di Calabria have the potential to be interdependent in geographical and socio-economic terms. Modeled with Space Syntax – a quantitative method that estimates centralities and movement patterns in urban road-networks – simulations demonstrate how changes in the Strait cities' urban configuration could alter the twin-cities functional and hierarchical dynamics. Results and discussion present evidence on how the road-circulation networks react to the cross-strait connection, and conclusions point-out lessons to be learned from the simulations and what can be applied in other projects worldwide.

Pleistocene Caves of Eastern Sicily Coast: Exceptional Archives to Reconstruct the History of the Island’s Biota

The distinctive features and fossil content of some caves from eastern Sicily (San Teodoro, Donnavilla, Fulco, Taormina, Tremilia, Spinagallo), altogether spanning from the middle Pleistocene until the beginning of the Holocene, are discussed. Although dating on vertebrate and/or invertebrate remains is available in few instances, coastal notches and marine terraces correlate with the caves, provide further chronological constraint. The San Teodoro and Spinagallo caves are the best known, whereas the Tremilia cave deserves to be better analysed. Most caves, but not the San Teodoro one (including only terrestrial faunas), testify to the transition from submarine coastal environments (documented by biogenic crusts, borings, shelly sediments), to continental conditions (vertebrate remains of the Paleoloxodon falconeri, Maccagnone and San Teodoro Faunistic Complexes). The fossil register preserved in these cavities represents a source of information useful to (1) reconstruct the palaeogeography of Sicily and its coastline, largely resulting from the interplay between tectonic and sea-level changes linked to climate fluctuations; and (2) the consequent evolution of the terrestrial biota, including the dominance of insular endemic taxa later replaced by species shared with continental Italy, after the establishment of temporary connection through the Messina Strait.

Horizontal-axis tidal turbine design based on 3D hydrodynamics

A computational procedure for the hydrodynamicanalysis and design of horizontal-axis tidal turbinesis presented and numerical applications are discussed. Themethodology combines an original design algorithm and aturbine hydrodynamics model valid for arbitrary 3D flows.Different from standard design methods based on bladeelement models, 3D-flow corrections are not necessary.Blade geometry parameters are determined with the objectiveto maximize power at given design Tip Speed Ratio(TSR), whereas a constraint is introduced in order to limitturbine thrust at TSR higher than the design condition.Numerical applications include the design of a laboratoryscaleturbine and a full-scale turbine for the exploitationof tidal streams in the Messina strait. Alternative designsolutions obtained by varying the design TSR are comparedin terms of energy output as well as mechanical loadstransferred to the powertrain.

The enigmatic 1693 AD tsunami in the eastern Mediterranean Sea: new insights on the triggering mechanisms and propagation dynamics

The disastrous earthquake of 1693 AD caused over 60,000 causalities and the total destruction of several villages and towns in south-eastern Sicily. Immediately after the earthquake, a tsunami struck the Ionian coasts of Sicily and the Messina Strait and was probably recorded even in the Aeolian Islands and Malta. Over the last few decades, the event has been much debated regarding the location of the seismogenic source and the possible cause of the associated tsunami. The marine event has been related to both a submarine landslide and a coseismic displacement at the seafloor. To better define the most reliable sources and dynamics of the tsunami, we couple high-resolution marine seismic survey data with hydrodynamic modelling to simulate various scenarios of tsunami generation and propagation. Results from the simulations are compared with geomorphological evidence of past tsunami impacts, described in previous work along the coast of south-eastern Sicily, and within historical chronicles and reports. The most reliable scenario considers the 1693 event composed by two different tsunami waves: a first wave generated by the coseismic fault displacement at the seafloor and a second wave generated by a submarine landslide, triggered by the earthquake shaking. Tsunami modelling shows that a simultaneous movement between fault displacement and submarine mass movement could determine a destructive interference on the tsunami waves, resulting in a reduction in wave height. For this reason, the second tsunami wave probably occurred with a maximum delay of few minutes after the one generated by the earthquake and induced a greater flooding. The double-source model could explain the observation because in the course of other destructive earthquakes in south-eastern Sicily, such as that of 1169 AD, the associated tsunami caused less damages. This implies the need to better map, define and assess the hazard responsible for this type of tsunami events.