Special Session #12

The seafloor hosts a large variety of features that reflect the action of a range of tectonic, sedimentary, oceanographic and biological processes at multiple scales. Marine geology relies on remote observation (ship-based or even ROV- or AUV-based) of the seafloor and sub-seafloor geological phenomena and structures, then grountruthed by coring, seafloor sampling and visual inspections. The integration of different marine geology kind of data and the need to tune data density to the scale of the observed phenomenon is also typical of marine geological researches. High quality measurements of stratigraphy and sedimentology in marine environment, especially when combined with geophysical measurements, provides an exciting opportunity to identify, map and describe the main seafloor and sub-seafloor features. This special session aims to examine the main methodologies used to study the geological/geomorphic processes shaping underwater landscapes, including submarine erosion and depositional processes, submarine landslides, volcanic activity, fluid flow, tectonics, submarine resources and other processes affecting the seafloor.

Daniele Spatola is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Malta, where he lectures Geology 2 – Structural Geology, Sedimentology and Stratigraphy. He has received his PhD on “Neotectonic activities and fluid escape in the northwest Sicily Channel” at the Department of Earth and Marine Sciences of the University of Palermo. During his research career, he has gained experience in acquiring, handling, processing, visualizing, mapping and interpreting large geophysical (e.g. multibeam, seismic reflection and side scan sonar data), sedimentological, geochemical and isotopic, data using state of the art software. He has also acquired a long experience with the use of GIS tools applied to terrestrial and marine geology. His main research activities involve the study of submarine landslides, fluid flow processes and other marine geohazards using different kinds of marine geological data. He participated as senior marine geologist or as chief scientist at 8 oceanographic cruises across the Mediterranean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Dr Spatola in the last 3 years co-published 12 scientific papers in high-impact journals of which 3 scientific articles inside his PhD project. Dr Spatola also co-published more than 35 contributions to international conferences and 8 scientific reports.

Simona Todaro is a researcher at the Department of earth and Marine Sciences, University of Palermo, where he lectures Sedimentology for bachelor students. She has received her PhD on “Diagenetic evolution of Upper Triassic/Lower Jurassic Panormide succession” at the Department of Earth and Marine Sciences of the University of Palermo. She acquired experienced in sedimentological analyses, field work, stratigraphic logs, carbonate microfacies analyses, diagenetic evolution of carbonates at macro and microscale, analyses of geochemical and isotopic data, interpreting geophysical data (multibeam, seismic reflection profiles) and sequence stratigraphy.
Post-doc research was focused on global climate change with particular reference to lithological, geochemical and biostratigraphical changes of Triassic/Jurassic boundary while, at now, she works on the application of sequence stratigraphy and sedimentology for the study of submarine resources. She guided one field trip for the STRATI2019 meeting and two for geologists and engineers of petroleum companies. She published, as coauthors, 11 scientific papers in high-impact journals of which 5 scientific articles about her PhD project. She also participated, as co-author, to 11 contributions to international conferences.