Mass Balances in the Marine Realm

Summary

The central part of the research area is bordered by the 5-km-wide Bianco shelf and the 2-km-wide Bovalino shelf, separated by the head of the Buonamico-Careri Canyon. The shelf break is between 100 and 120 m water depth;we mapped the slope to a depth of about 900 m. The comparison of our 1974 map with soundings from 1877 reveals negative deviations or erosion in the dimension of 100 m and positive deviationsor accumulationup to 30 m. Loci of enhanced sedimentation are the canyon head and the outer shelf, where also the major slump scars occur.The conversion of only accumulation values on the shelf into erosion rates of the respective hinterland yields 7500 mm/ka. This huge value surmounts the 1-Ma average of the entire area (206 mm/ka) by factor 35 and the 50-year average of the Buonamico [08] basin (1527 mm/ka) by factor 5.