AUV MARUM-SEAL Dive 71-73: High resolution bathymetry and backscatter of Venere Mud Vulcano

Submarine mud volcanoes develop through the extrusion of methane-rich fluids and sediments onto the seafloor. The morphology of a mud volcano can record its extrusive history and processes of erosion and deformation affecting it. The study of offshore mud-volcano dynamics is limited because only few have been mapped at resolutions that reveal their detailed surface structures. More importantly, rates and volumes of extruded sediment and methane are poorly constrained. The 100 m high twin cones of Venere mud volcano are situated at ~1600 m water depth within Squillace Canyon along the Ionian Calabrian margin, Mediterranean Sea. Seafloor bathymetry, and backscatter data obtained by a ship-based system and an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) allow mapping of mudflow deposits of the mud volcano and bedforms in the surrounding canyon. Repeated surveying by AUV document active mud movement at the western summit in between 2014 and 2016. Through sediment coring and tephrochronology, ages of buried mudflow deposits are determined based on the sedimentation rate and the thickness of overlying hemipelagic sediments. An average extrusion rate of 27000 m^3/year over the last ~882 years is estimated. These results support a three-stage evolutionary model of Venere mud volcano since ~4000 years ago. It includes the onset of quiescence at the eastern cone (after ~2200 years ago), erosive events in Squillace Canyon (prior to ~882 years ago), and mudflows from the eastern cone (since ~882 years). This study reveals new interactions between a mud volcano and a canyon in the deep sea.

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Cite this as

Loher, Markus, Ceramicola, Silvia, Wintersteller, Paul, Meinecke, Gerrit, Sahling, Heiko, Bohrmann, Gerhard (2017). Dataset: AUV MARUM-SEAL Dive 71-73: High resolution bathymetry and backscatter of Venere Mud Vulcano. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.884112

DOI retrieved: 2017

Additional Info

Field Value
Imported on November 29, 2024
Last update November 29, 2024
License CC-BY-4.0
Source https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.884112
Author Loher, Markus
Given Name Markus
Family Name Loher
More Authors
Ceramicola, Silvia
Wintersteller, Paul
Meinecke, Gerrit
Sahling, Heiko
Bohrmann, Gerhard
Source Creation 2017
Publication Year 2017
Resource Type application/zip - filename: Loher-etal_2017
Subject Areas
Name: Chemistry

Name: Geophysics

Name: Lithosphere

Related Identifiers
Title: Mud volcanism in a canyon: Morphodynamic evolution of the active Venere mud volcano and its interplay with Squillace Canyon, Central Mediterranean
Identifier: https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GC007166
Type: DOI
Relation: IsSupplementTo
Year: 2018
Source: Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems
Authors: Loher Markus , Ceramicola Silvia , Wintersteller Paul , Meinecke Gerrit , Sahling Heiko , Bohrmann Gerhard .