@article {LoIacono2014316,
	title = {{The West Melilla cold water coral mounds, Eastern Alboran Sea: Morphological characterization and environmental context}},
	journal = {Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography},
	volume = {99},
	year = {2014},
	pages = {316{\textendash}326},
	abstract = {Abstract A new mound field, the West Melilla mounds, interpreted as being cold-water coral mounds, has been recently unveiled along the upper slope of the Mediterranean Moroccan continental margin, a few kilometers west of the Cape Tres Forcas. This study is based on the integration of high-resolution geophysical data (swath bathymetry, parametric sub-bottom profiler), \{CTD\} casts, Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP), \{ROV\} video and seafloor sampling, acquired during the \{TOPOMED\} \{GASSIS\} (2011) and \{MELCOR\} (2012) cruises. Up to 103 mounds organized in two main clusters have been recognized in a depth range of 299{\textendash}590 m, displaying a high density of 5 mounds/km2. Mounds, 1{\textendash}48 m high above the surrounding seafloor and on average 260 m wide, are actually buried by a 1{\textendash}12 m thick fine-grained sediment blanket. Seismic data suggest that the West Melilla mounds grew throughout the Early Pleistocene{\textendash}Holocene, settling on erosive unconformities and mass movement deposits. During the last glacial{\textendash}interglacial transition, the West Melilla mounds may have suffered a drastic change of the local sedimentary regime during the late Holocene and, unable to stand increasing depositional rates, were progressively buried. At the present day, temperature and salinity values on the West Melilla mounds suggest a plausible oceanographic setting, suitable for live CWCs. Nonetheless, more data is required to groundtruth the West Melilla mounds and better constrain the interplay of sedimentary and oceanographic factors during the evolution of the West Melilla mounds.},
	keywords = {Alboran Sea, high-resolution seismics, Quaternary, Swath mapping, \{CWC\} mounds},
	issn = {0967-0645},
	doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr2.2013.07.006},
	url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967064513002786},
	author = {Iacono, Claudio Lo and Gr{\'a}cia, Eul{\`a}lia and Ranero, C{\'e}sar R and Emelianov, Mikhail and Huvenne, Veerle A I and Bartolom{\'e}, Rafael and Booth-Rea, Guillermo and Prades, Javier and Ambroso, Stefano and Dominguez, Carlos and Griny{\'o}, Jordi and Rubio, Eduardo and Torrent, Josep}
}
@article {LoIacono2011,
	title = {{Submarine canyon morphologies in the Gulf of Palermo (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea) and possible implications for geo-hazard}},
	journal = {Marine Geophysical Research},
	volume = {32},
	number = {1-2},
	year = {2011},
	month = {mar},
	pages = {127{\textendash}138},
	abstract = {The continental shelf and the upper slope of the Gulf of Palermo (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea) in the depth interval ranging from 50 to 1,500 m were mapped for the first time with Multi Beam echosounder and high resolution seismic. Seven submarine canyons are confined to the upper slope or indent the shelf-edge and enter the Palermo intraslope basin at a depth of around 1,300 m. The canyons evolved through concurrent top-down turbiditic processes and bottom-up retrogressive mass failures. Most of the mass failure features of the area are related to canyon-shaping processes and only few of them are not confined to the upper slope. In general, these features probably do not represent a significant tsunami hazard along the coast. The geological element that controls the evolution of the canyons and induces sediment instability corresponds to the steep slope gradient, especially in the western sector of the Gulf, where the steepest canyons are located. The structural features mapped in the Palermo offshore contributed to the regulation of mass failure processes in the area, with direct faults and antiform structures coinciding with some of the canyon heads. Furthermore, the occurrence of pockmarks and highs that probably consist of authigenic carbonates above faulted and folded strata suggests a local relationship between structural control, fluid escape processes and mass failure. This paper presents a valuable high-resolution morphologic dataset of the Gulf of Palermo, which constitutes a reliable base for evaluating the geo-hazard potential related to slope failure in the area. {\textcopyright} 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.},
	keywords = {Geo-hazard, Mass failure processes, Southern Mediterranean, Submarine canyons, Swath mapping},
	issn = {0025-3235},
	doi = {10.1007/s11001-011-9118-0},
	url = {http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-79961169577\&partnerID=tZOtx3y1},
	author = {Lo Iacono, Claudio and Sulli, Attilio and Agate, Mauro and Lo Presti, Valeria and Pepe, Fabrizio and Catalano, Raimondo}
}
@article {LoIacono2010,
	title = {{Large-scale bedforms along a tideless outer shelf setting in the western Mediterranean}},
	journal = {Continental Shelf Research},
	volume = {30},
	number = {17},
	year = {2010},
	month = {oct},
	pages = {1802{\textendash}1813},
	abstract = {High-resolution multibeam swath-bathymetry and sediment samples were collected across the outer shelf region of the Columbretes Islands (southern Ebro continental shelf, western Mediterranean Sea). Bathymetric data from the submerged part of the Columbretes volcanic system revealed the presence of three main relict sand bodies along the outer shelf, at 80-116. m depth range, above which asymmetric and slightly asymmetric large and very large 2D and 3D subaqueous dunes were observed. These bed features were recognized, mapped and quantified with the aim of evaluating their potential formation mechanisms in relation to the local hydrodynamic and morphologic settings of the area. Dunes range from 150 to 760. m in wavelength and from tens of centimeters to 3. m in height, and are among the longest ever recognized in an outer shelf region. These bedforms are mostly composed of medium-sized sandy sediments, presumably coming from the degraded relict sand bodies on top of which they have developed, mixed with fine fractions from the recent draping holocenic sediments. The orientation of the dunes is SSW, progressively turning W towards the southernmost sector of the area, following the trend of the shelf-edge. Contemporary hydrodynamic measurements at the Ebro continental shelf-edge show that recorded currents are insufficient to form the observed bedforms and that stronger currents are required for sediment mobilization and dune formation. Based on their morphology and orientation, it is proposed that these bedforms are produced by the action of the southward-flowing Liguro-Proven{\c c}al-Catalan (LPC) geostrophic current. The LPC probably reaches high near-bottom currents during energetic hydrodynamic events through interactions with the seafloor morphology of the study area. Subaqueous dunes are expected to be basically inactive features with respect to present-day processes, although they can be reactivated during high-energy events. The small $Δ$h/${\l}ambda$ ratio measured in the dune fields of the Columbretes shelf revealed that the dune heights fall below the values predicted by the Flemming (1988) global equation, as observed in other outer shelf settings also dominated by unidirectional flows. This may suggest a different morphodynamic character of large dunes formed on outer shelves in a micro-tidal regime. {\textcopyright} 2010 Elsevier Ltd.},
	keywords = {Continental shelf, Geomorphology, Subaqueous dunes, Swath mapping, Western Mediterranean},
	issn = {02784343},
	doi = {10.1016/j.csr.2010.08.005},
	url = {http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-77957596289\&partnerID=tZOtx3y1},
	author = {Lo Iacono, Claudio and Guill{\'e}n, Jorge and Puig, Pere and Rib{\'o}, Marta and Ballesteros, Maria and Palanques, Albert and l{\'\i} Farr{\'a}n, Marcel and Acosta, Juan}
}
