View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Earth-prints Repository Published on Marine Geology 281 (2011) 1–13 Possible tsunami signatures from an integrated study in the Augusta Bay offshore (Eastern Sicily–Italy). Smedile A.a*, P.M. De Martinia, D. Pantostia, L. Belluccib, P. Del Carloc, L. Gasperinib, C. Pirrottad, A. Poloniab, E. Boschia aIstituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Sismologia e Tettonofisica, Via di Vigna Murata 605, 00143 Roma, Italy bCNR - ISMAR - Sede di Bologna - Geologia Marina, Via P. Gobetti, 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy cIstituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione di Pisa, Via della Faggiola 32, 56126 Pisa, Italy dDipartimento di Scienze Geologiche, Università di Catania, Corso Italia 55, 95129 Catania, Italy *Corresponding author:
[email protected], Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Sismologia e Tettonofisica, Via di Vigna Murata 605, 00143 Roma, Italy. Fax: +39 06 51860507, Ph. +39 06 51860572 Abstract Twelve anomalous layers, marked by a high concentration of displaced epiphytic foraminifera (species growing in vegetated substrates like the Posidonia oceanica) and subtle grain-size changes were found in a 6.7 m long, fine sediment core (MS-06), sampled 2 km off the shore of the Augusta Harbor (Eastern Sicily) at a depth of 72 m, recording the past 4500 yrs of deposition. Because 1 concentrations of epiphytic foraminifera are quite common in infralittoral zones, but not expected at -72 m, we believe that these anomalous layers might be related to the occurrence of tsunamis causing substantial uprooting and seaward displacement of P.