Alessandra Savini

Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca | UNIMIB · Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences

The AKMA3 oceanographic expedition (29th April–10th May) is part of the Advancing Knowledge of Methane in the Arctic, a project funded by the Norwegian Research Council (287869). The main aim of AKMA is to develop a long-term, multidisciplinary education, and research collaboration focused on Arctic methane sources, processes, ecosystems, and geolo...

We investigated the Late Pleistocene-Holocene crustal vertical movements off the coast of Marzamemi village in SE Sicily, Italy. By using a Synchronous Correlation Approach (SCA), we analysed terraced landforms that characterize a submerged sector within one of Southern Italy's most seismically active regions. In this area, the emerging portion of...

Among marine ecosystems globally, those in the Mediterranean Sea, are facing many threats. New technologies are crucial for enhancing our understanding of marine habitats and ecosystems, which can be complex and resource-intensive to analyse using traditional techniques. We tested, for the first time, an integrated multi-platform approach for mappi...

The research question that the paper investigates is whether the usage of state of the art algorithms for point clouds registration solves the problem of multi-scale vision-based point clouds registration in mixed aerial and underwater environments. This paper reports very preliminary results on the data we have been able to procure, in the context...

Understanding Earth’s changing climate is a crucial challenge. However, the available time series of direct measurements are often insufficient to fully capture climatic process that unfolds over centuries and millennia. Combining History and Geology can fill this gap. Focusing on rainfall and flood events, this research proposes a multidisciplinar...

Cold-seeps have a unique geo-ecological significance in the deep-sea environment. They impact the variability of present-day submarine sedimentary environments, affecting the evolution of the landscape over time and creating a variety of submarine landforms, one of which is Mud Volcanoes (MVs). MVs form due to the extrusion of mud, fluids, and gas,...

During the cruise CAGE 20-7 (November 2nd to 16th 2020), we observed and investigated a large active methane seepage area south from the Yermak plateau (Northern Svalbard), in particular to characterize the water column and the sediment near known flares in Norskebanken (Geissler et al., 2016). Some flares were targeted for gas composition, DNA and...

Coralligenous (C) include calcareous build-ups of biogenic origin, formed since the Holocene transgression. Peculiar columnar-shaped C outcrops were documented offshore Marzamemi village (SE Sicily, Ionian Sea), although the actual extension and distribution were not assessed. Project ‘CRESCIBLUREEF’ produced a new, 17 km² high-resolution bathymetr...

AKMA-OceanSenses Research Expedition (11-23 May 2022) aboard the research vessel Kronprins Håkon to the Barents Sea and Arctic Ocean is focused on both science and education. This expedition has received endorsement from the UN Ocean Decade. The cruise may be known as: CAGE22_2

Along the Mediterranean Sea shelf, algal reefs made of crustose coralline algae and Peyssonneliales are known as Coralligenous. It ranks among the most important ecosystems in the Mediterranean Sea because of its extent, complexity, and heterogeneity, supporting very high levels of biodiversity. Descriptive approaches for monitoring purposes are of...

The mesophotic domain is a poorly explored part of the oceans, notably in the Mediterranean Sea. Benthic communities in these depths are not well documented and as such are under higher risk from anthropogenic impacts. Hard substrate habitats in this depth window are not common and are a key ecotope. The Malta Plateau in the central Mediterranean,...

Seafloor exploration using geo-referenced imagery from towed camera systems permits the investigation of small-scale (sub-cm) seabed features and a better understanding of submarine biogeochemical and physical processes, environments and their linkages. Decades of visual exploration of cold seeps have uncovered a variety of chemosynthetic communiti...

Immersive virtual reality can potentially open up interesting geological sites to students, academics and others who may not have had the opportunity to visit such sites previously. We study how users perceive the usefulness of an immersive virtual reality approach applied to Earth Sciences teaching and communication. During nine immersive virtual...

The mesophotic domain is a poorly explored part of the oceans, notably in the Mediterranean Sea. Benthic communities in these depths are not well documented and as such are under higher risk from anthropogenic impacts. Hard substrate habitats in this depth window are not common and are a key ecotope. The Malta Plateau in the central Mediterranean,...

The chapter dedicated to the Ligurian Sea is part of the first Atlas of the geological hazard features of the Italian seas, produced by the Italian scientific community of Marine Geologists. It aims at the dissemination of several significant scientific results: the mapping of the geological hazard features identified on the seabed surrounding the...

Submarine geomorphology underwent significant development in the second half of the 20 th century, largely thanks to advances in technology by the military, navigation and hydrocarbon industry, which were later transferred to the academic and commercial sectors. In this chapter we summarise the development of the key methods used in submarine geomo...

Whale sharks are known to aggregate in coastal areas. In the South Ari Marine Protected Area (Maldives) a aggregation, mostly represented by young males with a high level of residency, has been described in the literature. Despite the worldwide interest in the natural resources of the Maldives, this population is increasingly subjected to anthropog...

In the last decade, the interest to jointly analyze landscapes and landforms of emerged and submerged areas has been expanding [...]

Freshwaters constitute a fundamental and extremely limited resource for atoll islands’ population. The interplay of climatic and human-driven processes, which affect both the quantity and the quality of freshwater resources, may exacerbate the problem of water security and availability. This work evaluated the effects of good spectrum of anthropic...

Climate change and tectonic uplift are the dominant forcing mechanisms responsible for the formation of long and narrow terraced landforms in a variety of geomorphic settings; and marine terraces are largely used to reconstruct the Quaternary glacial and interglacial climates. Along the Mediterranean coast, a considerable number of popular scientif...

Beyond the tropical paradise and beyond the fear of climate change effects, the Maldives is a fascinating island country that faces social, cultural, economic and environmental transformations. Atolls of the Maldives: Nissology and Geography provides a spatial analysis on some key challenges the Maldivian society has to deal with, and guides the re...

To restore the marine environments contaminated by oil spills to an acceptable state, sediments are commonly washed with seawater, and surfactants added into the aqueous solution to increase the oil recovery. However, the resulting mixture may release toxic break-down products, and the surfactants may themselves pose an environmental risk to marine...

Submarine geomorphology, the study of landforms and processes within the submarine domain, is a young discipline that owes its birth to technological achievements that made it possible to explore the underwater sphere of our Earth system. Submarine domains represent over 70% of Earth's surface, i.e. the largest geomorphic system on our planet (more...

Supplementary information - Summary of sampling locations - Core collection and dating - DNA amplification and sequencing - Species delimitation - Genetic diversity and phylogeographic patterns - Bayesian Skyline Plots - Inference of the number of clusters in the DAPC - Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) - Specific model parameters and model ch...

A comprehensive understanding of environmental changes taking place in coastal regions relies on accurate integration of both terrestrial and submerged geo-environmental datasets. However, this practice is hardly implemented because of the high (or even prohibitive) survey costs required for submerged areas and the frequent low accessibility of sha...

The Capo Spartivento Sheet (n° 35) is one of the 73 Maps produced in the framework of the MaGIC Project - Marine Geohazards along the Italian Coasts -, in different formats, at 1:50.000 scale. The project, funded by the Department of Civil Protection, within a Framework Programme Agreement with the National Research Council - CNR, aimed at defining...

Coral reefs are declining worldwide as a result of the effects of multiple natural and 15 anthropogenic stressors, including regional-scale temperature-induced coral bleaching. Such events 16 have caused significant coral mortality, leading to an evident structural collapse of reefs and shifts 17 in associated benthic communities. In this scenario,...

In the Mediterranean Sea, crustose coralline algae form endemic algal reefs known as Coralligenous (C) build-ups. The high degree of complexity that C can reach through time creates notable environmental heterogeneity making C a major hotspot of biodiversity for the Mediterranean basin. C build-up can variably modify the submarine environment by af...

Whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) are usually observed in coastal areas throughout the highly productive tropical and subtropical regions. Whale sharks are filter feeders, feeding mainly on plankton, therefore their occurrence in these regions is tightly connected to seasonal increases in productivity. The Indo-Pacific sub-population in the last 75 ye...

Habitat mapping is increasingly considered as a reliable and efficient methodology to explore and represent the complexity and extent of benthic communities. Providing a full-coverage spatial perspective of habitat heterogeneity is becoming an essential tool in science-based management of natural resources, specifically regarding vulnerable marine...

Hyperspectral imagers enable the collection of high-resolution spectral images exploitable for the supervised classification of habitats and objects of interest (OOI). Although this is a well-established technology for the study of subaerial environments, Ecotone AS has developed an underwater hyperspectral imager (UHI) system to explore the proper...

Very often, geologists are unable to access some outcrops because of their location in remote or dangerous areas and associated hard logistic conditions. To overcome such difficulties in sites investigation, the Aerial Structure from Motion is a helpful technique that allows a very high-detailed 3D model reconstruction of relevant outcrops, providi...

This work describes the innovative outreach initiative held at the University of Milano-Bicocca (Italy) related to the EGU 2018 Public Engagement Grant awarded for the project titled: “Shaping geological 3D virtual field-surveys for overcoming motor disabilities”. The Public Engagement project aims to create equal opportunities for all students in...

Aim To infer cold‐water corals’ (CWC) post‐glacial phylogeography and assess the role of Mediterranean Sea glacial refugia as origins for the recolonization of the northeastern Atlantic Ocean. Location Northeastern Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Taxon Lophelia pertusa, Madrepora oculata. Methods We sampled CWC using remotely operated vehi...

In the framework of the Italian multidisciplinary research project “Mud volcanoes Ecosystem study - Sicily Channel” cores MV02_GC01 and MV03_GC02 were recovered from a tabular relief at 140 m water depth, to investigate the nature of such uncommon shallow seep-related morphology trough micro- and macro-paleontological, mineralogical, sedimentologic...

In this work, we present preliminary results of the first application in the Mediterranean Sea of a hyperspectral camera, a device commonly used for satellite or airborne remote sensing, adapted for the underwater environment. The spectral analysis carried out on hypestrectral images acquired in two different environmental settings in the southern...

Data acquired by an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) towing a source (1600 Hz – 3500 Hz) and an horizontal array of hydrophones have been analysed to image discrete, isolated or even a small cluster of scatterers within the sediment, to determine shallow migration paths of hydrocarbons in a mud‐volcano system of the Malta Plateau (MP). An algori...

This dataset includes the reports and a map of the quaternary build-ups present along the Ionian and Adriatic coasts of the Italian Peninsula

Cold-water carbonate bioconstructions are the product of complex interactions between calcifying organisms and the surrounding environment, and deeply contribute in affecting the evolution of the submarine landscape in space and time. Important variables contributing to their development, growth and/or demise include sedimentary dynamics, food supp...

We conclude this book by considering three challenges and opportunities that are shared by all fields of submarine geomorphological research: (i) big data at multiple spatio-temporal scales, (ii) direct observation, and (iii) interaction with subaerial geomorphologists.

In the Mediterranean, build-ups (created by coralline algae, Cladocora caespitosa, deep-water corals, vermetids, polychaetes and bacteria) and rhodolith beds are important hot-spots of biodiversity. Being severely threatened by anthropogenic impact and climate change, they have been included in international directives on environmental protection....

In the submarine environment, the identification and characterization of macro-seeps requires support of geophysi-cal remote-sensing techniques. In our work, data acquired by an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) towing a source (1600 Hz-3500 Hz) and an horizontal array of hydrophones have been analysed to image discrete, isolated or even a small...

This book on the current state of knowledge of submarine geomorphology aims to achieve the goals of the Submarine Geomorphology working group, set up in 2013, by establishing submarine geomorphology as a field of research, disseminating its concepts and techniques among earth scientists and professionals, and encouraging students to develop their s...

The Santa Maria di Leuca (SML) cold-water coral province (northern Ionian Sea) has the largest occurrence of a living white coral community currently known in the Mediterranean Sea. Madrepora oculata and Lophelia pertusa, identified as marking sensitive habitats of relevance by the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean, have been obser...

The Maldives islands in recent decades have experienced dramatic land-use change. Uninhabited islands were turned into new resort islands; evergreen tropical forests were cut, to be replaced by fields and new built-up areas. All these changes happened without a proper monitoring and urban planning strategy from the Maldivian government due to the l...

Coralligenous has a relevant role in submarine landscape formation and demise through geological times, producing various morphotypes on the seafloor. Several terms are used to define coralligenous morphotypes, but their application through different geological and environmental settings still remains inconsistent. Through a systematic analysis of...

This volume contains the main results of the EC FP7 “The Ocean of Tomorrow” Project CoCoNet, divided in two sections: 1) a set of guidelines to design networks of Marine Protected Areas in the Mediterranean and the Black Seas; 2) a smart wind chart that will allow evaluating the possibility of installing Offshore Wind Farms in both seas. The concep...

Cold-water coral (CWC) habitats can form complex structures which provide refuge, nursery grounds and physical support for a diversity of other living organisms, but despite their ecological significance, CWCs are still vulnerable to human pressures such as fishing, pollution, ocean acidification and global warming

Rendiconti online Società Geologica Italiana

The Mar Piccolo Basin is a coastal brackish marine ecosystem located along the northern coast of the Gulf of Taranto (Southern Italy). Despite the ecological relevance of the area (Site of Community Importance IT9130004, Regional Reserve ‘Palude La Vela’ EUAP1189), the entire basin is subjected to intensive human usage. The main activities include...

The Santa Maria di Leuca (SML) cold-water coral (CWC) province is a proposed priority conservation area according to several conservation initiatives in the Mediterranean Sea. Part of it is a Fisheries Restricted Area (FRA). Anthropogenic impacts due to fishing on this FRA were investigated using a towed camera system during 2005. The geographic di...

In this work, we sought to document how submarine mass-movements influence the submarine landscape and associated habitat distributions on the upper portion of the northern Ionian Margin (eastern Mediterranean Sea) between 200 m to greater than 1,000 m in water depth (w.d.). In this area, mass-wasting processes have created unique morphological for...

Sea floor mapping along the Apulia continental shelf (Italy) verified the abundance of autochthonous red algae build-ups, mapped as coralligenous habitats (CHs), in a water depth range of 5-100 m. In general, CHs were found to develop three dimensional structures, with a rigid framework and to represent an important geomorpho-logical and sedimentol...

Mediterranean marine benthic bionomists refer to Coralligenous (C) de plateau as a circalittoral biocoenosis consisting of a biogenic framework forming a solid substrate settled on an originally mobile substrate. Pérès & Picard (1951) indicated that the true C de plateau develops from the coalescence of rhodoliths, although they already underlined...

As a result of the Habitat Directive (92/43/EC), marine bioconstructions, generically indicated as “reef”, have been recognized as marine habitats worthy of protection. Among Mediterranean marine bioconstructions, coralligenous undoubtedly is one of the most important in extension and biodiversity. Therefore, for some years the efforts in this cont...

Within the framework of the BIOMaP Project (BIOcostruzioni Marine in Puglia, - P.O. FESR 2007/2013), promoted by Puglia region, Italy, new acoustic data were acquired in order to identify and locate Coralligenous Habitats along the Apulian continental shelf (South Adriatic Sea – Northern Ionian Sea), from 10 down to 100 meters of water depth, in 21...

POSTER Conservation and management of coralligenous experience from The BIOMAP Project GEOHAB Habitat mapping for conservation and management purposes 5th - 9th May, 2014 LORNE, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA