Exploring the submarine Graham Bank in the Sicily Channel

Abstract

In the Sicily Channel, volcanic activity has been concentrated mainly on the Pantelleria and Linosa islands, while minor submarine volcanism took place in the Adventure, Graham and Nameless banks. The volcanic activity spanned mostly during Plio-Pleistocene, however, historical submarine eruptions occurred in 1831 on the Graham Bank and in 1891 offshore Pantelleria Island. On the Graham Bank, 25 miles SW of Sciacca, the 1831 eruption formed the short-lived Ferdinandea Island that represents the only Italian volcano active in historical times currently almost completely unknown and not yet monitored. Moreover, most of the Sicily Channel seismicity is concentrated along a broad NS belt extending from the Graham Bank to Lampedusa Island. In 2012, the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) carried out a multidisciplinary oceanographic cruise, named “Ferdinandea 2012”, the preliminary results of which represent the aim of this paper. The cruise goal was the mapping of the morpho-structural features of some submarine volcanic centres located in the northwestern side of the Sicily Channel and the temporary recording of their seismic and degassing activity. During the cruise, three OBS/Hs (ocean bottom seismometer with hydrophone) were deployed near the Graham, Nerita and Terribile submarine banks. During the following 9 months they have recorded several seismo-acoustic signals produced by both tectonic and volcanic sources. A high-resolution bathymetric survey was achieved on the Graham Bank and on the surrounding submarine volcanic centres. A widespread and voluminous gas bubbles emission was observed by both multibeam sonar echoes and a ROV (remotely operated vehicle) along the NW side of the Graham Bank, where gas and seafloor samples were also collected. © 2016 by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia. All rights reserved.

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ANNALS OF GEOPHYSICS, 59, 2, 2016, S0208; doi:10.4401/ag-6929
S0208
Exploring the submarine Graham Bank in the Sicily Channel
Mauro Coltelli1,*, Danilo Cavallaro1,2, Giuseppe D’Anna3, Antonino D’Alessandro3,
Fausto Grassa4, Giorgio Mangano3, Domenico Patanè1, Stefano Gresta2,5
1 Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Osservatorio Etneo, Catania, Italy
2 Università di Catania, Dip. di Scienze Biologiche, Geologiche e Ambientali, Sezione di Scienze della Terra, Catania, Italy
3 Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Centro Nazionale Terremoti, Rome, Italy
4 Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione di Palermo, Palermo, Italy
5 Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Rome, Italy
ABSTRACT
In the Sicily Channel, volcanic activity has been concentrated mainly on
the Pantelleria and Linosa islands, while minor submarine volcanism
took place in the Adventure, Graham and Nameless banks. The volcanic
activity spanned mostly during Plio-Pleistocene, however, historical sub-
marine eruptions occurred in 1831 on the Graham Bank and in 1891 off-
shore Pantelleria Island. On the Graham Bank, 25 miles SW of Sciacca,
the 1831 eruption formed the short-lived Ferdinandea Island that repre-
sents the only Italian volcano active in historical times currently almost
completely unknown and not yet monitored. Moreover, most of the Sicily
Channel seismicity is concentrated along a broad NS belt extending from
the Graham Bank to Lampedusa Island. In 2012, the Istituto Nazionale
di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) carried out a multidisciplinary
oceanographic cruise, named “Ferdinandea 2012”, the preliminary re-
sults of which represent the aim of this paper. The cruise goal was the
mapping of the morpho-structural features of some submarine volcanic
centres located in the northwestern side of the Sicily Channel and the
temporary recording of their seismic and degassing activity. During the
cruise, three OBS/Hs (ocean bottom seismometer with hydrophone)
were deployed near the Graham, Nerita and Terribile submarine banks.
During the following 9 months they have recorded several seismo-acoustic
signals produced by both tectonic and volcanic sources. A high-resolution
bathymetric survey was achieved on the Graham Bank and on the sur-
rounding submarine volcanic centres. A widespread and voluminous gas
bubbles emission was observed by both multibeam sonar echoes and a
ROV (remotely operated vehicle) along the NW side of the Graham Bank,
where gas and seafloor samples were also collected.
1. Introduction and geodynamic framework of the
Sicily Channel
Within the geodynamic framework of the central
Mediterranean area, the Sicily Channel belongs to the
central portion of the northern margin of the African
continental plate, called Pelagian Block [Burollet et al.
1978]. It corresponds to the foreland area of the Sicilian
sector of the Neogene Apenninian-Maghrebian fold-and-
thrust belt, the outermost and youngest thrust sheet of
which is represented by the Gela Nappe [Ogniben 1969]
(Figure 1). The Sicily Channel consists of a 6-7 km thick
Mesozoic-Cenozoic shallow to deep water carbonate
sedimentary successions, with repeated intercalations
of volcanics [Torelli et al. 1995], covered by Upper Tor-
tonian-Lower Messinian siliciclastic deposits and Plio-
Quaternary clastic sequences.
The tectonic setting of the Sicily Channel is the
product of the Neogene continental collision between
the African and European plates and of the Neogene-
Quaternary NW-trending rift [Jongsma et al. 1985, Boc-
caletti et al. 1987, Reuther et al. 1993].
The presence of an intraplate rift in a foreland area,
in front of a collisional belt, is not a common tectonic
scenario and the geodynamic mechanism producing
the Sicily Channel rift as well as the relationships be-
tween tectonics and magmatism in this area have not
yet been completely clarified. The Sicily Channel is con-
sidered as a dextral shear zone and its main tectonic
depressions as large pull-apart basins involving deep
crustal levels [Finetti 1984, Jongsma et al. 1985, Reuther
and Eisbacher 1985, Ben-Avraham et al. 1987, Boccaletti
et al. 1987, Cello 1987]. A mechanism of intraplate rift
related to NE-SW directed displacement of Sicily away
from Africa, has been also proposed by Illies [1981].
Argnani [1990] interpreted the rifting as caused by a lat-
eral mantle convection developed during the roll-back
Article history
Received November 19, 2015; accepted February 19, 2016.
Subject classification:
Graham Bank, Ferdinandea, Multibeam bathymetry, OBS, ROV, Underwater volcanism.

of the African lithosphere slab beneath the Tyrrhenian
Basin. Recently, Corti et al. [2006] hypothesize the oc-
currence of two independent tectonic processes in the
western side of the Sicily Channel: the NW-SE short-
ening related to the Sicilian-Maghrebian accretion and
a NE-SW extension, acting simultaneously and over-
lapping each other.
Most earthquakes of the Sicily Channel are fo-
cused along a broad NS oriented belt extending from
Lampedusa Island to southwestern Sicily coast passing
through the Graham Bank [Cello 1987, Argnani 1990,
Rotolo et al. 2006, Civile et al. 2010, Calò and Parisi 2014]
(Figure 1). Inside this belt the alkaline volcanic centres of
Linosa Island, and the Nameless and Graham banks are
also located. This belt was interpreted as a strike-slip trans-
fer fault zone between two segments of the rift system,
Pantelleria Graben to the west and the Malta and Linosa
grabens to the east [Argnani 1990, Civile et al. 2008].
This work describes the scientific activity and the
preliminary results of the oceanographic cruise named
“Ferdinandea 2012” carried out offshore southwestern
Sicily. The main objective of the survey was the assess-
ment of volcanic and seismic hazard in the area close to
populous Sicilian coast. The final goal of this prelimi-
nary activity was to achieve, in the medium period, the
permanent monitoring of the offshore area integrating
the data collected by the multidisciplinary sensors de-
ployed on the seafloor with those recorded by the Isti-
tuto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
monitoring network installed inland.
2. Volcanic and seismic activity
A widespread volcanic activity is known to have
occurred in the Sicily Channel during Plio-Pleistocene
times [Calanchi et al. 1989] building up Linosa and Pan-
telleria islands where the volcanic products are well ex-
posed. Nevertheless, the oldest magmatic products of
the Sicily Channel, with an age of 9.5 ± 0.4 Ma, have
been found in the Nameless Bank [Beccaluva et al. 1981].
Geophysical and petrological data revealed the presence
of minor submarine volcanism in the Adventure, Name-
less, Graham and Terribile banks [Colantoni et al. 1975,
Beccaluva et al. 1981, Calanchi et al. 1989, Rotolo et al.
2006]. The volcanic activity continued until historical
time, testified by the most recent underwater eruptions
occurred in 1891, some 4 km NE of Pantelleria Island
[Washington 1909, Conte et al. 2014], and in 1831 on
the Graham Bank, producing an ephemeral volcanic is-
COLTELLI ET AL.
2
Figure 1. Bathymetric map of the Sicily Channel (bathymetry from Gebco - General bathymetric chart of the oceans). The black box dis-
plays the study area. The inset shows the structural setting of central Mediterranean Sea (modified from Lentini et al. [2006]): (1) Overthrust
of the Sardinian block upon Kabilo-Calabride (KCC) units; (2) Overthrust of the KCC units upon the Apennine-Maghrebian Chain (AMC);
(3) External front of AMC upon the foreland units and the external thrust system (ETS); (4) Thrust front of ETS; (5) Main normal and strike-
slip faults. PBF: Pelagian block foreland units; QV: Quaternary volcanoes; ME: Malta Escarpment; HP: Hyblean Plateau; GN: Gela Nappe.

3
land named Ferdinandea (Figure 2). The 1831 eruption
lasted one month and a half, forming, 25 miles SW of
Sciacca, the small island of Ferdinandea (300 m large
and 60 m high) composed of loose tephra that was eas-
ily eroded by wave activity during the next three months
[Gemmellaro 1831, Marzolla 1831].
Sicily Channel rift and southwestern Sicily show
some different seismo-tectonic behaviours [Meletti et
al. 2008]. The strongest earthquakes occurred in 1968
inland Sicily on the Belice Valley (Figure 3), when six
events with magnitudes ranging from 5.2 to 6.1 strongly
damaged several towns, causing more than three hun-
dred casualties [Guidoboni et al. 2007]. Along the SW
Sicily coast, the seismicity is characterized by low mag-
nitude seismic events affecting mostly the area of Sci-
acca [Rigano et al. 1998]. Earthquakes with magnitude
not exceeding 5.1 occurred in 1578, 1652, 1724, 1727,
1740 and 1817; they were probably located offshore, not
far from the coast [Rovida et al. 2011].
Since an offshore seismic swarm, with some earth-
quakes felt along the southern coast of Sicily, occurred
two weeks before of the 1831 eruption [Falzone et al.
2009], a relationship between seismic and volcanic ac-
tivity in the Sicily Channel is suggested. Moreover,
some evidences of ancient earthquakes that damaged
the Greek-Roman town of Selinunte, located on the
coast 25 km NW of Sciacca, are provided by archaeo-
logical investigations, which dated two events around
400-200 B.C and 400-1200 A.D. [Guidoboni et al. 2002,
Bottari et al. 2009].
The seismicity recorded in the last thirty years in
the Sicily Channel by the Italian National Seismic Net-
work, operated by INGV (Figure 3; from ISIDE: Italian
seismological instrumental and parametric database,
http://iside.rm.ingv.it) is relatively frequent but char-
acterized by low magnitudes (mainly M< 4). Only a
few events have been localized near the Graham Bank;
until now this gap of seismicity was considered due to
the not optimal distribution of the seismic stations that
are located only in the Sicily mainland and in the Pan-
telleria, Lampedusa and Linosa islands [D’Alessandro et
al. 2011]. Recently, Calò and Parisi [2014] suggest that
this gap might be generated by a tectonic discontinuity
in the N-S transfer fault zone previously identified in
the Sicily Channel (Figure 3). Nevertheless, a significant
seismicity is discontinuously concentrated along this
broad NS belt showing large seismic gaps in proximity
of the Graham Bank.
3. The oceanographic cruise
Between July 17 and 21, 2012, INGV carried out a
multidisciplinary oceanographic cruise, named “Ferdi-
nandea 2012”, on the NW sector of the Sicily Channel.
The main goals of the cruise were the monitoring of the
potential seismogenic tectonic structures around the
Graham, Terrible and Nerita submarine banks, the geo-
chemical survey to localize fumarole fields and sample
gas risings, and the bathymetric mapping of the Graham
Bank and surrounding submarine volcanic centres. Three
sections of the INGV were involved within the research
activity: (i) Osservatorio Etneo of Catania for the sub-
marine volcanism and the volcano seismology; (ii)
OBS-Lab of Centro Nazionale Terremoti (National
earthquake centre), located at the Gibilmanna obser-
vatory near Palermo, for the seismo-acoustic monitoring
using three OBS/Hs; (iii) Palermo section for the geo-
EXPLORING THE SUBMARINE GRAHAM BANK IN THE SICILY CHANNEL
Figure 2. One of the several paintings by the French painter Edmond
Joinville showing the 1831 eruption forming Ferdinandea Island.
Figure 3. The distribution of earthquakes epicentres recorded be-
tween 1985 to 2015 in the centralwestern side of the Sicily Channel
and inland, along the Belice Valley (data from ISIDE: Italian seis-
mological instrumental and parametric database, http://iside.
rm.ingv.it). The blue star shows the location of the strong seismic
sequence of the Belice earthquake. The orange box images a NS
belt were the seismicity is highly concentrated. (Bathymetry from
Gebco - General bathymetric chart of the oceans).

chemical analysis of the volcanic gas. The cruise was
performed on the Research Vessel (R/V) Astrea by ISPRA
(Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Am-
bientale) operated by So.Pro.Mar. S.p.A., and was con-
ducted as part of the program of extension to the Italian
sea of geophysical and geochemical monitoring of the
Italian active volcanoes. The survey, mainly focused on
the Graham Bank, was also carried out on the neigh-
bouring Terrible and Nerita banks that form, together
with the Graham Bank, a large submarine high [Colan-
toni et al. 1975, Falzone et al. 2009] rising from 250 to
500 m from the surrounding seafloor (Figure 1).
The high-resolution seafloor mapping covered an
area of some 100 km2about 50 km offshore Sciacca town
on the SW Sicily coast. It was performed by using an EM
2040 Kongsberg 200-400 kHz multibeam sonar system
supported by GPS-RTK positioning. Daily sound speed
profiles and repeated calibration of transducers were ap-
plied during the survey to get the better data resolution
as possible. The SIS and CARIS Hips and Sips software
packages were used for data acquisition and processing,
respectively, allowing to obtain a very high resolution
DTM (digital terrain model) of the seafloor.
During the cruise, three OBS/Hs (ocean bottom
seismometer with hydrophone; Mangano et al. [2011])
were deployed near the three banks, in order to detect
low energy seismo-volcanic and hydrothermal activity
(Figures 4 and 5). Each OBS/H was equipped with a 3C
broadband seismometer, Guralp CMG40T-OBS model,
having a flat transfer function into the band 60 s-100 Hz.
The sensor, housed in a titanium sphere designed to op-
erate at a depth of up to 6000 m, was equipped with an
autoleveling system, which enables high precision sensor
leveling. The OBS/Hs were also equipped with a hy-
drophone HighTechInc HTI-04-PCA/ULF with a flat
transfer function in the frequency band 100 s -8 kHz. The
signals (velocity and pressure signals) were acquired by a
Send Geolon-MLS four-channels 21 bit datalogger, at a
sampling rate of 200 Hz. Internal clock synchronization
was made on board just before the OBS/Hs deployment.
Some ROV (remotely operated vehicle) dives were
carried out by using the ROV PolluxII by GEI (400 m
depth rated), equipped with a manipulator, that allowed
us to collect several video on the main submarine vol-
canic centres, a seafloor rock sample and a gas sample
from a fumarole field located along the NW side of the
Graham Bank (Figure 4). In order to control in real time
the correct deployment on the sea bottom of the seis-
mometer from the arm of the OBS/H, two ROV dives
were also performed (Figure 5).
COLTELLI ET AL.
4
Figure 4. Bathymetric map of the three banks located offshore the southwestern coast of Sicily (the bathymetric data of the Nerita and Ter-
ribile banks have been provided by the Istituto Idrografico della Marina Italiana), with location of the OBS/Hs deployment areas and ROV
dives. The black box represents the area of Figure 6.

5
4. Morphological analysis of the new bathymetric
map
The high-resolution seafloor mapping obtained
from the “Ferdinandea 2012” cruise, together with the
bathymetric data provided by the Istituto Idrografico
della Marina (Italian Navy hydrographic office), allows
us to better define the morphological rise located off-
shore southwestern Sicily including the Graham, Nerita
and Terribile banks (Figure 1). This high shows a trian-
gular shape with the maximum axis (30 km long) ori-
ented NE-SW and is bounded by steep scarps especially
on the SW and E sides (Figure 4). It is characterized by a
very irregular bathymetry with a pretty shallow seafloor
interrupted by a succession of topographic highs. The
shallowest points are located on the Nerita Bank (−50 m)
to the north, on the Terribile Bank (−28 m) to the west
and on the Graham Bank (−9 m) to the east; they rep-
resent three shoals well known to local fishermen.
On the western portion of this rise we identify ten
cone-shaped highs arranged along a NS trending and 3
km wide belt located from 50 to 60 km offshore Sciacca
(Figure 6a). Some of them are grouped in three clusters
roughly aligned in a NW-SE to WNW-ESE direction.
The two cones belonging to the Graham Bank lie
in a seafloor between 130 to 180 m below sea level (bsl)
(Figures 4 and 6). The smallest of them represents the
remnant of the famous Ferdinandea Island grown up
during the 1831 eruption (Figure 6c). It appears as a trun-
cated cone that rises up to 150 m on the surrounding
seafloor. The shoal top is 9 m bsl on a sub-vertical rocky
structure representing the neck of the volcanic cone,
placed in the middle of a 30 to 60 m large flat terrace.
No evidences of crater rims and even other points of
lava emission (e.g. necks or vents) were identified on the
top of the shoal as well as on surrounding slopes. These
latter appear very steep and regular without evidences
of active erosive process (e.g. gullies or scars), confirm-
ing its very young age. No lava flows were identified
along the slopes as well as around the base of the cone,
which shows an elliptical shape with a NW-SE trend-
ing, 700 m long maximum axis.
The Ferdinandea cone grew up on the southeast-
ern base of a bigger cone. This last represents the largest
edifice among the ten mapped since it shows a basal di-
ameter of 1.5 km with an almost perfect circular shape
(Figure 6b). The top lies at 35 m bsl and is formed by
several rocky structures located in the middle of a 50-
60 m deep flat terrace. At about 100 m of water depth
the cone shows a break in slope associated with another
terrace that is better evident on the southeastern side
of the edifice. The slopes exhibit several evidences of
erosive activity proving an older age respect to the Fer-
dinandea cone; the lowest part of the eastern flank is
in fact cut by several gullies up to 150 m long and 6 m
deep. The low northeaster flank appears characterized
by few irregularly shaped scars, probably due to hy-
drothermal alteration, because of the presence of a fu-
marole field as shown by the bubbles upraising recorded
by multibeam sonar echos in the water column. The
seafloor at the base of the western flank shows an ir-
regular morphology due to the presence of a one km
long lava field composed by three or four different lava
flows (Figure 6b), the only ones recognised in all the
mapped area.
Some 2 km south of the Graham Bank three other
cones were identified (Figure 6a). The northernmost of
them shows a crest around the cone, similar to a am-
phitheatre-shaped crater rim opened westward, at the
end of which a small and shallow canyon occurs. This
evidence could demonstrate its very old and poly-pha-
sic activity. The top, located at 104 m bsl, does not pres-
ent a terrace, while the basal diameter is some 500 m
large. The further two cones are very similar each other
showing an almost perfect circular shape with a maxi-
mum diameter ranging from 750 to 650 m. Their very
similar morphological characteristics allow us to infer
a probable coeval activity. The first has the top located
67 m bsl, while the second one presents the highest
point at 76 m bsl. Both the cones show a terraced area
at some 90 m of depth.
Other two cones are located northward, 2 and 4
km far from the Graham Bank, respectively (Figure 6a).
The tops are 100 and 125 m bsl while the bases are 650
and 900 m large, respectively. They have no terraces on
top but show several important evidences of gravita-
tional instability along the slopes, confirmed by the
presence of hummocky morphologies at their bases.
The last three cones are located northward, about
EXPLORING THE SUBMARINE GRAHAM BANK IN THE SICILY CHANNEL
Figure 5. The OBS deployed near the Terribile Bank; the deploy-
ment on seabed of its seismometer was filmed from the ROV of R/V
Astrea; inset on the top right shows a close-up of the titanium sphere
housing the seismometer.

8 km far from the Graham Bank (Figure 6a). They form
a group of truncated cones with a flat top terrace at
some 80 m bsl. Their shape is irregular with widths
ranging from 500 to 900 m. The slopes show evidence
of a very old age due to an intense erosive activity high-
lighted by the hummocky morphology characterizing
the seabottom at their bases. The landslide morphol-
ogy presents few blocks (up to 200 m large) transported
gravitationally downslope. The highest portions of all
the cones are characterized by rocky structures corre-
sponding to the necks of the volcanic edifices. Their
quite similar morphology allows us to infer a tempo-
rally close eruptive activity.
On the Terribile Bank the morphological analysis
of the seafloor bathymetry highlights the presence of
several scattered frustum-conical shaped structures
(often flat on top) showing a smaller size in compari-
son of the cone-shaped highs of the Graham Bank.
Probably they are necks of ancient volcanic cones, con-
firming the occurrence of an older submarine volcan-
ism affecting this area.
Around the three banks (Graham, Nerita and Ter-
ribile) several depressions similar to pockmarks have
been also identified (Figure 4); some of them are lo-
cated at and close to the base of the Graham Bank show-
ing a width up to 100 m and a depth of 5-6 m. On the
southern sector of the Terribile Bank a giant pockmark
(300 m large and 45 m deep) was surveyed by ROV,
which shows very steep walls cutting the benthonic
sediment.
5. Analysis of seismic activity
In the framework of the “Ferdinandea 2012” mul-
tidisciplinary oceanographic cruise the INGV’s staff de-
ployed three broadband OBS/Hs near the Graham,
Terrible and Nerita banks to monitor the local seismic-
ity and hydrothermal activity. Several previous OBS/H
monitoring campaigns made it possible to characterize
the seismic and hydrothermal activity not detected by
the onshore seismic network [D’Alessandro et al. 2009,
2012 and 2013]. During this monitoring campaign, last-
ing about nine months (from July 2012 to March 2013),
the submarine stations recorded several regional and
teleseismic events but only few local events.
Figure 7 shows two examples of regional and tele-
seismic events recorded by the OBS/H deployed near
Nerita Bank. Due to the moderate environmental
noise level, many regional and teleseismic earthquakes
have been recorded with a high signal to noise ratio.
Such data may be used for the reconstruction of the
local crustal velocity models by means of local earth-
quake tomography and receiver function techniques.
However, looking the INGV seismic catalogue, only
two earthquakes were located near the OBS/H array
COLTELLI ET AL.
6
Figure 6. New HR bathymetry images of the volcanic centres identified some 50 km offshore Sciacca area. (a) The NS trending belt including
10 volcanic cones. (b) The Graham Bank with a lava field (red box) and a fumarole field (black box), located, on its western and northeastern
side, respectively; the blue and black asterisks indicate the gas and rock sample locations, respectively. (c) The remnant of Ferdinandea Island.

7
(less than 50 km). Carefully inspecting the 9 months-
long OBS/Hs recordings, 18 events, not detected by
the onshore INGV seismic network, were found. The
preliminary location of these events, by means of the
single station location technique proposed by D’A-
lessandro et al. [2013], showed that only 5 of them are
located near the OBS/H array. Unlike previous OBS/H
monitoring campaigns, like those in the southern
Tyrrhenian Sea [D’Alessandro et al. 2009, 2012 and
2013], where several hundred of local seismic events
were recorded in few months highlighting an intense
local activity, the Graham Bank area seems rather
quiet. The lack of local seismicity may support the hy-
pothesis of Calò and Parisi [2014] according to which
the large seismic gap in proximity of the Graham Bank
(observed in the last 30 years of instrumental seismic-
ity) could be due to a discontinuity in the transfer fault
zone crossing western Sicily and the Sicily Channel,
even if we cannot exclude that this low seismicity
could occur in a period of stress accumulation during
a stress accumulation/release cycle.
Several high-frequency events were recorded by
the hydrophones; an example of such events is reported
in Figure 8. We can observe as such event can last sev-
eral hours and have a frequency content ranging from
0.5 to over 20 Hz. This high frequency, long duration
event may be linked to a temporary intensity increase
of the hydrothermal activity; as a matter of fact volu-
minous rising of gas bubbles were observed on both
sonar and ROV images along the NW side of the Gra-
ham Bank (see in the following paragraph). The time-
frequency analysis of these signals could identify a
cyclical behaviour in the local submarine fluid and gas
emissions.
6. ROV dives
During the cruise some ROV dives were carried
out over the slopes of the Graham Bank cones. One of
EXPLORING THE SUBMARINE GRAHAM BANK IN THE SICILY CHANNEL
Figure 7. Two examples of a local event (ML 3.3, central Mediterranean Sea) on the left, a teleseismic event (MW7.6, Costa Rica) on the right,
recorded by the OBS/H located on the Nerita Bank. Black = pressure, Blue = Up Down, Red = Horizontal 1, Green = Horizontal 2.

them investigated the NW slope of the Ferdinandea
cone. The ROV imaged the top terrace of this truncated
cone (between 9 and 23 m of depth) completely covered
by a so thick colony of gorgonians that it was no possi-
ble to see the rocks where the gorgonians were rooted
(being them typical colonizer of rocky morphologies).
At about 25 m bsl a terraced morphology was imaged;
it appeared totally covered by a thick layer of black coarse
sand organized in ripples of few centimetres in size,
most likely deriving from the erosion of 1831 eruption
products. On the external boundary of the terrace the
ROV imaged some raised morphologies up to 1.5-2 m
high made by centimetre undulate layers of consolidate
sediments covered by thick colonies of marine organ-
isms. The very steep slopes of the Ferdinandea cone,
down to 40 m of depth, are characterized by consoli-
date layers of dark sand, sometimes colonized by sev-
eral organisms; going deeper (down to −90 m) the size
of the sediment decreases producing a muddy cover.
Another ROV dive was carried out at the base of the
western slope of the largest cone of the Graham Bank,
where a lava field was identified on the bathymetric map.
The images showed an area, between 130 to 160 m water
depth, widely covered by well-rounded blocks ranging
from few decimetres to a couple of meters that were
largely incrusted by colonies of marine organisms.
A third ROV dive was carried out along and at the
base of the NW slope of the same cone. The investi-
gated area lies at around 150-155 m of depth and is
characterized by a muddy to sandy cover with a grey-
brown colour, sometimes interrupted by white, few
meters large, raised morphologies in correspondence
of which some bubbles rising occur; they most likely
represent the sublimate deposit of the fumaroles activ-
ity. At −155 m a gas bubbles rising was sampled by
using the ROV manipulator (Figure 6) and a glass bot-
tle equipped with a funnel (see Figure 9ab, and the next
chapter for the gas analysis).
In the same area, the ROV sampled a piece of a
thick crust, which covered the muddy sea bottom (Fig-
ure 9cd). It represents a hardened tephra layer, often
broken in 1-2 cm thick large plates, characterized by
biogenic concretions on the upper side, whereas the
lower side show extensive oxidised surfaces. Tephra is
composed of sandy grains, mainly crystals (olivine,
minor plagioclase and pyroxene) and two types of
glassy particles (one clear with amber colour and the
other lightly palagonitized). Probably, they represent
the products of the final surtseyan explosive activity of
the 1831 eruption.
COLTELLI ET AL.
8
Figure 8. Example of high frequency event recorded by the OBS/H located on the Graham Bank. Top = pressure signal, Bottom = relative
spectrogram.

9
7. Preliminary gas composition
The chemical composition of the gas sample from
the Graham Bank shows the predominance of CO2
(~73 Vol%), the rest being N2(~16 Vol%) and CH4(~7
Vol%). Other species such as He H2CO and C2+ alka-
nes are present at ppm level. H2O, sulphur-bearing gas
and halogens were not determined (Table 1).
In the N2-Ar-He classification diagram (Figure 10),
the sample shows a marked enrichment in helium con-
tent thus converging towards the He corner, typical of
mantle gases. The sample also shows a N2/Ar ratio higher
than air and air saturated water (ASW) thus highlighting
a slight “N2-excess” likely of organic and/or crustal origin.
The CO2/3He ratio (4.3×108) is about one order
of magnitude lower than typical MORB values (1-8 × 109;
Marty and Jambon [1987]). Such a lowering in the
CO2/3He ratio could be due to the selective dissolution
in seawater of highly soluble species such as CO2that
also lead to a relative enrichment in poorly soluble
species such as He and CH4. On the contrary, CO4/3He
ratio is extremely high, suggesting an additional source
for methane.
Both the molecular composition (C1/(C2+C3) ~ 25)
and the isotope signature of the methane (d13CCH4=
−31.8 per mil vs. V-PDB and dDCH4=−132.8 vs V-
SMOW) are consistent with a derivation of hydrocarbon
EXPLORING THE SUBMARINE GRAHAM BANK IN THE SICILY CHANNEL
Figure 9. Some pictures showing the different phases of gas bubbles (a and b) and seafloor (c and d) sampling by using the ROV. For loca-
tion of samples see Figure 6.
Graham Bank gas sample
He 330 CO2731600 dDCH4-132.8
H218 C2H62450 CO2/3He *10^8 4.3
O221000 C3H8467 CH4/3He *10^10 1.37
N2163900 3He/4He 3.72 C1/(C2+C3)24.3
CO 0.5 d13CCO2-1.75
CH470900 d13CCH4-31.8
Table 1. Chemical composition and isotope signature of the gas sample collected. All the chemical concentrations are expressed in ppm vol.
The helium isotope composition is expressed as R/Ra, where R is the 3He/4He ratio in the sample and Ra is the same ratio in the atmos-
phere. The carbon isotope compositions are given in delta per mil versus V-PDB scale. dDCH4is expressed in delta per mil vs V-SMOW scale.
C1/(C2+C3) is “Barnard parameter” defined as the ratio between methane (CH4) and the sum Ethane (C2H6) + Propane (C3H8).

gases by thermal cracking of organic matter (Figure 11)
[Schoell 1983].
The helium isotope ratio displays a value of 3.72
Ra, which is higher than the typical value of atmosphere
and indicates a relevant contribution of mantle-derived
helium. A preliminary mass balance computation as-
suming a 3He/4He ratio of 0.02 Ra for crustal radiogenic
helium and of 7.3 Ra for the local magmatic end-mem-
ber (i.e. Pantelleria Island; see Parello et al. [2000]) in-
dicates an almost equal proportion between crustal
(f=0.52) and mantle-derived (f= 0.48) helium.
The carbon isotopic composition of CO2shows a
d13C value of −1.75‰ vs. V-PDB. Such value overlaps
both the carbon isotope composition of magmatic CO2
released from the most active Mediterranean volcanic
areas (d13C between −5‰ and 0‰), and that produced
by thermo-metamorphic reaction of limestone occur-
ring in the deep crust (d13C = 0±2‰; Evans et al.
[2008]), suggesting a combined mixed mantle-derived
and crustal origin.
Based on the log CO/CO2and log CH4/CO2ra-
tios the sample indicates an equilibrium temperature
around 200°C under redox conditions controlled by the
hydrothermal fO2-buffers [Giggenbach 1987].
The helium and carbon isotope composition indi-
cates that gas emitted from the seafloor in proximity of
the Graham Bank reflects a clear magmatic/crustal ori-
gin. Secondary post-genetic processes, such as selective
dissolution and mixing with an additional hydrocar-
bons- and N-rich sedimentary component, have been
also identified.
8. Conclusions and future work
The “Ferdinandea 2012” oceanographic cruise was
the first research activity with a multidisciplinary ap-
proach studying the NW sector of the Sicily Channel;
it was carried out in the framework of the extension to
the sea of the geophysical and geochemical monitor-
ing of the Italian active volcanoes [Favali et al. 2005,
Italiano et al. 2011, Mangano et al. 2011].
The new morpho-bathymetric data collected within
the “Ferdinandea 2012” cruise show the products of a
complex volcanic activity that developed over a period
of several thousand years until the historic eruption,
occurred in 1831, forming the ephemeral Ferdinandea
Island on the Graham Bank. Two volcanic cones form
this bank; the eastern one is the remnant of Ferdinan-
dea Island, while another one, more large and complex,
lies on the west. The Graham Bank, is not isolated but
part of a larger monogenic volcanic cone field which
consists of ten small to medium volcanic edifices. They
are well structured and highly variable in size and ero-
sive stage, located on a 15 km long and 3 km wide NS
trending belt and grouped in three small clusters show-
ing a roughly NW-SE to WNW-ESE direction, accord-
ing to the orientation of the Sicily Channel rift.
The Ferdinandea cone is morphologically the
youngest and well-preserved volcanic edifice of the vol-
canic cones field. The extremely regular morphology
of its slopes and the absence of any secondary crater,
fissure or simple volcanic vent as well as of supple-
mentary terraces allow us to rule out the occurrence of
any eruptive activity or uplift after the 1831 eruption, in
contrast with some chronicles that reported other ac-
tivities on 1833 and 1863 (see Falzone et al. [2009]), thus
confirming its monogenic nature.
COLTELLI ET AL.
10
Figure 10. N2-Ar-He ternary plot: the sample from the Graham Bank
(red diamond) falls toward the field representative of the gas emitted
from volcanism associated to divergent plate (blue field). The N2/Ar
ratio slightly higher than air suggests the addition of nitrogen, likely
organic and/or crustal in origin. For comparison, the sample Favara
from Pantelleria Island (black dot) is also reported (data from Par-
ello et al. [2000] and Tassi et al. [2012]); ASW=air saturated water.
Figure 11. Bernand diagram modified after Tassi et al. [2012].
Methane emitted from the vent close to the Graham Bank (red di-
amond) is thermogenic in origin and is genetically different from
that released from the Favara from Pantelleria Island (black dot)
(data from Tassi et al. [2012]).

11
During the nine months of the monitoring cam-
paign, very few local earthquakes were located near the
Graham, Terrible and Nerita banks. The lack of local
seismicity documented by the OBS/Hs recordings as
well as that of the last 30 years by ISIDE database, could
be due to a tectonic discontinuity in the transfer fault
zone crossing western Sicily and the Sicily Channel.
This seismic gap is probably related to the local geot-
hermal field and to the volcanic activity, marked by low
values of VP, suggesting that the tectonic stress is ac-
commodate differently in these areas [Calò and Parisi
2014], even if the occurrence of a period of low stress
release, in a typical accumulation/release cycle, cannot
be excluded. Moreover, a strong hydrothermal activity
from the Graham Bank was documented by both the
direct visual observation with the ROV, and high-fre-
quency events recorded by the hydrophone during the
monitoring campaign, indicating a cyclical behaviour
of the submarine fluid and gas emissions. Future analy-
ses of regional and teleseismic earthquakes recorded
by the OBS/Hs array will be used for the reconstruc-
tion of the local crustal velocity model by means of
local earthquake tomography and receiver function
techniques. This velocity model could confirm and bet-
ter delimit the low P-wave velocity body recently iden-
tified in this area by Calò and Parisi [2014].
The composition of the gas sampled at −155 m
depth, near the base of the eastern cone of the Graham
Bank, indicates a significant mantle component. Helium
and carbon isotope compositions show that the gas emit-
ted from the seafloor reflects a clear magmatic/crustal
origin, even if secondary post-genetic processes have
been also identified. Future samplings and more de-
tailed chemical and isotopic analyses will improve the
knowledge of geochemical characteristics of the sub-
marine gaseous emissions and can be used to monitor
the temporal evolutions of the fumarole field.
Overall, the collected data from “Ferdinandea 2012”
multidisciplinary cruise unequivocally confirm that the
Graham Bank is an active volcanic area. It represents
the only Italian volcano active in historical times still al-
most completely unknown and not yet monitored. The
final goal of the preliminary study described in this
paper is to reach in the medium period the continuous
volcano monitoring by integrating the data of the mul-
tidisciplinary sensors deployed on the seafloor with the
monitoring networks operating inland.
Thus, in the near future, new cruises will be planned
in order to carry out a high resolution seafloor mapping
of the other volcanic edifice remains identified on the
Terribile Bank, as well as to collect some volcanic rock
and gas samples from the other volcanic cones mapped
during the “Ferdinandea 2012” cruise.
Acknowledgements. We thank for their contribution to the
success of “Ferdinandea 2012” research cruise, the captain of the
R/V ASTREA Massimo Saporito and his crew, Simone Pietro
Canese and the C.L.C. Luigi Manzueto of ISPRA, Andrei Diaconov
of SoProMar, Gaspare Falautano president of Lega Navale di Sci-
acca, Domenico Macaluso diver-group leader of Lega Navale di Sci-
acca. We are grateful to Giuseppe Passafiume, Stefano Speciale and
Roberto D’Anna (INGV-CNT) for their collaboration during the
OBS activity and Alessandro Bosman of CNR for his support dur-
ing the multibeam data processing. The oceanographic cruise “Fer-
dinandea 2012” was supported by “Studi e Ricerche” 2012-grant of
INGV-Osservatorio Etneo.
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*Corresponding author: Mauro Coltelli,
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Osservatorio Etneo,
Catania, Italy; email: mauro.coltelli@ingv.it.
© 2016 by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia. All
rights reserved.
EXPLORING THE SUBMARINE GRAHAM BANK IN THE SICILY CHANNEL