About Book

Marine geology is an emerging field of study which is highly beneficial in understanding the formation of sea floor and plate tectonics. This field is interdisciplinary in nature as it studies the structure and history of the ocean floor using different branches of study like geophysics, paleontology, etc. It involves geophysical, geochemical, sedimentological and paleontological investigations of the ocean floor and coastal zone. Marine geology has strong ties to geophysics and to physical oceanography. The deep ocean floor is the last essentially unexplored frontier and detailed mapping in support of both military (submarine) objectives and economic (petroleum and metal mining) objectives drives the research. The study of littoral and deep sea sedimentation and the precipitation and dissolution rates of calcium carbonate in various marine environments have important implications for global climate change. This book is an important source of information as it provides its reader a comprehensive account of marine geology. A number of latest researches have been included to keep the readers up-to-date with the global concepts in this area of study. It gives thorough insights about this vast field and provides detailed information about the various advances in this area. It deals with radioactivity in marine, marine sediments, wavelet spectrogram analysis, submarine mass movements, chromatographic measurements, diagenesis, geological evolution, marine geological mapping and aquatic ecosystems. Different approaches, evaluations and methodologies and advanced studies on this subject have been included in the book. Scientists and students actively engaged in the area of marine geology will find this book full of crucial and explored concepts.

Preface............................................................................................................v

Chapter 1 Marine Sediments as Fundamental Repository of Radioactive Contaminants in Aquatic Ecosystems....................................................1

Abstract...................................................................................................1

1. Introduction............................................................................................2

2. Experimental..........................................................................................3

3. Results.....................................................................................................9

4. Conclusions..........................................................................................14

Chapter 2 Trace Metals in Shallow Marine Sediments from the Ría de Vigo: Sources, Pollution, Speciation and Early Diagenesis......................17

1. Introduction..........................................................................................17

2. Sources of metals to coastal sedimentary environments............19

3. Metal concentration vs grain size....................................................20

4. Determination of total metal concentration and speciation.......22

5. Assessment of pollution in marine sediments..............................30

6. Early diagenesis of metals in marine sediments..........................35

7. Conclusion............................................................................................40

8. Acknowledgment................................................................................41

Chapter 3 Applications of PCA to the Monitoring of Hydrocarbon Content in Marine Sediments by Means of Gas Chromatographic Measurements............................................................................................51

1. Introduction..........................................................................................51

2. Experimental section..........................................................................55

3. Results and discussion.......................................................................60

4. Conclusion............................................................................................68

5. Acknowledgments...............................................................................68

6. Appendix..............................................................................................68

Chapter 4 Submarine Mass Movements: Sedimentary Characterization and

Controlling Factors...................................................................................74

1. Introduction..........................................................................................74

2. Selected case studies in the Mediterranean, Atlantic and

Antarctic Sea .......................................................................................75

3. Contributions from multidisciplinary and multiscale analysis of

mass-movement features and deposits...........................................99

4. Acknowledgements .........................................................................108

Chapter 5 Wavelet Spectrogram Analysis of Surface Wave Technique

for Dynamic Soil Properties Measurement on Soft Marine

Clay Site....................................................................................................114

1. Introduction........................................................................................114

2. Research method ..............................................................................118

3. Results and discussion ...................................................................128

4. Conclusion .........................................................................................142

5. Acknowledgment .............................................................................143

Chapter 6 Radioactivity in Marine Salts and Sediments.................................147

1. Introduction ......................................................................................147

2. Radioactive contamination..............................................................154

3. Experimental......................................................................................156

4. Results ................................................................................................165

5. Conclusion..........................................................................................168

6. Acknowledgements...........................................................................170

Chapter 7 Geological Evolution of Coastal and Marine Environments off the

Campania Continental Shelf Through Marine Geological Mapping

- The Example of the Cilento Promontory.......................................172

Abstract...............................................................................................172

1. Introduction........................................................................................173

2. Geologic setting.................................................................................177

3. Previous geological studies.............................................................188

4. Results.................................................................................................201

5. Conclusions........................................................................................212

Chapter 8 Factors Controlling the Incorporation of Trace Metals to Coastal Marine Sediments: Cases of Study in the Galician Rías Baixas (NW Spain).........................................................................................................223

1. Introduction ......................................................................................223

2. Sediments as trace metal sinks and sources ..............................224

3. Incorporation of metals to the sediment ....................................226

4. The ría environment - Factors controlling trace metal contents in

ría sediments ....................................................................................228

5. Anthropogenic evidences on metal concentration in ría

sediments ...........................................................................................231

6. Early diagenesis of metals in ría sediments ..............................238

7. Conclusion .........................................................................................244

8. Acknowledgment .............................................................................245

Citation......................................................................................................257

Index...........................................................................................................259

About Author

Lindsay Ian pursued his Ph.D. in the field of Marine Science from Technological University, Maryland. He serves as a Senior Professor at Public Research University, Durango. His academic interests lie in salt marshes, marine habitats and sea floor. He has authored and edited a number of academic periodicals, journal papers, articles and books in the field of marine science & geology. Ian has been the recipient of several prestigious awards for imparting marine science education. He also serves on the editorial board of several leading international scientific journals.