First hydroacoustic evidence of marine, active fluid vents in the Naples Bay continental shelf (Southern Italy)

• 54 active fluid emission points were detected and mapped in the Bay of Naples.
• Emission points are organized in four main clusters.
• Vents result from the interaction between major faults and volcanic morphologies.

We present the first results of a multidisciplinary research aimed at the detection and mapping of Active Fluid Vents (AFVs) at the seafloor of the Naples Bay, Italy. This segment of the Campania continental margin is characterised by severe Quaternary extension and intense volcanism at Ischia and Procida islands, the Campi Flegrei and Somma–Vesuvius volcanic complexes. High resolution hydroacoustic profilers were used to identify and localize fluid emission from the seafloor. ROV direct observation showed that each emission centre is generally composed by the coalescence of several emitting points. CTD probes showed that there are no significant gradients in temperature profiles. The results of this study include the detection and mapping of 54 fluid emission points all located in the − 71/− 158 m depth range, and spatially distributed into four main clusters. Three of the described clusters are located along the margin of a complex, toe-shaped seafloor morphology southwest of the Somma–Vesuvius, representing the shallow expression of partly buried, coalesced depositional features (namely, two flank collapses and one pyroclastic flow) associated with the Late Pleistocene activity of the volcano. The fourth AFV cluster was detected at the morphological - high, located about 8 km south of Naples (Banco della Montagna), represented by a field of volcaniclastic diapirs composed of massive pumiceous deposits originated from the Campi Flegrei intruding rising through the latest Quaternary–Holocene marine deposits. Our study suggests that the occurrence of AFV in this area could be genetically linked to the interaction between volcanic related seafloor morphologies and the main, NE striking faults present in the area, i.e. the Magnaghi-Sebeto line and the Vesuvian fault.