Sediment transport event analysis on the western Adriatic continental shelf

The sediment-transport mechanisms that contribute to and redistribute the modern sediment deposits on the western Adriatic continental shelf were evaluated utilizing data collected from two instrumented benthic tripods deployed at 12-m water depth, one in the northern Adriatic basin on the Po River subaqueous delta, and the other in the central Adriatic basin on the Pescara River shelf. Sediment-resuspension events driven by cold, northeasterly Bora winds dominate the along-shelf transport climatology at both tripod locations, but at the Po delta site, the southwesterly Scirocco wind events also play a significant role. At the Pescara shelf site, interaction between Bora wind-driven currents and the Western Adriatic Coastal Current strongly contributes to the resuspension and advection of suspended sediment. Interannual variability of the forcing mechanisms (including strength, frequency, and relative mix of Bora and Scirocco wind events) is evident in the three winters of data collected on the Po River subaqueous delta. In both types of wind events, and throughout all years of data collection, the net along-shelf sediment transport is significantly larger than the net across-shelf transport at the 12-m sites. This may be characteristic of low-energy environments, where sediment resuspension and transport occurs in such shallow water that it is not subjected to strong downwelling features characteristic of higher-energy environments.